Nostalgia and reminiscence were in the air at the Community Center Thursday night as former employees of the Sunflower Ammunition Plant shared their memories of working at the plant.
Former employees gathered as part of a program hosted by the Eudora Area Historical Society. This was the second time the Historical Society hosted the former employees as they did a similar program in July 2022.
The Sunflower Ammunition Plant opened in 1943 as part of the United States’ effort to increase wartime production during World War II. The plant was the world’s largest smokeless powder plant, employed over 12,000 people and produced more than 200 million pounds of propellants during World War II, according to Eudora Area Historical Society Executive Director Ben Terwilliger.
The population of Eudora more than doubled after the opening of the plant, which caused a major housing shortage.
The plant was also operational during other United States conflicts, such as the Korean and Vietnam wars. The plant stopped production in 1992. A Panasonic EV battery factory is now being built on the plant’s former site.
Bob Bartholomew said his family was some of the first people to move into Sunflower Village near the powder plant.
His father worked at the plant while Bartholomew delivered ice during the summer months.
“Sunflower Village did not have a refrigerator in the whole place that I know of,” Bartholomew said. “They did not have wood stoves either. They had coal. In the middle of winter, you could hardly walk through there without coughing. It was very polluted.”
Darrel Zimmerman talked about nearby attractions, such as a movie theater, restaurants and a bowling alley. One of his friends used to tell Zimmerman that Wilt Chamberlain worked at the bowling alley setting up pins.
“When the basketball coaches at KU found out what he was doing they said, ‘You can’t do that. One of those bowling balls will hit your ankle and break it.’ So, he lost his job,” Zimmerman said.
Bartholomew started working in the water department of the plant when he was 18. Bartholomew said he worked in the river intake section.
“I rode to work in a pickup truck and rode home in a motorboat. It came up that fast,” he said.
Richard Messer was an electrician at the plant from 1979 to 1994. He said he was always taken aback by how big the plant was.
“I worked at that place from one end to the other. North, south, east and west,” Messer said. “I had my fill of working in all the different buildings and powerhouses doing all the repair works and making sure everything was in operational order. I do not regret having not been there.”
Messer also said there was lots of wildlife around the area of the plant that he enjoyed seeing when he drove to and from work.
“Deer, turkeys, bobcats, pheasants, turtle doves, you name it, it was there,” he said.
Greg Neis, who worked in the security department of the plant, shared some stories about the wildlife in the area as well. He said his boss had an encounter with a cougar one night.
“He said they jumped from the east patrol room to the security fence in the corner up there by ballistics, and it sat on the corner and swished its tail at him, so he knew it wasn’t a bobcat,” Neis said.
Neis still remembers all the department’s security numbers.
“All [the security department’s] started with 75,” he said. “Production was just four numbers. All the people working up front had ‘S’ badge numbers.”
Dean Stark and his family were also some of the first people to move to Sunflower Village in 1943. Stark was a lineman for 29 years at the plant.
“Sunflower was an interesting place because it was the largest powder plant in the world, and we made a lot of rocket powder for Vietnam,” Stark said. “It was a great place to work, and I made a good living.”
The Eudora Area Historical Society’s next program is about the history of the smaller Eudora area communities, such as Clearfield, Fall Leaf and Hesper. This program will take place at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Community Center.
Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected]
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