The War Effort at Home: Perry Point Ammonium Nitrate Plant

The War Effort at Home: Perry Point Ammonium Nitrate Plant. Perry Point Village. , In 1918, the United States purchased Perry Point as the proposed site for an ammonium nitrate plant to assist in the war effort. The federal government signed a contract with the Atlas Powder Company on February 1, 1918 to oversee construction and operations of the plant and associated buildings. The proposed plant cost $6 million ($96 million in 2018), and together with housing and entertainment for employees, numbered some 280 buildings., Ground was broken at Perry Point on March 3, 1918, and the plant began ammonium nitrate production operations on July 5, 1918. 8,000 people worked around the clock to construct this large project in such a short timeframe., When opened, the Perry Point plant was the largest operational ammonium nitrate plant in the world with a production capacity of 300 tons daily. The plant's capacity was nearly double that of the entire American chemical industry in 1918. The plant operated through the winter of 1918 when production was halted following the declaration of armistice on November 11th., What is ammonium nitrate? , Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound that was utilized in the production of military explosives, including mines and artillery shells., Why Perry Point? , Perry Point was chosen for its strategic location along the high speed Pennsylvania Railroad line connecting Philadelphia and Washington, DC, as well as its accessibility to the Chesapeake Bay and Susquehanna River. With the land already cleared for farming, Perry Point was ideal for hasty construction.