Blaine Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

on the

Kanawha River The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its valley has been a significant industrial region of the st ...

in the city of South Charleston,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

. It is roughly in area with a length of 1.25 miles and about 900 feet at its widest point. Blaine Island serves as the South Charleston Manufacturing Site for the

Union Carbide Corporation Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befo ...

, a subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide purchased Blaine Island in 1927 in order to expand their

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable so ...

manufacturing operations in South Charleston. The company previously had petrochemical plants in South Charleston in 1925 and Clendenin in 1920, which holds the distinction as the world's first petrochemical plant. For this reason, locals occasionally refer to the island as "Carbide Island". Blaine Island is named for a man of the surname of Blaine who erected a mill there before 1823. Blaine's mill was of log construction and its dam extended from the south side of the Kanawha River to the island. Fleming Cobb, an early settler, planted two pear trees on Blaine Island that he had brought from

Tidewater Virginia Tidewater refers to the north Atlantic coastal plain region of the United States of America. Definition Culturally, the Tidewater region usually includes the low-lying plains of southeast Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, southern Maryl ...

in the 1780s, some of the first fruit trees known to be transplanted west of the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

. Today, Blaine Island is a multi-company site.

Bayer Corporation Bayer Corporation (also known as Bayer USA) is the American subsidiary of Bayer AG. Its main offices are located in Whippany, New Jersey. In addition it has 40 fully consolidated subsidiary companies located in 19 different states. History Bayer ...

owns and operates the

Polyols In organic chemistry, a polyol is an organic compound containing multiple hydroxyl groups (). The term "polyol" can have slightly different meanings depending on whether it is used in food science or polymer chemistry. Polyols containing two, thr ...

Production Unit, formerly owned by Union Carbide. Today, Union Carbide provides staffing, services, and utilities to Bayer.

References

River islands of West Virginia Islands of Kanawha County, West Virginia Kanawha River {{KanawhaCountyWV-geo-stub

See also

References