Talleyrand

Talleyrand is home to several contaminated late 19th and early 20th century industrial sites. The former Kerr McGee Chemical Company may be the most well known. Kerr McGee was located on 31 acres bordering the St. Johns River and Deer Creek at 1611 Talleyrand Avenue. The site operated as a fertilizer formulating, packagine, and distributing facility from at least 1893 to 1978. Pesticide formulation operations were added in the 1950s. Previous owners of the site include Wilson and Toomer Company (1893 to 1950s), Plymouth Cordage (1950s-1965), Emhart Corporation (1965-1970), Kerr McGee Chemical Company, and Tronox LLC. Kerr McGee Chemical Company operated two plants at the site that formulated, blended, and packaged pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers until the site was closed in 1978. Kerr McGee also produced sulfuric acid in an on-site plant for use in the fertilizer manufacturing process and for a time operated a steel drum reconditioning facility near the pesticide storage warehouse. Sulfuric acid production was discontinued in 1972, superphosphate fertilizer production was discontinued in 1976, and fertilizer-blending operations ceased in 1978. The site’s buildings were demolished in 1989, with the exception of three raised foundations. The site is currently vacant and undeveloped.

Bowden Road

Prior to the construction of Interstate 95, Bowden was an early 20th century rural Southside community known for its large number of dairy farms. Skinner’s Dairy was a well known family-run dairy located off Bowden Road. In addition to the dairy, the company operated iconic drive-thru milk houses throughout the city. In 1996, the operation was sold to Velda Farms. A few years later, it was redeveloped into an office park called “The Silos”.

Panama Park

First platted in 1879 and nestled between the Trout and St. Johns River, Panama Park was home to Wellington Wilson Cummer’s lumber mill. After his death in 1909 sons, Arthur and Waldo, assumed control of the company. While Arthur and Ninah Cummer’s Riverside residence eventually became the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, the lumber mill site was repositioned as a drydock yard and a wallboard plant for the United States Gypsum Company (USG). USG expanded after the George D. Auchter Company’s drydock operation ceased with the end of World War II. The USG Company today manufactures construction materials, drywall, and joint compounds. They are the largest distributor of wallboard in the U.S., as well as the largest manufacturer of gypsum products. Some of their most significant brands include: SHEETROCK, FIBEROCK, and Tuff Hide. Cummer’s massive mill was eventually replaced with USG’s Jacksonville plant in 1939. Today, the wallboard plant is one of USG’s larger facilities, covering 42.8 acres of land, producing more than 23 million sheets of wallboard annually. The 700,000 square foot industrial complex includes a paper mill designed to manufacture a full line of chipboard papers utilized exclusively for the company’s gypsum products.