The U.S. Government Established an Entire Town to Build the Atomic Bomb.

As part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, the U.S.-led research project aimed at developing an atomic bomb, the United States government constructed an entire town in Tennessee, known as Oak Ridge, in 1942. Oak Ridge was home to multiple factories and other industrial facilities that produced the materials needed to build nuclear weapons. The work being done in Oak Ridge was so secretive that not even most of the town’s residents knew what exactly they were working on. With the exception of a few high-ranking scientists, most people employed in the town’s science and energy facilities were given a set of instructions for how to do their jobs, but were not told the purpose behind the tasks.