Joliet Army Ammunition Plant

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Proposed redevelopment of Joliet Arsenal, February 2002. Drawn with North at the top, the arsenal was bisected by Illinois Route 53 with Kankakee Ordinance Works in the west portion and Elwood Ordinance Plant on the east.

Joliet Army Ammunition Plant formerly known as the Joliet Arsenal was a United States Army arsenal located in Will County, Illinois, near Elwood, Illinois, south of Joliet, Illinois. Opened in 1940 during World War II, the facility consisted of the Elwood Ordinance Plant and the Kankakee Ordinance Works. In 1945, the two were deactivated and combined forming the Joliet Arsenal. Reactivated for the Korean War and renamed Joliet Army Ammunition Plant during the Vietnam War. Production of TNT ended in 1976, and the plant closed shortly after in the late 1970s. Portions of the site have been redeveloped forming an Intermodal freight transport hub, Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

1 World War II
2 Korean War
3 Vietnam War
4 Redevelopment
5 Environmental issues
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] World War II

The United States had very little capacity for manufacturing military munitions in 1939 when World War II broke out. Since the manufacture of munitions required specialized equipment and techniques there were no existing plants that could be converted. The solution to the lack of capacity, was to create a large network of interlocking ammunition plants. They would be government-owned, but contractor-operated (GOCO). More than 60 plants would be constructed between Jun 1940 and December 1942. The Elwood Ordinance Plant, named for Elwood, Illinois and the Kankakee Ordinance Works, named for the Kankakee River, were two of the first five to be constructed. In September 1940, Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation of New York was awarded the contract to construct the Kankakee Ordinance Works. Another New York firm, Sanderson and Porter, received the contract for the Elwood Ordinance Plant soon after. Construction on both plants began November 1940, with Elwood beginning production July 12, 1941 followed by Kankakee in September. The plants were separate since they had different purposes, Kankakee manufactured various types of explosives for use at other plants and Elwood loaded artillery shells, bombs, mines and other munitions.^[1]

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, an experienced explosives manufacturer, was selected to operate the Kankakee plant while Sanderson and Porter would operate the Elwood facility. In April 1944, United States Rubber Company would replace Du Pont as contractor at the Kankakee facility. TNT production at the Kankakee works occurred until August 1945 with a peak output of 5.5 million tons per week. In November 1945, Elwood and Kankakee were combined to form the Joliet Arsenal. Following the war the site was not completely inactive, DuPont leased space to manufacture Ammonium nitrate for fertilizer.^[1] Over 10,425 people were employed at the two plants during the peak production of the World War II. Elwood loaded more than 926 million bombs, shells, mines, detonators, fuzes, and boosters, and Kankakee produced a over one billion pounds of TNT.^[2]

Though both plants were designed with safety as a primary concern,^[1] at 2:45 AM, June 5, 1942, a large explosion on the assembly line at the Elwood facility resulted in 56 dead or missing and was felt as far as Waukegan, Illinois over 60 miles north.^[3] Lines were located in separate buildings which were separated by substantial distances limiting major damage to the facility as a whole.

[edit] Korean War

Following rehabilitation of the facility by the United States Army Corps of Engineers production resumed in 1952. The Kankakee portion was used to manufacture TNT under the control of contractor United States Rubber Company while Elwood operated under US Government control. Following the Korean war, Elwood would continue production in a limited capacity until deactivated in 1965.^[1] Kankakee production would end in 1957.^[2]

[edit] Vietnam War

The Elwood unit was reopened in 1966 and would produce artillery rounds, supplementary charge assemblies and cluster bomb units. The Kankakee unit was reopened in 1965 and would manufacture TNT until 1976.^[1] During the Vietnam War the Joliet Arsenal was renamed Joliet Army Ammunition Plant. The most operations at the facility were terminated by the late 1970s.^[2]

[edit] Redevelopment

In 1993, 23,500 acres of land was declared to be excess.^[2] Redevelopment plans included around 3,000 acres for two industrial parks, 455 acres for the Will County Landfill, 982 acres for the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery and 19,000 acres for the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. The government retained a portion as the Joliet Army Training Area.^[2] As of 2006, the industrial parks include a 621-acre Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. intermodal facility,^[4] and a 3.4 million square foot Wal-mart distibution facility.^[5]

[edit] Environmental issues

The EPA maintains portions of the property on the Superfund national priorities list. Clean up includes composting by the Army Corps of Engineers. The cemetery and industrial parks were on the buffer portion of the facility, and there was little or no cleanup required. However, portions of the site that became Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie were heavily contaminated, the EPA expects that cleanup will be required until 2010.^[6]