A large crowd waits to hear music during the June 2012 festival.
Make plans to attend the 12th Annual Secret City Festival on Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, in historic Oak Ridge. Join more than 20,000 visitors and residents to celebrate the end of World War II and the heritage of Oak Ridge from 1945 to the present.
Here’s an overview of some of the many activities and events taking place at this year’s festival: [Read more…]
Nick Fielder
A painter and former state archeologist will discuss his experiences growing up in Oak Ridge from 1951 to 1976 during a Thursday evening meeting.
Nick Fielder served as the Tennessee State Archeologist from 1983 to 2008. His Thursday evening presentation to the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association is titled “Growing up radioactive in Oak Ridge: My adventures from 1951 to 1976. A slide-illustrated lecture by Nick Fielder.”
The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at the American Museum of Science and Energy. [Read more…]
A sign at the Midtown Community Center on Robertsville Road celebrates the 71st birthday of Oak Ridge on Thursday (Submitted photo)
By Martin and Anne McBride
On Sept. 19, 1942, only two days after being appointed the head of the Manhattan Project in September 1942, Gen. Leslie R. Groves selected Oak Ridge as the first major site of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.
Ultimately, $1.1 billion was spent on the huge, first-of-a-kind Oak Ridge nuclear plants and the fledgling “Secret City” of Oak Ridge. This expenditure represented 72 percent of the money spent on the three principal Manhattan Project sites: Oak Ridge; Hanford, Wash.; and Los Alamos, N.M.
The Oak Ridge tract was approximately 17 miles long by an average of seven miles wide. The Corps of Engineers paid $2.6 million dollars for the land and initially named the site the “Kingston Demolition Range.†Local opposition to having a demolition range in the area caused the name to be changed to “Clinton Engineer Works.†[Read more…]
CapitalMark Bank and Trust Oak Ridge President David Bradshaw is pictured at the original Hamilton National Bank vault. (Submitted photo)
A nonprofit organization will present this year’s historic preservation awards on Thursday, Oak Ridge’s birthday.
Two awards will be presented this year, one to CapitalMark Bank and Trust in Jackson Square and the other to the Oak Ridge School Administration Building, formerly the Pine Valley School.
The awards will be presented by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association in back-to-back ceremonies Thursday afternoon. The first ceremony at Pine Valley School starts at 3 p.m., and the second at CapitalMark Bank and Trust at 3:45 p.m. [Read more…]
A Sept. 12 meeting at the George Jones Memorial Baptist Church, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, will provide a rare look inside the church and include an overview of the history of the former Wheat community. (Photos courtesy Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association)
Next week’s meeting of a historic preservation organization will feature a rare chance to see inside the George Jones Memorial Baptist Church in west Oak Ridge, a property listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association’s monthly membership and public meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12. It includes a field trip to the former Wheat community and the George Jones Memorial Baptist Church and cemetery, which is located off Blair Road, near the former K-25 site, which is now known as the Heritage Center. [Read more…]
The Homemade Wine Band played after the Friday morning opening ceremony at the Secret City Festival.
The annual Secret City Festival started today, and it features Manhattan Project bus tours and history displays, World War II living history activities and demonstrations, arts and crafts and antiques dealers, food vendors and exhibitors, a children’s festival area and youth events, and a car show and concerts.
“Join more than 20,000 visitors and residents to celebrate the end of World War II and the heritage of Oak Ridge from 1945 to the present,†a press release said.
Oak Ridge was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal program to build the world’s atomic bombs, and the festival celebrates the city’s heritage.
Festival organizers have provided an overview of some of the many activities and events taking place at this year’s festival:
 [Read more…]
Lee Curtis
A Tennessee tourism official will be the featured speaker at a Thursday night meeting of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association.
Lee Curtis is program development director of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, where she has worked since 1990, a press release said.
It said Curtis’ responsibilities include overseeing and developing the Tennessee Civil War Trails program and serving as the department’s heritage tourism contact. On Thursday, she will discuss the Civil War Trail Marker program in Oak Ridge, the press release said. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge City Historian Bill Wilcox, left, with Clifton Truman Daniel, grandson of President Harry S. Truman, who made the decision to use atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War II. Wilcox helped Daniel with background information for his new book on the decision to use the bombs. (Submitted photo)
Oak Ridge City Historian Bill Wilcox will discuss the last eight days of World War II during a presentation next week.
It starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at the Wildcat Den at the Midtown Community Center.
“Most Oak Ridgers know the story of Oak Ridge’s founding in 1942 as part of the Manhattan Project and about how the uranium 235 for the world’s first atomic bomb used in warfare, ‘Little Boy,’ helped end World War II,” said a press release from the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. “Helped is correct. The two atomic bombs really did help, but even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was no agreement in Japan’s ruling circle on surrender.” [Read more…]
Clifton Truman Daniel
In a speech later this month, the oldest grandson of former president Harry S. Truman will discuss his grandfather’s decision to use the world’s first atomic weapons at the end of World War II, a momentous decision that depended, at least in part, on work done in Oak Ridge.
Clifton Truman Daniel will also share insights about his grandfather’s life after Truman left the White House, and Daniel will discuss a family trip to Japan in 2012 for the 67th anniversary of the World War II bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
Daniel will be in Oak Ridge on Thursday, March 28. His speech is hosted by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. It’s open to the public, and tickets are $20.
Larry Kelly
Larry Kelly, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office, will be the featured speaker on Thursday, Jan. 10, at a joint meeting of two local nonprofit organizations. His speech is titled “Managing resources on the Oak Ridge Reservation in a changing environment.”
The talk is sponsored by Advocates for the Oak Ridge Reservation and the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. It starts at 7 p.m. Jan. 10 at the Midtown Community Center Wildcat Den, and it is open to the public.
