LOS ALAMOS HISTORY
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​History Blog

Our Two Main Roads

8/31/2022

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This image was taken during the Ranch School era. The camera is facing East and you may recognize the two parallel roads. Be sure to notice where these roads merge together in the distance.
Downtown Los Alamos revolves around two roads, Trinity Drive and Central Avenue. These two roads run parallel to each other and they handle a majority of the traffic for everyday Los Alamos. Our small businesses, restaurants, and some of our residences rely on these roads. When one of them requires construction, the town is thrown into an uproar because our ‘traffic’ builds up for several blocks, blocking the ease of flow for the town. 

A little known fact is that these streets have been here almost as long as the town has! Granted, there have been a few bends here and there, but the overall location and direction has remained the same since the era of the Los Alamos Ranch School (1917 to 1943).

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Otowi Site

7/7/2022

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​Living on the Los Alamos Plateau always brings forth curiosities, but some of the biggest ones are our local Ancestral Puebloan Sites. No matter where you are in town you will be within a several hundred-foot proximity to ones of these sites, or at least where one used to be. Excavations and preservation efforts have been conducted in Los Alamos for over 100 years.
One of the largest sites within our county is the Ancestral Puebloan Site named Otowi, also claimed to have been called Potsuwi’I which means ‘gap where the water sinks’. Acquired from some old newspaper publications, one of the first excavations of this location started in 1915 by a woman named Lucy Langdon Williams Wilson. She was the principal of a school in Philadelphia and her husband ran the Philadelphia Commercial Museum. With some basic paperwork and a 3-year governmental permit, they set out west to excavate Otowi.

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Shopping in Los Alamos

10/20/2020

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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.
Proprietors George Hillhouse and Henry Martin are dressed in baker's clothing and stand behind a counter filled with baked goods. Mrs. Henry Martin stands behind the cash register which is to the left of another pastry filled counter. A tall shelf filled with goods stands in the far corner and holds a telephone. Mirrors behind Mrs. Martin produce the reflections of the two men.
George Hillhouse and Mr. and Mrs. Martin in the Los Alamos Pastry Shop, sometime between 1947–1957. Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archive.

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Living and Working in Fuller Lodge

10/8/2020

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Here's another #InsideTheArchives post from our Facebook page, this one focusing on people whose lives intersected with Fuller Lodge: the waitresses of The Lodge hotel. In our society it is rare to live and work in the same location (although this is now the case for many us during this time of COVID-19). The Lodge had a restaurant and bar which served meals to its guests. The waitresses who served the meals for The Lodge lived there as well. There is even some mystery involved because we have conflicting sources about where the staff bedrooms were located in Fuller Lodge.
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The Fuller Lodge dining room in July 1946, towards the end of Project Y (which ended at the end of that year). Photo by Joseph Gluth. Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.

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Los Alamos Movie Theaters

10/8/2020

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Earlier this summer, we reflected on the closure of the Reel Deal Theater with an #InsideTheArchives post on Facebook exploring the history of movie theaters in our community. Since the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos has had six separate theaters with some of those being acquired by different owners and renamed. Our Archives has a number of photographs, newspaper articles, and paper artifacts (such as the Zia Co. calendar you can see with this post) that show or reference these local theaters. Many people remember these places as centers for fun, entertainment, and socialization as they grew up.
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Marquee, ticket booth, and entrance to the Centre Theater, Los Alamos Community Center, 1950. Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.

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Are Playgrounds Historic?

10/8/2020

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Absolutely! Here's an #InsideTheArchives post from our Facebook account that looks at a couple of historic photographs from two local playgrounds alongside a collection of current photos from this year. These snapshots give us changes to the structures over the years. These can inform us about what interested kids at the time, what was considered safe, and show us what has changed or remained over time in our community. Each photograph gives us a glimpse of life from that year in Los Alamos history. Do you have any photographs or objects that reflect what Los Alamos life is like?
Two children slide down a large slide in the center of the photo, while 8 others play on and near a swingset in the background.
Pine Street playlot on August 18, 1950. Los Alamos Historical Society Photo Archives.

