Oak Ridge gets WWII status; new Manhattan Project Park director named

Donna Smith, Oakridger
·4 min read

Earlier this week, the National Park Service shared two announcements pertaining to Oak Ridge: the city has been designated an American World War II Heritage City - the only one in Tennessee - and a new superintendent has been named for all the sites in the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

National Park Service Acting Regional Director Kate Hammond announced the selection of Wendy Berhman as the new superintendent for the park, which includes sites located at Hanford, Washington; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Park is administered through a collaborative partnership with the Department of Energy, according to a Park Service news release. Berhman has worked for the National Park Service for more than 30 years, most recently as program planner for the Park Service's Washington Office. She began her new job on Monday.

“Wendy has vast experience working with both long-range and strategic planning,” Hammond stated in the release. “Her commitment to stakeholder and employee engagement and partnerships, her expertise in visitor use management and tourism, and her passion for the Manhattan Project story will be excellent assets in the park’s next chapter.”

Berhman is responsible for the daily operations and staff at each of the three park sites. Managed in partnership with the DOE, the Park preserves and interprets the nationally significant historic sites, stories and legacies associated with the top-secret race to develop an atomic weapon.

Wendy Behrman
Wendy Behrman

“I am honored to have been selected as the Manhattan Project National Historical Parksuperintendent,” Berhman stated. “The legacy of the Manhattan Project is both enormous and complex, and I look forward to working in partnership with the Department of Energy to administer the park. I am excited to work with the park team, Tribes, local communities, and partners to enhance the visitor experience by expanding park programming to share underrepresented narratives and history and expand local and regional tourism opportunities."

She and her husband live in East Denver with their twin 17-year-old son and daughter. She succeeds Kris Kirby, who served in the position for six years before accepting a position as associate state director for the Bureau of Land Management Wyoming State Office.

American WWII Heritage City

The American World War II Heritage Cities Program honors the contributions of local towns, cities, counties and areas. It also commemorates the stories of the residents involved in that effort, stated a news release from the city of Oak Ridge.

“Created secretly during World War II as a key location of the Manhattan Engineer District, Oak Ridge is a community which embraces the preservation of its history and the unique role played on the home front during the United States’ involvement in World War II," City Manager Mark Watson stated in the release. "The city appreciates the endorsement of our application by our federal, state, and local partners, particularly by Congressman Fleischmann, without which the application would not have been considered.”

"Oak Ridge played one of the most important roles of any city or community in the United States during World War II. The work conducted at Oak Ridge to develop the Manhattan Project was instrumental for our nation to triumph over evil during the War," stated Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, the Republican who represents the Third District, which includes Oak Ridge, in the U.S. House of Representatives. "Oak Ridge's legacy has already been enshrined by the establishment of the Manhattan Project National Park, and the National Park Service's designation of Oak Ridge as an American World War II Heritage City will further preserve the city's legacy for countless generations of future Americans."

"I am proud to have led the Tennessee Congressional Delegation to have Oak Ridge be designated as our state's one and only American World War II Heritage City," he said.

According to the Park Service, information about the engagement of the citizens - in what would later be called Oak Ridge - to marshal resources toward the WWII home front effort and to commemorate and preserve its legacies will be included on the program's website, located at https://go.nps.gov/AWWIIHC, and may be included in future promotional materials for the program.

The Oak Ridge History Museum often attracts tour groups.
The Oak Ridge History Museum often attracts tour groups.

The website says of Oak Ridge: "Oak Ridge was built under a cloak of secrecy by the United States government during World War II as a major site of the Manhattan Project, the massive wartime effort that produced the world’s first atomic weapons. In 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bought an estimated 60,000 acres of rural farmland to construct a 'temporary' city and three facilities to develop the technology that helped to end the war."

Seventeen other U.S. cities received this designation at the same time as Oak Ridge, according to the release, which was issued Monday. They are:

  • East Hartford, Connecticut

  • Pensacola and Escambia counties, Florida

  • Savannah and Chatham counties, Georgia

  • Evansville, Indiana

  • Wichita, Kansas

  • New Orleans, Louisiana

  • Springfield, Massachusetts

  • Pascagoula, Mississippi

  • Lewistown, Montana

  • Paterson, New Jersey

  • Los Alamos County, New Mexico

  • Montgomery County (City of Dayton), Ohio

  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • South Texas Bend area and Corpus Christi, Texas

  • Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, and West Richland), Washington

  • Manitowoc, Wisconsin

  • Casper and Natrona counties, Wyoming.

The Oak Ridger's New Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Contact her at dsmith@oakridger.com. Follow her on Twitter @ridgernewsed.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge gets WWII status; new Manhattan Project Park director named