A Tremendous Disturbance to Civil Life
by Bob Brail
by Bob Brail
Most people
who regularly drive through the woods of the August Busch and Weldon Spring
Conservation Areas in southern St. Charles
County give little thought to the
history of the area. After all, getting
to work on time and coming home as quickly as possible are generally not
activities that would cause a person to consider what happened long ago in the
area he is driving through. Sometimes,
though, it’s hard not to notice some pretty unusual sights along the road. At the corner of Highways 94 and D sits a
lonely granite monument with a rarely read inscription. Further along the road, apparently lost among
trees and brush, is a cemetery full of old headstones. During the spring, hundreds of daffodils and
irises bloom along a mile-long stretch of highway, making up what appears to be
some sort of highway beautification project.
In the midst of these flowers, five mysterious concrete steps lead from
the road, up a hill, and into the woods.
If a person stops his car and takes a walk into the trees, unusual
discoveries continue: colorful splashes
of non-native flowers are seen as far as a mile from the nearest road, old
bottles rest in ravines, cisterns full of water appear like mirages deep in the
forest, and crumbling building foundations seem to sprout from the ground.
This year (2010) is the seventieth anniversary of events in 1940 which ultimately led to the
destruction of the villages of Hamburg
and Howell and several dozen small farms in what are now the August Busch and
Weldon Spring Conservation Areas. The
story of what happened there is one of national defense, patriotism, sacrifice,
greed, bureaucratic arrogance, and broken promises. It is a chapter in Missouri
history that should never be forgotten.
On September 9, 1940, Congress passed an
act giving the War Department authority to build up national defense by
purchasing land and constructing munitions plants. A little more than a month later, President
Franklin Roosevelt authorized the War Department to purchase 20,000 acres to
build a munitions plant in southern St. Charles
County at what is now called the
Weldon Spring Site. Residents of Howell,
Hamburg, and the surrounding area read the
shocking news in The St. Charles Daily Banner-News, and life for them
would never be the same. About Several families had
roots in the area going back one hundred years or more. Protests were immediate and intense. Within days a meeting of landowners was held
at Howell High School. One reporter wrote, “Most farmers regard the
transaction as one full of angles that they do not understand.” A war department consultant arrived to work
with the county farm agent in addressing landowners’ concerns, but tension did
not abate even though the farm agent stated that the “problems of farmers
affected by the defense program will be handled satisfactorily.” In early November 700 persons attended a
meeting at Howell. Congressman Clarence
Cannon told the crowd that the War Department would construct the plant,
regardless of the protests: “Military necessity makes it imperative that the
government have this land. The
government is coming in. That has
been decided and it cannot be changed.
The government wants to be exactly fair.
It does not want to take advantage of anyone. If you want to sell, you can sign the options
at a price you consider fair. If you
don’t, you can be dispossessed in five days and leave the matters to the courts
to determine what you shall be paid for your land. It’s a matter we must face. We are sorry.
None of us had anything to do with it; none of us can stop it.” A government representative promised the
interests of the people in the TNT plant area would be protected. 700
people, many of whom lived on small family farms, would be forced to sell their
homes and leave.
This
upheaval, which would destroy communities and relationships which had existed
for decades, caused incredible grief for the residents in the threatened
area. Most of the county, however,
reacted much more positively. The St.
Charles Daily Banner-News wrote that local “businessmen were elated over
the announcement.” The new fifteen
million dollar plant would be the largest business investment in St.
Charles County’s
history and would provide hundreds of jobs.
Its annual payroll was estimated at over fifteen million dollars, much
of which would be spent in local businesses.
