Clinton Engineer Works

Mary Rockwell: My name is Mary Rockwell. Spell it? M-a-r-y R-o-c-k-w-e-l-l. Cindy Kelly: Very good. What was your maiden name? Rockwell: Compton. Kelly: And how is that spelled? Rockwell: C-o-m-p-t-o-n. Kelly: Okay. Is there a funny story attached with that? Rockwell: Yes. My sister, her husband having been head of the Y-12 Beta process, was […]

Herman Snyder: My name is Herman Snyder, H-E-R-M-AN S-N-Y-D-E-R.  Cindy Kelly: Great, good job. All right, now, maybe we can pick up the thread of that story. If you can tell us your experience, and compress it a little bit because I want to spend most of the time talking about your experience here at […]

In 1942, General Leslie Groves approved Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as the site for the pilot plutonium plant and the uranium enrichment plant. Manhattan Project engineers had to quickly build a town to accommodate 30,000 workers–as well as build the enormously complex plants. “Site X” By the time President Roosevelt authorized the Manhattan Project on December […]