Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center

[1] The Environmental Research Center traces its lineage to activities of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) in Cincinnati since the 1850s.

[6][7] It was initially called the Stream Pollution Investigations Station and focused on natural purification of streamwater, and water treatment systems.

[8] In 1966 the center was transferred to the Federal Water Quality Administration in the Department of the Interior, and in 1970 to the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

[1][7] It was named after Andrew W. Breidenbach, the recently retired EPA Assistant Administrator for Water and Hazardous Materials.

[12][13] At the time, there was no known full containment facility for the desired research on highly hazardous materials in the United States.

Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center
Rear of the building, showing Annex 1 and Annex 2
The former Cincinnati Marine Hospital , a converted mansion, was the first home of the environmental health laboratory that would become the Breidenbach Center.
The environmental health laboratory moved to the new Robert A. Taft Center in 1954. This building would later be occupied by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health after the EPA vacated it in 1976.