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.