One government spokesman estimated 30,000 people would move to the area. Homes to house the army of 10,000 workers and
their families would be needed. One
investor purchased a 240 acre tract of land that straddled Highway 94 about a
mile north of Highway 40. He planned to
sell building lots and call the settlement Boomtown. The village
of Cottleville also hoped to profit
from the new factory by building upwards of 2,200 houses for plant employees,
who would be advised to purchase homes instead of renting. Within one month of the announcement of the
factory project, hotels and apartments in St. Charles
were rushed with clients. As the TNT landowners
tried to find new homes and farms, prices for land in the surrounding areas
increased dramatically. Most people
hailed “the coming of a TNT plant to St. Charles
County . . . as the greatest boom St.
Charles County
ha[d] ever experienced.”
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| Auction Day in Hamburg |
 |
| McDowell |
Soon the War Department was taking a closer look at the fees its other brokers were charging. Eventually eight War Department buliding projects across the United States were scrutinized. Specifically, the prices paid to the landowners and the fees charge by the brokers would be evaluated.
Within days the sale prices were approved at six of the eight sites. The War Department projects at Burlington Iowa, and Weldon Spring, Missouri, were the exceptions. At Burlington the investigation found that prices offered to the landowners were nearly 20% higher than recent appraisals. A compromise with landowners was reached when all agreed to honoring contracts already paid and lowering the rest to 14% higher than appraised values. A compromise was also reached with most of the brokers regarding their fees. One broker's fees were determined to be appropriate. Six other brokers agreed to accept lower commissions.
The situation at Weldon Spring proved to be much more difficult to resolve. Neither the landowners nor the broker, R. Newton McDowell of Kansas City, agreed to accept reductions. The War Department had to make a choice: would it give in to the landowners and McDowell or would it pursue legal actions? It decided to issue new contracts to those landowners who had not yet been paid containing greatly reduced sale prices and hoped that the landowners would sign them. By this time the War Department had
taken control of all but 200 of the nearly 16,000 acres it had purchased, but had
made payment for less than 7000 acres.
Of the $2,600,000 purchase price negotiated by Mr. McDowell, the
government by this time had issued checks for only about $1,100,000. In other words, most of the former property
owners, almost all of whom had already vacated their homes by this time, had
not yet been paid. When these 150
individuals were informed that new appraisals would be
completed, they were understandably outraged.
The War Department was reneging on its contracts. Approximately one hundred of these people had
signed contracts for new homes and farms, and paid earnest money, typically ten
percent of the total price. The
landowners, however, were powerless. No
one else would be paid until new contracts were signed.
On March 3
the unbelievable plight of the area residents worsened even further. U.
S. District Attorney Harry Blanton
recommended that the properties be acquired by condemnation proceedings. On March 8 the government canceled all its
remaining contracts in the TNT area and filed condemnation suits. There would be no contracts for those so
unfortunate as to be yet unpaid. Nearly
nine hundred farmers and townspeople attended a mass protest meeting a few days
later at what is now the United Church of Christ in Weldon Spring. Almost one hundred landowners signed a
petition to President Roosevelt, requesting immediate payment for their
land. If the government condemned their
properties, one man said, “We are going to move back on our land.” Another described the War Department’s
actions as “a shakedown.” Ninety-one
year old William Snyder telegrammed Secretary of War Harold Stimson: “I have
observed public affairs since before the Civil War . . . but . . . [never] did
I . . . hear of the United States of America repudiating sacred covenants with
its citizens.” On March 21, the War
Department authorized Mr. McDowell to send the former landowners a letter which
in part stated the following: “You know how badly you need money
immediately. It may be better for you to
take a realistic view of this thing and determine in your own mind whether or
not you can afford to carry on this legal fight or whether it would be
advisable for you to offer the government a reduction on your present price.”
