The Scioto Ordnance Plant (SOP) was an munitions and incendiary bomb-making facility built in Marion County, Ohio, by the United States Army in 1942, and operated under lease by United States Rubber Company – most recently known as Uniroyal. The plant operated until 1945, when production wound down. Also built adjacent was the Marion Engineering Depot which was authorized in the summer of 1942. Land for the plant was taken in Grand Prairie, Scott, Clairdon and Marion Townships in an area covering 12,500 acres (51 km2).
Families who owned property within the zone identified for the facility were notified March 1, 1942, that they had to vacate their land by May 1, 1942. Not only did this mean that the displaced had to find a place to live in the midst of a housing and fuel shortage, but it also meant moving and/or selling livestock and agricultural equipment. Federal contractors began removing field fencing in April 1942. While landowners received a "fair" valuation for their property, relocation expenses were not paid. Several property owners claimed that they never received any compensation from the government.
A rural cemetery, Likens Cemetery, which had been in use since the 1830s, was located within the takings area, south of Likens Road and west of Pole Lane Road. According to the Marion Star, April 12, 1942, the Corps of Engineers planned to exhume the three hundred graves thought to be in the cemetery and relocate those to the cemetery in Kirkpatrick, Ohio, which was the nearest cemetery to Likens. However, by mid-May, 1942, the Army and community members agreed that the cost and efforts of moving the graves were better spent on "the War Effort" and the idea dropped. Planned building activity around the cemetery was relocated to another sector, and the cemetery made accessible to family members on one day per year for the duration. After May 1, 1942, most of the farmsteads located inside the perimeter were leveled; underground bunkers and production buildings were built in clusters throughout the SOP site. By June 1942 SOP was employing 2,900 employees, many of whom moved north from Southern Ohio and Kentucky for the high paying wages offered.
Once in operation, the plant (under the operation of U.S. Rubber) produced fuses and boosters, 20 mm bullets, 50 caliber bullets, 50 caliber artillery shells, 65 mm shells and 75 mm shells. Incendiary bombs and napalm barrel bombs, similar to those used on Dresden by Allied forces were also produced at the site. Munitions containers served dual duty by carrying SOP products overseas and then doubling as coffins for those killed in action.
German prisoners of war were housed on the site (in an area referred to as “Camp Marion”) beginning in December 1944. During the 1940s, many of the German prisoners were used as labor in the city of Marion. Local residents who were alive at the time can recall the prisoners being used for painting, maintenance, collecting trash, building improvements, etc. Although they were POWs, they were treated well and fairly by the Army.
Following the end of the war, land taken for SOP was resold to civilians. Local farmers who had lost their land had the first option to repurchase their former lands back from the government. Land that was not purchased back by displaced residents was then sold to other buyers. A housing development – Grandview – was built over the magazine area of the former plant.
In 1949, uranium handling was planned for the site, with the contract going to Monsanto Company. However, production at the facility never began in earnest.
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