Luther Brannon House | |
Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
Location | 151 Oak Ridge Tpk., Oak Ridge, Tennessee |
---|---|
Coordinates | 36°2′40″N84°12′34″W / 36.04444°N 84.20944°W |
Built | 1942 |
Architectural style | Bungalow/Craftsman |
MPS | Oak Ridge MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 91001108 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 05, 1991 |
Removed from NRHP | October 28, 2021 |
The Luther Brannon House was a stone bungalow structure at 151 Oak Ridge Turnpike in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States, where it was one of the few buildings remaining from before World War II.
The house was built in 1941 by Owen Hackworth and just months later was acquired by the U.S. Army for the Manhattan Project. [2] It was one of about 180 existing structures that were spared from demolition after the area was acquired for Manhattan Project production activities. The house is believed to have been used as headquarters for local project operations and living quarters for General Leslie Groves until the Army completed construction of new administration buildings. [3]
After the war, when most other remaining pre-war structures in Oak Ridge were torn down, the house was left standing. As of 1991, it was one of only three pre-World War II houses remaining in Oak Ridge, the others being Freels Cabin and the J. B. Jones House. [4] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places due to its association with General Groves and the early development of Oak Ridge. [2] [3]
The house suffered significant damage from a fire in July 2014. [5] As of April 2020, the fire damage still had not been repaired, and the property was listed for sale. As of February 2021, the house has been demolished, [6] and was removed from the National Register in October 2021. [7]
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 was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that designed the bombs. The Army component was designated the Manhattan District, as its first headquarters were in Manhattan; the name gradually superseded the official codename, Development of Substitute Materials, for the entire project. The project absorbed its earlier British counterpart, Tube Alloys. The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but employed nearly 130,000 people at its peak and cost nearly US$2 billion. Over 90 percent of the cost was for building factories and to produce fissile material, with less than 10 percent for development and production of the weapons. Research and production took place at more than 30 sites across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about 25 miles (40 km) west of downtown Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 31,402 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Oak Ridge's nicknames include the Atomic City, the Secret City, and the City Behind the Fence.
Miller's Department Store was a chain of department stores based in East Tennessee.
The United Church, Chapel on the Hill in Oak Ridge, Tennessee was the city's main church during World War II. Dedicated on September 30, 1943, and completed late in October 1943, it was originally a multi-denominational chapel shared by Catholic, Protestant and Jewish congregations.
The Children's Museum of Oak Ridge is a non-profit children's museum in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States, that provides museum exhibits and educational programs.
Robertsville was a farming community in Anderson County, Tennessee, that was disbanded in 1942 when the area was acquired for the Manhattan Project. Its site is now part of the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Major General Kenneth David Nichols CBE, also known by Nick, was an officer in the United States Army, and a civil engineer who worked on the secret Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb during World War II. He served as Deputy District Engineer to James C. Marshall, and from 13 August 1943 as the District Engineer of the Manhattan Engineer District. Nichols led both the uranium production facility at the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the plutonium production facility at Hanford Engineer Works in Washington state.
The three Oak Ridge gatehouses, also known as "checking stations", "guard houses", or "guard shacks", are security checkpoints in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, built c. 1948-1949 to control access to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) production and research facilities in Oak Ridge. These are individually listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as Bear Creek Road Checking Station, Bethel Valley Road Checking Station and Oak Ridge Turnpike Checking Station.
The George Jones Memorial Baptist Church, also known as the "Wheat Church," is a historic church building at the former site of the community of Wheat in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. It is the only structure remaining from Wheat, a rural Roane County community that was dissolved in 1942 when the United States government assumed ownership of the land for the Manhattan Project.
The Alexander Inn, originally known as The Guest House, is a historic building in Oak Ridge, Tennessee that was built during the Manhattan Project to house official visitors and that later was used as a hotel. It is included on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property in a historic district.
The Dr. Fred Stone Sr. Hospital is a six-story brick structure in Oliver Springs, Tennessee. Noted for its castle-like appearance and eccentric, unplanned design, the building was home to a one-doctor hospital operated by retired U.S. Army physician Fred Stone Sr. (1887–1976) in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Stone delivered over 5,000 babies while working at the hospital, and expanded the building room-by-room, floor-by-floor in his spare time. In 2006, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its association with the region's medical services history, namely the transition from rural country doctors to modern hospitals.
Oak Ridge Historic District is a historic district in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
New Bethel Baptist Church is a historic church on Bethel Valley Road in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
James Edward Westcott was an American photographer who was noted for his work with the United States government in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War.
Elza was a community in Anderson County, Tennessee, that existed before 1942, when the area was acquired for the Manhattan Project. Its site is now part of the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The J. B. Jones House in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States, is a farmhouse that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the very small number of pre-Manhattan Project residences remaining in the city.
Manhattan Project National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park commemorating the Manhattan Project that is run jointly by the National Park Service and Department of Energy. The park consists of three units: one in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one in Los Alamos, New Mexico and one in Hanford, Washington. It was established on November 10, 2015 when Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz signed the memorandum of agreement that defined the roles that the two agencies had when managing the park.