DUPONT, POMPTON LAKES WORKS

DuPont is one of the oldest continuously operating industrial enterprises in the world. The company was established in 1802 near Wilmington, Delaware, by French immigrant Eluethere Irenee DuPont de Nemours to produce black powder and he quickly established a reputation for superior gunpowder.

The history of DuPont's Pompton Lakes site as a national center for the manufacture of explosives began in the 19th century when H. Julius Smith was granted the first patent on June 23, 1868 for a spark-fired blasting cap filled with mercury fulminate. Smith joined the Laflin & Rand Powder Company at Wayne, New Jersey as a master mechanic in 1874 and experimented with a gold and foil bridge circuit for E. B. Caps. In 1886, he left Laflin & Rand and built a cap plant on Cannonball Road, approximately one half mile from the current DuPont entrance. He built a dam across the Wanaque River creating Lake Inez, named for his daughter.

DuPont began manufacturing explosives at the Pompton Lakes Works site when it acquired Laflin & Rand in 1902. That same year, the Electric Exploder Company, owned by DuPont, began operations at a newly constructed plant on the west side of Lake Inez.

When the United States entered into World War I in 1917, huge quantities of gunpowder were manufactured for the Allies by Pompton Lakes Works. Employment was increased from 300 to a wartime high workforce of more than 7,500 employees who were involved in producing blasting caps, detonating fuses, boosters, primer and an unknown quantity of hand and rifle grenades. The impact of DuPont's wartime production on local communities was dramatic, and Pompton Lakes became known as a "company town". A housing boom occurred, and many homeowners converted their residences to rooming houses for workers. To further satisfy housing needs, DuPont built a dormitory colony near the current site of the Pompton Lakes High School, in the area of DuPont Village and along Romain Avenue and parts of Colfax Avenue. The current Pompton Lakes Salvation Army building is an extension of one of the dormitories.

The Pompton Lakes Works was a vital production center supporting World War II as well. Workers were transported by bus loads from Jersey City, Elizabeth, Paterson and New York state increasing employment to more than 3,000. Production activities included massive quantities of blasting caps, all types of military detonators and fuses, rocket igniters and pull wire detonators.

With the end of World War H and the beginning of a new decade, the 1950's brought additional development in manufacturing and plant expansions would continue for three decades. In response to the international economic shifts in the 1980's, the company began downsizing its workforce. As a result of a series of divestitures and economic factors, manufacturing at the Pompton Lakes Works ceased April 1, 1994.

DuPont's Pompton Lakes Works will continue to be a part of the community as it moves forward with environmental remedial.


 

DuPont is one of the oldest continuously operating industrial enterprises in the world. The company was established in 1802 near Wilmington, Delaware, by French immigrant Eluethere Irenee DuPont de Nemours to produce black powder and he quickly established a reputation for superior gunpowder.

The history of DuPont's Pompton Lakes site as a national center for the manufacture of explosives began in the 19th century when H. Julius Smith was granted the first patent on June 23, 1868 for a spark-fired blasting cap filled with mercury fulminate. Smith joined the Laflin & Rand Powder Company at Wayne, New Jersey as a master mechanic in 1874 and experimented with a gold and foil bridge circuit for E. B. Caps. In 1886, he left Laflin & Rand and built a cap plant on Cannonball Road, approximately one half mile from the current DuPont entrance. He built a dam across the Wanaque River creating Lake Inez, named for his daughter.

DuPont began manufacturing explosives at the Pompton Lakes Works site when it acquired Laflin & Rand in 1902. That same year, the Electric Exploder Company, owned by DuPont, began operations at a newly constructed plant on the west side of Lake Inez.

When the United States entered into World War I in 1917, huge quantities of gunpowder were manufactured for the Allies by Pompton Lakes Works. Employment was increased from 300 to a wartime high workforce of more than 7,500 employees who were involved in producing blasting caps, detonating fuses, boosters, primer and an unknown quantity of hand and rifle grenades. The impact of DuPont's wartime production on local communities was dramatic, and Pompton Lakes became known as a "company town". A housing boom occurred, and many homeowners converted their residences to rooming houses for workers. To further satisfy housing needs, DuPont built a dormitory colony near the current site of the Pompton Lakes High School, in the area of DuPont Village and along Romain Avenue and parts of Colfax Avenue. The current Pompton Lakes Salvation Army building is an extension of one of the dormitories.

The Pompton Lakes Works was a vital production center supporting World War II as well. Workers were transported by bus loads from Jersey City, Elizabeth, Paterson and New York state increasing employment to more than 3,000. Production activities included massive quantities of blasting caps, all types of military detonators and fuses, rocket igniters and pull wire detonators.

With the end of World War H and the beginning of a new decade, the 1950's brought additional development in manufacturing and plant expansions would continue for three decades. In response to the international economic shifts in the 1980's, the company began downsizing its workforce. As a result of a series of divestitures and economic factors, manufacturing at the Pompton Lakes Works ceased April 1, 1994.

DuPont's Pompton Lakes Works will continue to be a part of the community as it moves forward with environmental remedial plans.