1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster
Encyclopedia
The 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster was an explosion
and fire
that claimed many lives and destroyed several square miles of New Jersey
factories. It began on Saturday morning, March 1, 1924, when an explosion destroyed a building in Nixon, New Jersey used for processing ammonium nitrate. The 11:15 a.m. explosion touched off fires in surrounding buildings in the Nixon Nitration Works that contained other highly flammable materials. The disaster killed twenty persons, destroyed forty buildings, and demolished the “tiny industrial town of Nixon, New Jersey.”
, near New Brunswick, in what was then officially known as Raritan Township, New Jersey
and unofficially known as Nixon, New Jersey. It was originally created by naval architect and industrialist Lewis Nixon
in 1915, upon the outbreak of World War I, to supply some of the warring nations of Europe with gun powder and other war materials. When the war ended its facilities were put to broader uses, involving other explosive materials.
The company manufactured cellulose nitrate, the first plastic
. Because of its use of nitrate, the material is highly flammable. At the works, cellulose nitrate was maintained in large sheets that had been piled in the surrounding buildings.
Within the Works, Nixon leased a building to the Ammonite Company. Ammonite was using the facility to salvage the contents of artillery shells for use as agriculture fertilizer
. The building reportedly contained 1 million USgals (3,785.4 m³) of ammonium nitrate in storage and fifteen tank car
s, each holding 90000 gallons (340,687.1 l) of ammonium nitrate in the process of crystallization
.
, where business buildings in the Stapleton
and St. George
neighborhoods of rocked, windows rattled and doors were slammed. It was heard as far away as lower New York City
and Brooklyn
.
. Fires began to consume other buildings as well, including the offices of the Nitration Works.
Six hours after the explosion, flames were still burning over an area of one square mile. Then, an even greater disaster was avoided. As darkness fell, the winds shifted suddenly and began fanning the flames toward freight cars on a siding and toward the Raritan Arsenal (located across a fence from the site). In the arsenal
, 500,000 high-explosive shells were stored. Through the efforts of exhausted firefighter
s, the fire did not reach the arsenal. Although four of the arsenal’s high explosive magazines had been crushed by the explosion and the roofs of two others were blown in, the magazines did not explode.
began an inquiry two days after the blast. Among those summoned to appear for the inquiry were Lewis Nixon, his son Stanhope Wood Nixon
, and R. Norris Shreve
, then president of the Ammonite Co. Secretary of War John W. Weeks
also ordered an inquiry, for the more limited purpose of determining whether the Raritan Arsenal was in any way responsible for the explosion.
Ammonite was extracting ammonium nitrate from shells from the arsenal, leading to speculation that small quantities of trinitrotoluene from the shells remained in the ammonium nitrate, and triggered the blast. Lewis Nixon embraced this explanation. Ammonite disputed this theory, asserting that the average content of TNT in the salvaged ammonium nitrate was two-tenths of one percent. Major A.S. Casand, commander of the arsenal, also disagreed that residual TNT was to blame, and believed that the explosion was due to conditions in the plant.
One month after the disaster, Ammonite sued Nixon Nitration Works for $400,000 in damages, alleging that the explosion was due to the Nixon company’s carelessness.
The following month, Nixon Nitration Works was ordered to pay $12,000 to the widow of a victim.
The following year Ammonite pled guilty to charges arising from the explosion and was fined a total of $9,000, reflecting a $600 fine for each of 15 employees killed in the blast.
Ammonite dissolved in 1926, for reasons attributed to the explosion. Ammonite owner R. Norris Shreve, already a renowned chemical and industrial engineer, later joined the faculty at Purdue University
, where he became a well-respected scholar, author, and teacher. A residence hall
at Purdue is named in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Shreve.
The Nixon Nitration Works rose again on the site, and returned to the business of cellulose nitrate manufacturing. Lewis Nixon died on September 23, 1940. His son Stanhope Nixon, who assumed control of the business, had few of his father’s qualities, and many vices. After World War II, the plastics industry evolved from nitrate-based products to acetate
-based products, and the company failed to make the transition. In 1951, as the company downsized, it gave 48 acres (194,249.3 m²) of land, and a dam, to New Brunswick. The site of the Works is now a part of Middlesex County College
and Raritan Center
Industrial Park.
In 1954, the citizens of Middlesex County's Raritan Township renamed their community by referendum. The name Edison
was chosen over Nixon. However, the Nixon name is still used by the local post office and postal district.
