HISTORICAL SOCIETY News:

If Fuller Lodge, the stunning upright log building that served as the Los Alamos Ranch School dining hall, had not been here, you probably wouldn’t be reading this now in a news outlet called the Los Alamos Daily Post.

Had the Ranch School not had infrastructure like running water, electricity, and housing for incoming scientists, your family may never have come up to this high plateau, much less settled here.

We know that most of our community is here because of the Manhattan Project and the subsequent development of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Yet this site might not have been chosen for the top-secret World War II laboratory had it not been for that infrastructure at the Los Alamos Ranch School.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the school’s founding, and the Los Alamos Historical Society is hosting events Sept. 12-16 to commemorate that milestone.

Join Melissa Bingmann, author of “Prep School Cowboys: Ranch Schools in the American West” for a lecture about the history of ranch schools at 7 p.m.Tuesday, Sept. 12 in Fuller Lodge.

While Los Alamos is proud of its Los Alamos Ranch School heritage, the school was not necessarily unique. Ranch schools in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Wyoming in the 1920s and 1930s believed that the West embodied the moral attributes thought to be lacking in urban America. Advocates of character education saw the courage and self-reliance of the Old West as qualities necessary to preserve the nation through the next generation. Bingmann, an associate professor of history and director of public history at the University of West Virginia, will share an overview of the roles and purposes of such schools in American history and have a book signing after the talk.

Join the Los Alamos Historical Society for a special commemoration of the school’s anniversary and the opening of an exhibit celebrating some of the school’s boys and summer campers at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15.The event will begin in Fuller Lodge with a tribute to the school and its impact on the nation and our community. Family members of Ranch School students—and even one of the few living students—will be in attendance. The program will also provide an opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of Boy Scout Troop 22, formed in Ranch School days and still an important part of Los Alamos today.

When the program concludes, visitors will help open a new exhibit in the Los Alamos History Museum’s Rotating Gallery that commemorates the school’s impact and shares biographical information about some of the students. As part of the exhibit, visitors can see more than 30 student profile panels around the community at various businesses and organizations. Location maps are available in the Los Alamos History Museum.

Finally, Saturday, Sept. 16, the Historical Society will host its annual gala, a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Ranch School. Instead of the normal black-tie event, men are encouraged to dress in western wear or even Boy Scout uniforms, as boys from the Ranch School did. Women are encouraged to dress either in western wear or like a student from the Brownmoor girls school in Santa Fe, which held an annual formal dance with the Ranch School. The annual Experience Auction is packed full of ranch-related items such as rifle shooting lessons and a visit to Ashley Pond’s first ranch school near Watrous, N.M.

While tickets for the gala are sold out, raffle ticket for a week stay at condo in Kona, Hawaii are still available, and those who purchase raffle tickets need not be present to win. More information is available at www.losalamoshistory.org/events.html. For questions or more information on any of these events, visit the Historical Society’s website at losalamoshistory.org or call the administrative offices at 505.662.6272.

Even 100 years after Ashley Pond Jr., realized his dream of founding a school where boys could come west and grow strong, the history of the community remains entwined with the Los Alamos Ranch School.