Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant
The Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant was a smokeless powder and propellant manufacturing facility in De Soto within Johnson County, Kansas.
During World War II, the Sunflower Ordnance Works produced more than 200 million pounds (91,000,000 kg) of propellants and employed as many as 12,067 people.
Following the initial construction announcement, Lawrence set up housing and transportation committees to facilitate support to the plant.
Trailer Town provided basic necessities, including water and power, and a row of out-houses served the residents.
In both De Soto and Eudora, homes rented out all available space, including garages, out-buildings, basements, and spare rooms.
A rail spur to De Soto was completed in July 1942, allowing construction to speed up with the faster transit of materials.
Bus companies added routes synced to Sunflower shifts to link Eudora and De Soto with Lawrence and Kansas City.
Two years later, on August 20, 1965, the plant was reactivated to aid the Vietnam War by producing in excess of 145 million pounds (66,000,000 kg) of propellants before ceasing operations in June 1971.
Early in 1998, SFAAP was declared excess by the U.S. Army, and the General Services Administration began the process of selling the site.
The system included 59 miles of track, with rails ranging in size from 85 to 100 pounds (per yard) connecting with BNSF Railway, and the engine house was Building 501.
Recently, a master use plan has been adopted by the cities of Olathe, De Soto, Johnson County, the State of Kansas and Sunflower Redevelopment Group.
The master plan calls for high density housing, major commercial zoning, a "downtown" area for offices, high density commercial and civic uses, and land promised to The University of Kansas, Kansas State University and the City of De Soto, as well as land being reserved for the army reserves, parks and other public spaces.
In early 2022, the Kansas legislature passed a bill, referred to as APEX, signed by Governor Laura Kelly, providing $800 million dollars in tax breaks and incentives on a proposed $4 billion project by a company whose identity was concealed by a non-disclosure agreement between the two parties.
It was believed that this project was to either be developed on the site, or in Pryor Creek, Oklahoma, due to the extensive amount of land that was expected to be required.
On July 13, 2022, state officials announced during a press conference that Panasonic was the company in question, and had selected De Soto for its planned $4 billion electric-vehicle battery manufacturing facility, to be constructed on the northernmost portion of the former plant.
