Largest Abandonment in America - WWII Ammo Factory 

This is the old Indiana Army Ammunition Plant in Charlestown Indiana. I've worked in the plant numerous times over the years for contractors, from when it was operational to putting in stand by status. It was built in the 1940's and at one time employed over 20,000 workers. You were right about the grounding straps, to prevent a static charge, and explosion. And also about the emergency slides. I once went down one of the tall one's when working there years ago, I wouldn't do it again, of course, unless my life depended on it, which was the design. Traffic from the plant use to be bumper to bumper. It was really something in it's hey days. The newest part of the plant is by what is now the Charlestown Park, called black powder, it was built around the Vietnam war, is a small addition, from what I remember, I don't think it actually was put in production or not for very long. A lot of people got years and years work from the ammo plant. I worked off and on there over the years. At times we would sandblast all the steel structure inside the buildings, remove all the sand and paint chips, and apply three coats of epoxy paint. To put in a state of readiness, or stand by status. Of course, you had electricians and other trades also. I knew people who actually worked at the ammo plant, and some that retired from there. I actually think it's great that it's being razed and reclaimed. It's just been decaying for years. Some of the very buildings we worked in, completely reworking, have since just sat, vandalized, and decaying. So, now they are being tore down, and a industrial park type place, with numerous business being built, including a new huge Amazon complex. They say, eventually, it will employ 20,000 to 30,000 people. Which would be equal to it's hey day, or even more. It's great for the community. Good to see some of the old buildings again. Thanks for posting. John G

Considering their age, most of the buildings are in fantastic shape. The lack of vandalism is refreshing. Thanks fir the vid.

What this guys is exploring is an old powder mill. My father use to work in one very much like this located in upper Indiana. I think the cart were for dispersing the slurry mixture that the explosives were made of and dispersed out in flat drying house then raked out into a very thin layer to air dry. The grounding cables were just that anyone who worked in the drying rooms had to ground themselves to prevent sparks. Each drying room might be 50 feet by 100 feet and as the powder slurry dried you didn't want any sparks present. While he was there there were two accidents from sparks in a drying house and the only thing left was a 50 ft wide by 30 foot deep crater. My dad said they never found any parts of the men working in those houses.

I worked there from 1968 to Jan. 1970. You couldn't travel out side your work area, but I worked in the warehouses where the empty artillery shells were stored. So I never seen anything but my area, but it was a large area and we had to drive from one warehouse to another. The warehouses were not heated and where the shells were stored it got 10 degrees colder in side then outside. I saw the coldest winter of my life there. It got 20 below and inside the warehouse it was 30 below. We froze between breaks.

The builds are spaced in such away that if one build exploded the next one building would not be affected.

Charlie & the bullet factory

I know where you are (well, were); it's it's in my neck of the woods. It was disappointing to see those buildings demolished to make room for a growing industrial park. I'm glad you got in these before they were destroyed. I always wondered what they looked like inside, but I never would have dared to do it. As for people asking about the vandalism, it was a giant complex built on thousands of acres in a rural setting- not exactly many people walking by. There was a portion (the part they were hoping to visit, but unable to due to the construction/demolition) visible from the highway, and it more likely had seen more foot traffic. Most of those buildings were deep inside the complex (which was fenced off by the feds pretty good) and had rail and river access. I sure hope Brian and Michael were wearing plenty of bug spray because I'm sure they were crawling with ticks after going through it.

I loved the bug wall, it looked like modern art - I wonder what made some strips more popular than others 🧐😂

That intro never gets old.

I have passed by this my whole life. Probably 28 years of passing by and thinking how cool the old buildings were. There used to be so much more there but it has been demolished over time. Thanks for finally helping me take a step inside.

