Richards House, Ogden
Featured in an April 1961 Ogden Standard Examiner article, Maurice Richards was noted as one of the first homeowners to bring a fallout shelter to completion in Weber County. The shelter room measured 12’ x 12’, had a concrete floor and ceiling, concrete reinforced brick walls, steel door, space for a generator, and featured a unique air filter made out of thick cobblestone rocks to prevent a nuclear blast and to provide fresh air. It also included an escape tunnel that opened from the inside.
The Richards’ home was one of 106 known home bomb shelters built in Weber County by 1964 (although many more were constructed, people often did not officially record them with the local government as a way to avoid obtaining a building permit and having to pay additional taxes). Government agencies worked to create and make available 33,000 additional community public shelter spaces to individuals in the county (one of the major ethical questions of the day was what role does government play in providing an adequate number of spaces versus leaving it to the private citizen). The cost to build the do-it-yourself type of shelter like the Richards was estimated at a few hundred dollars; meanwhile companies such as the Fallout Security Co. provided more elaborate shelters at much greater costs, making shelters unattainable for the majority of American homeowners. Although the Richards’ basement had to repaired and updated due to a water leak a few years ago, the shelter space is extant and still retains its overall historic integrity.