From Farms to Fermilab: Keeping the Frontier Alive

Adrienne Kolb, Fermilab ArchivistBig Rock Historical Society

March 11, 2004

Fermilab History Projects

Fermilab Site History CommitteeLillian Hoddeson, historian

Karyl Louwenaar, early researcher

The Anderson Farm1885 - 1968

The Bartholomew Farm

1865 - 1969

The White Farm

The Feldott Farm1847 - 1969

The Kames Farm1917-1969

The Warne Farm1893 - 1968

The McKee Farm1889 - 1971

Schools on the Site

Big Woods School, 1908Students of Round Grove School, 1914Big Woods School, around 1929

Apostolic Church, site of former Buelter School, Wilson Street, 1968

The local map, 1966

The Village of Weston

The plaque acknowledging the contributions of the Village of Weston.

It was installed in November, 1968.

The National Accelerator Laboratory1966 - 1974

Weston selected1966

Wilson speaking to staff in the Village

1970

Flag raising, 1968

Robert Wilson, Director 1967 - 1978

Creation of the Laboratory

Linac, 1968

Main Ring, 1969

Archaeology

Dr. Ann Early reviews some of the artifacts she found in her 1970 survey of the NAL site.

Recalling the Frontier

The buffalo herd came to Fermilab from Colorado and Wyoming in September, 1969.

Prairie Restoration

The 6,800 acres of the open space of the Laboratory has been protected since 1971.

Planting trees on Arbor Days

1978

May 13, 1982May 5, 1989

Native American Artifacts

Augie Mier from Batavia donated the collection of arrowheads he found on the site to the Laboratory in 1978.

Pioneer Cemetery

Rededication by members of the Kane County Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Warrenville American Legion on September 24, 1972.

19681995

From NAL to Fermilab

The design energy of 200 GeV was reached in March 1972.

In May 1974 the Laboratory was dedicated and renamed Fermi

National Accelerator Laboratory.

Italian physicist

Enrico Fermi

Physics on the Frontier

Leon Lederman, Director 1979 - 1989

Dedication of the Tevatron, 1985

Detecting particle collisions at Fermilab

Lederman wins the Nobel Prize, October 1988

Education Outreach

Leon M. Lederman Science Education Center

A National Environmental Research Park preserving open space in Illinois

A National Environmental Research Park preserving open space in Illinois

John Peoples, Director1989 - 1999

Main Injector Groundbreaking, March 22, 1993

The Main Injector was added to Fermilab’s Tevatron in 1999

The History and Archives Project website can be found at

http://www.fnal.gov/projects/history/