The Aug. 20, 1945 issue of LIFE was filled with momentous news. It reported on the U.S. dropping the first atomic bombs, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, wrought unprecedented devastation and hastened the end of the World War II.
Along with coverage of the bombing, that issue of LIFE had a related story about the government’s massive facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. For years the doings at that facility had been a closely guarded secret, but now the truth could be told. LIFE’s story on Oak Ridge was headlined “Mystery Town Cradled Bomb.”
The goverment’s facility at Oak Ridge employed tens of thousands of people during the war. LIFE reported that Oak Ridge had dormitories for 13,000 people and barracks for 16,000, as well as 10,000 homes and apartments. There were also ten schools. That was all for a workforce that was largely unaware that Oak Ridge, along with locations in Los Alamos, N.M. and Hanford, Wash., was the home of the Manhattan Project.
Here’s how LIFE described the air of secrecy that permeated Oak Ridge:
Construction workers by the thousands came, labored and, sworn to secrecy, departed silently. Names famous the world over arrived anonymously, advised and departed like shadows. Guardedly—for over their heads always hung the threat of 10 years in prison or a $10,000 fine—Oak Ridge’s laboratory men, clerks, stenographers and scientists probed each other’s information without result. Supremely careful planning had compartmentalized work and therefore knowledge.
Photos by LIFE staff photographer Edward Clark helped pull back the veil. One distinctive trait of Oak Ridge was its sheer size—the facility was big enough to sustain its own economy, including shops and movie theater. The makeshift business district resembled an updated version of what one saw in the mining towns of the old West.
Then there was the signage around Oak Ridge, which hammered home the importance of secrecy.
One of Clark’s photos in particular captured the tight-lipped atmosphere. The photo shows a man reading a sign which says “What you see here/What you do here/What you hear here/Let it stay here.” Clark’s image is one of the most popular in the LIFE photo store. One imagines people are buying a reproduction of it to hang in their office—or, better yet, their rec room, where the photo might take on the spirit of “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
Of course the original purpose for this sign could not have been more serious. The secret of Oak Ridge was one that reshaped the world.
The Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Security checked a visitor’s car at the government’s Oak Ridge facility entrance, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This sign at the government’s Oak Ridge facility, where the atomic bomb was developed, warned employees not to talk about their work, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A roadside sign on roadside near the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Workers leaving the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Shops at the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Shops at the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A movie theater at the government’s massive Oak Ridge facility, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A sign at the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee, where the atomic bomb was developed, 1945.
Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
