The company picked to build the Hanford facilities was called Du Pont. Du Pont was a large company that worked on chemical and engineering projects. Since World War II was going on, and because Du Pont wanted to help in fighting the war, their managers decided that they would build Hanford for only what it would cost them to buy the materials needed for the buildings and for the costs of hiring workers. They then agreed to accept a profit of only $1! By the way, Du Pont’s workers were so good, that they finished building Hanford early. When they did that, it meant that the Du Pont managers didn’t even get one dollar for doing the job. They were paid a total of sixty-seven cents!

 

The person who worked for Du Pont and managed all of the workers was named Gilbert Church. Along with Colonel Franklin Mathias, Church was part of the group that picked this area of Washington State as the place where Hanford would be built.

 

Church did a great job in managing the workers. What is even more amazing about the job he did was the fact that he wasn’t ever told what all of his buildings would be used for! Because Hanford was such a secret place, Church knew only what the army would tell him about the project. His job was simply to manage the workers and build the facilities he was told to, without asking questions about what those buildings would eventually be used for.