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Do IT this week: Layering
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 08:48 p.m. EST, Nov 14, 2009
Ralph A. Pfingsten got his first look at the old Ravenna Arsenal in 1993. He was hooked almost immediately by its natural wonders.
A retired biology teacher, amateur historian and expert on salamanders, Pfingsten was working for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to survey the 21,419-acre military complex in eastern Portage and western Trumbull counties.
''We felt like we were the first people on the grounds in 50 years and we were free to explore all 33 square miles on foot,'' he said of the now-closed Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant.
There were empty buildings, 125 miles of roads, 130 miles of railroad tracks, 1940s-style signs, wetlands filled with rare plants, no litter and no people on the complex with its 8-foot-high fences and military guards. ''It was special,'' he said.
Pfingsten turned his fascination with the facility and its history into a new book: The History of the Ravenna Arsenal (Adkins & Co, $49.95).
The 342-page book is filled with more than 900 photographs and diagrams that trace the history of the complex that produced artillery and mortar shells in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. It closed in 1972.
The arsenal was a major facility with 1,200 buildings. It took 16,000 workers to build the complex and it employed up to 15,000 at its peak. It drew workers from Akron to the west and from Warren to the east.
In World War II, the plant operated 12 production lines and built more than 36 million bombs and shells, 420 million other munitions and 571,000 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. More than 700 large bunkers were located on the complex to store explosives.
Construction began on Sept. 1, 1940, and the plant began operations on Aug. 21, 1941.
Pfingsten, 69, of Berea, said he was advised by now-retired Lt. Col Tom Tadsen of the Ohio National Guard's training site at the arsenal that the hardest task would be deciding what material could not be fitted into the book because of space limitations.
Tadsen was right, said Pfingsten, who began his book research in 2004.
He said there were a surprising number of photographs from the establishment of the arsenal because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers documented almost everything in mid-1940, when 250 farm families were evicted to develop the ammunition plant. It was one of 77 established at that time in 26 states across the United States.
He uncovered high-altitude aerial photographs from 1937, indicating that the federal government was eyeing the arsenal site between Ravenna and Newton Falls. The main features in the photos are the railroad tracks north and south of what became the arsenal.
The company that built the arsenal, Hunkin-Conkey Co., published its own history: Building the Ravenna Ordnance Plant — A Job History. Its job required building temporary camps to house the company's workers.
The total bill to build the complex was $61.5 million (in 1942 dollars), equal to $826 million today.
Another key source was a plant history from 1944 by the Atlas Powder Co. that was operating the facility, he said.
Pfingsten wrote about weapons production and storage, the facility's infrastructure, recreation at the complex and the return of nature to the arsenal.
His book comes as the last ghostly buildings where shells were produced have been demolished. Much of the complex has been turned over to the Ohio National Guard as a training site. The Army is continuing to clean up toxic chemicals and ammunition waste on the site.
Proceeds from the book will go to the Northern Ohio Railway Museum in Medina County's Westfield Township, another of Pfingsten's favorite projects. For information, write to the museum at P.O. Box 458, Chippewa Lake, OH 44215.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Ralph A. Pfingsten got his first look at the old Ravenna Arsenal in 1993. He was hooked almost immediately by its natural wonders.
A retired biology teacher, amateur historian and expert on salamanders, Pfingsten was working for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to survey the 21,419-acre military complex in eastern Portage and western Trumbull counties.
''We felt like we were the first people on the grounds in 50 years and we were free to explore all 33 square miles on foot,'' he said of the now-closed Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant.
There were empty buildings, 125 miles of roads, 130 miles of railroad tracks, 1940s-style signs, wetlands filled with rare plants, no litter and no people on the complex with its 8-foot-high fences and military guards. ''It was special,'' he said.
Pfingsten turned his fascination with the facility and its history into a new book: The History of the Ravenna Arsenal (Adkins & Co, $49.95).
The 342-page book is filled with more than 900 photographs and diagrams that trace the history of the complex that produced artillery and mortar shells in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. It closed in 1972.
The arsenal was a major facility with 1,200 buildings. It took 16,000 workers to build the complex and it employed up to 15,000 at its peak. It drew workers from Akron to the west and from Warren to the east.
In World War II, the plant operated 12 production lines and built more than 36 million bombs and shells, 420 million other munitions and 571,000 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. More than 700 large bunkers were located on the complex to store explosives.
Construction began on Sept. 1, 1940, and the plant began operations on Aug. 21, 1941.
Pfingsten, 69, of Berea, said he was advised by now-retired Lt. Col Tom Tadsen of the Ohio National Guard's training site at the arsenal that the hardest task would be deciding what material could not be fitted into the book because of space limitations.
Tadsen was right, said Pfingsten, who began his book research in 2004.
He said there were a surprising number of photographs from the establishment of the arsenal because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers documented almost everything in mid-1940, when 250 farm families were evicted to develop the ammunition plant. It was one of 77 established at that time in 26 states across the United States.
He uncovered high-altitude aerial photographs from 1937, indicating that the federal government was eyeing the arsenal site between Ravenna and Newton Falls. The main features in the photos are the railroad tracks north and south of what became the arsenal.
The company that built the arsenal, Hunkin-Conkey Co., published its own history: Building the Ravenna Ordnance Plant — A Job History. Its job required building temporary camps to house the company's workers.
The total bill to build the complex was $61.5 million (in 1942 dollars), equal to $826 million today.
Another key source was a plant history from 1944 by the Atlas Powder Co. that was operating the facility, he said.
Pfingsten wrote about weapons production and storage, the facility's infrastructure, recreation at the complex and the return of nature to the arsenal.
His book comes as the last ghostly buildings where shells were produced have been demolished. Much of the complex has been turned over to the Ohio National Guard as a training site. The Army is continuing to clean up toxic chemicals and ammunition waste on the site.
Proceeds from the book will go to the Northern Ohio Railway Museum in Medina County's Westfield Township, another of Pfingsten's favorite projects. For information, write to the museum at P.O. Box 458, Chippewa Lake, OH 44215.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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cleveland, oh
Posted 09:26 AM, 11/15/2009
I looked up the railroad museum and found this link that gives more info on the book.
http://www.trainweb.org/norm/Ravenna_Arsenal_Book.htm
akron, oh
Posted 10:45 AM, 11/15/2009
I trained there as a young man. It is a beautiful piece of land. I miss driving my m-60 tank through the woods. There was no better service memory for me than eating lunch on the back deck of my tank, andwatching all the deer and timber wolves.
Akron, OH
Posted 12:28 PM, 11/16/2009
Absolutely one of the most amazing places in Ohio. As much as I hate to say it, good thing that it is a no trespassing property.
