Amherst College Book Bunker, Massachusetts

This 44,000 square-foot underground bunker, in the rolling hills near Hampshire College, was built in 1956 as a regional control center by the Strategic Air Command (SAC), which operated a bomber base nearby in Westover. Sometimes referred to as the Notch, the three story building features a self-contained water supply and electrical generation system, a cavernous war room with a glassed-in balcony, and accommodations for up to 300 people. In 1973, as SAC centralized its command centers in Nebraska and Colorado, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston moved in and used it as an emergency back-up facility, and for records storage, along with New England Telephone and the New York Federal Reserve. The bunker was put up for sale for $250,000 in 1992, and was bought by nearby Amherst College, which uses it as a book depository and for archival storage. Other local university libraries store books there now too.