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​Personal Connections to History Shared on Facebook

8/2/2018

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By Sharon Snyder
Los Alamos Historical Society


For most people, our first personal connections to history are generally made in our hometowns as we are growing up. For those who count Los Alamos as their hometown, the experiences are unique and not easily understood by people anywhere else.

With only the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a major employer, most Los Alamos High School graduates move on to other places for employment, but they miss sharing their unique memories of our very different town. I know about that. I moved away after graduating in 1965. Though I was living in Albuquerque and not so very far away, I enjoyed crossing paths occasionally with someone from the Hill and feeling a kinship with them. After five decades away, I moved back to Los Alamos, and I immediately knew that I was home.

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​Pierottis’ Clowns: Creating Community

7/19/2018

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By Heather McClenahan
Los Alamos Historical Society

The Los Alamos History Museum is excited to announce that its new exhibit, “Pierotti’s Clowns: Creating Community,” is on display now through December 2018 in the Los Alamos County Municipal Building at 1000 Central ave.

Visit this exhibit to learn about the celebrated accomplishments of Pierotti’s Clowns and how this five-man, fast-pitch softball team shaped the development of Los Alamos with their athletic skill, charming antics and philanthropy. The exhibit is in the main lobby of the Municipal Building.

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​Preserving Los Alamos History at the Archives

7/12/2018

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By Stephanie Yeamans
Los Alamos Historical Society

As the community of Los Alamos, a relatively young town in historic New Mexico, grows older, portions of its population are also aging. When retirees downsize or parents pass away, families often wonder what to do with old papers and objects from years gone by. The Los Alamos Historical Society often becomes the repository for those collections.

As caretakers of our community history, the Historical Society has legal and ethical obligations for these donations. If you are considering a donation of papers, photographs, or artifacts to the Los Alamos Historical Society, the archives and collections staff would like to share with you some of the questions we ask and criteria we require for donations.

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​Los Alamos Notes Little Effect From Opening Its Gates

5/24/2018

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By HEATHER MCCLENAHAN
Los Alamos Historical Society
 
“Los Alamos Notes Little Effect From Opening Its Gates” is a historic headline. It appeared in the May 6, 1957 edition of the of the Albuquerque Journal, with an article about how removing the security gates at the entrance of the once-secret city did not lead to a wave of crime and other problems.
 
Los Alamos residents were shocked in February 1957 to learn that in less than one week, the gates that guarded the town since its inception would come down. The town had been a top-secret city during World War II and a “gated” community since, and most residents were used to keeping their doors unlocked and their bicycles left out and about.

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    These articles are written by the Los Alamos Historical Society Staff. Many of these articles were originally published by the
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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Learn / Research >
      • Information For Teachers
      • Teachers and Caregivers
      • Adult Resources >
        • National History Day
        • Homestead Driving Tour
        • History at Home
        • Pioneering Women in Los Alamos
        • Development of the Atomic Bomb
        • Links and Resources
      • Archive >
        • About the Archive
        • Research Appointments
        • Inside the Archives
        • Share Your Stories
        • COVID-19 Collecting
    • Careers/Jobs
    • Who We Are
    • Contact
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Museum Campus
    • Museum >
      • Exhibits >
        • Online and Temporary Exhibits
      • Victory Garden
      • Explore Los Alamos
    • Tours
    • Oppenheimer House
  • Programs
    • Upcoming Events
    • Lecture Series
    • Spring 2023 Tour to Trinity
    • History Award
    • Los Alamos / Japan Project
    • Volunteer Training
  • Donate
    • Membership
    • Donate to Projects
    • Legacy Society
    • Collections Donations
    • Donate Your Time- Volunteer
  • History Blog
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Children's Books & Gifts
    • Apparel
    • Gifts