Vigo Ordnance Plant

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Coordinates: 39°21′32″N 87°24′40″W / 39.35889°N 87.41111°W / 39.35889; -87.41111
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with the nearby Terre Haute Ordnance Depot.

The Vigo Ordnance Plant, also known as the Vigo Chemical Plant or simply Vigo Plant, was a United States Army facility built in 1942 to produce conventional weapons. In 1944 it was converted to produce biological agents for the U.S. bio-weapons program. Although the plant never actually produced bio-weapons before the end of World War II, it did produce 8000 pounds of an anthrax simulant. After the war, the plant was transferred to Pfizer, who operated it until the plants closure in 2008.

Location

The Vigo Ordnance Plant was located on 700 acres (2.8 km2) of a more than 6,000-acre (24 km2) government-owned tract and cost $21 million to build (the equivalent of $366 million in 2023).

Terre Haute.[1] The area surrounding the plant was flat, covered with cornfields and dotted by hog farms.[1] The site of the former Vigo Plant is south of Interstate 70 near Highway 41 and Indiana State Highways 150 and 63.[2]

History

Construction and conversion

The

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.[3] Portions of the Vigo Plant were then leased to the Delco Radio Corporation for the manufacture of military electronics equipment.[1] The plant served in this capacity until May 1944.[1]

On May 8, 1944 the Army Special Projects Division (SPD) directed the Vigo Plant to convert its facilities for full-scale biological agent production.[1][3] The plant was converted for biological warfare (BW) use by the H.K. Ferguson Construction Company; they added fermenter tanks, slurry heaters, laboratories and the other necessities of a biological warfare facility.[1] The plant was to be the first U.S. anthrax factory and would be utilized filling a British order for anthrax bombs.[4] In March 1944 the British had placed an order for 500,000 of these bombs which Winston Churchill, remarked, should only be considered a "first installment".[5]

Bio-weapons production

When it was conceived, the initial plan was for the Vigo Plant to be a production facility for anthrax and

fermenters installed during the renovations in 1944.[1] There were 12 20,000 gallon fermenter tanks at Vigo, the total of 240,000 gallons which made it the largest bacterial mass-production line anywhere in the world at the time.[1]

After U.S. BW scientists worked through the problems presented by trying to mass-produce bombs that were to be filled with a deadly biological agent, the production line was essentially ready to operate.

cluster them into the M26 cluster adapter, to form the M33 cluster bomb.[1] Before production could begin, however, safety testing commenced. The scientific director of the U.S. BW program, Ira Baldwin, selected Walter Nevius, a specialist in pathogen containment, to lead the safety inspections which began when he arrived at Vigo in the summer 1944.[1]

Nevius was considered conscientious, so much so that at one point the Army wanted to replace him; this resulted in Baldwin resigning his position and becoming an "advisor" to the U.S. BW program.

Bacillus globigii.[1] The plant was pronounced water-tight by Nevius in April 1945 and trial runs with the simulant began in June.[1]

By the time the plant was ready to produce the simulant the end of

caustics, sulfuric acid, bleach, tributyl phosphate and 765,000 explosive detonators and shipped elsewhere for storage.[3][7] Vigo Ordnance plant was placed on "stand-by" in December 1945, in reality, the demilitarization process had already begun.[3]

Demilitarization

The plant remained on standby to produce "highly classified material" and in February 1947 four areas of the plant were declared restricted.

Bureau of Prisons to be used as agricultural land, other portions of the Vigo property were acquired by various private entities.[3] The BW production facilities at Vigo were eventually replaced by a more modern factory at Pine Bluff Arsenal in 1954.[5]

Pfizer's ownership

After the lease agreement, and later the sale of the plant,[5] was finalized the company transferred John E. McKeen to the Vigo site in 1948 in preparation for the production of streptomycin.[3] The main objective of Pfizer's Vigo operation in the years after the war was the production of veterinary antibiotics.[5] The large fermenters were used during the period after the war to produce penicillin but afterwards sat dormant for decades.[4] Of the areas at Vigo not utilized by Pfizer, most were left undisturbed.[4] Adjacent to the old BW buildings the company constructed their own facilities for drug manufacturing.[4]

After operating the Vigo plant since 1948 Pfizer announced in October 2007 that 600 of the plant's 750 employees would be placed on paid leave.

Cefobid and Unasyn,[8] at the plant would be eliminated and the plant closed.[9] In November 2008 the company announced the site and its buildings were for sale.[9]

Russian tour

Per a 1994 arms-control agreement between the United States and Russia each nation was permitted to inspect three sites in the other country that it suspected were biological warfare facilities.

Building 101, and the Vigo Ordnance Plant.[11] The Russians were shown the decrepit military facilities at Vigo, many of which were shuttered, padlocked and in an obvious state of disrepair.[4] When the Russians observed the fermenters, they asserted that it was evidence of a secret, illegal U.S. BW program.[4] Russian reaction to the tours, in general, was not good, and a negative report of their visit followed when they returned to Russia.[4] The report maintained that the facilities could potentially be used for BW.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 080505765X
    ).
  2. Inside Indiana Business
    , November 10, 2008, accessed January 11, 2009.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0738524069
    ).
  4. ^
    ISBN 0312203535
    ).
  5. ^
    Meselson, Matthew. "Bioterror: What Can Be Done?", The New York Review of Books
    , Volume 48, Number 20, December 20, 2001, accessed January 11, 2009.
  6. ^ See also: M114 bomb.
  7. ^
    ISBN 0231129424
    ).
  8. ^ a b c Greninger, Howard. "Pfizer resolves contractual issues tied to Exubera, Nektar Therapeutics", Tribune-Star, November 13, 2007, accessed January 11, 2009.
  9. ^ a b c d Staff. "Pfizer puts closed Terre Haute plant up for sale", Associated Press via Chicago Tribune, November 10, 2008, accessed January 11, 2009.
  10. ^ a b Editorial board. "Pfizer’s track record provides ray of hope on sad day", (Editorial), Tribune-Star, October 18, 2007, accessed January 11, 2009.
  11. ^
    ISBN 0060011416
    ).

External links

39°21′32″N 87°24′40″W / 39.35889°N 87.41111°W / 39.35889; -87.41111

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