Koppers Industries Wood Treatment Facility

Koppers Industries was a wood treating facility, primarily railroad ties, located near the downtown area of Montgomery. The facility was first constructed in 1925 under a joint venture by the Ayer and Lord Tie Company and the Bond Brothers Creosote Company with operations beginning in 1926 as Producers Wood Preserving. At the time, only creosote treatment was implemented, chemicals created by the high-temperature treatment of wood and fossil fuels such as oil.

Koppers Industries purchased the facility in 1941. Creosote treatment continued to be used until 1957 when it was replaced with pentachlorophenol (penta) treatment. The treatment was initially a mixture of creosote and penta known as creo-penta treatment but it was replaced in 1962 with an oil-penta mixture where penta is dissolved in diesel fuel. The oil-penta mixture was used up until the closure of the facility.

The facility was closed between 1982 and 1983, and the long process of cleaning up the property began. Supernatant and recoverable oils were pretreated on-site and then moved to a nearby public treatment plant. Any waste deemed hazardous was burned in an on-site boiler. The cooling and settlement ponds were filled in between 1989 and 1992. Few remnants remain of the facility such as this administrative building located just outside of the main facility. Heavily vandalized and deteriorating, it won’t be much longer until this building is torn down as well.