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| Welcome to Alvira: Population 0 Author's Photo |
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Bizarre concrete domes and crumbling foundations stand as monuments to the sacrifices made by an entire town and a broken promise that erased it forever.
Alvira's story began in 1825 when the community was founded as Wisetown. By 1900, the town had peaked to around 100 residents and contained three churches, a school, blacksmith shop, post office, numerous small businesses, and a park.
On December 7, 1941, America was plunged into WWII after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. For the residents of Alvira, no one could have imagined that an event over 4,000 miles away would affect their small community. What had started out as a ripple on the other side of the country had grown into a wave that was about to crash on the small Pennsylvania town.
The first signs that something was amiss was the presence of government surveyors running around town. Soon a rumor of a government takeover was buzzing through community. A petition to the government to respond to these rumors was promptly ignored.
Alvira's story began in 1825 when the community was founded as Wisetown. By 1900, the town had peaked to around 100 residents and contained three churches, a school, blacksmith shop, post office, numerous small businesses, and a park.
On December 7, 1941, America was plunged into WWII after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. For the residents of Alvira, no one could have imagined that an event over 4,000 miles away would affect their small community. What had started out as a ripple on the other side of the country had grown into a wave that was about to crash on the small Pennsylvania town.
The first signs that something was amiss was the presence of government surveyors running around town. Soon a rumor of a government takeover was buzzing through community. A petition to the government to respond to these rumors was promptly ignored.
On March 7, 1942, government officials finally responded and announced at a town meeting that it had been decided that a munitions factory was going to be built that would encompass the land their homes occupied. However, the officials reassured residents that when the munitions were no longer needed, they would get their homes back. No one knew that Alvira’s death warrant had already been signed.
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| An aerial view of Alvira in 1938 Image Retrieved From: https://www.pasda.psu.edu/ |
The 8,500 acres for the munitions plant was seized by eminent domain; landowners received payment for their land that the government felt was fair compensation. Alvira’s residents packed up their belongings and left the town they had once called home. Though dismayed about leaving, many felt they were doing their patriotic duty to support the war effort, that it was a necessary sacrifice to defeat the enemy. As soon as the residents left, much of the town was leveled. All that remained was a broken promise.
Construction of the $50 million dollar munitions factory began immediately. Once complete in 1943, the Pennsylvania Ordnance Works (POW) began manufacturing TNT for the war effort. Over 3,500 people were employed at the plant that was capable of producing 768,000lbs. of explosives every day.
TNT was stored in special concrete structures resembling igloos. Each was capable of holding 250,000lbs. of explosives. Their shape was specifically designed that, if there was an accidental explosion, the force of the blast would be directed upwards rather than outwards and potentially triggering a chain reaction. 150 of these structures were built around the site.
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| Bunker #1 Author's Photo |
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| Bunker #5 Author's Photo |
However, TNT wasn’t the only dangerous materiel being housed at the facility. Historian Stephen Huddy, who has spent an impressive amount of time researching and writing about Alvira’s demise, discovered that something even more dangerous had been covertly housed on site, radioactive waste.
From 1943 to 1944, at least four of the igloos were used to store 50 tons of uranium waste from the Manhattan Project, America’s ultra-secret program to build an atomic bomb during the war. These materials had originated from testing sites in New Mexico and transported in total secrecy to Pennsylvania for storage.
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| Detonation of the Manhattan Project's first nuclear bomb in 1945 Image Retrieved From:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project |
Grand ambitions had seen the TNT factory come to fruition, but a stark reality soon dashed these expectations. It became evident that the federal government had jumped the gun (pun intended) on the demand for TNT. In January 1944, just eleven months after production had started, the installation was closed and the site decommissioned. POW’s operation was so short that only six out of twelve TNT production lines had been completed when the operation ceased.
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| Inside one of the storage bunkers Author's Photo |
As for the radioactive waste, Stephen Huddy found that it was removed from the site following its closure. Where it went is unknown.
After decommissioning, the site was reorganized into the Susquehanna Ordnance Depot to store surplus munitions from the war. The concrete igloos were utilized once again for this purpose. A description of the site in 1947 indicated that there were “380 constructed buildings” and “about 200 existing farm buildings on the property”. Other buildings included the main office, power plant, box factory, sewage disposal plant, and shops.
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| The former Pennsylvania Ordnance Works site circa 1959 Image Retrieved From: https://www.pasda.psu.edu/ |
Visiting the Site:
Most of the bunkers and former town site, are located on State Game Lands 252. If visiting during hunting season, please wear orange! Some of the bunkers are open while others are locked and used as storage by the game commission. Use caution when exploring the bunkers and foundations. Please respect the area as if it was your home, because for the former residents of Alvira, it was home.
As a side note, radiation testing in 2011 by the PA Department of Environmental Protection found no indications that radiation was present in the bunkers or roads within State Game Lands 252.
Information Retrieved From:
McIlnain, M. (2019, September 2). Abandoned military bunkers still open on game lands. Williamsport-Sun Gazette. Retrieved From: https://www.sungazette.com/news/top-news/2019/09/abandoned-military-bunkers-still-open-on-state-game-lands/
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Plant_Finder/q3A9AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Pennsylvania+Ordnance+Works&pg=PA181&printsec=frontcover
Thank you for this excellent piece!
ReplyDeleteMy husband's grandfather grew up in Alvira on the family farm. My husband took me to the remians of Alvira and told me all his grandfather had told him about the village. We have pictures of the farm before it was destroyed. I also remember my grandmother telling me about the fires that were set to burn down all of the buildings.
ReplyDeleteMy family is from there, my great grandfather Edward Houtz and family, they are buried there as well. I like to visit there it feels, my father love it there.
ReplyDelete