Oak Ridge
Heritage and Preservation Association
Minutes – ORHPA General Membership Meeting February 8, 2007
(Corrected March 9, 2007)
Attendance: Emily Hunnicutt, Don Hunnicutt, Dave Miller, Heidi Miller, Ruth Ann
Maddux, C.J. Maddux, Nicolas H. Packan, Paul Spray, Louise Spray, Sal Smith, Hal
Smith, Harold Jernigan, Ray Smith, Fannie Smith, Wanda Hagood, Jay Searcy, Bill
Wilcox, Ted Lollis, Schera Lollis, Betty Stokes, Lloyd Stokes, Bill Henry, Ed
Westcott, John Clark, Steve Stow, Margaret Allard, Sara Gillespie, Jim
Gillespie, Fred Heddleson, Anne McBride, Dick Raridon, Mick Wiest, Pat Clark,
Howard Harvey, Jack Bailey, Pat Bailey, Judy Clevenger, John Westcott, Fay
Martin.
The meeting began at 6:12 p.m. in the Wildcat Den room of the Midtown Community
Center. Vice-President, Steve Stow presided at the meeting. There were 39 people
present. (See attachment 1 on file). Minutes of the January 11, 2007 membership
meeting were approved as written with one addition. John Clark added, “the soft
coal delivered to the cemestos homes was delivered to the inside of the cemestos
homes.”
Bill Wilcox introduced the guest speaker for the evening, Mr. Ted Lollis. Mr.
Lollis is a retired Foreign Service Officer and a master researcher. After
living in many places, he and his wife Schera decided in 2002 to retire to
Knoxville, TN. While waiting for their home to be built, they stayed in Oak
Ridge. While doing research on the history of the Friendship Bell, Mr. Lollis
became interested in all the different types of monuments in Oak Ridge. He began
to compile a collection of pictures of Oak Ridge’s monuments. Mr. Lollis
presented his talk to our membership on “The Underappreciated Monuments of Oak
Ridge and How They Could Save the Day.”
Mr. Lollis has divided Oak Ridge Monuments into two classifications,
“Intentional” and “Unintentional”. Most of the monuments in Washington, D.C.,
for example, would be considered intentional. “Many functional structures such
as homes are unintentional.”
Some of Mr. Lollis’s points:
1. The Oak Ridge National Lab has many intentional and unintentional monuments.
The Graphite Reactor is the only National Historic Landmark listed. The
Manhattan Project has 3 signature facilities in Oak Ridge. They are the X-10
Graphite Reactor, the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Process Building and the Y-12
Beta-3 Racetracks. There are 8 Nuclear Historic Landmarks in Oak Ridge, 5 of
which are at ORNL. Of the 8 sites on the National Register of Historic Places in
Oak Ridge – all were nominated by DOE. There have been no new designated sites
in the last 15 years in Oak Ridge.
2. There are 14 historic markers in Oak Ridge. The oldest building in Oak Ridge
is the Freels Bend Cabin, and it is on DOE property. Oak Ridge has several site
on the History Trail and a Arts and Crafters Trail as designated by the State
Department of Tourism.
3. There are new signs designating specific sites all around town in brown, blue
and green. The west end of town has new signs in gray. Visitors are unsure if
they are entering a new community when the sign color changes.
Minutes – ORHPA general membership meeting February 8, 2007 page 2
4. The 22 separate gardens in Oak Ridge Memorial Park each have a different
theme represented by a monument.
5. The 1982 and 1992 maps from the O.R. Convention and Visitor’s Bureau have
several places marked on driving tours which are no longer accessible to the
public. The Robertsville Historic Marker is missing.
6. Judy Randall put together the Randall Study in 2004 for Oak Ridge in which
she took a consensus of volunteers’ ideas to evaluate a list of monuments. Many
of these monuments can no longer be visited by tourists because the road to
access them is closed. The closure of Bethel Valley Road after 9/11 has been
detrimental to Oak Ridge tourism.
7. Of the over 300 intentional and unintentional monuments Mr. Lollis has
identified in Oak Ridge, 200 are intentional. Of the unintentional ones, most
are science items of which 84 or 23% are behind the fence. Our tourism strategy
is based on tourists visiting the other 77%.
8. Some of the larger intentional commissioned pieces in Oak Ridge are:
- The Atomic Symbol in front of AMSE. This used to be located in the fountain at
the Jackson Square Garden. The symbol represents lithium.
