Blaine Naval Ammunition Depot

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The Blaine Naval Ammunition Depot ("NAD") just east of Hastings, Nebraska, was the United States' largest munitions plant during WWII; this single (huge) complex produced 40% of all the ammunition used by the US Navy worldwide during the war. The NAD included over 2000 structures, 200 miles of railroad track, and 275 miles of roads on 48,800 acres (76 square miles) of former Nebraska farmland, and employed more than 10600 well-paid workers working three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week on a wartime emergency schedule. The facility remained active during the Korean War but was shut down and (somewhat) cleaned up by the 1960s, when much of its land was sold or transfered to other uses.

The Hastings Visitors Center at 100 North Shore Drive offers maps of the NAD grounds for those wishing a self-guided tour. (Note that this is a driving tour -- the NAD site is measured in miles.)

See also:
* www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/life_10.html
* www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/hastings.htm
* www.visithastingsnebraska.com/ATTRACTIONS/CVB_ATTRACTIO...
* www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/markers/texts/naval_amm...
* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings%2C_Nebraska