The war years during the first part of the year was dreadful. German submarines were wreaking havoc with our shipping in the Atlantic; the Japanese were winning in the Pacific, and the Germans were driving across North Africa. In late May, a scouting team picked out the East Tennessee site. It had available electric power from TVA, good cooling water, railroad service, had few people, had very favorable terrain, and a source of labor nearby. In September, General Groves drove the 15 miles from Elza to Gallaher Ferry and issued orders to acquire the land for the Manhattan Project. The nearly 1,000 families who lived on these 59,000 acres of beautiful farmland were told they had to sell and move away immediately. Of course, as soon as that word got around, prices of land in the surrounding counties shot up, so the average price they got of about $45/acre caused some real hardships. Meanwhile, construction started on new roads and fences, and groundbreaking for the first Manhattan Project office building took place with no fanfare on November 22, 1942.
Erected in Honor of Those Who Had to Leave their Homes for the War Effort by the Y-12 Federal Credit Union and By the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, June 2005.
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