Oak Ridge Wayside: Turnpike Checking Station

The Oak Ridge Turnpike Checking Station wayside.

NPS/KLEIN

Quick Facts

Amenities

2 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto

Subtitle
Ensuring What Goes on Here, Stays Here

Main Text  

Known as the “Gate House,” the checking station that you see before you was constructed in the post WWII years. It was operated by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and controlled access to the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant from 1949-1953. As the city of Oak Ridge opened to the public on March 19, 1949, access to the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant remained restricted. Built with concrete and bullet-proof windows, these silent sentinels serve as a reminder to the heightened security conditions that existed during early Cold War years. Two other identical checking stations controlled access to the Y-12 Plant (Bear Creek) and X-10 Graphite Reactor (Bethel Valley Road). Virtually unchanged since their time in operation, all three checking stations were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. 

Photo text: This checking station has changed little since this photo was taken July 21, 1953 

Exhibit Panel Description  

A black and white exhibit panel on a black frame approximately four feet tall. The panel has a black band at the top and a title underneath that reads “Oak Ridge Turnpike Checking Station: Ensuring What Goes on Here, Stays Here’. The center of the panel is covered by a black and white photo of two white guard stations bisected by a road. The text is at the bottom of the panel. 

Visit This Exhibit Panel 
The Turnpike Gate wayside is located at the Turnpike Gate on the Oak Ridge Turnpike at the North Boundary Greenway trailhead.