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| Hamburg Abandoned |
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| Property owned by Hattie Mades in Lower Hamburg |
In spite of
incredible pressure, the former landowners were nearly unanimous in their
resistance. On March 27, R. Newton
McDowell reported to the government that “renegotiations with unpaid landowners
for lower prices had failed.” All but
two of the former landowners had refused to take reductions. Senator Champ Clark and Congressman Clarence
Cannon became outspoken critics of the War Department’s actions, with Cannon confidently
predicting that the courts would correct what he called the “neglect and
inefficiency” of the government. A
Congressional committee described the series of events as “a tremendous
disturbance to civil life.” However, as spring gave way to summer, the
government was relentless in its acquisition of titles to TNT land. By the end of June, all TNT properties had
been condemned by the government. Months
turned into years as lawyers for the TNT landowners continued to appeal to
higher courts. Finally, in early
February of 1945, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5-3 decision, ruled in
favor of the TNT landowners. The
government would be required to honor the original contracts. Later in 1945, approximately five years after
the land purchase was announced, checks were issued to the 120 landowners who
had refused to accept the government’s condemnation price. Some checks were issued to heirs since a few
of the landowners had died in the intervening years. The thirty landowners who had accepted the
condemnation price before the Supreme Court decision would receive nothing
further. The victorious landowners then
sued the War Department, seeking interest on their money they had not received
for four years. This time, however, the
Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of the War Department, stating that the
landowners had been justly compensated.
Incredible
as it may seem, one further injustice awaited the former residents of the
Howell and Hamburg area. In February of 1947 the War Assets
Administration announced that 12,000 acres of the TNT area would be “released
for agricultural purposes.” It appeared
that many former landowners would be able to buy back their old properties.
However, by month’s end the unpleasant truth was clear: the land was being
purchased by the Missouri State Conservation Commission. The former owners would not be given the
opportunity to repurchase their land after all.
In late April of 1947, the federal government sold the conservation
commission about 7,000 acres of TNT land for $225,000. More than six years earlier, the War
Department had paid nearly one million dollars for the same 7,000 acres.
The
original cause of this community disaster, the munitions plant, closed before
the end of World War II. It reopened during the Cold War to be used for
processing uranium, closing permanently in 1967. In 1986 the Department of Energy initiated
the Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project, which resulted in nearly fifty
structures being dismantled and placed inside a forty-five acre disposal cell,
along with contaminated sludge and soil.
The project was completed in 1994.
By the
spring of 1941, the lives of several hundred people living in southern St.
Charles County
changed dramatically. In a matter of
weeks, folks were forced to leave homes that, in some cases, their families had
inhabited for multiple generations. Some
people lost their livelihoods. All of
these people lost their community and, to a degree, their sense of
identity. The residents of Hamburg,
Howell, and the surrounding area embarked on an exodus in reverse, leaving
their land of promise for dozens of unfamiliar destinations. They left never to return, for their community
was gone forever.
Sources
Allen, Robert, and Drew Pearson. “The Washington
Merry-Go-Round.” 27 Jan. 1941.
1 Mar. 2010. <http://www.aladin.wrlc.org/gsdl/collect/pearson/
pearson.shtml>. Brown, Daniel T., Ph. D.
Small Glories. St. Louis:
Howell Foundation, 2003. Fine, Lenore, and Jesse Remington. United
States Army in World War II – The
Corps of Engineers:
Construction in the United States. Washington, D. C.: Center of Military
History, 1972. 2003. 30
Oct. 2009. <http://140.194.76.129/publications/misc/un20/c-12.pdf>. Muschany, Donald K. The Rape of Howell and Hamburg,
Missouri (An American Tragedy). St. Louis:
Donald K. Muschany, 1978. Smith, Adam, and Sunny Stone. Weldon Spring Ordnance Works Historic
Context. Champaign,
IL: U. S.
Army Corps of Engineers, 2005. St. Charles
Daily Banner-News. 1940-1947. Microfilm.
St. Charles County Public Library, St.
Charles, Missouri. Watson, Elizabeth Audrain.
Heritage and Promise: A History of Dardenne Presbyteria Church
and Its Community. Chicago: Adams
Press, 1977. “Weldon Spring Site History.” Department of Energy. 2
Mar. 2010. <http://www.Im.doe.gov/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=1347
weldon spring cleanup>.
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