Tag: Union Carbide

June 9, 1957: Pastor T.D. Jakes Born in South Charleston

On June 9, 1957, pastor T. D. Jakes was born in South Charleston. He developed an avid interest in the ministry as a young boy, preaching to imaginary congregations. After graduating from West Virginia State College, he started his first church. The Greater Emmanuel Temple of Faith opened in a Montgomery storefront in 1980 with a congregation of 10. Two years later, the Union Carbide plant where Jakes worked closed, and he pursued the ministry full time.

Word of his uplifting sermons spread, and his congregation, notable for its racial diversity, grew swiftly. He moved first to a refurbished theater in Smithers, then to South Charleston, then to Cross Lanes. By 1996, his congregation had surpassed 1,000 members. That year, Jakes relocated his ministry to Texas and founded the Potter’s House in Dallas.

The church’s services include ministries to homeless people, prisoners, prostitutes, and people with AIDS, as well as treatment for drug and alcohol abusers, and adult education. T. D. Jakes Ministries, the non-profit company that sells his videos and audiotapes, grossed $19 million just in 2000 alone. His ministry now has more than 30,000 members.

February 2, 1946: Author Hubert Skidmore Died

On February 2, 1946, novelist Hubert Skidmore died at age 36. In the late 1930s and early ’40s, the Webster County native wrote several novels featuring West Virginia settings.

A common theme was the endurance of mountain people in the face of adversity. His best-known book never reached the public during his lifetime. Hawk’s Nest is a fictionalized account of what has been described as America’s worst industrial accident.

It depicts the real-life plight of laborers who built the Hawks Nest Tunnel for Union Carbide during the Great Depression. While working on the Fayette County project, hundreds of men died from a debilitating lung disease known as silicosis. It later came to light that Union Carbide’s contractor knowingly exposed workers to deadly silica dust without taking proper precautions. The contractor then tried to cover up the deaths.

Doubleday printed Skidmore’s book in 1941 but never released it. In 1970, Richwood newspaperman Jim Comstock published the novel in his effort to reprint important West Virginia material. Then, in 2004, the University of Tennessee published Hawk’s Nest, bringing Skidmore a measure of literary popularity nearly 60 years after his death.

July 9, 1936: Electric Power Plant at Fayette Co. Union Carbide Plant Goes Into Operation

On July 9, 1936, the electric power plant at Union Carbide’s metallurgical plant in Alloy went into operation. The power at the Fayette County plant was generated by water, which flowed through the manmade Hawks Nest Tunnel. Most of the tunnel’s construction had occurred between 1930 and 1932—primarily by black laborers from the South.

The men had drilled and blasted through sandstone in confined spaces that were poorly ventilated and lacking in dust control or breathing protection. Before the project was finished, they began dying of silicosis, a progressive fibrosis of the lungs caused by inhaling pulverized silica dioxide.

Before the work had even begun, Union Carbide officials understood the potential dangers. In fact, they’d expanded the project specifically to mine additional silica. The exact death toll of the project is unknown. Hearings conducted by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1936 attributed 476 deaths to work on the tunnel. A study published in the 1980s indicated that as many as 764 men may have perished. By either count, the Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster is one of the worst industrial tragedies in U.S. history.

Bayer CropScience to Sell Institute Park to Union Carbide

Bayer CropScience says it plans to sell its Institute Industrial Park to Union Carbide. But the company will continue to operate its thiodicarb unit at the site as a tenant.

Terms of the transaction announced Monday weren’t disclosed.

Bayer says in a statement to media outlets that the plant’s operations, including utilities and security, will be transferred to Union Carbide in a phased turnover. Union Carbide is expected to assume full operation of the site by mid-2016.

The Institute site’s head, Jim Covington, says it is no longer economically viable because of a decision in 2011 to close units dedicated to carbamate chemistries.

Bayer took over the site in 2002 as part of its acquisition of Aventis CropScience.

Covington says about 150 Bayer employees work at the site.

Exit mobile version