Massachusetts Cold War History Site

Welcome to coldwar-ma.com, a site dedicated to preserving the cold war history of Massachusetts.  At the left of this page you will find links to pages on Cold War related Business and Industry, Civil Defense, Government Facilities, Military Facilities, Reactors and Telecommunications.   Initially our emphasis will be on facilities, manufacturing plants, shelters and systems involved in supporting the Cold War effort in the MA area but be sure to check out our "Nearby Facilities" page for similar facilities elsewhere in Southern New England. Please take a minute to sign our Guest book.

You may already know about the former Strategic Air Command base in Chicopee and about the numerous defense industries scattered throughout the Boston area but did you know that during the Cold War years:


Boston was surrounded by more than a dozen missile bases.

The U.S. Army operated a nuclear reactor in Watertown, MA.

Both FEMA and the Mass. state government build nuclear hardened, underground bunkers in the Framingham area, just far enough from Boston so as to hopefully survive an atomic attack on that city.

More than 1,000 hydrogen bombs were quietly stockpiled in Chicopee, MA. in a fortified Weapons Storage Area.

An alternate Strategic Air Command Post Attack Command and Control bunker was built into the side of a mountain in Hadley, ready to fight WW3 should the primary SAC facility in Colorado be knocked out.

A fallout shelter was built for JFK in Nantucket.

Amherst came very close to being bumped to near the top of the Russian attack list. 

Over a dozen Massachusetts companies were quietly given quantities of uranium and/or plutonium to experiment with.

A Boston bank built an underground fallout shelter for their records and key personnel in Pepperell, MA.