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West Virginia's modern chemical industry started in the Kanawha Valley in the 1920s and peaked after World War II. It grew from the same natural resources as earlier salt industry of the 1800s. In addition to these resources, the area attracted chemical companies because of its good transportation and skilled workers.
In 1915, several chemical plants opened in West Virginia. The Belle Alkali Company made chlorine and other products near Belle. In South Charleston, Rollin Chemical and E. C. Klipstein & Sons made barium salts, dyes, and tear gas. Later, Union Carbide bought both companies.
The Warner-Klipstein Chemical Company also began in 1915 and became Westvaco Chemical, the world’s largest chlorine producer by 1930. Its South Charleston plant (pictured) used brine from 17 wells and made chemicals for World War II. In 1948, it b...
Nitro, located on the Kanawha-Putnam line, was built during World War I to make smokeless powder (not nitroglycerin). The War Department hired a company to build the plant and town quickly, with 110,000 workers pouring in, including Clark Gable. T...
In 1917, five companies joined to form Union Carbide, which later became a leader in making chemicals from natural gas and oil. It first set up operations at Clendenin in northern Kanawha County. In the 1920s, it relocated to South Charleston, bui...
The Hawks Nest Tunnel, built from 1930 to 1932 in Fayette County, was a major project to provide power for a Union Carbide plant at nearby Alloy. Nearly 5,000 men, mostly Black migrant workers, helped dig the three-mile tunnel through rock filled ...
The 1920s also saw the startup in 1926 of the new DuPont plant at Belle, to make ammonia from coal using high-pressure synthesis. The DuPont Belle Works was a key chemical plant for over 90 years. Built in 1925 in coal country, it used high-pressu...
World War II brought another major increase in the production of chemicals in the Kanawha Valley. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called rubber a critical material because Japan threatened America’s natural rubber supply. Union Carbide qu...
The Kanawha Valley became known as the chemical center of the world. South Charleston was nicknamed Chemical City, and the Kanawha Valley often was referred to as the Chemical Valley, or derogatorily, as "Cancer Valley." The nickname "Cancer Valle...
The Kanawha Valley’s chemical industry reached its peak around 1950 and then began to decline. Big companies moved to Texas and the Gulf Coast where there was more space and they were closer to resources. The valley shifted to making smaller batch...
By the early 21st century, West Virginia’s chemical industry had changed in the face of growing global competition. Many old companies closed or merged. In 2001, Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide. Other plants, like the Goodyear and Monsanto sites...
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