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This month we are exploring #InsideTheArchives to rediscover a lost Los Alamos locale: Higgins Park. Do you recognize the name? Have you heard stories of this Manhattan Project-era park?  The stairway leading from the mesa top to the MP picnic area in 1945 or 1946. Bingham Collection, Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.
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If you have lived in Los Alamos for very long, then it is likely you have run into someone who has used a building as a landmark when giving you directions. Now, whether that building is still in existence or the business names they use still occupy the space is a different story entirely. It could be “turn by the Conoco hill gas station,” or “just past the Hill Diner,” or “where the Los Alamos Inn used to be.” Whatever it may be, landmark buildings are a guidepost for our everyday lives. This month we’re digging #InsideTheArchives to a landmark that stands at the entrance to Los Alamos, welcoming visitors and locals alike: the Hilltop House Motel. The Hilltop House Motel was built in the mid-1970s and had significant additions, such as a restaurant, made to it in 1980–1981. The Hilltop House’s annex was added in the mid/late 1980s and was just across Central Ave. The business closed in 2013 and the building has changed hands a couple times, but remains vacant at this time. What are your memories of the Hilltop House Motel? Did you ever stay there? Did you eat at one of the restaurants housed there (can you remember their names)? Help us bring this Los Alamos landmark to life with your stories in the comments. Click "Read More" to see more photos and share your memories.  The Hilltop House in the winter of 1983–1984. Waterman Collection, Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives. Come Inside the Archives with us this month to check out one of our most recent donations. These images are digitized copies of some of the slides donated by Betty Pickens Cabber, the daughter of Homer and Edna Pickens. Can you help us identify any of the people (or animals) in these photos?  Homer Pickens took this photo of the deer crate with kids gathered around sometime in the mid-1960s. Cabber Collection, Los Alamos Historical Society Archives. Los Alamos has many treasured community members, one of whom is Bun Ryan (Dec. 23, 1923-Sept. 29, 2014) who was named a Living Treasure of Los Alamos in 1999. Bun Ryan is famous in Los Alamos for his fast pitches as part of the Pierotti’s Clowns, but his contributions to Los Alamos history don’t end there.  Bun Ryan, Verdie Raper, and Lou Pierotti (left to right) sign softballs for the opening of the Los Alamos Historical Museum exhibit “Pierotti’s Clowns” in August 1998. Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.  Los Alamos Historical Society Executive Director Elizabeth Martineau in the Victory Garden behind the Hans Bethe House on Bathtub Row. Enterprise Bank’s support helped create this garden open daily to the public. Photo by Gordon McDonough By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society The Los Alamos Historical Society is planting a victory garden for the second year in a row, an effort that connects us to the Manhattan Project years and the World War II era. It is a living connection not only to Los Alamos history but also to our national history. The term victory garden dates back to World War I, when Americans were asked to grow “War Gardens”, but after the war, when the government encouraged the continuation of producing food in home gardens, the name changed to “Victory Gardens”. With the advent of a second world war, the idea was resurrected. The planning of personal gardens to help with the production of food was in full swing again by 1943, with approximately 20 million victory gardens planted. The national promotion of the gardens was handled by the Department of Agriculture, and despite the fact that most of the citizen gardeners were unskilled, they managed to raise approximately 8 million tons of food. The following year, they produced 40 percent of the vegetables grown in the United States, accounting for more than a million tons of food.
 Homer and Edna enjoying a sunny day with friends at Ashley Pond. Photo by Sharon Snyder By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society Two snowy white geese on Ashley Pond have captivated the community in the past months. The male goose, Homer, has lived on the pond for several years, but in January, an elegant companion was seen swimming next to him. She was soon referred to as Homer’s “girlfriend,” his “feathered beauty,” and sometimes “Homer’s Honey.” Although those tributes were nice, it was clear that his lovely lady needed a name. At that point, the community gladly became involved, submitting ideas for the name. The Daily Post accepted suggestions, and two names—Edna and Marge—were the most popular. Votes were sent to the newspaper, and in the end, Edna won out. A number of residents were disappointed, but historically, Edna was a good choice. Our geese aren’t the first couple with those names in the history of New Mexico. In 1927, a young man named Homer Pickens traveled from the Texas Panhandle to join his older brother, Albert, at a mountain camp near Cuba, NM. Albert Pickens was a hunter and trapper and ultimately worked for the U.S. Biological Survey. In the time Homer spent with his brother, he observed and learned and eventually was also hired by the Survey. With a secure job, Homer’s thoughts turned to a girl back home, and he asked Edna Burton to marry him. She agreed, and they rented an apartment in Roswell, where Homer was based with the Biological Survey. His first assignment after they were married took him away for two weeks. When he returned, Edna put her foot down and decreed that she would go with him when he returned to the camp. “I was going to live in the tent with him,” she recalled.  Historic Fuller Lodge in springtime. Courtesy/Los Alamos Historical Society Archive By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society On Sept. 17, 1928, the Santa Fe New Mexican ran a headline: “Los Alamos School Opens, Fuller Lodge Is Completed”. The article referred to a beautiful log edifice two and a half stories high, with “its most striking feature being the long and lofty portal on the east front, facing the Jemez Plateau with the Sangre de Cristo range in the far distance.” The first plans for Fuller Lodge were sketched in 1925 and preliminary drawings were finished in 1927, showing a building that would blend with the first Los Alamos Ranch School building, a two-story log structure called the Big House. The new lodge also would have vertical logs with contrasting horizontal log placements to coordinate with the Big House architecture. Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem was selected to carry out the project, and it was to use materials found on or near the Pajarito Plateau and the Jemez Mountains—ponderosa pine and aspen logs along with Bandelier tuff for the stonework.
The Guest Cottage as it appeared in 1942. Courtesy/Los Alamos Historical Society Archive The Guest Cottage, 2018. Photo by Todd Nickols By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society For more than a century, the oldest continuously used building in Los Alamos has served at different times as an infirmary, a guest cottage, living quarters, a shelter for skunks, and a museum and gift shop. As we might expect, a building that has existed on the plateau for that long has stories to tell! Referred to as the Guest Cottage for most of its existence, the building can be documented as far back as 1918 in records left by the Los Alamos Ranch School (LARS). It may have been on the plateau before the school was established. The first recorded occupant was Genevieve Ranger, the first nurse and matron for the school. She lived in the tiny log cabin, which doubled as the school’s infirmary, and also supervised the housekeeping and food service for the school. She left in 1924 and was followed by other matrons and nurses who would eventually live in Fuller Lodge when the infirmary was moved to the second floor. April 1st marks the 75th anniversary of Los Alamos becoming a “Company Town” with the Zia Company being contracted to run the Los Alamos Laboratory and the community of Los Alamos in 1946. They managed the town until the early 1960s, and continued to manage the Laboratory until 1986. You can still find evidence of the Zia Co. in some Los Alamos homes today with markings on bathroom mirrors or furniture. #InsideTheArchives you will discover the many influences that the Zia Company had on Los Alamos history through photographs of their work and employees, documents managing utilities and permits, and artifacts such as hats and IDs; and that’s just a fraction of what we have related to this 40-year period! Did you or a family member work for The Zia Company? Do you have a piece of furniture that has Zia Company instructions, stamp, or property tag? What do you remember about Zia Company’s impact on Los Alamos and the people who live here? |
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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