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
and fire
Conflagration
A conflagration or a blaze is an uncontrolled burning that threatens human life, health, or property. A conflagration can be accidentally begun, naturally caused , or intentionally created . Arson can be accomplished for the purpose of sabotage or diversion, and also can be the consequence of...
that claimed many lives and destroyed several square miles of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
factories. It began on Saturday morning, March 1, 1924, when an explosion destroyed a building in Nixon, New Jersey used for processing ammonium nitrate. The 11:15 a.m. explosion touched off fires in surrounding buildings in the Nixon Nitration Works that contained other highly flammable materials. The disaster killed twenty persons, destroyed forty buildings, and demolished the “tiny industrial town of Nixon, New Jersey.”
The setting
The Nixon Nitration Works, which included a number of plants, covered about twelve square miles on the Raritan RiverRaritan River
The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
, near New Brunswick, in what was then officially known as Raritan Township, New Jersey
Raritan Township, New Jersey
Raritan Township is a Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township population was 22,185...
and unofficially known as Nixon, New Jersey. It was originally created by naval architect and industrialist Lewis Nixon
Lewis Nixon (naval architect)
Lewis Nixon I was a naval architect, shipbuilding executive, public servant, and political activist. He designed the United States' first modern battleships, and supervised the construction of its first modern submarines, all before his 40th birthday. He was briefly the leader of Tammany Hall...
in 1915, upon the outbreak of World War I, to supply some of the warring nations of Europe with gun powder and other war materials. When the war ended its facilities were put to broader uses, involving other explosive materials.
The company manufactured cellulose nitrate, the first plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
. Because of its use of nitrate, the material is highly flammable. At the works, cellulose nitrate was maintained in large sheets that had been piled in the surrounding buildings.
Within the Works, Nixon leased a building to the Ammonite Company. Ammonite was using the facility to salvage the contents of artillery shells for use as agriculture fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
. The building reportedly contained 1 million USgals (3,785.4 m³) of ammonium nitrate in storage and fifteen tank car
Tank car
A tank car is a type of railroad rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities.-Timeline:...
s, each holding 90000 gallons (340,687.1 l) of ammonium nitrate in the process of crystallization
Crystallization
Crystallization is the process of formation of solid crystals precipitating from a solution, melt or more rarely deposited directly from a gas. Crystallization is also a chemical solid–liquid separation technique, in which mass transfer of a solute from the liquid solution to a pure solid...
.
The initial explosion
When the Ammonite building exploded, windows for a mile around the scene were broken inward and in many instances doors were blown from their hinges. The blast shook Staten IslandStaten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, where business buildings in the Stapleton
Stapleton, Staten Island
Stapleton is a neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island in New York City in the United States. It is located along the waterfront of Upper New York Bay, bounded on the north by Tompkinsville at Grant Street, on the south by Clifton at Vanderbilt Avenue, and on the west by St. Paul's Avenue and...
and St. George
St. George, Staten Island
St. George is a neighborhood on the northeastern tip of Staten Island in New York City, where the Kill Van Kull enters Upper New York Bay. It is the most densely developed neighborhood on Staten Island, and the location of the administrative center for the borough and for the coterminous Richmond...
neighborhoods of rocked, windows rattled and doors were slammed. It was heard as far away as lower New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
.
The disaster spreads
In the other buildings on the site, the flaming debris from the explosion of the Ammonite plant soon set the cellulose nitrate sheets on fire, causing the material to act as a huge blow-torch of blue flames, feeding an even greater conflagrationConflagration
A conflagration or a blaze is an uncontrolled burning that threatens human life, health, or property. A conflagration can be accidentally begun, naturally caused , or intentionally created . Arson can be accomplished for the purpose of sabotage or diversion, and also can be the consequence of...
. Fires began to consume other buildings as well, including the offices of the Nitration Works.
Six hours after the explosion, flames were still burning over an area of one square mile. Then, an even greater disaster was avoided. As darkness fell, the winds shifted suddenly and began fanning the flames toward freight cars on a siding and toward the Raritan Arsenal (located across a fence from the site). In the arsenal
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
, 500,000 high-explosive shells were stored. Through the efforts of exhausted firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
s, the fire did not reach the arsenal. Although four of the arsenal’s high explosive magazines had been crushed by the explosion and the roofs of two others were blown in, the magazines did not explode.
