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By Heather McClenahan
Los Alamos Historical Society A wrought iron gate, a smudged letter, and an old drum might rarely have intrinsic value. Rather, at least in the case of a museum, their value is in the stories behind them—what they represent—that gives them meaning. Such is the case at the Los Alamos History Museum.
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One of the charming sites in the Los Alamos Historic District is the Romero Cabin, a log structure originally built in 1913. The building has not always been in that location, though.
When it was first constructed, it was two mesas to the south on land that is now occupied by Los Alamos National Laboratory's Technical Area (TA) 55. According to a report by Ellen McGehee, historic properties manager at the lab, an expansion of facilities at TA 55 in the 1980s precipitated the cabin’s move. By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society The first airplane to land on the Pajarito Plateau set down in a open field in 1928. It was flown by Ashley Pond Jr., founder of the Los Alamos Ranch School. Pond had planned to volunteer for pilot training in World War I. He tried to enlist in the army, but at 45 he was turned down because of his age. Undeterred, he handed over the reins of the ranch school to A. J. Connell and joined the Red Cross. He served in France as a canteen worker near the front lines, so close that he came under fire during the American attack at St. Mihiel. Unwilling to give up his dream of flying after returning home, Ashley eventually began flying lessons in 1928 with Bill Cutter, the year that Cutter Flying Service was started in Albuquerque. What could have been more tempting for Pond than to fly over the school he created and land in the outer fields? By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society Sometimes a chance encounter can result in something unexpected. That was the case last August when I visited Mesa Verde National Park. I was wearing my Los Alamos Ranch School shirt with the embroidered logo when I met a volunteer ranger in the park. We were enjoying a nice conversation when she noticed the logo and said, excitedly, “My husband’s uncle was at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project!” By HEATHER MCCLENAHAN
Los Alamos Historical Society Few buildings induce the wonder and awe that Fuller Lodge evokes in first-time visitors. The majestic, three-story building of upright logs is the heart and soul of the community of Los Alamos. From its construction during the days of the Los Alamos Ranch School through today, it always has been. The building was designed by John Gaw Meem, a famous Southwestern architect known today as the father of Santa Fe’s Style. He used the Big House, the Ranch School’s dormitory, which also had upright log construction, as his model. Los Alamos is known worldwide as the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Our history and the people who made it have an international reach.
For the Los Alamos Historical Society, whether the stories are about geopolitical machinations during the Cold War or about the development of a neighborhood, all of our history is “local.” We bring this up because of the convergence of two points: the continued housing shortage in Los Alamos and a document we recently ran across in our Archives, “Disposal of the Los Alamos Community: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Communities of Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States, Eighty-Seventh Congress, Second Session on Disposal of the Los Alamos Community,” dated April 23, 1962. By HEATHER MCCLENAHAN
Los Alamos Historical Society Many years ago, someone at Los Alamos High School penciled on the fore edge of a history book on the teacher’s desk, “In case of flood, grab this. It’s dry.” Perhaps many of us had the kind of high school history classes in which textbooks spewed forth dates and names for dead people—“Memorize these for the test!”— and listed names of battles that seemed far away. Such textbooks offered no context to illustrate the importance or why all that stuff should be learned. |
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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