• Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. KS-3 De So to Johnson County Kansas WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA Historic American Engineering Record National Park Service Department of the interior Washington, DC 20013-7127 # & L/ <«S W ~* HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD Sunflower Array Ammunition Plant KS-3 Location: Near the Kansas River, about 3 miles south of De Soto, Kansas in Johnson County. Date of Construction: Established in 1942. Owner: Department of the Army Significance: One of six smokeless powder plants constructed during WWII, Sunflower AAP produced propellants for small arms, cannon, and rocket. Historical Report Prepared by: Robert Ferguson, 1984. Prepared for Transmittal by: Robie S. Lange, HABS/HAER, 1985, Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. KS-3 Page ^ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Sunflower Army Anmunition Plant (SFAAP) is a goverrment-owned, contractor-operated installation under the Army1 s Armament, Munitions and Chemical Cccrmand (AMCCOM). The plant is situated on 9,063 acres near the Kansas River, about three miles south of DeSoto, Kansas, between Kansas City and Lawrence. One of six very similar smokeless powder plants con- structed between 1940 and 1945, the SFAAP produced small-arms, cannon, and rocket propellant during World War II. The plant was rehabilitated and reactivated during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Major modernization construction projects undertaken since the Korean War include: mechanized facilities for rolling rocket propellant paste, developed at and still unique to SFAAP; continuous nitroglycerin production facilities; and thl first nitroguanidine manufacturing plant in the United States, completed in 1983. The SFAAP currently cattprises approximately 1,200 buildings. Nearly 1/000 of these date from the original construction period, but because of subsequent modification, no World War II-era production lines remain intact. There are no Category I or II historic properties at the SFAAP. The Roberts Bouse (now called the Recreation Building, Building FH-3) is a Category III historic property because it is important as a local architectural landmark and as an intact example of an historic regional building style. Sunflower Array Ammunition Plant EAER No. KS-3 Page 3 CONTENTS Executive Surrmary PREFACE . 1 1. INTRODUCTION 3 Scope 3 Methodology . 4 2. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 13 Background 13 World War II 15 Korean War 37 Vietnam War to the Present 42 3. PRESERVATION RECOMMENDATIONS 48 Background 48 Category I Historic Properties 53 Category II Historic Properties 54 Category III Historic Properties 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY 56 APPENDIX A 60 Sunflower Army Ammunition Plane HAER No. KS-3 Page *i PREFACE This report presents the results o£ an historic properties survey of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant (SFAAP). Prepared for the United States Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command (DARCCM), the report is intended to assist the Army in bringing this installation into compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and its amendments, and related federal laws and regulations. To this end, the report focuses on the identification, evaluation, documentation, nomination, and preservation of historic properties at the SFAAP. Chapter 1 sets forth the survey1 s scope and methodology; Chapter 2 presents an architectural, historical, and technological overview of the installation and its properties; and Chapter 3 identifies significant properties by Army category and sets forth * preservation recommendations. Illustrations and an annotated bibliography supplement the text. This report is part of a program initiated through a memorandum of agreement between the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Department of the Army. The program covers 74 DARCCM installations and has two components: 1) a survey of historic properties (districts, buildings, structures, and objects), and 2) the development of archaeological overviews. Stanley H. Fried, Chief, Peal Estate Branch of Headquarters DARCCM, directed the program for the Army, and Dr. Robert J, Kapsch, Chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) directed the program for the UJational Park v Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. KS-3 Page S Service. Sally Kress Tcmpkins was program manager, and Robie S. Lange was project manager for the historic properties survey. Technical assistance was provided by Donald C. Jackson. Building Technology Incorporated acted as primary contractor to HABS/HAER for the "historic properties survey. William A. Brenner was BTI's principal-in-charge and Dr. Larry D. Larikton was the chief technical consultant. Major subcontractors were the MacDonald and Mack Partnership and Jeffrey A. Hess. The author of this report was Robert Ferguson. The author would like to thank the many employees at the SFAAP who graciously assisted him in his research and field surveys. He especially acknowledges the help of the following individuals: on the government staff, Henry Graziul, Operations Peview Officer, and Thomas Loushine, Security Officir; and on the Hercules, Inc., staff, Larry Green, Engineer, who guided the field survey, Shelby Chism, and Leo West. The complete HAES/HAER documentation for this installation will be included in the HABS/HAER collections at