Random musings: This town was once booming

Monday, May 4, 2015

This town was once booming

Some of you may remember the pictures of the park I posted on Saturday, if not here's the link.

At one time there was a town on Pt. Pinole called Giant. It was the company town for the Giant Powder Company, the first company to produce dynamite in the United States under direct license of Alfred Nobel.

Until 1869 the Giant Powder Company was located in Glen Canyon in San Francisco, near the Glen Park and Diamond Heights neighborhoods. Giant Powder only operated there for about a year before an explosion destroyed the factory. They then moved to an area in what is now part of the Sunset District of San Francisco that was then just desolate sand dunes. Giant Powder stayed in this area for 9 years until another explosion destroyed the factory. They then moved across the bay to Berkeley, in an area known as Fleming Point, where the Golden Gate Fields Racetrack is now located.

But after a few more explosions they moved to an even more remote area known as Point Pinole, near Richmond, in 1892, where they stayed until 1960. However, they were acquired by the Atlas Powder Company in 1915.

The DuPont Company was one of the largest explosives manufacturers in the world, but in 1912 the courts ordered DuPont to divest itself of its explosives division and two new companies were formed, the Hercules Powder company, which also had its own company town on San Francisco Bay, and Atlas Powder Company. However, by 1960 the Giant plant was closed and the town died with it. The site is now part of the Pt. Pinole Regional Shoreline.