Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Joliet Arsenal History
Press release from Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie: The Arsenal Worker statue and pedestal, commemorating those civilian workers who lost their lives on the Joliet Arsenal during WWII, as it currently stands on land adjacent to the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. Photo: Joseph Wheeler, USDA Forest Service, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie "WILMINGTON, Ill. (May. 2022) – In 1940, the United States Army acquired over 43,000 acres of land in southern Will County to build a large explosives manufacturing plant, called Kankakee Ordnance Works, and an ordnance assembly plant, called and Elwood Ordnance Plant. By late 1941 the plants were in full production to support America’s efforts in World War II. There were 77 other similar plants built by the U.S. military, yet at the time of its construction, this manufacturing procurement was revered as one of the largest and most sophisticated. The Elwood facility loaded over 926 million bombs, shells, mines, detonators, fuzes,