the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, under the designation HAER No. KS-3. £ Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. KS-3 Page (o Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION SCOPE This report is based on an historic properties survey conducted in November 1983 of all Array-owned properties located within the official boundaries of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant (SFAAP). The survey included the following tasks: Completion of documentary research on the history of the installation and its properties. Completion of a field inventory of all properties at the installation. Preparation of a combined architectural, historical/ and technological overview for the installation. Evaluation of historic properties and development of recornmenda- tions for preservation of these properties. Also completed as a part of the historic properties survey of the installation, but not included in this report, are HABS/HAER Inventory cards for 40 individual properties. These cards. Which constitute HABS/HAER Documentation Level IV, will be provided to the Department of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. KS-3 Page ? Army. Archival copies of the cards, with their accompanying photographic negatives, will be transmitted to the HABS/HAER collections at the Library of Congress. The methodology used to complete these tasks is described in the following section of this report. MEIHXOLOGY 1. Documentary Research The SFAAP was constructed during 1942-1945 as a propellant production facility. Since several installations around trie country were * involved with similar operations, an evaluation of the SFAAP's historical significance requires a general understanding of the American wartime munitions industry. To identify relevant published sources, research was conducted in standard bibliographies of military history, engineering, and the applied sciences. Unpublished sources were identified by researching the historical and technical archives of the U.S. Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command (AMCCOM) at Peck Island Arsenal. In addition to such industry-wide research, a concerted effort was made to locate published sources dealing specifically with the history and technology of the SFAAP. This site-specific research vas conducted primarily at the AMCCCM Historical Office at Rock Island Arsenal; the Johnson County Public Libraries in DeSoto and Antioch; and the government and contractor archives at the SFAAP. The Kansas State Historic Preservation Office Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant HAER No.. KS-3 Page g (Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka) was also contacted forinformation on the architecture, history, and technology of the SFAAP, but provided no new data. Army records used for the field inventory included current Real Property Inventory (RPI) printouts that listed all officially recorded buildings and structures by facility classification and date of construction; the installation's property record cards; base maps and photographs supplied by installation personnel; and installation master planning, archaeological, environmental assessment, and related reports and documents. A complete listing of this documentary material may be found in the bibliography. i X 2. Field Inventory Architectural and technological field surveys were conducted in November 1983 by Robert Ferguson. Following general discussions with Henry Graziul, (Operations Beview Officer, and Thcmas Loushine, Security Officer, the surveyor was provided with an escort for a general field survey of all exterior areas at the installation, with the exception of the Nitroguanidine Plant (see Appendix A). Larry Green of Hercules, Inc., served as escort for the survey. Field inventory procedures were based on the HABS/HAER Guidelines for Inventories of Historic Buildings and Engineering and Industrial structures. ^^ areas and properties were visually surveyed. Building locations and approximate dates of construction were noted /' Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant HAER No. KS-3 Page S from the installation's property records and field-verified. Interior surveys were made of the major facilities to permit adequate evaluation of architectural features, building technology, and production equipment. Field inventory forms were prepared for, and black and white 35 mri photographs taken of all buildings and structures through 1945 except basic utilitarian structures of no architectural, historical, or technological interest. When groups of similar ("prototypical") buildings were found, one field form was normally prepared to represent all buildings of that type. Field inventory forms were also completed for representative post-1945 buildings and structures. Information collected on the field forms was later evaluated, L condensed, and transferred to HABS/HAER Inventory cards. 3* Historical Overview A combined architectural, historical, and technological overview was prepared frcm information developed from the documentary research and the field inventory. It was written in two parts: 1) an introductory description of the installation, and 2) a history of the installation by periods of development, beginning with pre-military land uses. Maps and photographs were selected to supplement the text as appropriate. The objectives of the overview were to 1) establish the periods of major construction at the installation, 2) identify important events X'