Peters Cartridge Company
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| Peters Cartridge Company | |
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| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
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| Location: | Kings Mills, Ohio |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1916 |
| Architect: | VanLeyer, Schilling & Keough |
| Architectural style(s): | Other |
| Added to NRHP: | October 10, 1985 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 85003115 |
| Governing body: | Private |
The Peters Cartridge Company was a company in Kings Mills, Ohio that specialized in gunpowder and ammunition production. Its historic buildings, built in 1916 at 1915 Grandin Road, were added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 10, 1985.
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[edit] History
The Peters Cartridge Company was founded along the banks of the Little Miami River near Kings Mills. It began operations prior to 1900.
During the years that Peters Cartridge was in business, there were several generations of buildings. Some of the previous buildings were mostly temporary wooden structures. Some concrete foundations of these buildings still stand covered with moss along the Little Miami Bike Trail.
[edit] Explosion
The Peters Factory gained national attention and headlines due to an explosion on July 15, 1890. At 3:50p.m., a deafening blast could be heard for 6 miles around the Kings Mills/Mason area, due to a train car colliding with two load cars packed with 800 kegs of gun powder at the site. Along with thousands of cartridges igniting, and a total amount of 1,600 kegs exploding in chain reaction, 11 employees were instantly killed, with several others later dying in emergency care.
Much of the original building was destroyed, and was rebuilt in later years. Because of this, and the environment and atmosphere of the location and buildings, many urban legends associated with paranormal phenomenon and ghostly hauntings have been alleged to occur on the site throughout the years.[2]
[edit] World War I and World War II
World War I brought enormous growth to Peters Cartridge. In the 1930s during the Depression, Peters sold out to Remington, its competitor. World War II started off with great success for the Cartridge Company but in the middle of the war, the Peters plant in Kings Mills was shut down due to overproduction in favor of Remington's East Coast plants. Some of the buildings and shot tower still remain today, some buildings in use and others vacant.
[edit] Notable recent events
The Peters Factory is currently owned by Kings Mills Commerce Park, and currently there is an art studio in the back section of the buildings run by Greg Storer. Several buildings are rented by small businesses, hobbyists, and theatrical group, with the remaining few empty buildings put to use by the Hamilton Township police department for SWAT training. The empty section is closed to the public due to safety risks. In December of 2002, Criterion Technologies rented the facility as a studio to film Ghost Factory.
During October 2006, a paintball tournament was held on the premises of the Kings Mills Commerce Park, entitled "BeaverFest 2006", and a video of the cartridge factory was documented by the team, which is now available for view on YouTube.[3][4][5][6]
[edit] See also
[edit] Resource
- Thomas D. Schiffer. Peters & King: The Birth & Evolution of the Peters Cartridge Co. & the King Powder Co. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 2002. ISBN 0-87349-363-X
[edit] References
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2008-04-15).
- ^ Johnson, Adeline; "Swinging Chains"; Interview with Roy Gruber; May 23, 1980. Accessed January 22, 2008.
- ^ BeaverFest 2006 event coverage via Beavermatic's blogs
- ^ YouTube video search of paintball event and factory walkthrough archive
- ^ A Flickr photo collection of the cartridge factory
- ^ photo collection of the location
[edit] External links
- Photo journey of the plant
- Greg Storer Art Studio
- Criterion Technologies
- EPA statement overview for superfund relief of the Peters Cartridge Factory and site cleanup.
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