Hutment Exhibit opens at Oak Ridge History Museum

The Oak Ridger
·1 min read

The Oak Ridge History Museum, 102 Robertsville Road, hosted a ribbon cutting for the opening of its new Hutment Exhibit on Saturday. For locals, the museum was also known as the Wildcat Den or Midtown Community Center.

This reproduction shows what the inside of a hutment looked. Hutments were built for Black workers working on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge during World War II. A Hutment Exhibit is now on display at the Oak Ridge History Museum, 102 Robertsville Road.
This reproduction shows what the inside of a hutment looked. Hutments were built for Black workers working on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge during World War II. A Hutment Exhibit is now on display at the Oak Ridge History Museum, 102 Robertsville Road.

On display at the museum now is an authentic reproduction of an Oak Ridge Manhattan Project “Hutment." It provides insight into a type of housing provided for many of the workers who came to the area during World War II to build the wartime manufacturing facilities. The new exhibit highlights the accommodations provided for Black workers in - what would eventually be named Oak Ridge - during the war years, according to a news release.

After the war, the hutments were dismantled and replaced with permanent homes.

The ribbon is cut for the opening of the Hutment Exhibit at the Oak Ridge History Museum, 102 Robertsville Road, on April 1, 2023.
The ribbon is cut for the opening of the Hutment Exhibit at the Oak Ridge History Museum, 102 Robertsville Road, on April 1, 2023.
People who attended the opening April 1 learned the history of the hutments.
People who attended the opening April 1 learned the history of the hutments.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Hutment Exhibit opens at Oak Ridge History Museum