Shepard, W. A

Description

Blueprint map of Old Hickory locating and naming various industrial and residential buildings. Schools, the YWCA, YMCA, "negro village," "Mexican village," and roads are all denoted. Old Hickory served as the site of the world's largest gunpowder plant during WWI. The US government purchased the property and contracted DuPont to run the facility. The plant closed at the end of WWI. Eventually, DuPont returned and manufactured Reemay, Rayon, and Cellophane at the same facility.DuPont built and operated the Old Hickory gunpowder plant, under contract for the United States government, to manufacture smokeless gunpowder for the Allied war effort. The War Department of the Federal government paid all construction costs, which amounted to approximately $83,000,000, and DuPont received $1 in compensation. The plant was located at a bend in the Cumberland River near Nashville, Tennessee, and was 93% completed by the time of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. The Old Hickory Gunpowder plant was the largest munitions plant in the world at the time of operation, 1918-1919, occupying 4,700 acres and producing half a million pounds of powder a day.

Record Contributed By

Tennesse State Library and Archives

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Tennessee