American Trona Corporation Building is an

industrial building Industrial architecture is the design and construction of buildings serving industry. Such buildings rose in importance with the Industrial Revolution, starting in Britain, and were some of the pioneering structures of modern architecture. File:R ...

on Pacific Avenue between 28th and 30th Streets in the San Pedro neighborhood of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It was built from 1916-1917 by the American Trona Corporation of California, to process and store salt

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

from the company's mining facilities at

Searles Lake Searles Lake is an endorheic dry lake in the Searles Valley of the Mojave Desert, in northwestern San Bernardino County, California. The lake in the past was also called Slate Range Lake and Borax Lake. The mining community of Trona is on i ...

in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...

, near

Trona Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na2CO3•2NaHCO3•3H2O) is a non-marine evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced ...

in eastern

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

, California. It is now on the grounds of the

Fort MacArthur Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army installation in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California (now the port community of Los Angeles). A small section remains in military use by the United States Air Force as a housing and administrative annex ...

housing annex of the

Los Angeles Air Force Base Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB) is a United States Space Force Base located in El Segundo, California. Los Angeles Air Force Base houses and supports the headquarters of the United States Space Force's Space Systems Command (SSC), which w ...

History

;Mining The building originally included crushers, separators and a network of conveyor belts to process the potash. The building has approximately of interior space on two floors and is said to be one of the largest still existing wood structural spaces in an industrial building on the West Coast. The foundation and interior walls of the first floor were built with reinforced concrete, and the entire upper section is made of wood. Due to advances in methods for separating potash, the plant was used for that purpose for only a short time, and there is some indication that the facility never went into full production. ;Other uses In 1920, the building was offered for sale at $200,000 to become part of a proposed submarine naval base at the Los Angeles Harbor. The building was converted to use as a saw mill and warehouse during the 1920s and 1930s. The building became part of the U.S. Army

in 1942, and has remained under military ownership since that time. The ownership of Fort MacArthur transferred to the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

in 1982. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1982.

References

Commercial buildings in Los Angeles Manufacturing plants in the United States San Pedro, Los Angeles Industrial buildings completed in 1917 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles Mining in California Searles Valley Fertilizer companies of the United States Potash {{LosAngeles-struct-stub

History

See also

References