You guys don’t get enough credit you guy are the best exploitation channel on RU-vid

In 1940, the US Army established the 21,418 acre Ravenna Arsenal in Ohio. Located between Akron and Warren, it produced munitions for WWII, Korea and Vietnam. The Ohio National Guard uses it now as a training and logistics site, thus it's not technically abandoned. The most concerning environmental problem at Ravenna wasn't lead or asbestos but the PCBs used as a flame retardant in the buildings' paint. For this reason the buildings couldn't be burned as had been planned. An interesting side note about Ravenna: In October 1871, local newspapers reported residents seeing and smelling the smoke from the Great Chicago fire, which was burning 340 miles to the west. Although not very well appreciated today, there were several other major fires occurring at that same time along both sides of Lake Michigan -- Holland, Michigan burned to the ground and Peshtigo, Wisconsin suffered the largest number of deaths due to fire in US history -- and in the thumb of Michigan and in Windsor, Ontario. Ravenna may have seen smoke from all of them.

Needs a worker from those days to tell the story. The things a walk thru never show. The human experience .

"Hopefully this sin't poison anything." Walks through door coated in poison ivy.

In the 70's I drove a truck that serviced the Badger Ammo Plant near Baraboo, WI. At one time 40,000 people lived and worked there. Only a handful remained in 1974.

If I learned anything from RPGs, it's to check every crate for items.

That 1st walkway was amazing. The carts are unique. This whole video was great.

Oh my god I live about an hour from there! I have driven past it every few months my entire life and always wanted to explore it. It has been slowly demolished over the recent years and most of it is gone now. Thank you for documenting this.

I thought the largest abandonment was the city of Detroit.

I admire the fact they don't do vandalism on the relics

Always fascinating to see rooms with derelict machinery. At one stage those machines did something, and people were trained in how to operate them and knew exactly what they did.

I love how they never use "BUSTED" or anything like that in their titles at all so when you're watching you know they might still get caught but aren't expecting it either haha

Imagine getting on that slide just as the building explodes and you're going down...wooo-hoooo!!!!

Been watching a lot of you guys' videos and they're really good. This is definitely something that needs to be on the History channel.

Those carts were called angel carts that's why thewalks were so smooth fom one building to another and spread so far apart because if they hit a bump whoever was pushing he cart became an angel.

This location/video had an amazing atmosphere, especially at that walkway

It’s amazing how all these years everything still remains untouched and left how it was. The structures are still sturdy.

My grandfather a ww2 veteran retired from a munitions factory that is still running. It was interesting the precautions they would have to take to stay safe. Their shoes were special as they had to be grounded to avoid static discharge. They would search every worker in and out. A friend of his managed to get some explosives out and blew up his basement.

At around the 15:30 mark those long machines are pressure molds, they were used to make cakes or billets of the explosives for easier transport.

fml I wanted to go to bed because of a bad headache but now I saw this video pop up in my feed. Guess I'll have to endure that headache a bit longer.

“This is pretty stupid” while going down the slides but that may have been my favorite part so far 😅

What I'm always impressed and appreciative of is that you do proper research on the places you go to and give us good information in the video. There are some big explore channels, well just one comes to mind, who doesn't research the places at all but then gives made up info that's clearly just rubbish, it's a big peeve of mine! And it annoys me that he has so many subs when in reality he does a half assed job of researching and giving info on the places he goes to.

This must be Acme Co. where Coyote got all his gear from.

The green dots could have been added to mark where inspectors took samples for asbestos abatement tests. If you ever explore the abandond Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, New York you'll see similer pink dots in 7 bunkers that were used to store nuclear war heads during the cold war. The dots indicate where samples were taken to make sure the place is not contaminated by retroactive material.

Great video I’ve been a high-pressure operating engineer for the last 30 years those turbines were made to last for 100 years they probably get still get them up and running thank you for sharing this video

Emergency test drills at that place must have been fun when using the slides it was like a big kid playground.

4:13 . . . The bulb is still there, after 50+ years! 18:47 . . . You *HAD* to do it!!!

I grew up near what was left of a WWII munitions plant in Viola, Kentucky. All that is left of it is the overgrown paved roads and a few concrete "skeletons" of buildings that are spread out all over the location and a couple of giant concrete slabs that had to be a storage building complex. The ruins stretch over a couple of square miles, most has been converted into farm fields but the paved roads are still there. Thick woods grow all over the area and it is nothing to find the remains of a small bridge over old drainage ditches in the middle of a large forest, or a still intact power pole in the middle of dense bushes. The overgrown paved roads look exactly like the ones there.

