Logans Ferry Powder Works Historic District

Logans Ferry Powder Works is a 20-acre industrial complex on the Allegheny River in Plum Borough, Allegheny County, built by the Aluminum Company of America beginning in 1918. Its 27 one- and two-story brick buildings and eight structures were laid out along a concrete spine road between the river and the Pennsylvania Railroad. The works was established after a November 1917 explosion destroyed the powder department at New Kensington, and it manufactured aluminum bronze powder used in paints, inks, and explosives. In 1935 it began producing albron paste, a process developed to reduce explosion hazards. Two explosions, in 1929 and 1932, and a further fatal blast in 1979 marked its operating history. Production ended in 1986 after the plant was sold to Silberline Manufacturing Company, which removed its equipment. The district is regarded as a representative example of industrial vernacular architecture tied to the aluminum industry and is valued for its association with the production of aluminum powder.