Los Alamos Ranch School

During World War II, the school was bought and converted into the secret nuclear research campus for Project Y, which later became the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

It offered a program modeled after the Boy Scouts of America, combining a college preparatory curriculum with a rigorous outdoor life.

Famous alumni included writer Gore Vidal; anthropologist Edward T. Hall, brothers Arthur and Robert Wood (president and general counsel of Sears Roebuck, respectively); Roy D. Chapin Jr., CEO of American Motors Corporation;[1] and the founder of the Santa Fe Opera, John Crosby.

[7] In November 1942, the school and the surrounding land were purchased by the United States Army's Manhattan Engineer District for use in the top-secret effort to develop the first atomic bomb.

[1] The site was chosen by Brigadier General Leslie Groves for the Manhattan Project because of its isolation, access to water, ample space, pre-existing buildings which could be used for housing and the fact that much of the surrounding land was already owned by the federal government.