History
Supporting our community and country for over 150 years
Hercules’ Kenvil Works Facility (Kenvil or the Facility) is proud to have supported the community and country for more than 150 years. Originally built as a dynamite manufacturing plant to supply the local iron ore mining industry in the late 1800s, production evolved to include propellants, explosives and energetic (E&E) products for end users in the consumer, commercial, industrial, defense, and aerospace industries, as well as various specialty products (e.g., initiating materials, ingredients for medical applications, and materials for actuating devices) for military and commercial applications. Kenvil directly supported every major United States war effort from World War I (WWI) through the Gulf War.
Nitroglycerin cart used in smokeless gunpowder manufacturing at Kenvil.
Giant Powder Co. of California acquires the Jonas Hulse Farm in Kenvil (then McCainsville) and constructs a dynamite manufacturing plant.
1871
Dynamite manufactured at Kenvil supports construction of the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s (then the Easton & Amboy Railroad) 4,900-foot Musconetcong Tunnel in Bellewood (Bethlehem) NJ. The tunnel is the first to rely on dynamite during the construction phase, and was the longest tunnel in the East when completed in 1875. The tunnel operates until 1928, when it is replaced by the Pattenburg Tunnel that is still in use today by Norfolk Southern Railway.
1874
As demand for dynamite by the northern New Jersey iron mining industry wanes, Kenvil begins manufacturing smokeless gunpowder for recreational firearms. Iron formations in the Great Lakes region emerge as a competing source of iron ore to feed the growing national demand. The favorable characteristics of the ore in the Great Lakes region decrease the economic viability of the northern New Jersey iron mining industry.
1880s – 1910s
The United States Department of Justice and DuPont litigate DuPont’s alleged monopoly in the explosives manufacturing industry under the Sherman Antitrust Act. In the end, DuPont is ordered to break up the company, retaining DuPont as a single entity, and forming two new additional companies – Atlas Powder Company and Hercules Powder Company.
1907 - 1912
Hercules logo on wooden box.
Kenvil begins operations under the sole ownership and control of Hercules Powder Company.
1912
Hercules establishes Kenvil as its flagship facility and consolidates its nationwide research and development activities to the Facility.
1915
1918 -Employee operating shell machine at Hercules Kenvil Plant.
Kenvil operations evolve to meet the demands of WWI for smokeless gunpowder (including Cordite) and trinitrotoluene (TNT). Widespread reclamation of low-lying land supports an expansion of its manufacturing line and increases to its production to supply the Allied forces. At the end of WWI, Kenvil is the oldest dynamite plant in the United States operating at its original location.
1916 – 1919
1919 - A woman operating a machine used to sort time cards at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Kenvil, New Jersey.
Early years - Hercules Powder Company plant in Kenvil, New Jersey.
Kenvil manufacturing focuses on military, commercial, and recreational propellants, explosives and energetics (E&E) products.
Hercules scales manufacturing operations to meet the economic need for explosives and energetics products and propellants, reconfiguring portions of the Facility and building new production lines to accommodate demand for new products. Facility transformations, similar to that of 1916 to 1919, occur in the years leading up to, and including, World War II (WWII), the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
With new product lines and increased production come process disruptions, and in some instances, tragedies. Kenvil experiences fires and explosions that impact manufacturing and the surrounding community, with significant events occurring in 1934, 1940, 1967, 1989 and 1994. A plaque at the Roxbury Township War Memorial pays tribute to those who lost their lives at the Facility between 1917 and 1967.
In 1966, Hercules Powder Company changes its name to Hercules Incorporated.
Through the latter years of operation, Kenvil production focuses mainly on smokeless gunpowder.
1920s - 1996
Hercules sells its aerospace division (which includes the explosives and energetics product lines manufactured at Kenvil) to Alliant Techsystems. While Hercules retains ownership of the Kenvil property, Alliant Techsystems takes over operations at Kenvil under a lease agreement.
Operations at Kenvil cease in December 1996, and Alliant Techsystems relocates its production to the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia.
With all operations at Kenvil now ceased, Hercules begins evaluating regulatory closure and the property’s remedial needs.
1995 - 1996
Discover the Remediation history 1995 - present