1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster

Industrial explosion in New Jersey, United States January 2026 January 2026 1924 chemical explosion photo.png Newspaper photo of the explosion 11:15 a.m. EST 1924 03 01 Nixon Nitration Works Nixon, New Jersey, U.S. 40 32 18 N 74 22 43 W Explosion, fire, industrial accident 20 100 40 buildings destroyed Ammonite Corporation $9,000 fine (US 9000 1925 -3 eq) Nixon Nitration Works ordered to pay $12,000 to widow of victim in civil suit (US 12000 1924 -3 eq) The 1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster was an explosion and fire that claimed many lives and destroyed several square miles of New Jersey factories. Newton-Matza Kelley Nixon, New Jersey, Nitration Works Disaster Disasters and Tragic Events: An Encyclopedia of Catastrophes in American History 2 271–273 ABC-CLIO Santa Barbara, CA 2014 It began on March 1, 1924, about 11:15 a.m., when an explosion destroyed a building in Nixon, New Jersey (an area within present-day Edison, New Jersey) used for processing ammonium nitrate."Many are Killed in Explosion: Staten Island is Rocked by Terrific Blast," The Bee (Danville, Virginia), 1924-03-01, p. 1 The explosion touched off fires in surrounding buildings in the Nixon Nitration Works that contained other highly flammable materials."Explosion Kills 30, Rocks New Jersey: Ammonia Plant of the Nixon Nitrate Works Blows up With Roar That Shakes Countryside for 25 Miles; Fire Follows," Middletown Daily Herald, 1924-03-02, p. 1. The disaster killed twenty people, destroyed forty buildings,'Begin Probe of Explosion: Inquiry into Cause of Blast Which Killed 18 and Destroyed 40 Buildings Begins," Lowell Sun, 1924-03-03, at 19. and demolished the "tiny industrial town of Nixon, New Jersey.""Blast Levels a Town: TNT, Being Changed to Fertilizer, Blows Up, Killing 18," Weekly Kansas City Star, 1924-03-05, at 2. The setting The Nixon Nitration Works, which included a number of plants, covered about 12 sqmi ha on the Raritan River, near New Brunswick, in the Nixon neighborhood of what was then officially known as Raritan Township (later changed to Edison). It was created in 1915 by naval architect and industrialist Lewis Nixon to supply European nations with gunpowder and other materials for World War I.Lewis Nixon Dies; Naval Designer, 79. Oregon, Massachusetts and Indiana Were Built From Plans He Provided. Once Head of Tammany. Successor to Richard Croker. Held Important Positions in This State and City https://www.nytimes.com/1940/09/24/archives/lewis-nixon-dies-naval-designer-79-oregon-massachusetts-and-indiana.html The New York Times September 24, 1940 2010-03-22 https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/05/05/105036210.pdf Rushing Nixon's Plant The New York Times 1915-05-05 When the war ended, its facilities were put to broader uses, involving other explosive materials. The company manufactured cellulose nitrate (also known as nitrocellulose and guncotton), a highly flammable material that was the first man-made plastic.Lewis Nixon Says Failure to Remove TNT From Shells Probably Caused the Blast The New York Times https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/03/02/101582893.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false 2022-12-31 en Finished cellulose nitrate was piled in 50 by 20 in cm on sheets in surrounding buildings. Some 300 ft from the Works' nitrocellulose buildings sat a storage house leased to the Ammonite Company, which used the building to salvage the contents of artillery shells for use as agricultural fertilizer. That salvage was performed after the trinitrotoluene (TNT) was extracted from the shells at the nearby Raritan Arsenal by the Columbia Storage Company, owned by aeronautic pioneer Charles A. Levine. The Ammonite building reportedly contained 1 e6USgal m3 of stored ammonium nitrate, plus 15 tank cars that each held 90,000 USgal L of ammonium nitrate in the process of crystallization. The disaster The disaster began when ammonium nitrate in the Ammonite building exploded. Windows for a mile around the scene were broken inward and doors were blown from their hinges. The blast shook Staten Island, where business buildings in the Stapleton and St. George neighborhoods rocked, windows rattled, and doors were slammed. It was felt in lower New York City, Brooklyn, and 50 miles away in Mineola, New York."Fertilizer Plant Blows Up," New York Times, 1924-03-02. The flaming debris from the explosion soon set cellulose nitrate sheets afire in nearby buildings. Fires began to consume other buildings as well, including the offices of the Nitration Works.Jack Carberry, "Survivors tell Graphic Stories of Horror Blast," Ogden Standard-Examiner, 1924-03-02 at 3. Six hours after the explosion, flames were still burning over an area of one square mile. As darkness fell, shifting winds suddenly began fanning the flames toward freight cars on a siding and toward the nearby Raritan Arsenal where 500,000 high-explosive shells were stored. Four of the arsenal's high-explosive magazines had been crushed by the initial explosion and the roofs of two others blown in. Through the efforts of exhausted firefighters, the fire did not reach the arsenal. The human toll Two days after the explosion, newspapers reported that 18 people were killed, two were missing (and presumed killed), and 15 others remained hospitalized. The blast injured 100 people. The dead included the wife and three children of an employee of the plant who lived 100 yards from the scene, a stenographer working at the plant, and 13 workmen who were repairing the roof of the building where the blast occurred. Inquiries Prosecutor John E. Toolan of Middlesex County, New Jersey, began an inquiry two days after the blast.Inquiry Begins Of Blast Where 18 Were Killed https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Vk8uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e9gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3581,5281452 An inquiry into the cause of the ... he believed the explosion was due to conditions in the ammonia plant rather than to any possible failure to separate TNT at the arsenal from the ammonium nitrate, which eventually sent in tanks to the fertilizer factory of the ammonite company. Until the ruins cool, which may take a number of ... Associated Press in the Miami News-Metropolis March 3, 1924 2010-03-22 May 2026 InternetArchiveBot Among those summoned to appear for the inquiry were Lewis Nixon, his son Stanhope Wood Nixon, and R. Norris Shreve, then president of the Ammonite Co."Investigate Cause Costly Explosion at Nitrate Plant," Olean Times, 1924-03-03, at 1. Secretary of War John W. Weeks also ordered an inquiry, for the more limited purpose of determining whether the Raritan Arsenal was in any way responsible for the explosion."Explosion Inquiry Ordered by Weeks," New York Times, 1924-03-06. Some theorized that the blast was triggered by small quantities of TNT that remained in the ammonium nitrate at the Ammonite facility after the ammonium nitrate had been removed from the shells. Lewis Nixon embraced this explanation. Ammonite disputed this theory, asserting that the average content of TNT in the salvaged ammonium nitrate was only two-tenths of one percent."Nitrate held TNT, says Plant Head," New York Times, 1924-03-04. However, under questioning, Shreve acknowledged that this would have caused 120 lb of TNT filtered from ammonium nitrate to flow every day into a small stream on the site, and that there might have been "several percent" of TNT in tanks of ammonium nitrate remaining at the site.Ammonite Factory Put TNT in Stream," New York Times, 1924-03-07. Major A.S. Casand, commander of the arsenal, also disagreed that residual TNT was to blame, and believed that the explosion was due to conditions in the plant. Aftermath In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, federal, state, and local officials considered whether plants containing explosives should be banned from Middlesex County.Jersey Protests Explosive Plant. Governor Silzer Confers With Middlesex Officials on Nixon Disaster https://www.nytimes.com/1924/03/05/archives/jersey-protests-explosive-plants-governor-silzer-confers-with.html Spurred by demands of townships of Middlesex County for the elimination from that county of plants containing explosives, Assistant Prosecutor John E. Toolan went yesterday to Trenton and conferred with Governor Silzer about the explosion last Saturday at Nixon. N.J., in which at least eighteen persons were killed. The New York Times March 5, 1924 2025-12-17 https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1924/03/15/104033483.pdf Talk of Removing Raritan Explosives The New York Times 1924-03-15 One month after the disaster, Ammonite sued Nixon Nitration Works for $400,000 in damages, alleging that the explosion was due to the Nixon company's carelessness."Suing for $400,000: Damages sought as a result of explosion at Ammonite Plant," Kokomo Tribune, 1924-04-04, at 25. In 1928, a federal judge dismissed the claims and counterclaims between Ammonite and Nixon Nitration Works, leaving Columbia Salvage Company as the only defendant in the suit.2 "Blast Suits Dismissed". The New York Times, 1928-06-07. In April 1924, Ammonite Corporation was indicted on fifteen counts of involuntary manslaughter and initially pleaded not guilty."Ammonite Co. Pleads Not Guilty," The New York Times, 1924-04-26. The following year Ammonite pleaded guilty to charges arising from the explosion and was fined a total of $9,000, reflecting a $600 fine for each of 15 employees killed in the blast."Company Fined $9,000 for Explosion Deaths," The New York Times, 1925-03-28. In May 1924, Nixon Nitration Works was ordered to pay $12,000 to the widow of a victim who worked for that company."$12,000 Explosion Award: Nixon Nitration Works Must Pay Woman Whose Husband Was Killed," The New York Times, 1924-05-13. Ammonite dissolved in 1926, for reasons attributed to the explosion.N.A. Peppas and R.S. Harland, "Unit Processes Against Unit Operations: The Educational Fights of the Thirties," reprinted in Nicholas A. Peppas, "One Hundred Years of Chemical Engineering," p. 128 (1989) 0-7923-0145-5. Ammonite owner Shreve, already a renowned chemical and industrial engineer, later joined the faculty at Purdue University, where he became a well-respected scholar, author, and teacher. A residence hall at Purdue is named in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Shreve. Charles A. Levine earned a fortune as a result of his companies' contracts with the federal government to salvage shells.Obituary, "Charles A. Levine, 94, Is Dead; First Trans-Atlantic Air Passenger," New York Times, 1991-12-18. In 1927, he financed an effort to become the first to fly from New York to Paris, only to have Charles A. Lindbergh reach Paris first while Levine's plane was grounded by a restraining order obtained by the navigator he had employed. Levine dissolved the injunction, freed the plane, and became the first transcontinental air passenger, reaching Germany from New York in a flight two weeks following Lindbergh's. Meanwhile, the federal government sued Levine's companies, claiming overcharges for their salvage work."Levine to Take Up Government Claim," New York Times, 1927-10-27. Many lawsuits and prosecutions of Levine and his companies followed, including prosecutions for counterfeiting French coins,"Levine Out on Bail Furnished by Wife," New York Times, 1930-10-26. conspiring to smuggle tungsten powder from Canada, and smuggling an alien refugee from a German concentration camp into the United States from Mexico. The Nixon Nitration Works was rebuilt on the site, and returned to the business of cellulose nitrate manufacturing. Lewis Nixon died on September 23, 1940."Veteran Shipbuilder Dies," Titusville Herald, 1940-09-24, at p. 1. His son Stanhope Wood Nixon, who assumed control of the business, had few of his father's qualities, and many vices.Larry Alexander, "Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man who Led the Band of Brothers," p. 223 (2005) 0-451-21839-6. After World War II, the plastics industry evolved from nitrate-based products to acetate-based products, and the company failed to make the transition. In 1951, as the company shrank, it gave 48 acre ha of land, and a dam, to New Brunswick.Frank Emerson Andrews, "Corporate Giving," p. 192 (1993) 1-56000-022-8. The site of the Works is now a part of Middlesex County College and Raritan Center Industrial Park. In 1954, the citizens of Middlesex County's Raritan Township renamed their community by referendum. The name Edison was chosen over Nixon. However, the Nixon name is still used by the local post office and postal district. References 30em 40.490 -74.363 region:US-NJ_type:event title Category:1924 in New Jersey Category:1924 explosions Category:Edison, New Jersey Category:Fires in New Jersey Category:Industrial fires and explosions in the United States Category:1924 in the environment Category:Urban fires in the United States Category:Crimes in New Jersey Category:March 1924 in the United States Category:Ammonium nitrate disasters