The Nuclear Age in Montgomery County: The Atomic Energy Commission and its Site at Germantown

Join Montgomery History for the fifth and final program in its BOOM Speakers Series as we explore what life was like for persons living in Montgomery County during the 1950s. Eric W. Boyle, Chief Historian for the Department of Energy, will discuss the Atomic Energy Commission’s move to upper Montgomery County during the early days of the Cold War. After considering over 50 locations, farmland near Germantown, Maryland was determined to be a distance far enough from Washington D.C. to survive a nuclear blast from the Soviet Union. Thus, the headquarters for the Atomic Energy Commission was built in Germantown, Maryland in 1957. Today, the site is one of two administrative complexes of the US Department of Energy. In this talk, Boyle will share archival research and new insight on the detailed criteria used to determine the headquarters’ location.