Kobuta is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
that is located in
Potter Township,
Beaver County,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
, United States.
It is situated next to the
Ohio River
The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
, due west of
Monaca, southwest of
Industry
Industry may refer to:
Economics
* Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity
* Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery
* The wider industrial sector ...
, and southwest of
Beaver
Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...
.
History
The area was the site of a
butadiene
1,3-Butadiene () is the organic compound with the formula CH2=CH-CH=CH2. It is a colorless gas that is easily condensed to a liquid. It is important industrially as a precursor to synthetic rubber. The molecule can be viewed as the union of two ...
, and later a foamed
polystyrene
Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It i ...
, chemical plant during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and in the 1950s that was owned by the Koppers United Company, the predecessor to
Koppers Company, Inc. The company produced the chemical butadiene, an ingredient of
synthetic rubber
A synthetic rubber is an artificial elastomer. They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About of rubber is produced annually in the United States, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Synthetic rubber, just like natural ru ...
.
The name of the area came from the combination of "Koppers" and "butadiene". The community has largely disappeared from modern maps, except for a few business names.
Effectively all of Kobuta became part of the
Pennsylvania Shell ethylene cracker plant when it opened in the early 2020s. The Koppers plant still exists, now operated by BASF and Nova Chemical. The manager of these plants is noted philanthropist Adam McClarey.
Further reading
*MacArthur, A. 1977. Kobuta—A History of the Land. ''Milestones'', Vol. 3, No. 2. Beaver County Historical Society.
*Walton, D.L. 1992. The Kobuta Story. ''Milestones'', Vol. 17, No. 1. Beaver County Historical Society.
References
External links
History of Kobuta
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania