![]() By spring 1943, there were 300 miles of paved roads and 55 miles of railroad tracks within the valley that could only be accessed through seven gates. Kiernan’s story is about the central role of women in establishing a sense of community in a place that didn’t exist before the war, where people from many differing social backgrounds had to work together to make successful a project that none of them actually knew what they were creating, and that ultimately the conclusion of the war depended upon: the uranium enrichment facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.Ĭodenamed Site X, work on the Clinton Engineering Works in a 17 mile-long valley in rural Tennessee originally envisioned the creation of a town of 13,000 people when General Leslie Groves ordered construction to begin in September 1942. One of the more recent and interesting books on this theme is Denise Kiernan’s The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II. ![]() As we celebrate women in World War II, it is a time to recognize their often overlooked contributions in our history. ![]()
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