The 300 Area was home to the fuel fabrication operations for Hanford. Here, hundreds of thousands of tons of raw uranium were formed into fuel slugs that were irradiated in the Hanford nuclear reactors to produce plutonium for the war effort. Many of the buildings in the 300 Area have been demolished as part of the Department of Energy’s cleanup efforts.
Manhattan Project National Historical Park is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities have equal opportunity to benefit from our facilities, programs, services, and activities whether they are indoors or outdoors. Learn more about accessible features available at Hanford.
Manhattan Project National Historical Park is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities have equal opportunity to benefit from our facilities, programs, services, and activities whether they are indoors or outdoors. Learn more about accessible features available at Los Alamos.
Manhattan Project National Historical Park is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities have equal opportunity to benefit from our facilities, programs, services, and activities whether they are indoors or outdoors. Learn more about accessible features available at Oak Ridge.
African American houses of worship existed in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project, despite racism and segregation. Today, several African American churches still exist in the community.
African American Hutments were some of the lowest forms of housing during the Manhattan Project. Hutments were 16 X16 foot (4.8 meters) structures made of plywood with screenless windows with shutters and a central oil stove. Residents experienced sweltering summers and freezing winters in these hutments. Today, the site of the hutments is now a modern commercial development.
A remnant of an old pumphouse, known colloquially as the Allard Pumphouse, overlooks the Columbia River. For 30 years the pumphouse moved water from the river to an irrigation system that served farmsteads throughout the Priest Rapids Valley. The Allard Pumphouse became part of the Hanford Site when the Manhattan Project acquired the surrounding area in 1943. People can only visit the pumphouse through tours offered by the Department of Energy.
The American Museum of Science and Energy first opened on March 19, 1949, the same day the City of Oak Ridge opened its gates to the public. The museum’s newly-designed exhibit gallery features exhibits on Big Science, National Security, Energy Leadership, the Manhattan Project, Environmental Restoration, and several temporary exhibits.
Long before the Manhattan Project came to the Pajarito Plateau, the Ancestral Pueblo people lived in the area. Two to three families of Tewa-speaking people likely occupied this Pueblo around 1225. It would have included bedrooms, kitchens, storage rooms, and a semi-circular kiva used for ceremonies and meetings. The Pueblo is part of the Los Alamos History Museum campus.
Ashley Pond has been a prominent feature of Los Alamos since the homesteading and Los Alamos Ranch School eras. Strolling around the pond, you may walk in the footsteps of famous scientists, Ranch School students, or the cattle who drank here.
The B Reactor is the world's first full-scale nuclear reactor. The plutonium produced here was used in the Trinity Test and in the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945. Visitors can only tour the B Reactor via tours offered by the Department of Energy.
The B Reactor Overlook on Washington State Route 24 offers views of Manhattan Project facilities on the Hanford Site. This vista shows how the Manhattan Project transformed this region, displacing farmers such as the Bruggemans, while constructing massive plutonium production facilities in former farming communities. From this overlook, you can see the B Reactor, T Plant, and the Bruggemann’s warehouse, which was part of a large agricultural operation.
How special is your bathtub to you? In wartime Los Alamos, most residents lived in hastily constructed housing. Houses with amenities like bathtubs were rare and reserved for the highest-ranking members of the Manhattan Project. These well-built homes with their luxurious bathtubs gave this street the nickname “Bathtub Row.” Visitors to Los Alamos can still walk down Bathtub Row today.
Test leader Edward Creutz joined the Manhattan Project in 1942 as a physicist at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Lab. Working under Eugene Wigner, Creutz helped design water-cooled production reactors, which became the basis for the nuclear reactors at the Hanford Site. In 1944, Creutz moved to Los Alamos to develop explosive lenses for Fat Man, the first implosion-type weapon. Find out more about tour reservations and schedules on the Bradbury Museum website.
By studying magnetic field disruptions at the Battleship Bunker (TA-18-2), scientists learned more about implosion. This building is on Los Alamos National Laboratory property. You can only access it through guided tours offered on specific dates. Find out more about tour reservations and schedules on the Bradbury Museum website.
Beta-3 at Y-12 is where the well-known Calutron Girls worked. This building is within the highly secured Y-12 National Security Complex on US Department of Energy property and cannot be accessed by members of the public.
This empty field was once part of Big Pasco, one of the largest logistic centers of World War II. Big Pasco relayed supplies to troops in the Pacific Theater, as well as to Hanford Engineer Works and other units. Built in 1942, Big Pasco welcomed between 100 and 225 railroad cars every day that carried supplies ranging from nails to bulldozers to locomotives. This site is a great quick stop via car, or you can see it while enjoying the Sacagawea Heritage Trail.
