2012 - Feb. 17 - WW II Bomb Plant Outside Illiopolis, IL

Today, my friend, Mark, and I drove out to the old World War II bomb manufacturing plant called Sangamon Ordnance. It's located just outside of Illiopolis, IL, east of Springfield. I had seen some of the bunkers and the ruins of the old buildings while traveling on I-72 and Old Route 36, but I never realized the magnitude of the place. The area, about three miles square, was purchased by the US government at the beginning of the war for the purpose of building a plant and storage facilities for bombs and ammunition.

Below are some pictures of what's left of some of the buildings and some of the storage bunkers. After the war, the land was sold back to the farmers who continue to grow crops around the the buildings and bunkers today. If you would like to read a very interesting article about it, go to http://tinyurl.com/7n3hrsj. The article was written for Doubletake Magazine by Becky Bradway who used to live in Springfield.