Dorothy McKibbin first came to Santa Fe to recover from tuberculosis at Sunmount Sanatorium. After regaining her health, she returned to Kansas City to marry. After the death of her husband in 1931, McKibbin moved back to Santa Fe with her young son Kevin. She worked various jobs until being hired by scientist Robert Oppenheimer to be the primary contact in Santa Fe for the Manhattan Project, developed to create an atomic bomb and ultimately leading to the creation of Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1947. As the only “secure” private residence in Santa Fe, McKibbin’s home on Old Santa Fe Trail became a gathering place for scientists discouraged from socializing within the Santa Fe community. McKibbin continued to work as the Santa Fe liaison for Los Alamos until she retired in 1963. McKibbin collaborated with architect Katherine Stinson-Otero to design her residence, a typical New Mexican adobe ranch house that blends elements of the regional Spanish Pueblo Revival Style with the Territorial Revival Style.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.