If you want to learn more about the history of the Manhattan Project, make sure to stop by the Bradbury Science Museum. The museum’s interactive exhibits share stories from the project and provide a glimpse of the historic sites “behind the fence.” You’ll also discover the modern advances in research and cutting-edge science that still take place today at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
A weather-beaten warehouse is all that remains of the once-flourishing Bruggemann Ranch. The 550 acre (222 ha) ranch grew a variety of fruit and vegetables near the Columbia River until the Manhattan Project acquired the land. Today, the warehouse is on the Hanford Site. People can only visit Bruggemann Ranch through tours offered by the Department of Energy. However, a public roadway overlook provides a view of the ranch and warehouse.
During the Manhattan Project, architect Gustav Pehrson transformed the pre-war farming community of Richland into a compact, walkable city that offered residents a variety of services. This building housed the C.C. Anderson’s Department Store. As the only department store in town, the C.C. Anderson’s Department Store was a hive of activity located in the center of the community. Today, this building houses a number of smaller stores.
Between 1943 and 1945, the Hanford Engineer Works employed approximately 45,000 people—not counting a supplemental workforce of 250 to 290 federal prisoners from the McNeil Island Penitentiary in Puget Sound. The prisoners harvested crops on farms and orchards taken over by the government to make way for the Manhattan Project. They lived in a special camp at the southern boundary of the Hanford Site, on the north bank of the Yakima River, just above Horn Rapids Dam.
The trail up Candy Mountain is a moderate 3.6 mile (5.8 km) roundtrip hike that offers sweeping views of the Tri-Cities region and a walk through time. Signs along the trail explain the impact of the ice age floods on area geography. Hikers capture sweeping views from the summit, with Mount Adams, Rainier, and Stuart visible on clear days. This perch offers a bird’s-eye view of the Hanford Site. A nearby sign points out the various areas of the Hanford Site.
Décor and art have helped makes houses “homes” for generations. At the cavates in this behind the fence area, you can find evidence of how the Ancestral Pueblo people fixed up their homes. Find out more about tour reservations and schedules on the Bradbury Museum website.
Completed in October 1943, this standard military 700-series chapel, was one of three military chapels constructed at Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. The Chapel on the Hill welcomed worshipers of many denominations during the Manhattan Project. Today, the chapel remains a place of worship. The interior is closed to the public, but the grounds are open to visit.
The Manhattan Project Oak Ridge Visitor Center is located within the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge. Inside the museum, you can speak with park staff, stamp your passport book, view a park film, and explore exhibits on the Manhattan Project, science, history, geography, and the environment. The museum building used to be an elementary school that opened in September of 1944 to educate the children of Manhattan Project workers.
T-101, a civilian women’s dormitory, housed women civilians, or non-military staff who were working for the Manhattan Project. Some of the earliest dormitories built on the mesa, they were designed by architect Willard C. Kruger, who also designed many non-military facilities for Project Y. While there is only one dormitory still standing today, Project Y was said to have four civilian dormitories, two men and two women housing structures.
The Oak Ridge community swimming pool was built in 1945 for Manhattan Project workers and their families to enjoy on hot summer days. The pool was built in place of a spring-fed pond. The 58,630 square-foot (5446.9 sq meters) swimming pool holds approximately 2.2 million gallons (8,327,905.9 liters) of water, making it one of the largest spring-fed swimming pools in the United States. Residents of Oak Ridge enjoy the pool to this day.
The Oak Ridge community tennis courts were the site of evening dances during the Manhattan Project. Today, the courts are used for public exercise and rangers often hold throwback dances on the courts.
Constructed in 1909, the Dyer Building has witnessed more than a century of change. Its numerous occupants reflect the many phases of Richland as it went from a small farming community, to a “secret city,” to a Cold War technology center, to an incorporated city. The Dyer building has been a boarding house, hotel, single family home, newspaper office, and a library. In 1965 it became an art gallery—the Gallery at the Park.
One of seven gates controlling access to Oak Ridge, the Edgemoor Gatehouse controlled traffic entering the reservation via Edgemoor Road connecting to Highway 25, providing access from Knoxville The gate has since been deactivated and torn down.
The Elza Gatehouse, named after a small, nearby community, was one of three checkpoints positioned within the secret city. Many considered Elza the main entrance to Oak Ridge. The Elza gatehouse has since been demolished. The Elza Gate Park exists at the original gate’s location. You can find walking trails and wayside exhibits related to the Elza gate’s role during the Manhattan Project.
