Civilian Life

Santa Fe was the first stop for many scientists, engineers, Women’s Army Corps, military police and all others assigned to work on the top-secret project at Los Alamos.  Lamy Ten miles from Santa Fe, Lamy is the nearest stop on the former Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Young men and women assigned to work […]

Jackson Square was the heart of Oak Ridge’s business district. Originally Town Center No. 1, the name Jackson Square was adopted in February 1945 as Oak Ridge moved away from military terminology. The site was one of five commercial shopping areas distributed across the Oak Ridge reservation. Residents frequented the square on weekends and weekdays to […]

In early 1944, DuPont, the operating contractor at Hanford, foresaw the need for four chemical separation facilities. These facilities, designated the T and U plants at location 200-West and the B and C plants at location 200-East (the C plant was never built), would be located approximately ten miles south of the reactors. The separation […]

Lucille Whitman: I am Lucille Whitman, L-U-C-I-L-L-E W-H-I-T-M-A-N. Kelly: Great. And how did you happen to—where are you from and how did you happen to get— Whitman: Well, I’m a native Tennessean. I came from near Morristown and I came here right after school and I worked as a secretary in—for Tennessee Eastman. And I […]

Michel: My name was Mary Lowe, L-O-W-E, and I married John Michel, M-I-C-H-E-L. Kelly: Great. Is it possible that you can look toward me? So tell me, how and when did you come to Oak Ridge? Michel: I came in November of 1944. Kelly: And what had—where had you come from? What brought you here? […]

Robert Ellingson: My name is Robert Ellingson, and it’s spelled E-L-L-I-N-G-S-O-N.  Kelly: Great. Now if you could just tell us where you’re from, and how you happened to end up in the Manhattan Project. Ellingson: I am from a little town in Idaho, and Idaho is west of Wyoming if you’re not familiar with the […]

Evelyn Ellingson: My name is Evelyn Ellingson, E-L-L-I-N-G-S-O-N.   Cynthia Kelly: And can you tell me where you’re from and how you happened to arrive in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project? Ellingson: Well, I’m originally from Alabama and, in 1943, I was working in Atlanta, Georgia and a friend of mine from the University […]

Hanford, Washington, on the beautiful Columbia River, was the site selected for the full-scale plutonium production plant, the B Reactor. Today a popular tourist desination, the Hanford Site proved crucial to the success of the Manhattan Project.  Site Selection In December 1942, the Army Corps of Engineers worked with DuPont to establish criteria for the […]

Los Alamos, New Mexico, was the site of Project Y, or the top-secret atomic weapons laboratory directed by J. Robert Oppenheimer. The site was so secret that one mailbox, PO Box 1663, served as the mailing address for the entire town. The mountains allowed the scientists ample opportunity to relax, by skiing, swimming, and hiking. […]

Stirling Auchincloss Colgate: I’m Stirling Auchincloss Colgate.  And the first name is spelled with an extra “I,” S-T-I-R-L-I-N-G. My middle name is Auchincloss, A-U-C-H-I-N-C-L-O-S-S. And that last name is Colgate, and when I was around ten or eleven years old or somewheres like that, I changed my name and chose that myself, so I’m happy […]