James Edward Westcott Archives

‘Mud’ photography exhibit opens at K-25 History Center on Thursday

Posted at 3:14 pm February 24, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The new K-25 History Center will be hosting “Mud, a Photographic Exhibition of Life in the Secret City.” The exhibit will open on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, and it will be available for viewing through the month of March. (Submitted photo)

The new K-25 History Center will be hosting “Mud, a Photographic Exhibition of Life in the Secret City.” The exhibit will open on Thursday, February 27, and it will be available for viewing through the month of March.

There will be a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the K-25 History Center at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 27.

During World War II, Oak Ridge was a quickly built as a secret government town of 70,000 workers who lived in a camp-like environment of barbed wire, security checkpoints, and code words, a press release said. Workers were fingerprinted, interviewed, assigned a job, and given a clearance badge. Housing was limited and cramped and often unheated.

Oak Ridgers who ventured into Knoxville were easy to spot. The quickly constructed secret city was blanketed in a thick layer of mud. As a result, its residents’ muddy shoes were a dead giveaway as to their origin. “The muddy conditions of Oak Ridge during the war was a commonality that all residents, regardless of occupation, had to contend with,” the press release said.

[Read more…]

‘HerStory’ photo exhibit at Oak Rige History Museum

Posted at 10:27 pm March 28, 2019
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

K-25-69 Close up of welding in prefabrecation shop 1944 bld.300 (Photo by Ed Westcott)

The Oak Ridge History Museum will host “HerStory: A Photography Exhibition of Women in the Secret City.” The exhibit will open Friday, March 29, and will be open every Friday and Saturday during the month of April.

“From janitor to homemaker to chemist, the women of the Manhattan Project worked hard and talked little,” a press release said. “During World War II, Oak Ridge was a government town of 70,000 workers, primarily women who lived in a camp-like environment of barbed wire, security checkpoints, and code words. Workers were fingerprinted, interviewed, assigned a job, and given a clearance badge. Housing was limited and cramped and often unheated. Food at the cafeterias was in short supply and lines were long.” [Read more…]

‘Atomic Integration,’ photo exhibit on African-American life in Manhattan Project, opens Friday

Posted at 2:40 pm February 5, 2019
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Photo by Ed Westcott via National Park Service

In honor of Black History Month, the Oak Ridge History Museum will host “Atomic Integration,” a photography exhibition focusing on African-American life during the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a press release said.

The exhibit will open on Friday, February 8, and it will be open every Friday and Saturday during the month of February, the press release said.

The photo exhibit was developed under sponsorship by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, and Explore Oak Ridge.

The images that will be displayed in the photo exhibit illustrate the experiences and contributions of African-Americans during the Manhattan Project period during the 1940s in Oak Ridge, the press release said. [Read more…]

‘Atomic Integration,’ photo exhibit on African-American life during Manhattan Project, opens Feb. 23

Posted at 10:41 am February 9, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

African American Post Office 1940s (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

In honor of Black History Month, the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce will host “Atomic Integration,” a photography exhibition focusing on African-American life during the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, a press release said. The month-long exhibit will open on Thursday, February 23, with a reception starting at 4:30 p.m.

The photo exhibit is sponsored by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, and Explore Oak Ridge.

The images displayed in the photo exhibit illustrate the experiences and contributions of African-Americans during the Manhattan Project period during the 1940s in Oak Ridge, the press release said. [Read more…]

Westcott photo exhibit of Oak Ridge during World War II opens Friday

Posted at 1:06 pm June 2, 2016
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Ed Westcott, right, was the only official photographer in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project in World War II, a top-secret project to build the world’s first atomic bomb. Westcott is pictured above with D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian and newspaper history columnist. (Photo courtesy D. Ray Smith)

An exhibit of more than 50 historic photographs by James Edward “Ed” Westcott, the official photographer of the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge during World War II, will open Friday in Knoxville.

