Holston Army Ammunition Plant Kingspoxt V:- _.

92 Pages·2011·1.93 MB·English

Holston Army Ammunition Plant HABR No. TN-10
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Kingspoxt V:- _.■"..-..:'..-.
■Hawkins County -^o^^vi-uVM COUM
Tennessee
WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA
REDUCED COPIES OF MEASURED DRAWING
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Historic American Engineering Record
National Park Service
Department of the Interior
Washington, DC 20013-7127
HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD
Holston Army Ammunition Plant
TN-10
Location: In Sullivan County, Tennessee, along the Holston
River, South and west of Kingspolpt.
Date of Construction: Established in 19A2-1944
Owne r: Department of the Army
Significance: During World War II, the Holston Army Ammunition Plant
made several significant contributions to
explosives-manufacturing technology. It was the first
large-scale facility to implement the nearly developed
Bachmann process in the manufacture of the explosive
RDX. At the same time, it streamlined the Bachmann
method by instituting a slurry-based, continuous
manufacturing process, and it also developed important
new cooling and packaging procedures for composition
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B. As a result of these innovations, Holston became
the world's largest producer of Composition B, the
most powerful explosive until the development of
nuclear weapons.
Historical Report
Prepared by: Jeffrey A. Hess, 1984.
Prepared for
Transmittal by: Robie S. Lange, HABS/HAER, 1985.
Holston Army Ammunition Plant
HAER No. TN-10
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The Holston Army Ammunition Plant (HSAAP) is part of the Army's Armament,
Munitions and Chemical Command (AMCCOM). It is the only American
manufacturing facility for RDX- and HMX-based high explosives. Its chief
product is Composition B. The installation consists of two separate areas
— Plant A (120 acres) and Plant B (5,900 acres) — situated in and near
Kingsport, Tennessee. Except for a four-year standby period immediately
following V-J Day, the facility has been in continuous production since its
initial construction in 1942-1944. Of the 470 buildings maintained by the
installation, approximately three-quarters date from the World-vVar-II
period.
As the world's first large-scale Bachmann-method plant, the Holston Army
Anmunition Plant revolutionized the production of RDX and Composition B by
replacing an expensive, labor-intensive technology with a cost-efficient,
mass-production operation. It also pioneered in the development of the
magnesium-nitrate method of nitric acid concentration- During World War
II, the installation was of critical importance to Allied strategic
planning, and its large output of Composition B hastened Allied victory in
the crucial Battle of the Atlantic.
Because of their great technological and historical importance, the ten RDX
and Ccmposition-B manufacturing lines (Buildings Bl, S3, B5, 87, B9, Cl,
C3, C5, C5, C7, C9, D1-D10, E1-E10, G1-G10, Hl-HlO, 11-110, Jl^JlO, K1-K10,
L1-L10, M1-M10, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, N1-N10) at Plant B are Category I
historic properties. The installation also contains one of the nation's
Holston Army Ammunition Plant
HAER No. TN-10
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few surviving producer-gas plants (Plant A, Building 10), which is a
Category I "historic property by virtue of its rarity and "highly intact
condition. The installation's Old Administration Building (Plant B,
Building 1) is a Category III historic property "because of its role in
overseeing the Wbrld-War-II manufacturing operation. There are no Category
II historic properties at the installation.
Holston Army Ammunition Plant
HAER No. TN-10
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CONTENTS
Executive Surmary
PREFACE 1
1. INTRODUCTION 3
Scope 3
Methodology 4
2. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 14
Background 14
World War II 17
Korean War . 45
Vietnam War 48
Recent Developments 50
3. PRESERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS 59
Background 59
Category I Historic Properties 64
Category II Historic Properties 80
Category III Historic Properties 80
BIBLIOGRAPHY 83
Holston Army Ammunition Plant
HAER No. TN-10
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PREFACE
This report presents the results of an historic properties survey of the
Holston Army Ammunition Plant. Prepared for the United States Army
Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCOM), the report is intended
to assist the Army in bringing this installation into compliance with the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and its amendments, and related
federal laws and regulations. To this end, the report focuses on the
identification, evaluation, documentation, nomination, and preservation of
historic properties at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. Chapter 1 sets
forth the survey's scope and methodology; Chapter 2 presents an architec-
tural, historical, and technological overview of the installation and its
properties; and Chapter 3 identifies significant properties by Army
category and sets forth preservation recommendations. Illustrations and an
annotated bibliography supplement the text.
