Los Alamos Ranch School
Address
2132 Central Avenue

Los Alamos, New Mexico

87544

United States
Information
Opened1917
ClosedJanuary 22, 1943
GenderUnisex, Male
Age range12-18
Average class size6
LanguageEnglish
Campus size732 acres
Graduates600+/-
AlumniGore Vidal
William S. Burroughs
Website

Los Alamos Ranch School was a private ranch school for boys in the northeast corner of Sandoval County, New Mexico (since 1949, within Los Alamos County), USA, founded in 1917 near San Ildefonso Pueblo. During World War II, the school was bought and converted into the secret nuclear research campus for Project Y, which later became the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 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.[1], and Dr Ashley Pond III. It offered a program modeled after the Boy Scouts of America, 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.[2]

In 1939, the students' routines included calisthenics in the yard at 6:45 am, regardless of the weather; classes through 1 pm 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.[3]

New Mexican architect John Gaw Meem designed the school's Fuller House in 1928, constructed from some 770 ponderosa pine and aspen logs selected personally by Meem and the LARS director A.J. Connell.[4]

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 writer Gore Vidal, anthropologist Edward T. Hall, Arthur Wood (president of Sears Roebuck) and the founder of the Santa Fe Opera, John Crosby.[5] Stirling Colgate, later a nuclear physicist, returned to Los Alamos in 1975 and remained there for the rest of his life. Writer William S. Burroughs[1][6] and Bill Veeck, owner of the Chicago White Sox, also attended but did not graduate.[7]

Manhattan Project

In November 1942, the school and the surrounding land were purchased by the United States Army's Manhattan Engineer District 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.[1]

The site was chosen by Brigadier General Leslie Groves 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 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. During World War II, 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 bathtubs.[8]

The guest house is the site of the Los Alamos Historical Museum 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.

See also

  • The Day After Trinity, a 1980 documentary about the building of the first atomic bomb
  • When Los Alamos Was a Ranch School, a 1973 book by Peggy Pond Church
  • Los Alamos--the Ranch School years, 1917-1943, John D. Wirth (son of longtime Los Alamos master Cecil Wirth) and Linda Harvey Aldrich, University of New Mexico Press, 2003.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "History of the Los Alamos Ranch School" Archived 2008-04-15 at the Wayback Machine - article from Los Alamos Historical Society, retrieved April 2, 2008
  2. ↑ "The los Alamos Ranch School". Archived from the original on 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
  3. ↑ Kaplan, Fred (23 April 2013). Gore Vidal A Biography. Open Road Media. p. 107. ISBN 9781480409774. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Clark, Carol A. (12 February 2018). "History On Los Alamos Fuller Lodge". Los Alamos Daily Post. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Kozinn, Allan (December 17, 2002). "John Crosby, 76, Dies; Started Santa Fe Opera". The New York Times. New York. pp. B10. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
  6. ↑ William S. Burroughs (edited by James Grauerholz and Ira Silverberg; 1998), Word Virus: The William S. Burroughs Reader, Grove Press, published 2000, ISBN 0-8021-3694-X, ISBN 9780802136947
  7. ↑ K.R. Mason, Children of Los Alamos - An Oral History of the Town Where the Atomic Age Began,Twayne Publishers 1995, ISBN 0-8057-9138-8
  8. ↑ "The Ranch School Closes Down", Los Alamos National Laboratory website
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