Bannister Federal Complex
Encyclopedia
The Bannister Federal Complex is a United States Federal Government
complex located at 1500 E. Bannister Road in Kansas City, Missouri
. The 310 acres (1.3 km²) complex consists of 10 buildings located at the corner of Troost Avenue and Bannister Road. The complex is occupied primarily by the General Services Administration
and the Department of Energy
.
The largest component, the Kansas City Plant
, produces and assembles 85% of the non-nuclear components of the United States nuclear bomb
arsenal. The GSA has announced plans to relocate the Kansas City Plant to land adjacent to the former Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base
beginning in 2011.
. Jack Prince and Art Pillsbury (who also built a several such tracks including the Beverly Hills Speedway
) built the track in 1922 at a cost of $500,000. The 1.25 mile wood oval track
had high banked turns, two grandstands, and parking for 20,000 automobiles, including 5,000 in the infield. The racetrack itself was located near what is now 95th and Troost, and the main entrance was located at 94th and Holmes Rd.
The first race was scheduled for September 16, 1922, but rain delayed the race until the following day. More than 50,000 people attended the first of only four auto races that would ever be held at the Kansas City Speedway, which also hosted motorcycle racing. Notable attendees at the first race included the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri Governor Arthur Hyde, and great race car drivers, including Ray Harroun
and Barney Oldfield
. Seventeen drivers participated in the first race, including Tommy Milton
, Leon Duray
, Tony Gulotta
, and Cliff Durant
. The race was won by Tommy Milton, who was also the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500
twice. The first race also saw the only fatality at the track when the race claimed the life of 27-year old Roscoe Sarles
who collided with Pete Depaola on the 110th lap. The average speed for the first race was 107 mph, which was significantly faster than Indianapolis 500 races of that time. In fact, the average speed at Indianapolis did not exceed 100 mph until 1925.
In 1924, the last race, a 250-mile event, was stopped after about 150 miles because large holes had appeared in the wood track. The nearby Blue River caused the untreated lumber used in constructing the track to warp. Jimmy Murphy
won the fourth and final auto race on July 4, 1924. The speedway was sold on March 24, 1925 for only $97,500.
attack on Pearl Harbor
, then-Senator (later President) Harry S. Truman
broke ground on the site for construction of a large facility that became home to Pratt and Whitney
. The famous Double Wasp
airplane engines were manufactured for the Navy at the facility through the duration of the war effort. Following the victory in Japan, the facility was closed and remained vacant until 1947.
A Department of Defense
landfill was established in 1942 on a portion of the area, as a disposal site for the Bannister Federal Complex. From 1942 to 1964, when the landfill was closed, several government contractors, including Pratt and Whitney and Westinghouse, disposed waste into the landfill. Disposal activities at the landfill resulted in contamination to soil and groundwater by solvents, metals and, petroleum contaminants.
moved facilities onto the site, and in 1949 the largest portion of the plant was leased to a division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. The plant again began producing aircraft engines, this time jet engines for the McDonnell F2H Banshee
naval fighter jet, and others to be used in the Korean War
. At that time, the Fairfax Storage Company also began using part of the complex as a warehouse for tires, raw rubber, sugar, and lumber. Westinghouse also subleased part of the plant to Bendix
beginning in 1949, which later became Allied Signal. Bendix began operating the facility for the Atomic Energy Commission
and building nonnuclear components for nuclear weapons. This portion of the complex became known as the Kansas City Plant. The Kansas City Plant occupied the greatest portion of the complex, and in 1958 Westinghouse moved out and Bendix expanded operations at the Kansas City Plant.
for the National Nuclear Security Administration
(NNSA), continues to provide high-tech production services to government agencies. As one of the most secure production facilities in the country, the plant produces nonnuclear mechanical, electronic and engineered material components for U.S. national defense systems such as high-energy laser ignition systems, microwave hybrid microcircuit production, and miniature electromechanical devices. The plant also provides technical services such as metallurgical/mechanical analysis, analytical chemistry, environmental testing, nondestructive testing, computer-based training, simulations and analysis, and technical certification. The nonnuclear components produced at the Kansas City Plant comprise 85 percent of the parts manufactured within the nuclear weapons complex, as well as 85 percent of the components that constitute a nuclear weapon. The Kansas City Plant is the NNSA’s highest rated production facility As of fiscal year 2007, the Kansas City Plant had 2,711 employees. Gross operating cost for KCP in FY07 was $501 million.
The Internal Revenue Service
once occupied 474000 square feet (44,036 m²) in two buildings of the complex, but IRS moved into a new facility near Union Station in October 2006, taking about 2,500 jobs out of the Bannister complex. The National Archives and Records Administration
, which occupied 153000 square feet (14,214.2 m²) of space at the complex, began operating in a new location, also near Union Station on Memorial Day 2009. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service
has also been removed from the complex, leaving about 300000 square feet (27,870.9 m²) vacant.
