Beloved ‘Gatekeeper’ Made Manhattan Project Work
By Heather McClenahan
Los Alamos Historical Society
Spies tried to ingratiate themselves to her. She scoured Santa Fe for exotic holiday items for European scientists. People who walked through the front door of her office sometimes disappeared out the back.
Dorothy McKibbin, known as the Gatekeeper to Los Alamos, has become one of the most well-known historical figures of the Manhattan Project, and she is the most universally beloved.
She worked in a modest office at 109 East Palace Avenue in Santa Fe, issuing passes, procuring equipment, sending furniture and other household items to the right places. She watched over shopping bags left in her care by beleaguered Los Alamos residents and lent an ear to the homesick and lovesick.