Los Alamos Historic Walking Tour Map

Built as an infirmary in 1918 and later used as the guest cottage for Los Alamos Ranch School, the museum is in the oldest continually occupied structure in town. During the Manhattan Project (1943 to 1947), the cottage continued to serve as guest quarters, notably for General Leslie R. Groves, commander of the Manhattan Engineer District, whose office and residence were in Washington, D.C. 

Now it serves as an award-winning, comprehensive history museum which presents our world-changing and varied history. A book and gift shop fills a former bedroom.

Today a memorial stands at the site of the Ranch School Ice House. During WWII, the nuclear core of the “Gadget” (the proto-type atomic bomb) was assembled here and then transported to Trinity Site, 220 miles south near Socorro, NM. It was successfully detonated on July 16, 1945. During the Manhattan Project and for twenty years after, the technical area laboratories surrounded Ashley Pond (see inset photo in the map). These buildings were removed by the mid-1960s. 

The post-war laboratory was built at its current location on the mesas south of here. Note also the adjacent memorial plaques and historic markers.

Ashley Pond began as a natural pond. The Ranch School insured its water supply by constructing a pipeline from Los Alamos Canyon. It was named for Ashley Pond II, the founder of the Los Alamos Ranch School, whose students could not resist the geographical pun. The boys used it for summer and winter sports. Blocks of ice were cut from the pond in the winter and stored in the Ice House. Ashley Pond Park contains a number of sculptures that are part of the county art collection curated by the Art in Public Places Board.

On the north side of Central Avenue is a memorial to this popular and unbeatable 5-man softball team. It is marked with an interpretive plaque.

Originally located in government surplus buildings and then in a former cafeteria, the library is an important institution in this highly educated community. The 1993 award-winning design is by architect Antoine Predock. To the west of the library stood Central School, 1943-1965. It was the most elaborate building constructed in Los Alamos during WW II, in spite of the utilitarian and temporary nature of this secret army base. The curriculum was planned by Dr. Walter W. Cook of the University of Minnesota, hired to develop the perfect school for the children of Manhattan Project personnel.

The power generator building for the Los Alamos Ranch School was built in the early 1930s. In 1944, George Kistiakowsky, the Laboratory’s explosives expert, and his new bride moved into it. As a joke, his friends built him a tool shed closely resembling an outhouse; they even carved a half-moon in the door! On and off, the building has served as the Red Cross Chapter House.

The land northeast of Fuller Lodge was originally open fields. In 1956 the rose garden was started here by members of the Los Alamos Garden Club. At that time there was no cemetery, so rose bushes were planted in memory of those who died in Los Alamos. The deceased were buried elsewhere. The garden club still actively maintains the Rose Garden, a Blue Star Memorial Byway site. Los Alamos National Laboratory has installed a memorial to those killed in the line of duty.

Homesteading began on the Pajarito Plateau in the late 1800s. The Romero family built this cabin in 1913 on a nearby mesa. Like all homesteads on the plateau, it was acquired by the U.S. government for the Manhattan Project. In 1984, the cabin was moved to this site. Bences Gonzales, a Pajarito Plateau native who first farmed at Los Alamos and later worked, in succession, for the Ranch School, army, and Laboratory, helped his father-in-law, Victor Romero, rebuild this cabin in the 1930s. The cabin was rebuilt in 2010 and is open to the public on select days in the summer.

Across the street from the Romero Cabin was the site of the original main building for the Los Alamos Ranch School. The Big House design inspired the style of Fuller Lodge and other Ranch School structures. Students slept here yearround on screened porches as part of a physically as well as academically challenging education. The Big House contained a library and, during the war years, the radio station, KRS. In 1943, it also housed some of the first scientists who shared its one bathroom.

On the former site of the Big House is Central Park Square, formerly known as The Community Center. It was planned by architect Lawrence Sheridan and constructed by W.C. Kruger in the New Mexico Territorial Style. Built in 1949 under contract to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, it was a predecessor of modern enclosed shopping malls with perimeter parking. Among businesses housed here were a soda bar, theater, bowling alley, bakery and grocery store.

The Little Theatre near the corner of 15th and Peach Streets was built as the Manhattan Project East Cafeteria. It is one of the few GI buildings left from WW II. Used by the growing post war community as a recreation hall, it started serving as a playhouse in 1971, operated by the Los Alamos Little Theatre.

Los Alamos’ Historic District is chock full of great little shops and restaurants. Within the boundaries of your walking tour, you will run across 8 locally owned cafès or restaurants. These include everything from New Mexican cuisine, pizza, sushi and everything in between. There are 9 more restaurants within 4 blocks of your walk.

Unique local shops also line your route. There is an old-fashioned department store that carries chocolates, furniture, clothing and luggage. There is a pet boutique, a jewelry store, a hardware store, and many other shops to offer you goods to remember your visit to Los Alamos.

The History Museum gift shop stocks books, toys, cards and souvenirs that are uniquely Los Alamos.

Stop by the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center for lots more information about Los Alamos and the surrounding region. We’re open 362 days a year!