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Images of America
Oak Ridge
A town with a significant place in American history as the Birthplace of the Atomic Bomb, this pictorial history takes a visual journey pre-war and post.
Nestled in the foothills of East Tennessee, 25 miles west of Knoxville, is a small town bordered on three sides by the Clinch River. The land first existed under other names - Elza, Robertsville, Scarboro, and Wheat - but in 1942, 59,000 acres of this unassuming rural land were transformed in a matter of weeks into a "secret city" that became known as the mysterious Manhattan District. As a direct result of the letter written by Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, the Manhattan District was created to develop new atomic weapons. Finally named Oak Ridge in 1943 and now thriving with a population of over 27,000, the town continues to be a significant center for the advancement of science and technology used throughout the world. In this pictorial history, photographs and personal descriptions guide readers on a visual journey of the construction of a city and the creation of the atomic bomb, to the post-war transformation of Oak Ridge into a major scientific community in the South.
Nestled in the foothills of East Tennessee, 25 miles west of Knoxville, is a small town bordered on three sides by the Clinch River. The land first existed under other names - Elza, Robertsville, Scarboro, and Wheat - but in 1942, 59,000 acres of this unassuming rural land were transformed in a matter of weeks into a "secret city" that became known as the mysterious Manhattan District. As a direct result of the letter written by Albert Einstein to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, the Manhattan District was created to develop new atomic weapons. Finally named Oak Ridge in 1943 and now thriving with a population of over 27,000, the town continues to be a significant center for the advancement of science and technology used throughout the world. In this pictorial history, photographs and personal descriptions guide readers on a visual journey of the construction of a city and the creation of the atomic bomb, to the post-war transformation of Oak Ridge into a major scientific community in the South.
- GenresNonfiction
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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July 22, 2019If you read the girls of atomic city or atomic city girls it put life to the books though photos I enjoyed the book
June 13, 2021
Photographs of the Oak Ridge site from its beginning until its closing including housing, buildings for building the bomb and creating the components, lines of people seeking food and other goods, events, and more. Each photo is accompanied by information.
September 21, 2023
The pictures tell the story
I read this with another book about life at Oak Ridge. I am grateful for the chance to learn about the efforts of real people, not just the famous scientists.
I read this with another book about life at Oak Ridge. I am grateful for the chance to learn about the efforts of real people, not just the famous scientists.
January 30, 2016
Not a bad little book. Like all the books in the Images of America series, it is full of photographs with a few lines of text to describe the pictures. As is a problem with all the Images of America books, the pictures are small. The book does give a good overview of what life would have been like for those living in Oak Ridge during World War II. While I'm sure some of the photos were staged, they were still interesting. This book certainty wouldn't be considered required reading on the subject, but it is still an interesting photographic glimpse of the times.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews