WWI TNT Plans: Caledonia Historical Society Plans Presentation

CALEDONIA, WI — The Caledonia Historical Society has planned a short presentation from longtime member Clarence Kaplan on Thursday about the TNT facility that almost came to town during WWI.

Kaplan, who said he has roots in the area going back generations, also plans to talk about his family history. Kaplan told Patch the property he currently lives on was at one point slated to become a part of the TNT production facility when WWI was going on.

He said he recalls playing on a concrete foundation on his father's farm when he was a kid. His father had told him the foundation was possibly built to be a cook hall for the facility when it was in the works decades prior.

Kaplan plans on recounting the story of the facility that almost was at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Caledonia Mount Pleasant Memorial Park, located at 9614 Highway K in Franksville.

Kaplan says his tellings will in part come from clippings from The Journal Times, which were published in the 1980s. One recent story by the outlet, published online with the date of October, 1998, explains some of the background of the tale of the TNT plant that almost was.

The federal government had bought about 2,200 acres of land in July of 2018, just north of Wind Point, for a facility that DuPont Engineering Co. was to operate, The Journal Times 1998 report says.

Hundreds of workers were hired to produce the facility, the report says quoting Charles M. Christenson, a man who was in charge of guards at the plant. Christenson had provided that account in 1942, the report says.

The construction on the plant stopped when the Armistice was signed just months later in 1918, ending WWI, the Journal Times report says.

For more details, check out this report from The Journal Times report on the factory that almost was.