 The oldest continuously lived-in house in Los Alamos, 1999 Juniper St. Photo by Sharon Snyder By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society The oldest continuously lived-in house in Los Alamos was built on the Los Alamos Ranch School campus in 1925 and was known as the Chief Mechanics House. It is still the neighbor of the old Guest Cottage that today houses our History Museum. In the first years of the ranch school, three brothers from Española came to work on the Pajarito Plateau. Jim Womelsduff hired on as the school’s wrangler and ranch foreman, responsible for the entire physical plant — buildings, roads, water system, power plant, and power lines. His brother Frank became the public school teacher, and a third brother, Floyd, hired on as the chief mechanic, responsible for electrical maintenance, automobile repairs, and plumbing. He also drove the ranch truck to Otowi to pick up the mail and supplies delivered by the trains on the Chili Line. With the three Womelsduff boys working at the ranch school, their mother was alone on their ranch in the Española valley. It was decided that she would sell the land and live with Floyd. His job demanded an around-the-clock presence, so a cabin was needed near existing facilities.
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 The Pyramid in winter, Los Alamos Ranch School, c. 1924. Courtesy/Los Alamos Historical Society Archive By Sharon Snyder
Los Alamos Historical Society In the first three years of the Los Alamos Ranch School (LARS), the masters and boys all lived in a large, two-story log building known as the Big House. It contained rooms for students and masters, sleeping porches for the boys, a small library, classrooms, a kitchen and dining area, and a common room with a large fireplace. Perhaps with an eye to the future, LARS Director A.J. Connell had a square wooden structure built to the west of the Big House c.1920. The plain frame building couldn’t have been called aesthetic, but it offered quarters for two masters, each room with space for a desk and dresser and a bed on a sleeping porch. The new accommodations were soon referred to as the Pyramid, an appropriate name for a building with a four-sided pointed roof. The masters who moved into the Pyramid gained privacy but left behind modern amenities such as electric lights, indoor plumbing, and hot water.  Los Alamos Ranch School Master Cottages 1 and 2, known today as the Hans Bethe House and the Oppenheimer House. Courtesy/Los Alamos Historical Society By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society The houses of Bathtub Row have seen many occupants through the years and have many stories to tell, but the name Oppenheimer lends a special aura to one of those houses. It had existed for thirteen years before it became the temporary home for Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer, their young son, Peter, and daughter, Toni, who was born during World War II. The history of the house began in 1929 when A.J. Connell, the director of the Los Alamos Ranch School (LARS), designed a home for his sister, May Connell. May had followed two of her brothers to New Mexico after growing up in New York and spending time in France studying art. A.J. offered her a job to teaching voice, music appreciation, and painting, and planned to build her a cottage.
 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
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The Los Alamos Historical Society preserves, promotes, and communicates the remarkable history and inspiring stories of Los Alamos and its people for our community, for the global audience, and for future generations.
Contacts: AC Tech: 505-709-7738, actech@losalamoshistory.org Archives: 505-709-7841, archives@losalamoshistory.org Collections: 505-795-9970, curator@losalamoshistory.org Educator: 505-709-7760, educator@losalamoshistory.org Executive Director: 505-662-6272, execdirector@losalamoshistory.org Executive Assistant: 505-695-3524, kristen@losalamoshistory.org Membership: 505-695-3524 Museum Assistant: kaity@losalamoshistory.org Museum/Museum Shop: 505-709-7794, info@losalamoshistory.org Museum Shop Manager: 505-695-5250, museumshop@losalamoshistory.org |
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