The human toll
Two days after the explosion, newspapers reported that eighteen persons were killed, two were missing (and presumed killed), and fifteen others remained hospitalized. The blast injured one hundred persons. The dead included the wife and three children of an employee of the plant who lived one hundred yards from the scene, a stenographer working at the plant, and thirteen workmen who were repairing the roof of the building where the blast occurred.The inquiries
Prosecutor John E. Toolan of Middlesex County, New JerseyMiddlesex County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 750,162 people, 265,815 households, and 190,855 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,422 people per square mile . There were 273,637 housing units at an average density of 884 per square mile...
began an inquiry two days after the blast. Among those summoned to appear for the inquiry were Lewis Nixon, his son Stanhope Wood Nixon
Stanhope Wood Nixon
Stanhope Wood Nixon was a vice president of the Nixon Nitration Works during the 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster. He later became chairman of the board.-Biography:...
, and R. Norris Shreve
R. Norris Shreve
Randolph Norris Shreve was a chemical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, educator and collector. After joining the Purdue University faculty in 1930, he helped to build the University’s School of Chemical Engineering, the Purdue-Taiwan Engineering Project, and National Cheng Kung University in...
, then president of the Ammonite Co. Secretary of War John W. Weeks
John W. Weeks
John Wingate Weeks was an American politician in the Republican Party. He served as a United States Representative for Massachusetts from 1905 to 1913, as a United States Senator from 1913 to 1919, and as Secretary of War from 1921 to 1925.-Life and career:Weeks was born and raised in Lancaster,...
also ordered an inquiry, for the more limited purpose of determining whether the Raritan Arsenal was in any way responsible for the explosion.
Ammonite was extracting ammonium nitrate from shells from the arsenal, leading to speculation that small quantities of trinitrotoluene from the shells remained in the ammonium nitrate, and triggered the blast. Lewis Nixon embraced this explanation. Ammonite disputed this theory, asserting that the average content of TNT in the salvaged ammonium nitrate was two-tenths of one percent. Major A.S. Casand, commander of the arsenal, also disagreed that residual TNT was to blame, and believed that the explosion was due to conditions in the plant.
The aftermath
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, federal, state, and local officials considered whether plants containing explosives should be banned from Middlesex County.One month after the disaster, Ammonite sued Nixon Nitration Works for $400,000 in damages, alleging that the explosion was due to the Nixon company’s carelessness.
The following month, Nixon Nitration Works was ordered to pay $12,000 to the widow of a victim.
The following year Ammonite pled guilty to charges arising from the explosion and was fined a total of $9,000, reflecting a $600 fine for each of 15 employees killed in the blast.
Ammonite dissolved in 1926, for reasons attributed to the explosion. Ammonite owner R. Norris Shreve, already a renowned chemical and industrial engineer, later joined the faculty at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, where he became a well-respected scholar, author, and teacher. A residence hall
Shreve Hall
Shreve Hall originally opened the fall semester of the 1970 academic year. Named for Eleanor Burns Shreve and her husband Randolph Norris Shreve, former Purdue University faculty, Shreve was the first residence hall at Purdue designed to be co-educational, although Shreve was originally built for...
at Purdue is named in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Shreve.
The Nixon Nitration Works rose again on the site, and returned to the business of cellulose nitrate manufacturing. Lewis Nixon died on September 23, 1940. His son Stanhope Nixon, who assumed control of the business, had few of his father’s qualities, and many vices. After World War II, the plastics industry evolved from nitrate-based products to acetate
Acetate
An acetate is a derivative of acetic acid. This term includes salts and esters, as well as the anion found in solution. Most of the approximately 5 billion kilograms of acetic acid produced annually in industry are used in the production of acetates, which usually take the form of polymers. In...
-based products, and the company failed to make the transition. In 1951, as the company downsized, it gave 48 acres (194,249.3 m²) of land, and a dam, to New Brunswick. The site of the Works is now a part of Middlesex County College
Middlesex County College
Middlesex County College is a community college with its main campus located in Edison, New Jersey, United States. The two-year college serves the needs of Middlesex County, as well as surrounding communities. There are two urban campuses located in New Brunswick and Perth Amboy.The college was...
and Raritan Center
Raritan Center
Raritan Center is a large business park located in the southern portion of Edison Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. It is one of the largest business parks in the Northeast and the largest in Middlesex County. Raritan Center contains approximately in over 100 buildings of office, research,...
Industrial Park.
In 1954, the citizens of Middlesex County's Raritan Township renamed their community by referendum. The name Edison
Edison, New Jersey
Edison Township is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. What is now Edison Township was originally incorporated as Raritan Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1870, from portions of both Piscataway Township and Woodbridge Township...
was chosen over Nixon. However, the Nixon name is still used by the local post office and postal district.