Oak Ridge: From Federal Base to Tennessee’s First Tech City

Abstract

Created during World War II to assist in the creation of atomic bombs, Oak Ridge, Tennessee experienced numerous cultural and societal shifts, some in common with and some unique from the rest of the United States, that were influential in the development of the city’s community. As a part of the country’s top-secret Manhattan Project, and the subsequent ushering in of the “atomic age” and eventual worldwide Cold War, Oak Ridge and its actions weighed heavy on the minds of its people, along with the rest of the state and nation. The revelation of the Manhattan Project’s goals, the movement to incorporate the city into the state of Tennessee, and its role in the arms race and energy concerns of the Cold War gave Oak Ridge a singular position in the American imagination, and the city’s effect on American history was as influential as the nation’s effect on the city’s history.