Ammunition Assembley

Ammunition Assembley. . Charlestown Indiana in the summer of 1940 was a quiet town with a population of 900. By December of that same year the population had grown to over 13,400. Of this number over 10,000 residents worked at a single plant. The “boom” in Charlestown coincided with the construction of the Indiana Ordnance Works Plant 1, the world's largest smokeless powder plant and part of the government-owned Indiana Army Ammunition Plant (INAAP)., Munitions needs for World War II had prompted Congress to approve the first national defense appropriations act, paving the way for the plant's construction and operation. The impact on Charlestown was overwhelming. Construction workers from across the country scrambled for limited housing; some workers bedded down in their cars, pitched tents or slept in rented garages. Restaurants and stores were overwhelmed. Highway 62 was jammed with commuters entering and exiting the plant., Soon the facility had three complexes involved in munitions production. At its peak, the plant's 1,700 buildings covered over 10,000 acres, surrounded by thirty miles of fence. There were 84 miles of railroad track and 190 miles of roads within it. An immense water pumping system was installed to tap the underground aquifer near the Ohio River. Named after its developer, Canadian-born Leo Ranney, the system featured seven giant radial wells. Each of them could pump 49,000 gallons per minute, providing an incredible total daily capacity of 70.56 million gallons. It is still one of the largest well water systems ever built in the United States , After World War II ended, the activity wanted, and the plant was designated as a storage facility for War Department materials. Production of munitions resumed during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.
By the Way: For a short time, German prisoners of war supplemented the labor force at the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant.