The Oak Ridger Jobs and Profile

Alfred and Julia Hill founded The Oak Ridger after being sought out in the summer of 1948 by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The AEC was the civilian agency created by the Congress after World War II to take over the nuclear program from the military.

The AEC had decided that Oak Ridge, along with Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M., the two other communities created by the Manhattan Project (the atomic bomb effort), should become permanent cities and the residents encouraged to buy their homes and establish self-government. Crucial to that process, was an independent daily paper to keep the residents informed. The Hills owned the newspaper until it was purchased by the Topeka, Kan.-based Stauffer Communications Inc. Stauffer took over the newspaper on Jan. 1, 1987.

In 1995, Augusta, Ga.-based Morris Communications purchased The Oak Ridger and all of the other holdings of Stauffer Communications.