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National Park Service asks for public comments about Manhattan Project Park

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An undated aerial photo posted online by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management shows the former K-25 Building, once the world’s largest building, in west Oak Ridge. The building has been demolished, but its history is being preserved, including at the new K-25 History Center.

The National Park Service is asking for public comments about the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The comments are being sought as the Park Service prepares an interpretive plan for park programming, exhibits, and media, a press release said. The goal is to capture many different experiences and perspectives.

Discussions with the public are being organized by theme and region. The discussions focused on regions concentrate on the areas around the three Manhattan Project park locations: Hanford, Washington; Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Because of COVID-19, all events will be held virtually (online), the press release said.

The public meetings are Tuesday to Thursday this week. Here is the schedule:

[Read more…]

Museums, national park center closed

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The American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Museums and the national park welcome center in Oak Ridge are closed because of COVID-19, the respiratory illness that has infected more than 200,000 people in at least 144 countries around the world and killed more than 8,000 people.

The museums closed in Oak Ridge are the American Museum of Science and Energy, Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, K-25 History Center, Oak Ridge History Museum at Midtown Community Center (Wildcat Den), and Y-12 History Museum at New Hope Center.

Also closed is the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Welcome Center at the Children’s Museum.

The AMSE bus tours are also not operating now.

[Read more…]

Learn about women in the Manhattan Project on Dec. 21

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Close up of welding in prefabrication shop 1944 (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

What was life like for women and women scientists during World War II and the Manhattan Project?

You can join National Park Service staff on Saturday, December 21, as they discuss the social changes that occurred during World War II and how that affected women in the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during the war, and it included Oak Ridge.

The December 21 program is free to the public, but if you would like to explore the Children’s Museum, you will need to pay admission at the front desk. The Children’s Museum is located at 461 West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge.

[Read more…]

Manhattan Project Park: Ride with a Ranger on Saturday

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You can join a National Park Service park ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway on Saturday, May 25, 2019, to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 75 years. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

You can join a National Park Service ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 75 years.

The free program is presented by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge.

The bike ride program will start at 10 a.m. Saturday, October 19, at the Turnpike Gatehouse and travel down Big Oak Trail and North Boundary Road.

“Along the ride, we will explore the former communities that were here before the Manhattan Project,” a press release said. “Rangers will stop several times along the bike ride to point out the rich history that is found within the Oak Ridge area.”

[Read more…]

Manhattan Project Park: Commemorate tennis court dances in Jackson Square

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Oak Ridge Tennis Court Dance NPS
This undated photo shows a tennis court dance in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will commemorate the tennis court dances that occurred in Jackson Square 75 years ago with a dance and costume contest in October.

The Tennis Court Dance and Costume Contest is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, October 11, in the Jackson Square tennis courts. The free event will feature swing dancing music from the 1940s World War II era.

The National Park Service is partnering with Explore Oak Ridge to host the dance, a press release said.

“All ages are welcome to attend and everyone is encouraged to participate in the costume contest with their best 1940s costume,” the press release said. “One winner will be announced for best individual costume and one for group costumes.”

[Read more…]

Oak Ridge hosts Energy Communities Alliance meeting on national park

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Energy Communities Alliance Manhattan Project Park Group 2019
Some of the attendees of the Energy Communities Alliance meeting in Oak Ridge are pictured above in August 2019. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The City of Oak Ridge hosted visitors from across the country as part of the recent Energy Communities Alliance Peer Exchange focused on the continued implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, a press release said.

The meeting, held on August 14 and 15 in Oak Ridge, had an excellent turnout with many guests from the additional national park host communities of Los Alamos, New Mexico, and the cities near Hanford, Washington, making the trip to Oak Ridge, the press release said. Other attendees traveled from Aiken, South Carolina, to learn more about Oak Ridge and the national park, the release said.

Local officials, including Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Roane County Executive Ron Woody, Oak Ridge City Council member Chuck Hope, and City Manager Mark Watson welcomed the invitees. National Park Service officials and representatives from tourism bureaus, historical societies, and economic development councils also took part. Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn and City Council members Ellen Smith, Kelly Callison, Jim Dodson, and Derrick Hammond attended sessions as well.

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Manhattan Project: Walk through Wheat with park ranger on Sept. 14

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Wheat Community Before the Manhattan Project
The Wheat community before the Manhattan Project during World War II in the area that is now west Oak Ridge. (Photo submitted by National Park Service)

Join a park ranger for a walk through the pre-Manhattan Project community of Wheat on Saturday, September 14.

Wheat was in what is now west Oak Ridge, around the area of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site. It was one of several local communities displaced by the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

Oak Ridge and two other sites involved in the Manhattan Project—Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico—are now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

[Read more…]

Learn more about ‘Secret City,’ Manhattan Project during bus tours in August

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oakridge_graphite-reactor_mainpg_1_1
The X-10 Graphite Reactor with workers. (U.S. Department of Energy)

Two new bus tours offered in Oak Ridge in August will allow you to learn more about the unique heritage of the Manhattan Project, a press release said. The bus tours are the “Secret City” and “Oak Ridge Museums” tours.

The “Secret City” tour will be led by a National Park Service ranger, last three hours, and include that day’s admission to the American Museum of Science and Energy.

“During the Manhattan Project, a community was created almost overnight to accomplish the monumental task of producing enriched uranium on a large scale,” the press release said. “During the tour, visitors can develop an understanding of what life was like during World War II in a city behind a fence that no one was supposed to discuss. The tour will also include a visit to the X-10 Graphite Reactor, a National Historic Landmark, and the world’s first nuclear reactor designed and built for continuous operation.”

[Read more…]

Learn about secrecy, security, spies on July 20

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The Oak Ridge Turnpike Gatehouse is pictured above on the west end of town. (Submitted photo)

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present a program about secrecy, security, and spies on Saturday, July 20. The program is scheduled from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the Turnpike Gatehouse in Oak Ridge.

“The program will give visitors some insight to what life was like in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project with all the security, the need for secrecy, and the worry of spies,” a press release said. “This program is free and open to the public; parking is limited, so please try to carpool if possible.”

[Read more…]

Manhattan Project: Ride with a ranger on North Boundary Greenway on Saturday

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You can join a National Park Service park ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway on Saturday, May 25, 2019, to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 75 years. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

You can join a National Park Service park ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway on Saturday to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 75 years.

It’s a free program presented by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The bike ride will start at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Turnpike Gatehouse and travel down Big Oak Trail and North Boundary Road, a press release said.

“Along the ride, we will explore the former communities that were here before the Manhattan Project,” the press release said. “Rangers will stop several times along the bike ride to point out the rich history that is found within the Oak Ridge area.”

[Read more…]

Manhattan Project public program: Ride with a ranger on Saturday, April 27

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Join a park ranger for a bike ride on the North Boundary Greenway in Oak Ridge to see how the former communities of the area have changed during the past 70 years. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present a free program at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 29, 2017. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

Join a park ranger for a bike ride on Melton Lake Greenway in Oak Ridge to learn more about the city’s history. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present the free program at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 27, 2019. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

 

You can join a park ranger for a bike ride down Melton Lake Greenway and learn more about the city’s history later this month.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present the free program on Saturday, April 27, at 10 a.m. The program will begin at Elza Gate Park, a former entry point to the once-secret city, and continue down Melton Lake Greenway.

“Rangers will stop several times along the bike ride to point out the rich history that is found within the Oak Ridge area,” a press release said.

The ride will be approximately eight miles round-trip; it is recommended that visitors bring drinking water, the press release said. [Read more…]

‘HerStory’ photo exhibit at Oak Rige History Museum

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

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…]

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