Ruins of the Ethyl-Dow Chemical Plant

USA / North Carolina / Kure Beach /
 Second World War 1939-1945, military, historic ruins
Ethyl-Dow chemical plant. This facility manufactured a key ingredient for high octane fuel.Some of the remnants of that main processing facility are still present but located within an area called the buffer zone owned by the U.S. Army; it's off limits to the public. Production at the plant stopped in 1946.


Through the years, a popular story has been told regarding a U-boat attack near Kure Beach on July 15, 1943. Carlton Sprague, a platoon commander in C Battery, 558th AAA Battalion, remembered that while his unit was stationed at Fort Fisher, a German submarine surfaced under cover of darkness and lobbed five shells at the Ethyl-Dow chemical plant. This facility manufactured a key ingredient for high octane fuel. According to the story, all of the enemy shells overshot their mark and plunged into the Cape Fear River. Apparently, a news blackout followed, and over the years the story has drifted into legend.
www.nchistoricsites.org/fisher/ww2/ww2.htm

www.islandgazette.net/news-server1/index.php?id=11796:o...
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°0'18"N   77°54'59"W

Comments

  • It was destroyed in 1946. Although the German's fired shells at it, they did not destroy it. It was dismantled because a larger plant was built in Texas.
This article was last modified 6 years ago