The exhibit is titled “Through the Lens of Ed Westcott: A Photographic History of World War II’s Secret City.” It’s scheduled to be on display from June 3 to August 6 at the University of Tennessee Gallery at 106 South Gay Street in Knoxville.

A First Friday Opening Reception is scheduled from 5-9 p.m. Friday, June 3. Westcott will be in attendance from 6:30-8:30 p.m., a press release said.

There will be a gallery talk with Baldwin Lee, UT art professor emeritus, starting at 7 p.m. Friday. Baldwin will discuss the photos in the exhibition, the press release said.

Here is more information from the press release: [Read more…]

Kroger Marketplace will be company’s fifth Oak Ridge store, could add 165 jobs

Posted at 6:54 pm August 22, 2013
By John Huotari 16 Comments

Kroger Marketplace Groundbreaking Ceremony

The new Kroger Marketplace will be the company’s fifth store in Oak Ridge, and it could add more than 165 jobs, executives said during a Thursday morning groundbreaking ceremony.

The new Kroger Marketplace shopping center scheduled to open next summer will be the company’s fifth store in Oak Ridge, and it could add more than 165 jobs, providing a “tipping point” for economic development, officials said Thursday.

It’s the largest in a series of retail construction projects now under way, including on Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue. It could be joined soon by the redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall.

“We are putting together the future attributes of growth,” Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan said during a Thursday morning groundbreaking ceremony near the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. [Read more…]

Kroger Marketplace has Aug. 22 groundbreaking ceremony

Posted at 3:20 pm August 19, 2013
By John Huotari 6 Comments

The Kroger Co. will have an Aug. 22 groundbreaking ceremony for a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center on 25 acres at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.

The Kroger Co. announced Monday that it will have a Thursday morning groundbreaking ceremony for its new Marketplace store in Oak Ridge.

Demolition and land clearing work is already under way at the 25-acre site northeast of the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, and a Kroger spokesman has said building construction at the shopping center could start in October.

The groundbreaking on Thursday, Aug. 22, will be at 10 a.m. [Read more…]

Demolition under way, construction could start this fall on Kroger Marketplace

Posted at 7:14 pm August 5, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A half-dozen excavators, scrapers, dump trucks, bulldozers, and loaders were moving dirt and debris and knocking down trees late Friday afternoon on the north side of the planned Kroger Marketplace, near Raleigh Road and the former Robin Lane in Oak Ridge.

Demolition work is under way, and construction could start this fall on a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center in Oak Ridge that is expected to include a range of services from a fuel center and sushi shop to a drive-through pharmacy and Baby World.

Demolition at the shopping center—named the Westcott Center in honor of renowned photographer James Edward Westcott—began Monday, July 29, said Glynn Jenkins, director of communications and public relations for the The Kroger Co.’s Atlanta Division. Home demolition work is expected to be completed by Aug. 23.

The demolition of the former Super 8 motel, Vista Inn, and Cancun’s restaurant on Oak Ridge Turnpike and North Illinois Avenue is expected to start next week. [Read more…]

One hundred Westcott photos now on AMSE website

Posted at 6:00 am December 18, 2012
By American Museum of Science and Energy Leave a Comment

The 100th photo from a collection of World War II pictures taken by James Edward Westcott, the official U.S. Army Manhattan Project photographer, was added to an American Museum of Science and Energy website today.

During the past year, the World War II images taken in Oak Ridge by James Edward Westcott, the official U.S. Army Manhattan Project photographer, have been scanned one image at a time every Tuesday and Thursday into the American Museum of Science and Energy’s website.

Today, the AMSE website will add the 100th photograph. The picture shows people waiting in line outside the telephone office in Oak Ridge, and it was taken by Westcott in 1944.

“The photos of Oak Ridge taken by Ed Westcott during the Manhattan Project years are invaluable to the preservation of the story of a unique moment in the United States history,” said Julie Kellis, AMSE collections curator.