[no source, October 23, 1940]
U. S. TO BUILD BIG
MUNITIONS PLANT NEAR ST. CHARLES
TNT Factory to Be
Located on 20,000-Acre Tract 20 Miles North of City.
Climaxing
months of negotiations and careful surveys, announcement has been made that the
War Department will construct a vast plant for the manufacture of the
explosive, TNT, on a 20,000-acre site of land to be acquired in St. Charles
County, southwest of Weldon Springs—twenty miles north of St. Louis.
Thomas N.
Dysart, president of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the
State Industrial Commission, who took an active role in the negotiations,
declared today that the plant will cost about $15,000,000 and produce, when
completed, 800 tons of explosives daily.
Predicts 8,000 Jobs.
R. Newton
McDowell, Kansas City contractor who has been designated by the war department
as land agent to acquire the site, estimated the plant will give employment to
8,000 to 10,000 workers. D. M. Bolton, engineer now representing McDowell at
St. Charles, estimated the employment figure ultimately may run to 12,000
persons.
Bolton
announced at St. Charles today that the government expects to acquire the
approximately 700 St. Charles County farms in the 20,000-acre tract within a
month or six weeks from now, and that work will start on construction of the
plant “just as soon as possible.”
The St.
Charles plant will be built by the government and leased and operated by the
Atlas Powder Co. of Wilmington, Del. It will be devoted to the manufacture of
trinitrotoluol (TNT) and dinitrotoluene (DNT)—powerful explosives for the use
of the army.
Land in the
20,000-acre site is rough, hilly—ideal for a plant, Bolton stated today. In
preparation for the mass of legal work which must be done to acquire title to
the area, Bolton today planned to confer with Earl Sutton, circuit court clerk
at St. Charles.
Near Daniel Boone Bridge.
Roughly,
the plant site is triangular in shape, spreading fanwise westward from the new
Daniel Boone Bridge across the Missouri River, south of new Highway No. 40, and
north of the river. The highway side of the tract measures about seven miles,
the river side an equal distance, and the southwest or largest side, about
eight miles.
Announcement
of the government’s plans for the giant plant were made in Washington by
Mcdowell, and in St. Charles by Bolton.
Lieut. Col.
Ward H. Maris, publicity officer of the War Department at Washington, stated
that as [one or more lines missing]
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Site for $15,000,000
TNT Plant
[fragment of map;
remainder of article not reproduced]
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[Typewritten note:]
On October 23, 1940 a St. Louis paper published the
information attached on this sheet. This news fell like a thunderbolt out of a
clear sky on the inhabitants of the peaceful little hamlets of Howell, Hamburg
and Dardenne and adjacent territory. The inhabitants of the villages had lived
in this area for generations, and some could boast of being direct descendants
of Daniel Boone, the great pioneer of the West. With sad hearts one might see
groups talking together of this tragedy which had come upon them so
unexpectedly.
The people of these villages were law abiding citizens who
had labored hard to own their homes which were very dear to them. Churches had
been built, Methodist, Evangelical, and Presbyterian. On Sundays the churches
were filled with devout worshippers. Francis Howell Institute was endowed in
1886 by Francis Howell. Many public school teachers were graduated from this
institution. Later it was changed into a first class high school. Many one room
schools dot the area, and one has fond recollections of “The Little Red School
House.”
Mail was brought to these villages by horseback in early
days, it was carried by Louis Howell gratis once a week from Augusta an
adjoining railroad town. Later it was brought from St. Charles by wagon once a
week by Jim Zumalt the first paid employee of the Government. Today rural mail
and post offices are used.
The early settlers and inhabitants of today have always been
very hospitable. In sickness and in death one had a host of friends who stood
ever ready to help. Sorrow and happiness was shared by all. A death in the
neighborhood severed a link in a chain that bound these country folk together
heart and soul.
These village people were happy because they were too busy
to be miserable. Their work was of the barter type, they helped each other with
their butchering, threshing, apple-butter making was a real joy to all. There
was social evenings and the old square dance was enjoyed by young and old. Bob
Muschany was the star caller for these dances, and they would last until the
wee hours of the morning.
Factors which influenced the government in selecting the St.
Charles site were also factors which made this area most valuable to the
property owners.
