Los Alamos Ranch School was a private ranch school for boys in the northeast corner of

Sandoval County, New Mexico Sandoval County is located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 131,561, making it the fourth-most populous county in New Mexico. The county seat is Bernalillo. Sandoval County is part of the Albuquerque ...

(since 1949, within

Los Alamos County Los Alamos County (English: "The Poplars" or "Cottonwoods") is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,950. The smallest county by area in the state, Los Alamos County was formerly administered ex ...

), USA, founded in 1917 near

San Ildefonso Pueblo San Ildefonso Pueblo (Tewa: Pʼohwhogeh Ówîngeh ’òhxʷógè ʔówîŋgè"where the water cuts through" ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States, and a federally recognized tribe, established c. 13 ...

. During World War II, the school was bought and converted into the secret nuclear research campus for

Project Y The Los Alamos Laboratory, also known as Project Y, was a secret laboratory established by the Manhattan Project and operated by the University of California during World War II. Its mission was to design and build the first atomic bombs. Ro ...

. The surrounding location has developed into the town of Los Alamos.

School

The school was founded in 1917 by a Detroit businessman, Ashley Pond Jr., father of Peggy Pond Church, the New Mexican poet and author."History of the Los Alamos Ranch School"
- article from Los Alamos Historical Society, retrieved April 2, 2008, and Dr Ashley Pond III. It offered a program modeled after the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

, combining a college preparatory curriculum with a rigorous outdoor life. All students were organized into patrols of Troop 22 and wore Scout uniforms & neckerchiefs. Obtaining First Class Rank in the Boy Scouts was a requirement for graduation. In 1939, the students' routines included

calisthenics Calisthenics (American English) or callisthenics (British English) ( /ˌkælɪsˈθɛnɪks/) is a form of strength training consisting of a variety of movements that exercise large muscle groups (gross motor movements), such as standing, graspi ...

in the yard at 6:45am, regardless of the weather; classes through 1pm and athletic recreation in the afternoon. Students provided one half-day a week of "community service" (campus maintenance). Every Saturday was a mandatory all-day excursion on horseback into the surrounding countryside, often with overnight stays. New Mexican architect

John Gaw Meem John Gaw Meem IV (November 17, 1894 – August 4, 1983) was an American architect based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is best known for his instrumental role in the development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival Style and as a proponent of ar ...

designed the school's Fuller House in 1928, constructed from some 770

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

and

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...

logs selected personally by Meem and the LARS director A.J. Connell. Throughout its 25-year existence, the School remained small, with yearly enrollment never exceeding 46 boys (aged 12 to 18 years), but its graduates were an impressive group. Famous alumni included

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and e ...

, anthropologist Edward T. Hall, Arthur Wood (president of

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

) and the founder of the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newl ...

, John Crosby. Stirling Colgate, later a nuclear physicist, returned to Los Alamos in 1975 and remained there for the rest of his life. Bill Veeck, owner of the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

, also attended but did not graduate.

Manhattan Project

In November 1942, the school and the surrounding land were purchased by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Manhattan Engineer District The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

for use in the top-secret effort to develop the first atomic bomb. The school awarded its final diplomas in January 1943 and the Army took control of the property the following month. The site was chosen by Brigadier General

Leslie Groves Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr. (17 August 1896 – 13 July 1970) was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project, a top secret research project ...

for the Manhattan Project because of its isolation, access to water, ample space, pre-existing buildings which could be used for housing and the fact that much of the surrounding land was already owned by the federal government. It was also located on a

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...

in which all entrances could be secured. The facility originally was referred to as "Site Y", but later became known as Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, then

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the school's Fuller Lodge and the Big House were used as social gathering places for Los Alamos project personnel and some other buildings were used for housing. The school buildings were known as "Bathtub Row" because they were the only houses in Los Alamos with

bathtub A bathtub, also known simply as a bath or tub, is a container for holding water in which a person or animal may bathe. Most modern bathtubs are made of thermoformed acrylic, porcelain-enameled steel or cast iron, or fiberglass-reinforced ...

s."The Ranch School Closes Down"
Los Alamos National Laboratory website The guest house is the site of the

Los Alamos Historical Museum The Los Alamos Historical Museum is housed in the historic Guest House, located next to Fuller Lodge, of Los Alamos Ranch School, which was General Leslie Groves's favorite place to stay during the Manhattan Project. The museum features exhibits ...

and has an extensive display on the school and its use of Scouting. The adjacent Fuller Lodge is open for visitor viewing and is frequently used for meetings or weddings. The Los Alamos Art Center is housed in the south wing by Central Avenue.

References

External links

"The Ranch School Closes Down"
- article from Los Alamos National Laboratory

- article from Los Alamos Historical Society, retrieved April 2, 2008 {{Coord, 35, 52, 55, N, 106, 18, 08, W, type:edu_region:US-NM, display=title Ranch schools Manhattan Project sites Los Alamos National Laboratory History of Los Alamos County, New Mexico Defunct schools in New Mexico Buildings and structures in Los Alamos County, New Mexico Educational institutions established in 1917 Los Alamos, New Mexico Schools in Los Alamos County, New Mexico 1917 establishments in New Mexico 1943 disestablishments in New Mexico Educational institutions disestablished in 1943

School

Manhattan Project

See also

References

External links