The Franklin County Historical Society has artifacts, educational programs, and displays that share story of the development of Franklin County. The museum building was originally constructed in 1910 as part of Andrew Carnegie’s worldwide library construction program.
Fuller Lodge served as the dining hall for the Los Alamos Ranch School and as a community center for Manhattan Project workers. By far the largest of the remaining school buildings, Fuller Lodge over the years has played an important role in the Los Alamos community. Today, it is an art center.
Why was a rural area of East Tennessee chosen for one of the largest wartime undertakings in history? The geography of Oak Ridge proved vital to the Manhattan Project’s success. Learn why General Leslie Groves selected Oak Ridge to host the massive uranium-enrichment effort.
Richland’s population boom didn’t end with the Manhattan Project. Hanford’s plutonium production facilities continued operating throughout the Cold War. More housing was built to accommodate the constant influx of workers. Built in 1949, this neighborhood near the Columbia River became known as the “gold coast.” The homes in this area were larger, more expensive, and tended to house professionals.
Built in 1922, the Pasco-Kennewick Bridge was constructed to accommodate larger amounts of vehicle travelers compared to the previous ferry system. Linking the cities of Kennewick and Pasco, the bridge was painted green and quickly earned the nickname “the Green Bridge.” This bridge had a direct impact on the social and economic development of the region. A plaque and some remnants of railing is all that remains of this steel cantilever truss bridge.
Built in 1922, the Pasco-Kennewick Bridge (the “Green Bridge”) in southeastern Washington began as a symbol of unity and progress. No one could have known then that the bridge, painted in green, would eventually gain a new and menacing significance, one of exclusion. The Green Bridge would become a dividing line between Kennewick, a community that sought to exclude Blacks, and Pasco, a community that sought to confine Blacks.
George Gress built a humble brick building in early Richland for his butcher shop. He operated Gress’s Meat Market from 1915 until 1943 when the Manhattan Project displaced most of Richland's existing businesses and residents. Since closure of the meat market, this building has served as a newspaper office, tavern, library, chocolate store, restaurant, and sweet shop.
Oak Ridge became a boomtown due to the Manhattan Project. By 1945, the secret city’s population quickly soared beyond anybody’s expectations to 75,000. Grove Center and other commercial buildings were quickly built to meet the growing demand for goods and services. Today, you can find many of the same amenities at Grove Center that the locals enjoyed long ago.
The leaders of Project Y in Los Alamos have statues memorializing them in downtown Los Alamos. One statue is of J. Robert Oppenheimer who oversaw the Los Alamos Laboratory and gathered top scientists and engineers to design and fabricate the world’s first atomic weapons. The other statue is of Gen. Leslie Groves who led the Project Y from a military standpoint, securing funding and supporting project plans and ideas.
As theories and designs for the gun-type weapon developed, scientists needed a firing range to run tests in the field. A nearby ranch, known as Anchor Ranch, served this purpose after the War Department purchased the land. The firing range gave researchers a chance to study projectile movement, the effects of impact, interior ballistics, and more. This site is on Los Alamos National Laboratory property and cannot be accessed by members of the public.
The remnant of Hanford High School, constructed in 1916, is one of the few surviving structures from the town of Hanford. Residents of Hanford were forced to leave when the Manhattan Project took over the area. Project offices soon filled the school, and the surrounding area became a camp that housed thousands of construction workers. People can only visit Hanford High School on tours offered by the US Department of Energy.
Hike the White Bluffs - South Slope Trail in the Hanford Reach National Monument to reach the Hanford High School Overlook. This vantage point is one of the best views of the old Hanford town site and the location of the Hanford construction camp built for the Manhattan Project. This trail rewards hikers with views of the Hanford Site and opportunities to explore the White Bluffs geologic formation up-close. This is also an excellent trail for birders and wildlife watchers.
Physicist and Nobel laureate Hans Bethe headed the Manhattan Project’s Theoretical Division, a small but prestigious group that studied critical mass and nuclear efficiency. While in Los Alamos, Bethe lived in a house that was first built for the Los Alamos Ranch School for boys. The house is now part of the Los Alamos History Museum, and contains the Harold Agnew Cold War Gallery, which explores the Cold War history of Los Alamos through artifacts and exhibits.
Happy Valley was a community designed for the construction workers who helped build the uranium enrichment plant, K-25. The site no longer exists and has been dense woods for several decades.