GSA still employs nearly 800 people in the western portion of the complex, which serves as the headquarters to GSA's Heartland Region.
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
complex located at 1500 E. Bannister Road in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. The 310 acres (1.3 km²) complex consists of 10 buildings located at the corner of Troost Avenue and Bannister Road. The complex is occupied primarily by the General Services Administration
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S...
and the Department of Energy
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
.
The largest component, the Kansas City Plant
Kansas City Plant
The Kansas City Plant is a National Nuclear Security Administration facility managed and operated by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies that produces 85 percent of the nonnuclear material used in the United States nuclear bomb arsenal...
, produces and assembles 85% of the non-nuclear components of the United States nuclear bomb
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
arsenal. The GSA has announced plans to relocate the Kansas City Plant to land adjacent to the former Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base
Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base
Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base. It is located south of Kansas City, Missouri. It was closed in 1994....
beginning in 2011.
Kansas City Speedway
The site of the current Bannister Federal Complex was originally home to the Kansas City Speedway, not to be confused with the modern Kansas SpeedwayKansas Speedway
Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in Kansas City, Kansas. The speedway was built in 2001 and currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also raced at the speedway until 2011...
. Jack Prince and Art Pillsbury (who also built a several such tracks including the Beverly Hills Speedway
Beverly Hills Speedway
Beverly Hills Speedway was an American board track in Beverly Hills, California, USA. It was the home to speeding Model Ts and airplanes which cut through the airspace of Beverly Hills during the roaring 20s. Built in 1919 on what is currently the site of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and many shops...
) built the track in 1922 at a cost of $500,000. The 1.25 mile wood oval track
Board track racing
Board track, or motordrome, racing was a type of motorsport popular in the United States between the second and third decades of the 20th century. Competition was conducted on oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks...
had high banked turns, two grandstands, and parking for 20,000 automobiles, including 5,000 in the infield. The racetrack itself was located near what is now 95th and Troost, and the main entrance was located at 94th and Holmes Rd.
The first race was scheduled for September 16, 1922, but rain delayed the race until the following day. More than 50,000 people attended the first of only four auto races that would ever be held at the Kansas City Speedway, which also hosted motorcycle racing. Notable attendees at the first race included the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri Governor Arthur Hyde, and great race car drivers, including Ray Harroun
Ray Harroun
Ray Harroun was an American racecar driver, born in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania.-Early driving:As noted in the Columbia Car webpages, Harroun participated in the original setting of the record from Chicago to New York in 1903, and the re-taking of that record in 1904...
and Barney Oldfield
Barney Oldfield
Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield was an automobile racer and pioneer. He was born on a farm on the outskirts of Wauseon, Ohio. He was the first man to drive a car at 60 miles per hour on an oval...
. Seventeen drivers participated in the first race, including Tommy Milton
Tommy Milton
Tommy Milton was an American race car driver best known as the first two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He was notable for having only one functional eye -- a disability that would have disqualified him from competing in modern motorsports.Born in St...
, Leon Duray
Leon Duray
Leon Duray was an American racecar driver active in the 1920s...
, Tony Gulotta
Tony Gulotta
Tony Gulotta was an American racecar driver active throughout the 1920s and 1930s....
, and Cliff Durant
Cliff Durant
Russell "Cliff" Durant was an American racecar driver. He was the son of William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors. His wife Adelaide Frost was a singing star who later married Eddie Rickenbacker...
. The race was won by Tommy Milton, who was also the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
twice. The first race also saw the only fatality at the track when the race claimed the life of 27-year old Roscoe Sarles
Roscoe Sarles
Roscoe Sarles was an American racecar driver active in the formative years of auto racing. Sarles was killed in an Indy car event, when his steering broke.-Indy 500 results:...
who collided with Pete Depaola on the 110th lap. The average speed for the first race was 107 mph, which was significantly faster than Indianapolis 500 races of that time. In fact, the average speed at Indianapolis did not exceed 100 mph until 1925.
In 1924, the last race, a 250-mile event, was stopped after about 150 miles because large holes had appeared in the wood track. The nearby Blue River caused the untreated lumber used in constructing the track to warp. Jimmy Murphy
James Anthony Murphy
James Anthony Murphy was a race car driver who was the American Racing Champion in 1922 and 1924.-Background:...
won the fourth and final auto race on July 4, 1924. The speedway was sold on March 24, 1925 for only $97,500.
World War II
On July 4, 1942, following the World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, then-Senator (later President) Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
broke ground on the site for construction of a large facility that became home to Pratt and Whitney
Pratt & Whitney
Pratt & Whitney is a U.S.-based aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation . Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation and military aviation. