Eddystone Munitions Company.

The Eddystone Munitions Company was incorporated in Pennsylvania on September 27, 1917, and was dissolved at the end of 1918. It was a subsidiary of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, set up to manufacture munitions during World War I.

The company was a successor to the Eddystone Ammunition Corporation, which was incorporated on June 10, 1915, to manufacture 3-inch shrapnel for the Russian government. The firm was a joint venture between the officers of the Baldwin Locomotive Works and several other parties. The munitions plant was constructed on vacant land at Eddystone, Pa., which was in the process of being developed by Baldwin. The company also built a proving ground at Lakehurst, N.J., in the Pine Barrens.

Once the U.S. entered the War in the spring of 1917, the government desired to acquire the plant to make its own munitions. The government eventually agreed to buy the equipment (Baldwin owned the buildings and converted some of them to locomotive manufacture after the War), and Baldwin organized a new subsidiary to operate the facility. At its peak the plant employed about 6,500 men and manufactured the 3-inch shrapnel and other munitions for both the United States and Great Britain. It ceased production on December 31, 1918, and the buildings reverted to Baldwin.