Addendum to This Day In Texas History - July 6
Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 9:50 am
I thought this interesting and didn't know much about it. I thought I'd pass it along:
KARNACK, TEXAS. Karnack is at the intersection of Farm roads 134 and 449, on the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway near Caddo Lake in northeastern Harrison County. Its name reportedly derived from the supposition that its distance from Port Caddo (the northeastern port of entry for the Republic of Texas) was the same as that of Karnak from Thebes in ancient Egypt. In 1898 a post office opened at Karnack, and the community shipped cotton and other commodities. Caddo Lake oilfields began producing in 1906. By 1915 the community had a population of 100, a general store operated by Thomas Jefferson Taylor, and a gristmill and cotton gin owned by W. H. Wurtzburger.
In 1927 Karnack's population was estimated at 400. By the early 1940s the community reported a population of 850 and twenty-two businesses. In 1989 Karnack had twelve businesses, and in 1990 it reported 775 residents. The population remained unchanged in 2000. Lady Bird Johnson's childhood home, a two-story, white-brick house from the era of antebellum Texas, is at a site 2½ miles southwest of town on State Highway 43. Karnack became known from 1989 to 1991 because of the destruction of Pershing IA and II missiles at Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant there.
LONGHORN ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT. The Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant, also called the Longhorn Ordnance Works, is a facility for the production of munitions located on a 8,500-acre site beside Caddo Lake at Karnack, Harrison County. In December 1941 the Monsanto Chemical Company selected the site for a facility for the manufacture of TNT, and the company began operation of the $22.5 million plant on October 18, 1942. By August 15, 1945, the plant had turned out 414,805,500 pounds of TNT.
The facility closed sometime in November 1945 and remained on standby until February 1, 1952, when it was reopened; it subsequently produced munitions and a variety of pyrotechnic devices under the management of the Universal Match Corporation until 1956. The Thiokol Chemical Corporation, awarded a contract in 1952 for producing solid-fuel rocket motors for the army, built a facility at Longhorn for that purpose between 1953 and 1955. Rocket motors of various kinds were produced at Longhorn until early 1971.
The Vietnam War brought an increased demand for pyrotechnic devices, and the Longhorn plant resumed production of such items as flares and ground signals in the 1960s. In 1987 the plant continued to manufacture illuminating devices for the army under the direction of Thiokol, Incorporated, and employed some 962 workers. In 1989 LAAP was one of the sites selected to fire and destroy Pershing IA and II missiles under the terms of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, a project completed in 1991.
KARNACK, TEXAS. Karnack is at the intersection of Farm roads 134 and 449, on the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway near Caddo Lake in northeastern Harrison County. Its name reportedly derived from the supposition that its distance from Port Caddo (the northeastern port of entry for the Republic of Texas) was the same as that of Karnak from Thebes in ancient Egypt. In 1898 a post office opened at Karnack, and the community shipped cotton and other commodities. Caddo Lake oilfields began producing in 1906. By 1915 the community had a population of 100, a general store operated by Thomas Jefferson Taylor, and a gristmill and cotton gin owned by W. H. Wurtzburger.
In 1927 Karnack's population was estimated at 400. By the early 1940s the community reported a population of 850 and twenty-two businesses. In 1989 Karnack had twelve businesses, and in 1990 it reported 775 residents. The population remained unchanged in 2000. Lady Bird Johnson's childhood home, a two-story, white-brick house from the era of antebellum Texas, is at a site 2½ miles southwest of town on State Highway 43. Karnack became known from 1989 to 1991 because of the destruction of Pershing IA and II missiles at Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant there.
LONGHORN ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT. The Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant, also called the Longhorn Ordnance Works, is a facility for the production of munitions located on a 8,500-acre site beside Caddo Lake at Karnack, Harrison County. In December 1941 the Monsanto Chemical Company selected the site for a facility for the manufacture of TNT, and the company began operation of the $22.5 million plant on October 18, 1942. By August 15, 1945, the plant had turned out 414,805,500 pounds of TNT.
The facility closed sometime in November 1945 and remained on standby until February 1, 1952, when it was reopened; it subsequently produced munitions and a variety of pyrotechnic devices under the management of the Universal Match Corporation until 1956. The Thiokol Chemical Corporation, awarded a contract in 1952 for producing solid-fuel rocket motors for the army, built a facility at Longhorn for that purpose between 1953 and 1955. Rocket motors of various kinds were produced at Longhorn until early 1971.
The Vietnam War brought an increased demand for pyrotechnic devices, and the Longhorn plant resumed production of such items as flares and ground signals in the 1960s. In 1987 the plant continued to manufacture illuminating devices for the army under the direction of Thiokol, Incorporated, and employed some 962 workers. In 1989 LAAP was one of the sites selected to fire and destroy Pershing IA and II missiles under the terms of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, a project completed in 1991.