There will be a grand re-opening celebration for the K-25 Visitors Center and Overlook in west Oak Ridge on Monday afternoon, according to the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association.
It’s a kick-off party for National Travel and Tourism Week. There will be food trucks, live music, interactive exhibits, and more, the ORHPA said.
The celebration is scheduled from 4-6 p.m. Monday, May 6, at 2013 Highway 58.
[Read more…]
Photo by Oak Ridge History Museum
The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association will celebrate two history-related events this month: the opening of the Oak Ridge city gates 70 years ago and the opening of a new museum, the Oak Ridge History Museum.
The celebration is scheduled for Saturday, March 23.
The new museum was established to preserve the history of the life and work of the people who made the Manhattan Project a success, a press release said. The primary purpose of the museum is to focus on the “human side†of the Manhattan Project, telling the story of the history of Oak Ridge and the people’s day-to-day lives during World War II. The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.
The Oak Ridge History Museum exhibits feature a unique collection of authentic artifacts and displays, including historic photographs made by Ed Westcott, the famous Manhattan Project photographer in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
The Midtown Community Center on Robertsville Road is pictured above. (Submitted photo)
In August, the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association announced that it was opening the historic Midtown Community Center to the public on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and the organization has plans for a new Oak Ridge History Museum.
The announcement was made by the ORHPA’s Oak Ridge History Museum Committee.
The Midtown Community Center is open to the public: [Read more…]
Renowned Manhattan Project photographer Ed Wescott, right, is pictured above with city historian D. Ray Smith. (Submitted photo)
The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association will celebrate renowned photographer Ed Westcott’s 96th birthday on Saturday. Westcott was the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during World War II, and if even you don’t know him, there is a good chance you have seen his wartime photos.
Oak Ridge was built during the war as part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s atomic weapons, and Westcott’s photos can be seen in businesses around town, in historical presentations, and in news stories.
His birthday celebration on Saturday is one of the city’s 75th anniversary events. The celebration, which includes special activities with Westcott, is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, January 20, at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road. [Read more…]
A reminder: The 14-month celebration of Oak Ridge’s 75th anniversary starts today (Friday, September 15).
Today’s celebration will feature guest speaker Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City” and “The Last Castle,” at 6 p.m. at the Historic Grove Theater. There will be a book signing, and Kiernan’s book will be available for sale.
Ed Westcott, the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during the top-secret Manhattan Project in World War II, will be the honored guest from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Family members Don and Emily Hunnicutt will present a slide show of Westcott photos with a question-and-answer session.
“You will never grow tired of Ed’s photographs, which tell the enormous Oak Ridge Manhattan Project story,” according to the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, which is presenting the celebration.
The celebration starts with historical displays at 2 p.m. There will be a wide variety of artifacts, posters, and displays for you to enjoy, the ORHPA said. [Read more…]
Warren Gooch
Oak Ridge will begin its 75th Anniversary Celebration in September, a press release said.
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren L. Gooch announced Thursday that the city will form a committee to help coordinate and circulate information about the 75th anniversary, the press release said.
The 75th anniversary festivities will begin in September and continue through the end of 2018, the release said.
Among the planned events are a lecture presented by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association on September 15, 2017, titled “The Legacy of Place†by guest speaker Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City†and “The Last Castle.â€
The Oak Ridge Fire Department plans to host “Then and Now,†a 1940s-era Fire Prevention Parade along Oak Ridge Turnpike on October 7, 2017.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex will celebrate the anniversaries of their respective beginnings as well, the press release said. [Read more…]
Photographer Ed Westcott will be the honored guest and author Denise Kiernan will be the guest speaker at a 75th anniversary celebration for Oak Ridge on September 15.
The 75th anniversary celebration is presented by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. It’s scheduled to start with historical displays at the Historic Grove Theater at 2 p.m. Friday, September 15.
The celebration is free and open to the public, an event flyer said, but donations to Friends of the Grove and the ORHPA are welcome.
Westcott was the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. He will be the honored guest from 4 to 5:30 p.m. September 15. There will be a photo slide show presented by Don and Emily Hunnicutt, as well as a question-and-answer session. [Read more…]
Alan Carr
Senior historian Alan B. Carr will discuss the history of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico during a talk in Oak Ridge next week, a press release said.
