Reprinted here by special permission of the author, Cindy Beckman, a retired Conway High School history teacher who writes local history.

One of my childhood feats was when I finally managed to ride my bicycle all the way up Civil Defense Hill without having to stop and push. We all called it Civil Defense Hill but growing up, I actually knew very little about the Civil Defense complex that gave the hill its name.

The development of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II and the news that the Soviets had detonated their own nuclear weapon created Continue reading →