Los Alamos County Extension Office
http://losalamosextension.nmsu.edu
Brief History of Los Alamos
The Anasazi and Pueblo Indians inhabited the area in and around Los Alamos centuries before the arrival of Juan de Onate in 1698. With the arrival of the Spaniards came the "land grant system" which was a means for land distribution. In 1746, the land which is now the city of Los Alamos became the Ramon Vigil grant which included 31,209 acres. Los Alamos is spanish for "cottonwoods" and the area was settled by 1880.
The Los Alamos Boys Ranch was founded by Ashley Pond in 1918 in an area which is now downtown Los Alamos. Pond first tried to establish a boys ranch in Watrous, New Mexico but prior to its opening, the area was flooded and the school was wiped out. It was more than a decade later when Pond tried to start a replacement school (which had ties to the Boy Scouts of America). He chose Los Alamos because it would never flood. The "Lodge" (pictured) was built in 1928 by Santa Fe architect, John Gaw Meem. Eighty Ponderosa pine trees were chosen to build Fuller Lodge. It served as cafeteria, infirmary, classroom building and social center where, for example, girls from Santa Fe's Brownmore Girls School might come to dance with the boys, who wore their scouting shorts even on such occasions.The ranch manager, H.H. Brooks, went on to become the first county agent in New Mexico.
In 1943 the school and the surrounding land became the site chosen for the Manhattan project. The school closed and Los Alamos went on to become the birthplace of the atomic bomb, first detinated on July 16, 1945.
Los Alamos County was the thirty second county in the state. The federal government had exclusive jurisdiction of the area until 1949 when it was returned to the State of New Mexico. Through legislative action, Los Alamos County was created. The city of Los Alamos became the county seat. Los Alamos County has had a sustained population approaching 18,000.
Today the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) continues to play a vital role in the Los Alamos community and the northern New Mexico economy and continues to impact the nation and the world through its science and technology development.
Contact information
Community Building
475 20th St.
Los Alamos, NM 87544
Phone: 505-662-2656
Fax: 505-662-2913
Email:
losalamo@nmsu.edu
URL:
http://losalamosextension.nmsu.edu