[St. Louis Star-Times, December 2, 1940]
DEFENSE ACTIVITY
GAINING STEADILY IN ST. LOUIS AREA
Training Camps and
Factories Make Section Important in National Program.
FROM THE STAR-TIMES WASHINGTON BUREAU.
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 2—Missouri and Illinois counties across the Mississippi River from St.
Louis are becoming increasingly important in the national defense program.
Within a
year two of the largest centers for training of men in the country’s armed
forces will be operating in those areas, two big plants will be turning out
ammunition for them to fight with, and another large factory will be turning
out war planes.
Expenditures
involving hundreds of millions of dollars have been authorized in Missouri and
nearby Illinois as part of the program. Because of its inland location,
Missouri is under consideration for other projects relating to defense.
Training Camps.
A survey
today by the Star-Times of War Department contracts and authorizations showed
the following in the Missouri-Illinois area:
SEVENTH
CORPS AREA TRAINING CENTER NEAR ROLLA—In the picturesque Ozarks, southwest of
Rolla and less than 150 miles from St. Louis, one of the largest military
centers in the country will be located.
Approximately
65,000 acres of hilly, timbered land will be used to train 32,000 enlisted men
and 1,200 officers. The Sixth Division of the regular army will be concentrated
there, along with the Seventy-second Field Artillery brigade. Medical,
engineer, quartermaster and signal troops will be included.
A
construction program calling for expenditure of about $8,400,000 for housing,
utilities and other training facilities is being rushed in order that the camp
may be opened next spring. The government owned 12,000 of the 65,000 acres on
the camp site before it finally was approved and the remaining 53,000 acres are
being acquired.
SCOTT
FIELD—Located ten miles east of Belleville and twenty-five miles from St.
Louis, this field bulks large in the national defense scheme. Approximately
$9,000,000 already has been spent there to equip it as the army’s chief radio
and communications school and millions more will be expended before the program
is completed.
The present
population of Scott Field is between 3,000 and 4,000 and it will be more than
8,000 before the end of 1941. Just recently a $1,082,214 contract was awarded
the Dickie Construction Co. of St. Louis for 145 additional buildings at the
field.
[one or more lines missing] gress has appropriated $970,000
for a construction program there. The money will be used for construction of
barracks, including a 1,000-man reception center where trainees will be issued
clothing and other personal equipment, classified as to the type of training
for which they are best fitted and then given one month’s basic training before
being assigned to permanent organizations.
The
barracks has been the home of the Sixth Infantry but it is being revamped to
become a new training station for the army air corps, with plans for
preliminary ground training for about 3,500 air corps recruits.
Activity at Airport.
LAMBERT-ST.
LOUIS MUNICIPAL AIRPORT—Already the airport is humming with activity, largely
due to increased activity in the St. Louis airplane division of the
Curtiss-Wright Corp. plane factory there, and it likely will be further
improved upon designation as a national defense base under the defense program,
as is likely.
The Curtiss-Wright
factory in St. Louis is engaged in an $8,000,000 expansion program, largely
with federal funds, in order to carry out War Department contracts amounting to
more than $62,000,000.
Among other
improvements relating to the airport, there may be an allocation of
approximately $2,000,000 by the Federal Bureau of Public Roads for a new
express highway from St. Louis to the airport. This is dependent, of course,
upon the port being designated as a national defense base.
TNT
PLANT—An 18,000-acre tract at Weldon Springs, near St. Charles, has been chosen
as the site for construction of a TNT plant as a vital link in the national
defense program. An $11,325,000 contract for construction of the plant has been
awarded. It will be operated by Atlas Powder Co. of Wilmington, Del., under a
$6,390,000 contract with the government.
Opposition
has been encountered from landowners in the vicinity, just across the Missouri
River from St. Louis County, but construction of the plant is expected to begin
next month.
Arms Plant Near K. C.
SMALL ARMS
AND AMMUNITIONS PLANT—One a 2,200-acre tract ten miles east of Kansas City, in
Jackson County, will be constructed a $7,500,000 plant. The War Department has
signed a $73,575,261 contract with Remingon Arms Co. of Bridgeport, Conn., for
operation and equipment of the factory.
The title
to the plant, cost of which is not included in the contract with the Remington
company, will be held by the government.
Munitions
plants long established in Alton and vicinity also are reaping a harvest
through the defense program. Latest breakdowns issued by the National Defense
Advisory Commission show that contracts for ordnance and ammunition in the St.
Louis industrial area, which includes Alton, total $99,355,000.
Improvements
likely to be authorized in Missouri in the future include improvements of
existing airports and possible construction of auxiliary airports.
Meanwhile,
the flow of industrial orders is certain to continue [one or more lines
missing]
==========
[St. Charles Banner-News, no date]
WELDON SPRING PLANT
TO HAVE 1200 EMPLOYES
A Maximum of 3,000
Workmen Will Be Used To Construct Buildings and Install The Equipment
The
Banner-News has been informed that the number of employees to be used by Atlas
Powder Company in the operation of the Weldon Spring TNT plant for the
manufacture of explosives, etc., will be about 1,200. Of this number some four
hundred will be professional or skilled workers and the balance unskilled.
We are also
told that the Fraser-Brace Construction Company expects to use a maximum of
three thousand employes to build the plant.
This
information is supplied by authorities at Washington.
==========
[no source, no date]
MAIL SERVICE TO TNT
AREA OUT OF LOCAL POSTOFFICE
Beginning
Monday afternoon, the St. Charles post office will operate a truck delivery
system to and from the TNT plant office at Weldon Spring, it was announced
today.
