Dayton History’s Mound museum on Cold War, nuclear defense set to open

The Mound Cold War Discovery Center Museum is a cooperative effort between Dayton History, the Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, and the Mound Science and Energy Museum Association. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The Mound Cold War Discovery Center Museum is a cooperative effort between Dayton History, the Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, and the Mound Science and Energy Museum Association. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The Mound Cold War Discovery Center Museum has set a ribbon-cutting date of April 23 at Mound Business Park.

The site operated by Dayton History will include information, photographs and various other forms of media documenting the Mound Laboratory research and breakthroughs that helped changed the course of the last century and continue to impact this one.

Mound Laboratories played a prominent role in the Manhattan Project developing atomic energy during World War II.

RELATED: Dayton History to shed light on top-secret Mound work

The museum at 1075 Mound Round is a cooperative effort between Dayton History, the Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, and the Mound Science and Energy Museum Association.

The work at the site overlooking Miamisburg east of the Great Miami River from the 1940s until it was phased out in the 1990s was cloaked in “international intrigue” as the heavily-secured center researched atomic and nuclear weapons, and how to advance space exploration, according to Brady Kress, president and chief executive officer of the Carillon Park-based Dayton History.

At peak operation, the Mound employed approximately 2,500 people and occupied 116 buildings across 306 acres.

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The center will be free and open to the public, offering tours, educational programs, workshops, school visits, and lectures for those interested in history.

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