In a neighborhood that prides itself on its history, Ballard Hospital stands out. Built during the no-nonsense Eisenhower era, the building looks something like a five story concrete block; the kind of thing that might withstand an atomic blast.
If you think that sounds far fetched, consider that a pamphlet circulated in 1952 to raise funds for what would become this hospital, pointed out that the Russians had recently detonated their own atomic bomb and that if the commies destroyed bridges across the Lake Washington Ship Canal, how could Ballard residents get to hospitals?