Los Alamos in Los Alamos County, New Mexico — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Los Alamos Project Main Gate Park
Photographed by James Hulse, March 25, 2025
1. Los Alamos Project Main Gate Park Marker
In 1986, Sunrise Kiwanis recognized the need for a place for campers to park while visiting Los Alamos and adopted the park. Over the years, the Kiwanis Club held raffles to raise $30,000 to help improve the site and provided hundreds of hours of volunteer labor. With an additional $12,000 from the State of New Mexico, Sunrise Park was born.
Sunrise Park was recognized in 1986 with a Certificate of Merit awarded to Sunrise Kiwanis for its efforts to help Beautify America. This prestigious award was presented by the Secretary of the Interior, Don Paul Hodel, and was one of only fifty such awards given at the time.
In 2001, Sunrise Kiwanis joined with the Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos to become one organization which continues to help maintain the park you see here today. In 2016, the Los Alamos County Council passed a resolution officially renaming Sunrise Park to Los Alamos Project Main Gate Park.
The replica of the main gate guard shack was added to the park in 2015 and is a popular photo opportunity with visitors.
Captions
(Photo #1) The Main Gate guard shack once located near this site.
(Photo
this page online
(Photo #3) Wally Walters, Bill Horn, and Jack Gehre work on landscaping with the Main Gate guard tower just visible in the background.
(Photo #4) The Sunrise Kiwanis club received assistance from other regional Kiwanis clubs in their effort to the beautify the park.
(Photo #5) Joe Roybal, Bob Wells, Lloyd Rasmussen, Jack Gehre, and Paul Norris work on the beginnings of the two shade structures at the park.
(Photo #6) Thad Cole, Bob Wells, and Paul Norris work together to spread mulch.
Erected by Kiwanis International.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Forts and Castles • Parks & Recreational Areas • Science & Medicine • War, World II. A significant historical year for this entry is 1943.
Location. 35° 52.563′ N, 106° 15.233′ W. Marker is in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in Los Alamos County. It is on East Road east of Camino Entrada, on the right when traveling west. The marker is located east of the main gate building in the road park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2700 E Rd, Los Alamos NM 87544, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Northern New Mexico. It is also in the American Southwest. Globally, it is in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Los Alamos (approx. 0.4 miles away); Senator Clinton P. Anderson Scenic Route
Photographed by James Hulse, March 25, 2025
2. The view of the Los Alamos Project Main Gate Park Marker
Also see . . . Main Gate Park. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
This building is a re-creation of the historic security gate all Manhattan Project workers passed through to enter Los Alamos. Before reaching the security gate, however, newcomers to Project Y had to go through Dorothy McKibbin. Known as the gatekeeper of Los Alamos, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer hired her as his assistant in Santa Fe, where she organized housing, greeted scientists, and, perhaps most importantly, issued security and identification passes to Project Y workers.(Submitted on April 8, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.)
Photographed by James Hulse, March 25, 2025
3. Los Alamos Project Main Gate
Credits. This page was last revised on April 8, 2025. It was originally submitted on April 6, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas. This page has been viewed 252 times since then and 41 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on April 7, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.
