Richland, Washington

| 0 comments |
During the last century, the "bomb" transformed Richland, WA from a sleepy agricultural community to a strategic US nuclear asset.  Richland, as part of the Manhattan project, was as important as Los Alamos and Oakridge to our nuclear strategy.  It produced the plutonium for "Fat Man" -- the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.  After  World War II, it continued to produce much of the fissible materials for the  US nuclear  weapons.    Further, it was and is the dumping ground for much of the United States' nuclear waste. 

To me, however, while growing up in the sixties and seventies during the peak of the cold war, Richland was just another city in Eastern Washington.  It was an all American town -- Friday night football, Coca-Cola, motherhood and apple pie.  Perhaps because my own hometown, Kent, WA was home to much of Boeing's military activity and my father worked on things like ICBMs and tactical nuclear weapons, the nuclear culture of Richland was nothing special.

As an adult, I marvel at how truly unique and special Richland was.  I visited Richland last month to check things out.  First, Richland High School is a throwback to another era.  For those that remember the "Wonder Years,"  I can all most see Kevin and Winnie wandering the hallways:

hallway.JPG

The high school mascot is still the Bombers.  The "mushroom cloud" still adorns the football helment.

images-1.jpeg images.jpeg

I found this mural on the side of a building:

bomber mural.JPG

This auto body shop and bowling alley say so much:

bodyshop.JPG bowling.JPG

Richland -- it all seemed so normal.  But in retrospect, it was quite the strange place in a unique time.  The artifacts that remain today remind me of its rich past.

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by published on November 5, 2007 11:04 PM.

Chris Tolles Brokers Facebook Deal with Google was the previous entry in this blog.

It's Turtles All the Way Down is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Categories

Powered by Movable Type 4.34-en