My mom's farm was sold/taken to build this place. You were given 30 days to leave and if you didn't sell you still had to leave and it was taken to an arbitrator. She worked on the 105 shell load line during the war and said it was hard work. The day the war ended, everyone was laid off

I was born and raised in Jeffersonville. This place is patrolled like crazy. I worked in one of the new buildings in the area for several years. There were always patrol trucks driving up and down the road. Amazing bit of history right in my hometown.

18:50. His last words before going down should have been "Yabba dabba doo!"

Fantastic exploration! Glad you blokes managed to document some of it before its all gone, pity its being cleared. Lots of lovely untouched artifacts still on site, hopefully someone will salvage all the light fittings and other beautiful industrial items. Thanks for the tour, and happy new year!

16:56 I know that after an emergency slide at my local university was removed, it was moved to the city park. It wasn't well cared for and got pretty beaten up over the years. Until 1973, when a little girl lost part of her pinkie due the exposed shape edges and the slide was torn down.

American Pickers would have a field day with that Toledo scale, the carts, the signs...:)

I have a feeling those green spray paint marks were points where explosive charges would be placed for demolition

As I sit here outside watching this while I smoke a Christmas ham I have to thank you for your awesome videos. My favorite channel, and one of the few things I enjoy watching anymore. Don't stop doing what you do lol

Thank you for preserving the past with video and pics.

Don’t understand what people are thinking when they dislike a video like this

I'm surprised the place wasn't as tagged/vandalized as other places you've been. Also, loving the GY!BE-esque soundtrack.

U did walk through a nasty patch of poison ivy At the top of those stairs. The vine was holding door shut with the Barrie’s on it. Also called poison oak.

Been in every building there. I worked at Midwest environmental over by the water tower. It was a great place to explore and very historical.

Great job covering as much of that place as you guys did. That's a huge piece of property and with it being in the process of being demolished in the hot summer sun with people all over the place you guys did a great job!

"Getting in the place undetected will not be easy" *walks across open ground in broad daylight*

Literally 10 seconds in and I already love this! Fantastic job on everything once again

These places are so cool to explore. I haven’t even ever heard of most the places before you show them neither. Good stuff. I used to do this stuff as a kid and then just forgot about it. Especially when I lived in South Carolina we would go out exploring on the weekends and drives into other towns going though the old cotton plantations farm houses. It was so cool They were so old and being from Vegas it was all new to me , seeing stuff from the civil war & older. It was cool and that was the abandoned stuff. The old abandoned plantations still grew cotton though, such a trip, there’d be rows & rows of lil cotton plants ( Def not trees ) with a lil bit of cotton on them and everything completely falling apart everywhere else but there’s always be old cool stuff in the buildings falling apart, we didn’t even take anything but it was cool to check stuff out.

Was waiting for at least one slide attempt. Gratified.

This place is freaking massive, I love it! 👊🏼

Yet again another top explore guys, keep up the good work.

i remember when yall posted this video and got a bunch of people to go and the burn down buildings and tore all the towers and everything down. so many good signs and documents waiting to be salvaged but streamed to the masses to be destroyed. rip i still have what signs and docs i could get out of there but no hope after you guys posted this. been there 13 times and 1 year after you made this it was the last.

Those funnels were probably for nitrocellulose to fill shells, etc. so you're correct: the workers would have to be grounded. The long passageway with rails was to move the components from storage blockhouses to work areas. It would be laid out so different high energy materials were kept separate until final assembly. And yes, the bugout slides! They had really long ones on nitration plants in the old days (nitroglycerin, etc) I think a lot of that is automated now. ..

So cool watching this especially as seen as on my channel I have explored a UK ammo tunnel used to transport ammo in WW2

really LOVE your videos guys, please dont stop!

Great adventure, thanks for sharing!

Interesting & fun to watch! It's like going on a personal field trip! lol We got itchy seeing you guys going through all those bushes!

My Papaw worked there in the late 1960s.

Looks like a lot of fun. I had a chance to explore a collection of abandoned grain silos in Buffalo, NY years back. It was fun to climb up to the top of silos, but just look out for the holes.... it's a long drop to the bottom! It was a particularly exciting climb on one tower because one whole flight of stairs was missing (someone tossed an I-beam from the roof and it tore off about 8 steps). We had to climb the iron like monkeys about 50' above the ground to get to the next landing. People do some silly shit when they're young.