- The Charters of Freedoms tablets in the front lobby of the DOE Administration
Building.
- Dream Builder – 1 of 3 monuments at the Horizon Center - by artist Dave
Caudill.
- The Mosaic Panels on the outside front of the Oak Ridge Art Center by Jane
Larson and other Oak Ridge artists.
- Hymn to Life – sculpture by Charles Counts inside the lobby of the Pollard
Auditorium.
- Trees for Life – sculpture by Charles Counts on three different ORNL
buildings.
- Sculpture of Steel – by artist Alex L. Moore outside of AMSE.
- Unraveling Too – sculpture by John Riata on top of the blue water pond at the
O.R. Civic Center.
- Walk of Champions – Arch above Blankenship Field.
- Portrait of Albert Einstein – 8 Foot canvas at AMSE with doves of peace
integrated into the composition. The artists are Janet and Emmanuel Snitkovsky.
- Lizz’s – sign on the building behind Nick’s Fruit and Vegetable stand.
9. There are only 2 statues in Oak Ridge. They are the Virgin Mary at St. Mary’s
Church and the Seated Children, located in the gazebo at Rarity Ridge housing
development.
10. There are 4 War Memorials in Oak Ridge. They are the Commemorative Walk, the
memorial outside of the Municipal Building, a plaque below “Unraveling Two”
located near the Library, and one of the gardens in Memorial Park.
.
Minutes – ORHPA general membership meeting February 8, 2007 page 3
11. Methodist Medical Center commissioned two art works. One is on the ground
floor and another on the second floor.
12. There are two primitive paintings of Oak Ridge hanging on the walls inside
the Cancun Restaurant and a new mural on the back of the Oak Ridge Art Center by
local artists.
13. The Oak Ridge Library has a set of large stained glass panels depicting
various scenes mounted around the top of the main library reading room.
14. A 65 foot mural depicting the history of ORNL by Lejean Hardin is not
accessible to the public.
Some of Mr. Lollis’s suggestions to help the future growth of heritage and
tourism in Oak Ridge are:
1. Improve the websites of organizations like ORHPA and Oak Ridge Convention and
Visitor’s Bureau.
2. Publish a good map of Oak Ridge.
3. Publish a guidebook to Oak Ridge Monuments.
4. Publish a field guide to Oak Ridge, perhaps by ORHPA.
5. Some of the signage needs to be improved, e.g. at the Arboretum.
6. Mobilize support for the National Park Service Study of Oak Ridge.
7. Learn from other heritage tourism sites like the Lowell, MA Nat’l Historical
Park .
8. Our biggest problem is” The Fence.” We should increase the number of public
tours and bring more exhibits outside the fence..
9. We need to tell the story about the gates to the city. Was Oak Ridge the only
gated city in the U.S.?
10. We need to consider compiling the WWII Oak Ridge Story into a book.
11. The retaining wall on the left side of south Illinois upon entering Oak
Ridge could have a laser projected at the Arboretum with a message on it
(possibly changing every few seconds).
12. We need a much larger and nicer Visitor Center.
13. Maybe utilize the Jackson Square area as a tourism center with WWII vintage
buses leaving from there for frequent tours of the city.
14. Sponsor a lecture tour on science and history. Reestablish Oak Ridge as a
Science City as suggested by Emmanuel Snitkovsky.
After the evening guest speaker, Mr. Lollis completed his talk; Bill Wilcox
announced the next ORHPA membership meeting will be on March 8 at 7 p.m. The
topic will be
Minutes – ORHPA general membership meeting February 8, 2007 page 4
“A Report to the Community on the K-25 Preservation – Why, What, When, and How.”
Several special guests will be here on March 8 who are working with our local
ORHPA based PKP group including Cindy Kelly of the Atomic Heritage Foundation in
Washington (Co-Chair of PKP) and Kem Hinton of the Nashville firm Tuck-Hinton,
Architects and Johnny Gruber of Access Museum Services, also of Nashville.
The Partnership for K-25 Preservation is asking people to please complete
registration forms for the K-25 registry. Both those who were employed at K-25
and members of the community who have an interest in the project are asked to
register their support.
Vice-President, Steve Stow adjourned the meeting at 7:40 p.m.
Refreshments were served.
Minutes respectfully submitted,
Anne McBride
Secretary, Oak Ridge Heritage and
Preservation Association