This report is part of a program initiated through a memorandum of
agreement between the National Park Service, Department of the Interior,
and the U.S. Department of the Army. The program covers 74 DARCOM
installations and has two components: 1) a survey of historic properties
(districts, buildings, structures, and objects), and 2) the development of
archaeological overviews. Stanley H. Fried, Chief, Real Estate Branch of
Headquarters DARCOM, directed the program for the Army, and Dr. Robert J.
Kapsch, Chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American
Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) directed the program for the National Park
Service. Sally Kress Tompkins was program manager, and Robie S. Lange was
Holston Army Ammunition Plant
HAER No. TN-10
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project manager for the historic properties survey. Technical assistance
was provided by Donald C. Jackson.
Building Technology Incorporated acted as primary contractor to HABS/HAER
for the historic properties survey. William A. Brenner was BTI's
principal-in-charge and Dr. Larry D. Lankton was the chief technical
consultant. Major subcontractors were the MacDonald and Mack Partnership
and Jeffrey A. Hess. The author of this report was Jeffrey A. Hess. The
author gratefully acknowledges the help of Lt. Col. Willis Seguin, Plant
Commander; William D. Miller and Susan P. Cole of the government staff; and
T.W. Goodwin, Jerry Blair, Henry Hurd, Roy S. Eastern, Robert Brewer, Jr.,
Robert Wicker, and Ken Curtis of the Holston Defense Corporation.
The complete HABS/HAER documentation for this installation will be included
in the HABS/HAER collections at the Library of Congress, Prints and
Photographs Division, under the designation HAER Mo. TN-10.
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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
SCOPE
This report is based on an historic properties survey conducted in April
1983 of all Army-owned properties located within the official boundaries of
the Holston Army Ammunition Plant. The survey included the following
tasks:
Completion of documentary research on the history of the
installation and its properties.
Completion of a field inventory of all properties at the
installation.
Preparation of a combined architectural, historical, and
technological overview for the installation.
Evaluation of historic properties and development of recommenda-
tions for preservation of these properties.
Also completed as a part of the historic properties survey of the
installation, but not included in this report, are HABS/HAER Inventory
cards for 27 individual properties. These cards, which constitute
HABS/HAER Documentation Level IV, will be provided to the Department of the
Army. Archival copies of the cards, with their accompanying photographic
Holston Army Ammunition Plant
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negatives, will be transmitted to the HABS/HAER collections at the Library
of Congress.
The methodology used to complete these tasks is described in the following
section of this report,
METHODOLOGY
1. Documentary Research
The Holston Army Ammunition Plant (HSAAP) was constructed during
1942-1944 as a government-owned, contractor-operated facility designed
to manufacture the high explosive Composition B and its chief ingre-
dient RDX. In addition to these major products, the HSAAP also
manufactured several raw materials used in RDX production. These
subsidiary operations involved the production of acetic acid, acetic
anhydride, ammonium nitrate, nitric acid, and producer gas. To place
the HSAAP in proper historical and technological perspective, research
was conducted on virtually all manufacturing processes employed at the
installation. Published doumentary sources were identified by con-
sulting standard bibliographies of military history, engineering, and
the applied sciences. Unpublished sources were identified by
researching the historical and technological archives of the U.S. Army
Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command (ALMCCOM) at Rock Island
Arsenal.
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A concerted effort was also made to locate published and unpublished
sources dealing specifically with the architecture and history of the
HSAAP. This site-specific research was conducted primarily at the
AMCCOM Historical Office at Rock Island Arsenal, the Kingsport Public
Library (Palmer Room), and the HSAAP (contractor's archives, govern-
ment administrative archives, real property records office, facilities
engineer's office). The Tennessee State Historic Preservation Office
(Tennessee Historical Commission, Nashville) was contacted for infor-
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mation about the HSAAP, but had no relevant data.
Army records used for the field inventory included current Real
Property Inventory (RPI) printouts that listed all officially recorded
buildings and structures by facility classification and date of
construction; the installation's property record cards; base maps and
photographs supplied by installation personnel; and installation mas-
ter planning, archaeological, environmental assessment, and related
reports and documents. A complete listing of this documentary
material may be found in the bibliography.
2. Field Inventory
Architectural and technological field surveys were conducted in April
1983 by Jeffrey A. Hess and Robert C. Mack. Following General
discussions with William Miller, environmental affairs officer of the
government staff, and T. W. Goodwin, manager of the contractor staff,
the surveyors were provided with escorts for tours of the
installation's production and magazine areas. The following
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