State gives title for NAL's site
April 10, 1969 was truly a landmark day in development of the National Accelerator Laboratory.
On that day, at a luncheon at the Palmer House in downtown Chicago, Governor Richard B. Ogilvie turned over ownership of the 6,800-acre site in DuPage and Kane counties for NAL to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
Seaborg, Ramey Speak
Glenn T. Seaborg, chairman of the U.S.A.E.C. and a Nobel laureate in chemistry, accepted the title to the land at the luncheon, which was described as the beginning of "A New Era for Illinois."
Said Dr. Seaborg: "I am sure that you will find that the Laboratory will be a most worthy institution to have located here so close to Chicago, a city in which so much significant nuclear history has already been made."
James T. Ramey, an AEC commissioner, also spoke at the site-conveyance ceremony. He said, in part:
"..the importance of this new Laboratory is not limited to science alone. Both the Atomic Energy Commission and the management of the Laboratory are dedicated to the objective that the construction and operation of the accelerator shall go hand in hand with the advancement of human rights."
Master of ceremonies at the luncheon was Ray C, Dickerson, director, Illinois Department of Business and Economic Development.. The invocation was de livered by Hudson T. Armerding, president, Wheaton College, who also had served as chairman of the site acquisition committee.
Host for the luncheon was Donald M. Graham, chairman of Mayor Daley's Committee for the Economic and Cultural Development of Chicago and chairman of the board, Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company, Chicago.
Wilson Proposes University
Robert R. Wilson, director of NAL, spoke briefly about the inter-relationships of ''particles, accelerators and society" and proposed that the state give serious consideration to the eventual location of a major university in the area contiguous to the Laboratory site.
In his speech, Governor Ogilvie described the event as the beginning of a new era of scientific and technological eminence for the State of Illinois. The governor presented a bronze plaque signifying the transfer to Dr. Seaborg. The inscription on the plaque reads, in part:
"The people of Illinois proudly present their fertile acres and accomplished talent to the nation for the development of a major laboratory devoted to the peaceful exploration of nature by particle physicists."
The plaque further declares that the new laboratory will be a "significant cathedral for research and learning and an international house for distinguished scholars."
Spent $25,500,000
The state of Illinois spent $25,500,000 to acquire the 10.63 square-mile site for the Laboratory, which had been sought in a nationwide competition by 46 states. Acquisitions of the site, which included the former village of Weston, where the NAL Village now is situated, was completed on March 27,1969 In addition to the price of the land, the $25,500,000 figure included expenses for appraisals, negotiations and various site preparation details.
"Transmittal of the property to the Atomic Energy Commission brings to fruition the hard work, sacrifices and contributions of many dedicated Illinoisans," said Governor Ogilvie. "Also, it allows construction of the accelerator laboratory to proceed on schedule,' and this will yield significant benefits for the economy of Illinois."
Among others who attended the luncheon were: Congressman Melvin H. Price of East St. Louis, Illinois, a senior member of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy; Congressman John N. Erlenborn of Elmhurst whose 14th district included the DuPage county portion of the laboratory site; former Illinois governors Otto Kerner and Samuel Shapiro, and Congressman Abner Mikva of Chicago's Hyde Park district.
Also at the speaker's table were Kenneth H. Dunbar, manager, Chicago operations office of the Atomic Energy Commission, and Gene Graves, former director of the Illinois Department of Business and Economic Development and now assistant to the president of Southern Illinois University.
NAL Progress Report
Meantime, as usual, there was a considerable amount of design and construction activity at the Laboratory during the month of March and early April. At the Laboratory's eventual "core" area near the northwestern boundaries of the site, not far from the City of Batavia, work began on the Booster enclosure excavations.
Construction of the Linac building, which began last December I with a formal groundbreaking, was moving ahead with the walls of the pre-accelerator house and the floor and parts of the walls of the lime-cavity enclosure virtually completed. And, work on the rough-roads contract was extended across Feldott Road toward Batavia Road.
Work on the Main Ring Prototype Enclosure's structure was nearly complete. One part of the Prototype is of concrete and another section is of corrugated steel. The Prototype is being built in the NAL Village beside the inflatable building.