I always wish I could go back and see these places when they were in use. Just crazy that this was one of the key pieces to our military might back in WWII

Amazing place. So much history.

Joliet Army Ammunition Plant was bigger until they turned it into Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, but some buildings still stand, and what's left is actually worth exploring, in my humble opinion.

Is this Charleston Powder Plant in Clark County Indiana? My Late Father worked there after he came back from the Korean War.The carts at the Train Unloading station were used for bales of Cotton,Sulfur and Coal for making gun powder. The scales were for weighing the bales.Yes, the cables were for grounding against static spark.The machines at about 15 min+ are for crimping shell casings. There are many different large tanks for every thing from chemicals to water for cooling and heat. Steam heat was the only heat acceptable for safety.All the munitions that were made were sent to Jefferson Proving Grounds in Jefferson County Indiana about 40 miles away. It is now closed also. If this is not Charleston Munitions plant then it is just like it. Try to explore J.P.G. but beware.....THERE ARE UN EXPLODED MUNITIONS down range. Stick to the buildings and firing line. A 105 round will evaporate a human being. Thanks for the video. Have a safe day.

I’ve seen that place many times since I live close to it. And I’ve always wondered what it looked like. And now I know. THANK YOU.

THAT'S COOL THAT YOU GUYS GO TO different places and explore😀😀love your videos really cool and interesting to know about these places and the history

Great as always keep the good job up boys

Such an underrated channel. Been a sub for a while, love the vids

I saw a very interesting ammo dump in Camden AR. The rr spur still being used. Lots of poured concrete foundations.

Another great video- thank you. Keep up the good work

Nice to see it's not all tagged up

Crazy how unmolested this place looks. Looks like it shut down yesterday besides the overgrowth

You guys are making history exploring these old places before they are gone forever!!!

i really fall in love every videos their post.. they choose perfect place to make beautiful photo shoot..

Wow that’s amazing

The grounding yourself thing is especially interesting, currently I cast rocket motors for my universities rocket team, and we also ground ourselves to a metal table plugged into the wall so that our static does not detonate the powders we work with. Interesting side note, we cast our motors on an old ammo factory aswell, but its owned by our uni.

The ambiance of this area is really something else. It's almost bringing back memories I don't even have.

5:24 the way the dust and dirt debris, some with seeds, have blown into the window and are growing into the building is brautiful

great as always boys. good looks

Awesome video! WWII places are our favourite places to explore - we are based in England so there's lots here lol. :)

The quality of your content is superb. Like a journey every time. Especially your audio is too notch!

Very cool. That plant manufactured freedom and heroes labored there to produce it.

Why did I just find your channel, I’m on RU-vid a ton... Great Channel..... Olympia WA

Incredible!

Although it is (or maybe was) just a bunch of houses...the military officer housing not far from the plant, is an awesome explore! I came in on an abandoned road, signs and all. The houses were very well made, and some of them overlook the river, I imagine it was a very beautiful neighborhood for a brief time. Great video guys, I walked around some of the old silos on that plant, but never the buildings.

Great video guys keep up the good work .

I have been in these very buildings just a few years ago, a lot of the buildings have been taken down and sold as scrap iron. We were afraid to be seen as well, we were caught by workers that were there but they did not care about our presence they instead told what buildings not venture into and what dangers to look for.

Next time DOCUMENT THE ABANDONED TRAINS BUILD INFO; those black and white plates can give a rough date to an abandonment!

That place was awesome, it's been years since I've explored there, but still top of the list, too bad they are demolishing it opening it up as a tourist would have been nice. You guys almost took the exact route I took exploring here.

AWESOME vid yall. From close to my hometown as well, but i dont have anyone to explore with. Yet. Keep up the good work

I'm gonna guess the "green marks" are future demo-blast points. "But not today."

There is an abandoned ammunition plant 10 min away from my house it is from wwII and has many interesting and cool building to explore, it is located in De Soto, Kansas

I like exploring places like this. Very cool.

I am very happy to have run into your channel. You all make great videos. Thank you & Regards from Ody Slim