Indiana Army Ammunition Plant
Encyclopedia
The Indiana Army Ammunition Plant was an Army manufacturing plant built in 1941 between Charlestown
and Jeffersonville, Indiana
. It consisted of three areas within two separate but attached manufacturing plants:
, giving it the water necessary for making smokeless powder, and the fact that the land was cheap because parts of it were unsuitable for farming, and because few individuals lived on it. The plant was built and operated as a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) facility.
Actual building of IOW Plant 1, a six line plant with support facilities, started on September 4, 1940, although officially it started on August 28, and was completed on May 31, 1942. The first line was put into production in April 1941. The IOW facilities were built and operated initially by E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. During World War II the production of this plant exceeded the total World War I production of all other smokeless powder producing plants in the US. During the Korean War
, DuPont cleaned away the excess powder and restarted production in 1950. The plant ran a maximum capacity with 3,000 employees until 1954.
IOW Plant 2, designed as a three line facility for the production of double base rocket propellant, was started in November 1944 but stopped, without completion, on V-J Day. All areas except the powder storage facilities were placed in caretaker status. In September 1960 all stored powder was removed and 1546.62 acres (6.3 km²) were submitted to GSA as excess. The remaining 2757.49 acres (11.2 km²) were utilized as woodland, crop land, and the site of a new automated black powder manufacturing facility.
The Hoosier Ordnance Plant was built by W-H-M-S Construction company (Winston Brothers, Haglin, Missouri Valley and Solitt) and operated by Goodyear Engineering Corporation (GEC). Production started in September 1941 and continued until V-J Day in 1945. Layaway was completed in February 1946. Limited production resumed in 1950 until a rehabilitation of the facility was completed in 1952. Goodyear took complete control over production in July 1952 under a Cost Plus Fixed Fee contract and continued until layaway of the facility in September 1957. Employment at the HOP during this period reached a high of 8,067 in August 1953, during the Korean War
.
In May, 1941, the three plants employed 27,520 people, which helped the area recover from the Great Depression
.
In March 1959, Goodyear took over maintenance of all plants, and was succeeded by Liberty Powder Defense Corporation in November 1959. Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation dissolved Liberty Powder (an operating unit) and assumed control effective October 1, 1962 and continued operations until April 1972, when it was succeeded by ICI Americas. After disposal of Plant 2, the plant had 10655 acres (43 km²), 1,700 buildings, 30 miles (48.3 km) of fence, 84 miles (135 km) of railroad track, and 190 miles (305.8 km) of roads.
In June 1960, 67.26 acres (272,191.8 m²) of Plant 1 was turned over to Clark County, which uses it as the site of the 4-H Center.
.
E W Wells Group an environmental company based in Dallas Texas, is performing a portion of the explosive residue threat removal and building demolitions operations.
Charlestown, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 5,993 people, 2,341 households, and 1,615 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,570.0 people per square mile . There were 2,489 housing units at an average density of 1,067.4 per square mile...
and Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...
. It consisted of three areas within two separate but attached manufacturing plants:
- Indiana Ordnance Works Plant 1 (IOW#1): (3,564.71 acres) made smokeless powderSmokeless powderSmokeless powder is the name given to a number of propellants used in firearms and artillery which produce negligible smoke when fired, unlike the older gunpowder which they replaced...
- Indiana Ordnance Works Plant 2 (IOW#2): (2,757.49 acres) made rocket propellant
- Hoosier Ordnance Plant (HOP): (4,326.8 acres) manufactured (and loaded) propellant charge bags
Creation
In 1940 it was announced that the world's largest smokeless powder plant would be built near Charlestown, as the land was close to the Ohio RiverOhio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, giving it the water necessary for making smokeless powder, and the fact that the land was cheap because parts of it were unsuitable for farming, and because few individuals lived on it. The plant was built and operated as a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) facility.
Actual building of IOW Plant 1, a six line plant with support facilities, started on September 4, 1940, although officially it started on August 28, and was completed on May 31, 1942. The first line was put into production in April 1941. The IOW facilities were built and operated initially by E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. During World War II the production of this plant exceeded the total World War I production of all other smokeless powder producing plants in the US. During the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, DuPont cleaned away the excess powder and restarted production in 1950. The plant ran a maximum capacity with 3,000 employees until 1954.
IOW Plant 2, designed as a three line facility for the production of double base rocket propellant, was started in November 1944 but stopped, without completion, on V-J Day. All areas except the powder storage facilities were placed in caretaker status. In September 1960 all stored powder was removed and 1546.62 acres (6.3 km²) were submitted to GSA as excess. The remaining 2757.49 acres (11.2 km²) were utilized as woodland, crop land, and the site of a new automated black powder manufacturing facility.
The Hoosier Ordnance Plant was built by W-H-M-S Construction company (Winston Brothers, Haglin, Missouri Valley and Solitt) and operated by Goodyear Engineering Corporation (GEC). Production started in September 1941 and continued until V-J Day in 1945. Layaway was completed in February 1946. Limited production resumed in 1950 until a rehabilitation of the facility was completed in 1952. Goodyear took complete control over production in July 1952 under a Cost Plus Fixed Fee contract and continued until layaway of the facility in September 1957. Employment at the HOP during this period reached a high of 8,067 in August 1953, during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
.
In May, 1941, the three plants employed 27,520 people, which helped the area recover from the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Post-war Era
The three plants were combined as the Indiana Arsenal under War Department Circular No. 329 on November 30, 1945, and renamed the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant in August 1963 by Department of the Army General Order No. 35.In March 1959, Goodyear took over maintenance of all plants, and was succeeded by Liberty Powder Defense Corporation in November 1959. Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation dissolved Liberty Powder (an operating unit) and assumed control effective October 1, 1962 and continued operations until April 1972, when it was succeeded by ICI Americas. After disposal of Plant 2, the plant had 10655 acres (43 km²), 1,700 buildings, 30 miles (48.3 km) of fence, 84 miles (135 km) of railroad track, and 190 miles (305.8 km) of roads.
In June 1960, 67.26 acres (272,191.8 m²) of Plant 1 was turned over to Clark County, which uses it as the site of the 4-H Center.
Today
The ammunition manufacturing facility, placed into modified caretaker status in 1992, was operated by ICI Americas as Facility I (an industrial park), and approved for transfer to the INAAP Reuse Authority (a Local Reuse Authority, or LRA) by congressional action. It is presently called the River Ridge Commerce Center. Title to 3000 acres (12.1 km²) has transferred to the LRA (Oct. 2007), with transfer of another 3000 acres (12.1 km²), located in Plant 1, awaiting cleanup for transfer. The other 4500 acres (18.2 km²) was transferred to the State of Indiana and is operated by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources as Charlestown State ParkCharlestown State Park
Charlestown State Park is an Indiana state park on in Clark County, Indiana, in the United States. The park is on the banks of the Ohio River, east of Charlestown. It was once part of the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant , and was donated in separate parcels to the Indiana state government. In...
.
E W Wells Group an environmental company based in Dallas Texas, is performing a portion of the explosive residue threat removal and building demolitions operations.
External links
- Charlestown, IN and the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant: The Making of A War-Industry Boom-Town by Rob Vest
- Indiana Army Ammunition Plant at Abandoned
- Indiana Army Ammunition Plant by Zach Fein
- Indiana Army Ammunition Plant at American MemoryAmerican MemoryAmerican Memory is an Internet-based archive for public domain image resources, as well as audio, video, and archived Web content. It is published by the Library of Congress...
from the Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and... - River Ridge Commerce Center