Oak Ridge Advantages

During World War II, the United States discovered that the energy of the atom could be used in a new form of bomb. However, the Germans also discovered this, meaning that it would be a race to actually complete the weapon. The U.S. knew it needed to act fast and so three facilities were created for the development of the weapon in Washington, New Mexico, and Tennessee. The plants in Tennessee were based in almost the middle of nowhere. The land had to be procured from farmers before building the worksites and the new town where the workers would live: Oak Ridge. When this new town was built on its swampy footing, it was a total secret. The rest of the world had no clue that Oak Ridge, Tennessee existed, and those working there couldn’t

Since there were over seventy-five thousand people overcrowded into a small town meant for nineteen thousand, some issues with housing would arise. The best example of this is when Celia Szapka, a woman who had come from Pennsylvania to work, had to share a dorm room meant for two people with three other girls. The dorm rules were also very strict, with restrictions on what they could when they could go to sleep, and who was able to visit them. Another example is of the deplorable conditions that people suffered through because of their race. Kattie, a black woman from Alabama, was forced to live in a tiny 256 square foot hutment that she shared with five other women. There was a stove in the center of the hutment, and she wasn’t allowed to cook on it. During winter in this crammed space, ice, frost, and snow would blow in through the open windows, and make the poor residents suffer. These terrible conditions of overcrowding and a lack of sufficient homes created terrible conditions of suffering and personal sacrifice to the people of Oak

In Denise Kiernan’s The Girls of the Atomic City, the people of the town of Oak Ridge definitely had to make these personal sacrifices to achieve their dreams. To begin, they lived in a society built on misinformation and silence causing a lack of honest communication. The residents of the town were also told nothing of what their purpose was, leading many to feel useless or guilty for being a part of what they were a part of. Not only that but they also were given tight, and in some cases very exposed, living spaces. They did all of this to achieve their dream of making more money then they had ever made before. They achieved their dream of money and then some. Many of the young people who came to Oak Ridge ended up marrying someone they met there. A large number of those who got married also kept living there even after the war had ended. This was the great reward for their many sacrifices, and it was worth