The Birth of the Hanford Project and Richland, Washington

The Birth of the Hanford Project and Richland, Washington – Historic Photos from the Hanford Declassified Archives

Check Accession Number on this one.
DDRS Record Details for Record Accession Number
“N1D0031671”
Accession Number N1D0031671
Document Number P-139-NEG
Alternate Document Number P-139-NEG
Title Description EARLY HANFORD BARRACKS
Number of Pages 1
Key Word(s)
Author(s)
Company(s)
Document Date 23-May-1943
Public Availability Date 14-Feb-2002

“In choosing isolated areas like Hanford, the Manhattan Engineer District officers dispensed with the usual practice of locating a large industrial facility near adequate housing, services, construction labor, and skilled work force. Instead the Manhattan Project had to build and administer whole new communities and draw masses of people from other places to work at the sites.”

History of the Hanford Site by David Harvey

This photo is from May 23 1943. In March of 1943, the few previous residents of the Hanford area had received notice that they had 30 days to vacate their homes. These housing barracks were thus likely put in place around the time or after those notices.

The first of the so-called “alphabet” houses (each design went by a different letter of the alphabet) were completed in July.