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 Master Cottage #1 shown in 2018, now known as the Hans Bethe House and Harold Agnew Cold War Gallery. Photo by Todd Nickols By SHARON SNYDER
The Los Alamos Ranch School (LARS) was in its seventh year when Director A.J. Connell had a small wooden building constructed to the west of the Big House to use as director’s quarters, giving him some privacy and freeing up space in the main building. However, there was a slight miscalculation, and long foul balls from the nearby baseball field had the potential to land on his roof. When Fuller Lodge was under construction in 1928, Connell moved to the third floor and turned over the small plank house to two young masters—Lawrence Hitchcock and Art Chase. In 1931, during a cold winter, the wooden cottage caught fire. With nearby Ashley Pond frozen over, there was little water to fight the flames, and the structure burned to the ground. There was, however, something odd about the fire. May Connell, A.J.’s sister, noted that one corner of the house burned much longer than the rest of the building. The explanation revealed that a 30-gallon keg of corn whiskey was stored in that corner! (Prohibition was still in force but winding down, and the young men said they were aging the keg in case prices increased when prohibition ended.) By SHARON SNYDER Los Alamos Historical Society The road that is Bathtub Row today passed by masters’ quarters and classrooms during the Los Alamos Ranch School years. During the Manhattan Project, it was the road to the houses assigned to key staff members at Project Y, and now it leads to lovely homes, the History Museum, the offices of the Los Alamos Historical Society, and Fuller Lodge. The lane that became Bathtub Row has been significant in three eras of our history. In the beginning the road was dirt and not much wider than a path. It wound its way through the Los Alamos Ranch School (LARS) property, and gradually a few rustic buildings appeared along the way. Those structures, built of logs and stone in the 1920s and 30s, are historic today.  The sign that made Bathtub Row an official street name. Photo by Sharon Snyder
 In January on Facebook we're going #InsideTheArchives to enjoy one of the treasures of Los Alamos history through the years. Following the Tsankawi Trail, you have a great overlook of what is now known as Duchess Castle. While this weathered structure is on National Park Service's Bandelier National Monument land its history impacts the Pajarito Plateau and continues to capture imaginations today. By SHARON SNYDER
In this very different Christmas season, I find comfort in the words of Edith Warner, the woman who lived at Otowi Bridge. Life hands us challenges in many different ways. The challenges we are facing now are different from the ones she faced during World War II, but the way she faced them with strength and hope can be a comforting inspiration. Edith wrote Christmas letters to her friends each year. In sharing this one with you, I’ve had to delete some parts to stay within the publishing space available, but the flow of her thoughts and the message are still there. This month on Facebook we're going #InsideTheArchives to explore the Oppenheimer House at 1967 Peach St. Affectionately called the Oppenheimer House, the log and stone structure was built in 1929 for the Los Alamos Ranch School.  Laura Gilpin photographed these Los Alamos Ranch School students in front of the Oppenheimer House around 1935. This is probably the Fir or Spruce Patrol, the two oldest patrols at the school. Back row: Chuck Pearce, John Wolf, James Woodhull, and Talbott Mead. Front row: Sandy Chapin, John Kiser, Jamie Soper, John Simondon, Henry Preston, and Paul Frank. Gift of Peggy Pond Church. Gilpin Collection, Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.  This photo accompanied the 1959 article in the LASL Community News and shows the fenced area. The boys and their dog are Dick Lilienthal, 12; Dick Baker, 10; Chip Lilienthal, 10; and Shag, Courtesy/LASL Community News By SHARON SNYDER
I’ve walked past the Ancestral Puebloan site in our historic district often since I moved back to Los Alamos in 2014, and I’ve sometimes wondered why I never noticed it when I was growing up here in the late 1950s and 1960s. Then, while doing research in our archives one afternoon, I noticed a story and photograph on the front page of the LASL Community News of Aug. 13, 1959. The picture showed that the pueblo remnants were behind a chain link fence and obscured by overgrown weeds and tall grasses. The only structure visible in the scene behind the fence was a small stone building that had been part of the Los Alamos Ranch School campus. It was built in the 1920s by Severo Gonzales Sr., a homesteader hired by the school’s director, A.J. Connell, to build a stone storage structure to store firefighting equipment for extinguishing fires that might result from droughts or the use of wood burning stoves. Unfortunately, the stones used for that building came from the Ancestral Puebloan site, a common practice in the years before such structures were seriously studied and revered. By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society The observance of Thanksgiving at Los Alamos Ranch School (LARS) in 1941 was the last one of a traditional nature. Ten days later, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and within the next few months Headmaster Lawrence Hitchcock and other masters would be in the military on active duty, but in 1941 the holiday was carefree. A fine turkey dinner with all the trimmings was served in Fuller Lodge and enjoyed by staff and visitors as well as all but five of the LARS boys. William “Bee” Barr went home to Chama to be with his family. Jim Thorpe invited Wilson Hurley to spend the weekend with his family in Santa Fe, and Charley Butler and Stirling Colgate traveled to Albuquerque to be with relatives. The long weekend was filled with activities for the boys who stayed at the school. Outings were arranged for those wanting to get away for the weekend and experience other New Mexico sites. Eleven boys went to Acoma, chaperoned by Master Oscar Steege. Senior Patrol Leader Ben Raskob went along and assisted with the driving. That group took a short side trip to the Albuquerque airport and were given a tour of one of the army’s large bombers. Other students chose to spend three days at Camp Hamilton with Headmaster Hitchcock and Master Harry Walen. They explored nearby pueblos and cliff dwellings as well as doing their part in caring for the cabin and preparing meals. Boys who chose to remain at the school stayed busy as they worked to clear the ski area on Sawyer Mesa. In the three days, they removed brush and trees to prepare for the upcoming ski season. Master Cecil Wirth was in charge of skiing at LARS and supervised the workers. A weekend snow fell as the young men removed logs from their ski run and looked forward to the outings they made possible. Masters Harry Walen and Fermor Church used some of their time off to drive to Santa Fe to listen to the annual Harvard-Yale football game with other area graduates of those universities, but there was also another reason for their trip. They brought back to Los Alamos a very important passenger. As they drove home that evening they were accompanied by Mrs. Walen and her new son, born Nov. 8 at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Welcoming the new little resident to the ranch school wrapped up a fine holiday. A year later, the Thanksgiving observance of 1942 had a very different tone as the turkey dinner was served at Fuller Lodge. The boys contemplated an unknown future, and LARS Director A.J. Connell and the remaining masters awaited a letter from the War Department that would reveal the fate of the school. The Los Alamos Thanksgiving of 1943 was observed by young men and women living behind a fence and working on a secret effort that would become known as the Manhattan Project. On Facebook this month we're going #InsideTheArchives to explore Manhattan Project secrecy.  A military examiner, identified only as #2034, used these two censor form slips to return a letter to Edward Wilder. Wilder Collection, Los Alamos Historical Society Archives and Collections. On Facebook we went #InsideTheArchives to explore some of the history of Los Alamos retail. Click through to explore historic photos and artifacts from businesses and shopping in the past.  George Hillhouse and Mr. and Mrs. Martin in the Los Alamos Pastry Shop, sometime between 1947–1957. Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archive. |
AboutThese articles are written by the Los Alamos Historical Society Staff. Many of these articles were originally published by the Categories
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