Although many residents still felt Oak Ridge was a wartime town, they were now encouraged to view their city as possibly becoming a permanent community. This transition was kicked off January 1 when the Manhattan Engineering District handed off control of the government's atomic energy program to the civilian U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). In April, AEC Chairman David Lilienthal told citizens in a packed high school auditorium that AEC hoped that Oak Ridge would eventually become a "normal" city with home ownership and self-government. The AEC named Len Z. Dolan as the Oak Ridge city manager. Eight people were elected to seats on a new Town Council. The city's appearance improved as abandoned farm buildings and sub-standard dormitories were town down, and 50,000 trees were planted. The AEC built 450 modern garden apartments. A new country club offered nine holes of golf. A trial justice court replaced the justice of the peace. Citizens voted legalize the sale of whiskey. The year ended with a "Black Christmas" at Clinton National Laboratory because of uncertainties about their reactor programs and its next operating contractor.

Given by the K-25 Federal Credit Union and By the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, June 2005.

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Show me all markers in:  Oak Ridge, TN  |  Anderson County  |  37830  |  Tennessee  |  United States of America

1949
Oak Ridge Hospital
K-25 - The Gaseous Diffusion Plant
1945
Construction Workers
Oak Ridge and the Manhattan Project
1944
1943
1942
X-10 - The Clinton Laboratories

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