Carr will speak to the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association’s public and membership meeting on Tuesday, July 11. That meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. July 11 at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road.
(Note: The meeting will be held on Tuesday, not the second Thursday, the normal date for the ORHPA’s monthly meetings. This is being done to accommodate Carr’s schedule as he is coming to Oak Ridge on business travel and must leave on Thursday, the press release said.)
The press release said Carr currently serves as senior historian for Los Alamos National Laboratory. During his tenure as a laboratory historian, which began in 2003, Carr has produced several publications pertaining to the Manhattan Project, early nuclear weapons design, and nuclear testing history, the release said. [Read more…]
Come out on May 11, 2017, and show appreciation for the American Museum of Science and Energy and express your personal appreciation to the staff, ORHPA said. (Photo by ORHPA)
The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association is having a Museum Appreciation Day for the American Museum of Science and Energy on Thursday, May 11.
The Museum Appreciation Day is is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 11, at AMSE, which is at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge.
The Museum Appreciation Day is being held in place of the ORHPA’s regular monthly meeting normally, which is in the evening on the second Thursday of each month.
“The ORHPA encourages all its members and the public to come out and thank the AMSE staff for decades of excellent work, creating a museum that is a top destination for visitors to Oak Ridge,” a press release said. “While visiting, you’ll have a chance to give comments on what the AMSE means to you.” [Read more…]
The 1920s brought significant progress for women, a press release said. (Submitted photo/ORHPA)
A retired Oak Ridge school teacher and historian will discuss the women who lived in this part of East Tennessee before Oak Ridge was built during World War II.
Eugene Pickel will also pay tribute to retired Oak Ridge teacher Catherine Ledgerwood during his talk to the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association on Thursday.
“Women are more equal today than ever in history,” Pickel said in a press release. “I thought I would describe women generally as they were in our area—Kingston, Clinton, Oliver Springs—before Oak Ridge was created. Then I thought I would go to Catherine Ledgerwood—the most creative change agent I have ever known. Her impact on young people was, and still is, remarkable!”
Oak Ridge was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal project to make the world’s first atomic weapons. The Manhattan Project production site that became Oak Ridge displaced century-old family farms and small crossroads communities: Scarborough, Wheat, Robertsville, and Elza. (Some have historical markers.)
The Thursday night ORHPA meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association has proposed that the U.S. Department of Energy and the City of Oak Ridge host two international events during their 75th anniversary.
The events are: (a) an exhibit on the international scientific progress made during the seven decades since World War II and (b) a remembrance of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with special invitations going to representatives of the 25 countries that suffered the highest casualties during the war, a press release said.
Both the U.S. Department of Energy nuclear complex and the City of Oak Ridge were born in the turbulent year following the Pearl Harbor attack (1942) as part of President Roosevelt’s massive—and super-secret—effort to build the first atomic bomb, the press release said.
“Including these two events in this year’s anniversary would showcase DOE’s important contributions to mankind and enhance international understanding and cooperation,†said Martin McBride, who heads the ORHPA committee on the proposal. “It would also honor all who fell during World War II.†[Read more…]
Preservationists are concerned as federal officials seek public comment on the possibility of moving out of a historic building that is one of the few World War II-era buildings remaining on main roads in Oak Ridge—and possibly the only one left on Illinois Avenue. It was once an emergency hospital and then a health department. It now houses the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, at 456 South Illinois Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Preservationists are concerned as federal officials seek public comment on the possibility of moving out of a historic building that is one of the few World War II-era buildings remaining on main roads in Oak Ridge—and possibly the only one left on Illinois Avenue.
The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, of the Air Resources Laboratory, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is now at 456 South Illinois Avenue. It’s just north of Ole Ben Franklin Motors and across from new shopping centers on the other side of South Illinois Avenue.
During World War II, the single-story white building was an emergency hospital to serve federal plants. Oak Ridge was built in the mid-1940s, during the war, to help make the world’s first nuclear weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, and it enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime.
After the war, the building, which is now owned by NOAA, was used as the city’s health department, said Mick Wiest of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, or ORHPA.
Wiest said the building is well-maintained, and it’s received a historic preservation award from ORHPA. [Read more…]
