National Building Museum with Special exhibit, "Secret Cities - The Architecture and Planning of the Manhattan Project

“In the fall of 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers quietly began acquiring vast tracts of land in remote areas of three states. The few residents of these areas were summarily evicted and their houses demolished. Soon, thousands of young workers arrived from far and wide, initially occupying tents and other makeshift shelters within the newly designated military reservations. Shielded from public view by natural barriers and security fences, the workers quickly erected hundreds of buildings... By the end of the war, a total of more than 125,000 people lived in the three cities that had been built from scratch on these sites. Yet these cities appeared on no maps, and the federal government did not acknowledge their existence.

. . Secret Cities examines the innovative design and construction of Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos... It looks at daily life within the cities and how it was
shaped by their physical form, illuminating the social stratification and segregation that were still evident in these cities despite the high-minded principles underlying their design. The exhibition addresses each city’s development since the conclusion of the Manhattan Project, and their continuing importance as centers of research and technology, now largely devoted to non-military purposes.” —National Building
Museum website

Note: There is a small café on the main level. There are FREE building tours at 11:30, 12:30pm, and 1:30pm.

Fee: $16/ $10 member (includes bus transportation). Fee to view the special
exhibit is $7 payable at info desk — optional — do not include in your JCCNV check.
Code: #9594
RSVP: Submit payment and registration form to the J, Attn: Michele Endick. Make check payable to JCCNV with “2/13” on memo line. Limited spaces so register early!