Historic Walking Tour
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WALK INTO HISTORICAL THE ATOMIC AGE A First inhabited by the ancestors of Northern HISTORICAL New Mexico’s pueblos, Los Alamos is located on the Pajarito Plateau of the Jemez ^ Mountains, formed by eruptions of a super Los Alamos volcano more than a million years ADDITIONAL ATTRACTIONS ago. Pueblo ancestors and later Los Alamos homesteaders used the plateau for seasonal ^ ^ farming and grazing. In 1917, H.H. Brook’s HOMESTEAD WALKING TOUR MAP Los Alamos* Ranch was purchased by MESA PUBLIC LIBRARY MANHATTAN PROJECT Ashley Pond Jr. to start Los Alamos Ranch School, a prep school which combined Originally located in government surplus buildings NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK academics and a physical curriculum. and then in a former cafeteria, the library is an B The Manhattan Project National Historical Park was During World War II, the Army Corps of important institution in this highly educated Engineers took over the plateau and sealed community. The 1993 award-winning design is by created by congress in 2014. It is distributed among it for a secret mission to end the war: the architect Antoine Predock. three locations, Hanford, WA, Oak Ridge, TN, and Manhattan Project. To the west of the library stood Central School, Los Alamos. The Los Alamos visitor center is located 1943–1965. It was the most elaborate building in the building just east of Ashley Pond. A. Sheep graze contentedly at the H.H. constructed in Los Alamos during WWII, in spite ^ Brook homestead in 1915 on the site of of the utilitarian and temporary nature of this secret HISTORY MUSEUM today’s History Museum and Fuller Lodge. army base. The curriculum was planned by Dr. Walter W. Cook of the University of Minnesota, CENTRAL AVE. Built as an infirmary in 1918 and later used as the guest hired to develop the perfect school for the children A mid-1940’s view (to the east on cottage for Los Alamos Ranch School, the museum B. of Manhattan Project personnel. Central at 20th Street). is in the oldest continually occupied structure in C ^ town. During the Manhattan Project (1943 – 1947), C. The Big House, built in 1917 as the BRADBURY SCIENCE MUSEUM the cottage continued to serve as guest quarters, dormitory for the Los Alamos Ranch notably for General Leslie R. Groves, commander of School, was the largest building on Named for Norris E. Bradbury, second director of the Manhattan Engineer District, whose office and the plateau at the time, thus earning the Los Alamos Laboratory, the Science Museum residence were in Washington, D.C. the name. It was torn down by the features films and interactive exhibits interpreting Now it serves as an award-winning, comprehensive Atomic Energy Commission in 1948 to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s contributions to historical museum which presents our world- make way for the Community Center. modern science, research and technology, including changing and varied history. A book and gift shop its role in the Manhattan Project and current mission greets visitors. * Spanish for cottonwood/poplar/aspen trees. THE BIG HOUSE in national security. First opened in 1963, it made a couple of moves within the Lab complex before being STATUES OF OPPENHEIMER AND GROVES located at this site in 1993. FOR MORE INFORMATION ^ SCULPTURES OF WELCOME TO LOS ALAMOS! Los Alamos Visitor Center White Rock Visitor Center OPPENHEIMER AND GROVES 475 20th Street, Suite A 115 NM State Road 4 (505) 662-8105 (505) 672-3183 Experience 800-year-old Ancestral Pueblo dwellings, early 20th century visitlosalamos.org visitlosalamos.org Life-sized sculptures of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer architecture, a homesteader’s cabin, and the very spot where the first atomic Mon – Fri: 9 – 5 Mid-May – Mid-Oct Mid-Oct – Mid-May and Gen. Leslie R. Groves are located south of Fuller bomb components were designed and assembled. Sat: 9– 4, Sun: 10 – 3 Mon – Sun: 8 – 6 Mon – Sun: 10 – 2 Lodge. The sculptures were dedicated in 2011. SCULPTURES OF OPPENHEIMER AND GROVES Bradbury Science Museum Los Alamos History Museum Move at your own pace, enjoy the museums, shopping, and restaurants 1350 Central Avenue 1050 Bathtub Row along your way. (505) 667-4444 (505) 662-6272 lanl.gov/museum losalamoshistory.org Sun – Mon: 1 – 5 Mon – Fri: 9 – 5 | Sat & Sun: 10 – 4 Tues – Sat: 10 – 5 Los Alamos Nature Center/PEEC Manhattan Project 2600 Canyon Road National Historical Park (505) 662-0460 475 20th St peecnature.org 04/2019 (505) 661-6277 M,W,F,Sat 10 – 4, Tues 10–8, Mon – Sun: 9 – 4 Th CLOSED, Sun 1 – 4 BRADBURY SCIENCE MUSEUM MESA PUBLIC LIBRARY HISTORY MUSEUM FULLER