American Trona Corporation Building
Encyclopedia
American Trona Corporation Building is an industrial building
at the Port of Los Angeles
in San Pedro
. It was built from 1916-1917 by the American Trona Corporation of California to process and store salt potash
from the company's trona
mining facilities near Searles Lake
in Trona, California
, eastern San Bernardino County. The building originally included crushers, separators and a network of conveyor belts to process the potash. The building has approximately 25000 square feet (2,322.6 m²) of interior space on two floors and is said to be one of the largest still existing wood structural spaces in an industrial building on the West Coast. The foundation and interior walls of the first floor were built with reinforced concrete, and the entire upper section is made of wood.
Due to advances in methods for separating potash, the plant was used for that purpose for only a short time, and there is some indication that the facility never went into full production. In 1920, the building was offered for sale at $200,000 to become part of a proposed submarine naval base at the Los Angeles Harbor. The building was converted to use as a saw mill and warehouse during the 1920s and 1930s. It became part of U.S.Army's Fort MacArthur
in 1942 and has remained under military ownership since that time. The ownership of Fort MacArthur transferred to the U.S. Air Force in 1982.
The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
in 1982.
Industrial building
An industrial building, is a building used for industrial activities.-Types of industrial buildings:*Brewery*Factory*Foundry*Mining*Power plant*Refinery*Mill*Oil Rig...
at the Port of Los Angeles
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles, also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT L.A, is a port complex that occupies of land and water along of waterfront. The port is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately south of downtown...
in San Pedro
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California
San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area...
. It was built from 1916-1917 by the American Trona Corporation of California to process and store salt potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
from the company's trona
Trona
Trona ; Na3•2H2O is an evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced the Solvay process used in most of the rest of the world for sodium carbonate production.- Etymology :The word "trona" comes to English by way of either...
mining facilities near Searles Lake
Searles Lake
Searles Lake is an endorheic dry lake in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, with the mining community, Trona on its western shore. The evaporite basin is approximately long and at its widest point, yielding 1.7 million tons annually of industrial minerals within the basin to...
in Trona, California
Trona, California
Trona is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California. In 2000 it had a population of 2,742. Trona is at the western edge of Searles Lake, a dry lake bed in Searles Valley, southwest of Death Valley. The town takes its name from the mineral trona, abundant in the lakebed.It is...
, eastern San Bernardino County. The building originally included crushers, separators and a network of conveyor belts to process the potash. The building has approximately 25000 square feet (2,322.6 m²) of interior space on two floors and is said to be one of the largest still existing wood structural spaces in an industrial building on the West Coast. The foundation and interior walls of the first floor were built with reinforced concrete, and the entire upper section is made of wood.
Due to advances in methods for separating potash, the plant was used for that purpose for only a short time, and there is some indication that the facility never went into full production. In 1920, the building was offered for sale at $200,000 to become part of a proposed submarine naval base at the Los Angeles Harbor. The building was converted to use as a saw mill and warehouse during the 1920s and 1930s. It became part of U.S.Army's Fort MacArthur
Fort MacArthur
Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army installation in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California . The fort is named in honor of Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur...
in 1942 and has remained under military ownership since that time. The ownership of Fort MacArthur transferred to the U.S. Air Force in 1982.
The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1982.