Although most often associated with the top secret Manhattan Project, the story of Fuller Lodge and the cottages of Bathtub Row begin more than 20 years before research on atomic weapons started in Los Alamos.

In 1920, Ashley Pond opened the Los Alamos Ranch School on the site of a homestead on the mesa Northeast of Santa Fe. Pond sought to "make men" out of privileged boys from wealthy families in the East. He patterned the curriculum after the Boy Scout program stressing outdoor life as well a strong academic education. In 1928, Detroit lumberman Spiro Fuller donated what would be called Fuller Lodge to the school in honor of his deceased son. Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem designed Fuller Lodge, with its distinctive pine log construction with aspen wood spacers.

In 1942, the United States Army informed the Ranch School that it would soon be commandeering all of the institution's property and facilities for government use. A few months later, the faculty hurriedly graduated the senior students and the U.S. Army began moving in.

The army's activities in Los Alamos--also known as Site Y--required space to house the project's many scientists, technicians, and soldiers. Fuller Lodge served as a community center, restaurant, dance hall, concert center, radio station and hotel. One room is still known as Fermi's throne room, after Enrico Fermi, its distinguished occupant who wrote the letter to President Roosevelt initiating the Manhattan Project. The outbuildings became homes for the more prominent scientists and earned the nickname, Bathtub Row, because they were the only dwellings in the town with bathtubs.

After the successful conclusion of the Manhattan Project, new Cold War tensions necessitated continuing atomic research in Los Alamos and the Fuller Lodge housed guests and visiting professionals working at the aptly named Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

In 1966, the addition of a modern hotel in town threatened the lodge building, but local citizens succeeded in having ownership of the building transferred to the local government. Today the Fuller Lodge and cottages are used as a community center, the home of the Los Alamos Historical Society, and as offices for local cultural organizations.

From the Native American pueblo ruins on the grounds through the 20th century buildings that served as a haven for education and as an integral part of the Manhattan project, Fuller Lodge and Bathtub Row represents many eras in Los Alamos' community history.