'Extremely top secret': How Allis-Chalmers played a significant role in the 'Manhattan Project' helping build the atomic bomb

 

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The end of World War II brought upon the nuclear age, and the atomic bomb became the single most important development that altered mankind.

"Without the unconditional surrender of Japan, they were going to be used," explained Milwaukee Historical Society Lead Archivist Steve Schaffer.

Milwaukee Historical Society Lead Archivist Steve Schaffer said, many people don't know how big a role Milwaukee played in what was then called "The Manhattan District Project."

"Oppenheimer himself was, was shocked at what had really happened," he added.

Secret research and activity took place in West Allis -- at the Allis-Chalmers Corporation.

"Allis-Chalmers was considered one of the leading manufacturers in the country," Schaffer told CBS 58 News.

The company made everything from giant turbines for power plants to the more familiar orange tractors--but during war time, things changed.

"They were involved with many different things, more conventional equipment, things called 'superchargers' for motors, but they are also known for their work on 'The Manhattan Project," Schaffer said.

Just like manufacturers across the country, Allis-Chalmers turned their efforts to war production: making engines, gun systems, and electrical controls for ships, among other things.

The Manhattan Project however, had special requirements.

In 1942, the U.S. government was in a rush to build facilities needed to make the first atomic bomb. Some of them, like the 'Hawley Road Plant' in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, still stand to this today. The Hawley Road Plant just so happens to be the home of CBS 58 studios.

"It was an incredibly fast construction, 70 days for a plant like this," Schaffer went on to say.

The Hawley Road Plant was built under contract in 1942 with the U.S. Navy. Employing more than 35,000 workers by 1943.

"Practically every household either had someone working at the plant or knew someone that worked at the plant," said the President of the West Allis Historical Society, Devan Gracylany.

At one point, Allis-Chalmers was the largest employer in the state of Wisconsin.

Gracylany said even then, the production of the atomic bomb was one of the best kept secrets of the war.

"Extremely top secret...it was so secret that the people that worked in the plant had no idea what they were doing, and I don't believe the owners of the plant, or the city itself had any information that the particular manufacturing that they were doing was for the Department of Defense," he said.

It wasn't until years later that the company revealed they were processing uranium at other plants and researching parts to be used in the world's first nuclear weapons. At the Hawley Plant specifically, they used silver to wound coils that were used to produce highly enriched uranium among other research and development.

"Primarily, they worked on heavy electro-magnetic equipment that would generate fields to smash atoms that would separate plutonium from uranium and specifically, for the Hawley Plant, they designed the centrifugal pumps that were experimental at the time because none of this had ever been done before," Schaffer added.

Allis-Chalmers produced more equipment by weight for the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb than any other company--at one point, even hosting the President of the United States himself.

"President Roosevelt obviously knew about the project that was going on, the research and that, but even his vice president had no knowledge of The Manhattan Project until after he became president," said Gracyalny.

While most men were away at war, women stepped in to keep American businesses running. Allis-Chalmers, for instance, had a 78 percent female workforce.

"The women often thought their managers were hungover, crazy, just blowing them off because they were women but it's actually, this was top secret," explained Schaffer.

Marion Fumich, 92, worked out of the Main Allis-Chalmers office that was once located on 70th Street.

"Well, I started in Allis-Chalmers in 1950, soon after I graduated," she said. "My first role was typing specifications for blueprints."

She then held a secretarial role for 35 years and said she had a good experience but never knew about the company's global contribution.

Schaffer told CBS 58 News that the aftermath of what happened to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 is something later generations think more about than the people did at the time.

"My dad was a World War II veteran, served in the Pacific," Schaffer said. "He was home on furlough to get married in August of '45, while he was here getting married, both bombs dropped, and he said he was never more thankful in his life that they used the bombs and that he didn't have to go back."

Gracylany agrees that the topic remains controversial.

"Although we were proud at the time of doing that, now we're kind of second guessing if that really should've been developed and then used," said Gracylany.

He said he hopes the humanity aspect continues to be at the forefront of massive global decisions, like this one, moving forward.

"…will still persevere and prevail even though this can be used for significantly powerful weapons that could destroy the world, I have this optimistic feeling that, you know, it's not going to," Gracylany concluded.