Union Camp Plant on the Ribault

[Glenn Weiss]

Trying to the find the location of the major 1960s polluters in the TroutRiverJAX district.  No books or online sources list addresses.  Found St. Regis and Glidden. 

Looking for
Union Camp (Pulp Mill?) on the Ribault. 
Alton Box  (might have been on Alton Box Road West in Imeson Park)
Imeson Landfill 1960s-1970s boundaries. (Assume the the Imeson Park is on top of it)

Glenn Weiss
www.TroutRiverJAX.us

[thelakelander]

I wrote an article a few years ago about this topic. I'll post a link when I'm stationary. The Union Camp plant still operates off Lane Avenue. Alton was off Talleyrand just north of 21st Street. It's an aggregate shipping terminal now.

[thelakelander]

5 Reasons for Jacksonville's Smell - The article link is broken but we'll get it fixed today.



https://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=25417.0

1. Union Camp is now called International Flavors & Fragrances. The plant is located at 2051 Lane Avenue North.

2. Alton Box was Jefferson Smurfit when it closed in the late 1990s. The site has been repurposed as Vulcan Keystone and is located at 1915 Wigmore Street.

3. Imeson Park was the airport that JAX replaced in the 1960s. If you look at aerials really hard, you can still make out the location of old runways.

JEA's Buckman wastewater plant is the polluter you missed. It's still operating off West 12th Street and Talleyrand.

[Glenn Weiss]

LakeLander.....
Thanks for info. 

I am seeking the Union Camp site that James Crooks mentions in his book dumping 3 million gallons a day into the Ribault.  Your Union Camp site no access to the Ribault.  The site might be Hubbard Construction at the very, very end of the Ribault.  5970 Soutel Dr, Jacksonville, FL 32219.

In regards to Imeson, Crooks mentions the Imeson Landfill as the only major trash dump for many years.  A superfund website declares the area near the Imeson Business Park as the dump.  A pollution gage still exists on Gun Club Road. 

What do your think?

[acme54321]

LakeLander.....
Thanks for info. 

I am seeking the Union Camp site that James Crooks mentions in his book dumping 3 million gallons a day into the Ribault.  Your Union Camp site no access to the Ribault.

It very well could be the site off of Lane.  Look at a map and follow the ribault river and it's watershed and see where it ends up.

[Glenn Weiss]

Yes I looked.  I could not believe that a company would pour three million gallons at day into a small creek leading to the Ribault. 

But the Hammonds Construction company site was owned by General Chemical Company.  Like Union Camp, General used the sulfate turpentine from the St. Regis and Alton Box pulp mills to produce products.  The smell from Union Camp, General, Glidden, St. Regis and Alton must have made a wall of stink that contributed to the failure of TroutRiverJAX to grow and prosper. 

I started a map:  ​Armpit - https://drive.google.com/openid=1MYXZc6lp9oTIzQtSutYbc6xHB1Rqpfhh&usp=sharing

[thelakelander]

LakeLander.....
Thanks for info. 

I am seeking the Union Camp site that James Crooks mentions in his book dumping 3 million gallons a day into the Ribault.  Your Union Camp site no access to the Ribault.  The site might be Hubbard Construction at the very, very end of the Ribault.  5970 Soutel Dr, Jacksonville, FL 32219.

I'm pretty familiar with that side of town and the local forest/paper industry history. It's all I really knew about Jax before finally moving here myself in 2003. During the 60s, my parents lived off Soutel and my dad's first job out of college was at Owens Illinois' (Alton Box) accounting department.  Union Camp was their competitor. They owned the plant off Lane Avenue. The ditches around that plant flow into the Ribault River. There was no Union Camp plant anywhere else along the Ribault River's watershed.

In regards to Imeson, Crooks mentions the Imeson Landfill as the only major trash dump for many years.  A superfund website declares the area near the Imeson Business Park as the dump.  A pollution gage still exists on Gun Club Road. 

What do your think?

Think about what? I do know that Imeson was an airport.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imeson_Field

There may have been a dump there but I don't know what timeline is being mentioned.

[thelakelander]

Yes I looked.  I could not believe that a company would pour three million gallons at day into a small creek leading to the Ribault. 

But the Hammonds Construction company site was owned by General Chemical Company.  Like Union Camp, General used the sulfate turpentine from the St. Regis and Alton Box pulp mills to produce products.  The smell from Union Camp, General, Glidden, St. Regis and Alton must have made a wall of stink that contributed to the failure of TroutRiverJAX to grow and prosper. 

I started a map:  ​Armpit - https://drive.google.com/openid=1MYXZc6lp9oTIzQtSutYbc6xHB1Rqpfhh&usp=sharing

I recall the whole town smelling. We called Jax the Armpit of Florida back in the 1980s. That area grew just fine during the 50s and 60s. Then white flight happened and the public money started flowing to the other side of the river.



1. Buckman Wastewater Treatment Plant (opened 1961)(still operates and still smells)
2. Nelio-Resin (opened 1933)(Union Camp 1982-2000..now IFF) (still operates)
3. Jefferson Smurfit (1938-1997) (Alton Box 1965-81) (closed, demolished and repurposed into Vulcan Keystone)
4. SCM Glidco Organics (opened in 1910...now Renessenz) (still operates and still smells)
5. St. Regis (opened 1953...now WestRock) (still operates as a recycling mill)

[Glenn Weiss]

Rechecked the Imeson.  Found State EPA reports on the landfill.  90 acres surrounding the lake at the old airport.  Still operating in 1974.  Closed in the 1970s sometime.  Today a "forest" surrounding the lake.

[thelakelander]

When did it first start operating?

[Glenn Weiss]

Don't know.  Crooks just writes that it was the only City owned dump in the late 1960s.  No start date in his book.

[thelakelander]

Ok, I believe there were other landfills in operation during the 1960s. Not sure if they were city owned or not. But if you're interested in major industrial polluters and contamination, open up Google Maps or Earth and follow the rail lines. Just about any heavy industrial site that was in operation before 1970 is likely contaminated or a polluter. Follow the banks of the Trout River and St. Johns River around Panama Park and down to Talleyrand. It's filled with them. The headwaters of the Ribault River also hit the Westside. Lots of old industry there and much of it is still in operation.