Keystone Ordinance Works (Now Abandoned)
USA /
Pennsylvania /
Geneva /
World
/ USA
/ Pennsylvania
/ Geneva
World / United States / Pennsylvania
abandoned / shut down, ordnance factory
This is the site of the old Keystone Ordnance Works, a massive TNT factory. Old water towers and old buildings and bunkers still dot the site to this day. The water towers can be seen from I-79 south to the south of the PPG towers while coming from Meadville.
Victory over Japan, or VJ Day, Aug. 14, 1945, heralded the end of the war in
Japan and the end of World War II. This momentous event also caused the
permanent shutdown of TNT production at the largest manufacturing complex
ever built in Crawford County: the sprawling, 22-square-mile industrial
reserve known as the Keystone Ordnance Works in Greenwood Township near the
borough of Geneva.
Many area manufacturers retooled their industries to make goods required by
the war department. At the end of WWII, most industries reverted to their
former product lines. Local employment at these plants was largely
unaffected by the surrender of the Axis powers. But the KOW's product line
was inextricably linked to a product that is only in great demand during a
time of war: trinitrotoluene, better known by the acronym TNT.
The KOW was a government "war baby." It was conceived because of the war. It
had served its intended purpose of supplying the U.S. war machine's
insatiable need for TNT, and now that the war was over, the KOW - like many
other "war babies" around the country - was almost immediately shut down
upon hearing the news of the final victory, VJ Day
At the time of the plant closing, the KOW employed about 1,650 workers, the
majority of whom would soon be laid off. Some administrative staff and
maintenance workers were kept to "wind things down."
Over the post-war years, the plant virtually faded into obscurity. Shortly
after its shutdown, many buildings were sold to the public, and these
buildings were moved off site. Edinboro University bought a barracks
building that was formerly used to house workers at the plant, and the
building was used as a classroom until it burned in 1990. The Cochranton
Library is housed in the former cafeteria building of the KOW's
administration area.
Area school districts, and even the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh,
purchased buildings from the site. Some machinery and equipment was sold to
the public and some was transferred to other government facilities.
The government put the KOW up for sale in the late 1940s, but after a while
it was apparent that no one had the need for a $53 million explosives plant.
The government then took the plant off the market and placed it into a
"mothball status" in which it remained throughout the '50s.
In 1954, the KOW was made a satellite facility of the Ravenna Arsenal in
Ohio.
A Meadville Tribune article in 1956 stated that the plant could be brought
up to full operation in 90 days, once it received a government reactivation
notice. In 1956, the plant had a payroll of 70 workers, most of whom were in
the maintenance department.
In the early '60s, the plant was once again turned over to the General
Services Administration for liquidation. Local businessman Paul Kebert
bought the facility manufacturing area of the KOW in the mid-1960s, and his
family still owns the majority of this area today. The rest of the land had
been sold previously to the public, and the U.S. Army kept 500 acres of the
site, which it uses as a training and reserve center.
The administration area of the plant is now occupied by PPG Industries, the
factory being built in 1967. Arro Forge now occupies buildings in lines 11
and 12 of the former KOW's TNT manufacturing area. J&M Pipe Co. has recently
built a new factory in the area where the KOW fire department was located,
among other buildings.
Many of the oleum plant buildings as well as some of the acid and power area
buildings still stand today, though most buildings are gutted and in
dilapidated condition.
The same is true for the buildings in the TNT area. All 12 lines are still
visible, although only two structures, the brick mono houses and the
steel-framed tower houses, are all that remain of the building complex that
made up each individual TNT line.
Presently, some of the 100 powder magazines or "igloos" are used as housing
or storage. The former staff houses of the KOW are still being used and all
are now privately owned homes. Most of the original perimeter fencing still
encloses the former TNT area. PPG still uses one of the old railway lines from the factory.
Victory over Japan, or VJ Day, Aug. 14, 1945, heralded the end of the war in
Japan and the end of World War II. This momentous event also caused the
permanent shutdown of TNT production at the largest manufacturing complex
ever built in Crawford County: the sprawling, 22-square-mile industrial
reserve known as the Keystone Ordnance Works in Greenwood Township near the
borough of Geneva.
