The St. Louis Ordnance Plant was:
| “ | the world's largest maker of .30-caliber and .50-caliber ammunition for rifles and machine guns. At its busiest, in summer 1943, nearly 35,000 people worked on the 291-acre complex of 300 buildings and bunkers at 4300 Goodfellow Boulevard, on the city's northwest edge. Production peaked at 250 million cartridges a month.[1] | ” |
This massive manufacturing facility produced ammunition to supply the needs of American soldiers during World War II. Production ceased on September 1, 1945, as announced on June 27. Layoffs began in early July for the 16,000 workers who were still producing 140 million cartridges a month. the timing is interesting because some expected an invasion of Japan when the announcement of terminating production was made, but there was already an oversupply of ammunition for the Pacific theater.
Phyllis Schlafly worked 40 hours a week there from her 18th birthday in August 1942 until she graduated from Washington University in August 1944. She left a full scholarship at less challenging school in order to work full time in order to pay her tuition at the more academically rigorous Washington University.