LODGE BATHTUB ROW (CONTD.) This grand building was built in 1928 as the Ranch School dining The house next to the Oppenheimer house, now known 1 hall. It also served as nurses, staff, and guest quarters. Named for 7 as the Hans Bethe House, displays Cold War exhibits as part of the Edward P. Fuller, a staff member at the Ranch School, it is made History Museum campus. of 771 massive pine logs, personally selected by architect John Gaw Meem and Ranch School director A.J. Connell. Fuller Lodge still serves as Los Alamos a public cultural event center. PERFORMING ARTS CENTER The building near the corner of 15th and Nectar Streets was 8 built as the Manhattan Project East Cafeteria. It is one of MEMORIAL ROSE GARDEN N the few GI buildings left from WWII. Used by the growing ECTA In 1947, the rose garden was started here by members of the Los R ST post-war community as a recreation hall, it started serving as a REET 2 Alamos Garden Club. At that time there was no cemetery, so rose N 8 playhouse in 1971, operated by the Los Alamos Little Theatre, a non-profit bushes were planted in memory of those who died in Los Alamos. HANS BETHE drama troupe. The garden club actively maintains the Rose Garden. It also serves as a popular place for weddings and other ceremonies. A Blue Star Memorial HOUSE Byway site, and a Los Alamos National Laboratory memorial to those killed POWER HOUSE in the line of duty are located here. 7 The building housing the diesel generators for the Los Alamos Ranch School was built in the early 1930s. In 1944. George Kistiakowsky, T 9 E E an explosives expert, and his new bride moved into it. As a R W T S joke, his friends carved a half-moon in the door of the attached shed the ROMERO CABIN O R H Homesteading began on the Pajarito Plateau in the late 1800s. Army built. It is now used as administrative office space for the National SENIOR T B 9 The Romero family built this cabin in 1913 on a nearby mesa. ANCESTRAL 1 Park Service. 3 U CENTER T Like all homesteads on the plateau, it was acquired by the U.S. H PUEBLO T government for the Manhattan Project. In 1984, the cabin was moved A SITE downtown and rebuilt in 2010. It is open to the public on select days and MESA B HOPPER FIREPLACE during guided tours. PUBLIC LIBRARY 6 These rocks were part of the fireplace in the homestead cabin of 10 William Mackwood “Mack” Hopper, who settled here in 1908. 9 JU The chimney, probably made of stone from an Ancestral Pueblo NIPER STR 3 FIRE CACHE EET 5 site and put together with a mud/clay mortar, was rebuilt in 2016 for O Local homesteader Severo Gonzales Sr. built this stone building PPEN the Los Alamos Historical Society as an Eagle Scout project. HE IME 4 in the 1920s for the Los Alamos Ranch School to house R STREET 10 4 firefighting equipment. Fires have always been a danger on 2 the Pajarito Plateau due to droughts, log construction, and even HISTORY MUSEUM TOUCH THE SKY SCULPTURE wood burning stoves. The building is made of stone from the nearby 11 In May 2000, the county and adjacent lands were devastated by Ancestral Pueblo Site. the 48,000-acre Cerro Grande wildfire. Nearly 400 Los Alamos homes were destroyed. This sculpture was erected a year later, commemorating the fire and community re-building. THE BIG HOUSE TO PEEC Across the street from the Romero Cabin was the site of the original NATURE CENTER main building for the Los Alamos Ranch School. The Big House ASHLEY POND 5 CE 1 design inspired the style of Fuller Lodge and other Ranch School NTR Ashley Pond began as a natural depression in the landscape. The A L 12 structures. Students slept there year-round on screened porches AVE FULLER LODGE Ranch School ensured its water supply by constructing a pipeline NUE as part of a physically, as well as academically, challenging education. The " from a dam in Los Alamos Canyon. It was named for Ashley Pond Jr., Big House contained a library and, during the war years, the non-broadcast 11 14 the founder of the Los Alamos Ranch School, whose students could not resist radio station, KRS. In 1943, it also housed some of the first scientists who the geographical pun. The boys used it for summer and winter sports. Blocks shared its one bathroom. TO BRADBURY of ice were cut from the pond in the winter and stored in the Ice House. i Ashley Pond Park contains a number of sculptures that are part of the county INFORMATION SCIENCE art collection curated by the Art in Public Places Board. ANCESTRAL PUEBLO SITE VISITOR CENTER MUSEUM In roughly 1225 CE, this site was home to a group of Tewa- T E 6 speaking people, ancestors of Pueblo groups now living along the E ICE HOUSE MEMORIAL R T Today a memorial stands at the site of the Ranch School Ice House.