Many area manufacturers retooled their industries to make goods required by
the war department. At the end of WWII, most industries reverted to their
former product lines. Local employment at these plants was largely
unaffected by the surrender of the Axis powers. But the KOW's product line
was inextricably linked to a product that is only in great demand during a
time of war: trinitrotoluene, better known by the acronym TNT.
The KOW was a government "war baby." It was conceived because of the war. It
had served its intended purpose of supplying the U.S. war machine's
insatiable need for TNT, and now that the war was over, the KOW - like many
other "war babies" around the country - was almost immediately shut down
upon hearing the news of the final victory, VJ Day
At the time of the plant closing, the KOW employed about 1,650 workers, the
majority of whom would soon be laid off. Some administrative staff and
maintenance workers were kept to "wind things down."
Over the post-war years, the plant virtually faded into obscurity. Shortly
after its shutdown, many buildings were sold to the public, and these
buildings were moved off site. Edinboro University bought a barracks
building that was formerly used to house workers at the plant, and the
building was used as a classroom until it burned in 1990. The Cochranton
Library is housed in the former cafeteria building of the KOW's
administration area.
Area school districts, and even the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh,
purchased buildings from the site. Some machinery and equipment was sold to
the public and some was transferred to other government facilities.
The government put the KOW up for sale in the late 1940s, but after a while
it was apparent that no one had the need for a $53 million explosives plant.
The government then took the plant off the market and placed it into a
"mothball status" in which it remained throughout the '50s.
In 1954, the KOW was made a satellite facility of the Ravenna Arsenal in
Ohio.
A Meadville Tribune article in 1956 stated that the plant could be brought
up to full operation in 90 days, once it received a government reactivation
notice. In 1956, the plant had a payroll of 70 workers, most of whom were in
the maintenance department.
In the early '60s, the plant was once again turned over to the General
Services Administration for liquidation. Local businessman Paul Kebert
bought the facility manufacturing area of the KOW in the mid-1960s, and his
family still owns the majority of this area today. The rest of the land had
been sold previously to the public, and the U.S. Army kept 500 acres of the
site, which it uses as a training and reserve center.
The administration area of the plant is now occupied by PPG Industries, the
factory being built in 1967. Arro Forge now occupies buildings in lines 11
and 12 of the former KOW's TNT manufacturing area. J&M Pipe Co. has recently
built a new factory in the area where the KOW fire department was located,
among other buildings.
Many of the oleum plant buildings as well as some of the acid and power area
buildings still stand today, though most buildings are gutted and in
dilapidated condition.
The same is true for the buildings in the TNT area. All 12 lines are still
visible, although only two structures, the brick mono houses and the
steel-framed tower houses, are all that remain of the building complex that
made up each individual TNT line.
Presently, some of the 100 powder magazines or "igloos" are used as housing
or storage. The former staff houses of the KOW are still being used and all
are now privately owned homes. Most of the original perimeter fencing still
encloses the former TNT area. PPG still uses one of the old railway lines from the factory.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 41°32'22"N 80°13'31"W
- West Virginia Ordinance Works 330 km
- Expro Munitions Plant 648 km
- Gopher Ordnance Works (GOW) 1105 km
- Hope Municipal Airport (Hope Army Airfield) 1467 km
- McAlester Army Ammunition Plant 1564 km
- Krasnozavodskiy Chemical Plant 7699 km
- Tarawan Missile Complex 11212 km
- Ordnance Factory Nalanda, Rajgir 12480 km
- Ordnance Factory 12757 km
- Ordnance Factory 12847 km
- Geneva Marsh 3.8 km
- TNT Storage Igloos / Bunkers 4.3 km
- Conneaut Lake 11 km
- State Game Land 214 14 km
- Round Top 14 km
- Crawford County, Pennsylvania 19 km
- Pymatuning State Park 20 km
- Pymatuning Reservoir 21 km
- Jamestown Campsite 23 km
- Conneautville, Pennsylvania 27 km
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