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Nuclear Weapons of the Atomic AgeHoyt B. Wooten Bomb Shelter, Memphis, Tenn.Above and below ground structure built at cost exceeding $200,000.Pub. by Bluff City News Co., Memphis, Tenn.Hoyt Wooten began his broadcasting career in 1919, and he eventually made a small fortune as owner of WREC Radio and WREC Television in Memphis, Tennessee. When the Cold War grew increasingly tense in the early 1960s, Wooten became concerned about the possibility of a nuclear attack. As did thousands of other Americans at the time, he decided to construct an underground bomb shelter. At 5,600 sq. ft., his was the biggest ever built for private use. It contained 13 rooms, all conveniently located in the backyard of Whitehaven Estate, his Italianate mansion. One federal official called it the %u201cbest engineered, most elaborate private shelter%u201d in the nation.Wooten%u2019s shelter was built to house 65 of his relatives and closest friends for one month. Besides being a media mogul, he was also an engineer, so he was able to design his subterranean refuge himself%u2014while following the guidance of Civil Defense authorities. The shelter was constructed to withstand a twenty-megaton blast in downtown Memphis, which was about eight miles away. Architect and interior decorator William Nowland Van Powell was hired to design the interior of Wooten's project, which contained dormitories, a communications center, a recreation room (with pool table), a large kitchen, a dining room, and a refrigerated morgue. There were also decontamination showers, metal blast doors, a hidden escape hatch, and steel bars to keep people from getting in. Some rooms had %u201cwindows%u201d that were painted to mimic a view of the outside world. The complex was completely self-sustaining, and powered by generators with fuel from underground storage tanks. Of course, a nuclear attack never happened. So the enterprising Wooten opened his shelter for tours, and sold printed postcards (above) as souvenirs. After he died in 1969, the fallout shelter became a Community Center for a new Lion's Gate subdivision, but that was eventually closed. After sitting empty for a time, on November 27, 2019, the Wooten Fallout Shelter was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.