 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.
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 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? We’re looking forward to next week’s lecture on our local Prohibition-era history—and looking #InsideTheArchives too! We’ve found some fun photos and artifacts related to Los Alamos and liquor over the years.
 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.  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. |
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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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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