Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Brooklyn Bridge Bomb Shelter Time Capsule
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 21, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 21, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
There is a super story in the NY Times about the recently discovered 1950s-1960s era bomb shelter discovered on the Manhattan side mooring of the Brooklyn Bridge. Work crews from the Department of Transportation stumbled upon the "dank and lightless room where the walls are lined with dusty boxes" while doing some routine inspection of the bridge, which just makes you wonder how routine inspection is if they missed it for five decades. But, anyway, it sounds really amazing, possibly more so because the city won't divulge where it's located (did city officials blindfold reporters and spin 'em around before they entered?):
For decades it waited in secret inside the masonry foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge, in a damp, dirty and darkened vault near the East River shoreline of Lower Manhattan: a stockpile of provisions that would allow for basic survival if New York City were devastated by a nuclear attack....
The most numerous items are the boxes of Civil Defense All-Purpose Survival Crackers. Printed in block letters, on each canister, was information about the number of pounds (6.75), the number of crackers per pound (62) and the minimum number of crackers per can (419). Joseph M. Vaccaro, a carpentry supervisor at the Transportation Department, estimated that there were 140 boxes of crackers — each with six cans, for a total of some 352,000 crackers...
Nearby were several dozen boxes with sealed bottles of Dextran, made by Wyeth Laboratories in Philadelphia. More mysterious were about 50 metal drums, made by United States Steel in Camden, N.J. According to the label, each was intended to hold 17.5 gallons and to be converted, if necessary, for "reuse as a commode." They are now empty.
Crackers and commodes - oh my! Experts don't think the shelter would have been much help in case of a nuclear fallout, but say that it probably made city officials feel better - ah, remember when everyone was scrambling around for duct tape after September 11? Goodness knows what people in 2056 will think when they find stashes of Red Bull, Cipro, and jump drives laying around in the other bomb shelter the city is probably secretly building. Anyway, Gothamist loves the "What's So Big About New York" poster in this photograph of the shelter, adding "Look for NYC-related cold war propaganda" to things we'd like to own.
Columbia professor and NYC historian Kenneth T. Jackson is quoted in the article ("What surprises me is that we have all these little nooks — that in this huge city with people crawling everywhere, we can find rooms still filled with stuff, 50 years after the fact."), and his book, The Encyclopedia of New York City, is a great resource. And do you have your Go bag?
Tagged
About New York
bomb
books
brooklyn
brooklyn bridge
city
department of transportation
east river
gothamist
history
jen chung
lower manhattan
manhattan
new york
new york city
News: NYC
ny times
nyc
people
philadelphia
red bull
september 11
the city
The Encyclopedia
transportation
transportation department
united states
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Queens mother charged with murder in death of 5-year-old daughter, NYPD says
Francis Cabello, 32, was arrested and charged on Thursday.
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 11:57 a.m. ET
NYC’s whiplash weather continues into weekend with heavy winds, chilly temps, NWS says
Friday expect scattered showers and thunder, cooler temperatures Saturday, and a sunny Sunday.
By
Monica Melton
News
NYC’s whiplash weather continues into weekend with heavy winds, chilly temps, NWS says
Friday expect scattered showers and thunder, cooler temperatures Saturday, and a sunny Sunday.
By
Monica Melton
Early Addition: Winning an affordable housing lottery is great unless it's not
By
James Ramsay
Mamdani and 100+ NY officials urge parking lot owners to ban ICE
By
Arya Sundaram
NYC ambulance response times have grown 41% as life-threatening calls rise
By
Ben Feuerherd
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .