Page 14 - Focus Regional: History & Mystery

Lisa Nell Robinson, a former educator, has good memories from Abo
Elementary. Her mother, Shirley Nell, taught there for 14 years, and her dad,
Warren Nell, was Superintendent of Artesia Public Schools for 16 years.
Robinson remembers going on tours of Abo with her dad as he showed
prospective new Artesians the unique school. One of her memories is of
going into Mrs. Helen Mapes’ second grade classroom where she displayed
a larger than life-size papier mache dinosaur. She thought, “It (the dinosaur
and the classroom) was so cool. And I loved to go on tours of Abo with my
Dad.” Later in life, Mrs. Mapes’ second grade classroom became Robinson’s
own classroom. Robinson believes that the quiet environment helped the
students to achieve and excel in academics. Many other teachers who taught
at Abo agree and add that the lack of windows alleviated the distraction of
watching outside or watching friends in the hallways.

Construction of the underground school and fallout shelter cost $468,623,
and the American Civil Defense Administration contributed $131,943.
The American Civil Liberties Union tested new construction technologies
and experimented with new educational forms and functions, one of which
was the partnership with Artesia Public Schools to build the underground
school. The 10-acre construction went 18 feet underground with
21–inch–thick concrete walls and a slab which later became a playground
and dodgeball court.
The rectangular plan included 28 rooms with only 18 being used for
classrooms. The remaining rooms were used as storage, restrooms, and
for mechanical equipment of the building. Students entered at the South
stairwells, while teachers entered from the North end. Former Abo teacher
Judith Williams Horton (Judy Brown) commented that the school was
the perfect design for an elementary school. She said that the U shape
of the school allowed one to go from one side of the school to the other
without going around the halls. Students and teachers could walk through
the restrooms, library, or cafeteria to get to the other classrooms. Judith
remembers that the classrooms were designed with chalkboards that were
reversible to pegboards. There were also other pegboards in the classrooms
so that the students’ work could be displayed. She also felt that there was a
“serenity about being in that underground building and it seemed that the
students felt it, secure and settled.”

PHOTO ABOVE: A group of children stand at ground level and watch as Not only were there traditional entrances for students and teachers,
construction takes place on the underground school. one entrance existed that included a shower to remove fallout particles.
There were other rooms and areas which housed rations such as water,
atomic age and the proximity of Alamogordo, Walker Air Force Base in crackers, dried/powdered/canned food and other personal items such as
Roswell, and the vulnerability of the refinery just a few miles away from toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels and washcloths, combs, notebooks and
the school site. As students spent the first few months in school, political
tension in America grew because of the Soviet Union’s connection in the
Cuban Missile Crisis. Students participated in regular bomb drills. Just the
presence of the school as a bomb shelter seemed to somewhat calm the fear
of the community about a nuclear attack.

The dedication of Abo Elementary School and Fallout Shelter took place
on June 12, 1962 with the Director of the Office of Civil Defense, Steuart
L. Pitman reading a telegram from President John F. Kennedy. All the major
television networks covered the ceremony, as well as international media.
The Soviet newspaper, Trud, commented, “The madness which has hit
the U.S. has even touched those working in the field of public education,
the people of Artesia like to play war.” Some newspapers in the U.S. also
criticized Artesia for sending children underground to school in a shelter,
while criticizing the endeavor as a waste of taxpayers’ money. Little did
these naysayers know, the atmosphere actually spelled success for students
thanks to things only an underground school can provide – controlled light
and air, and a calm, quiet learning environment.

14 FOCUS ON HISTORY & MYSTERY | 2017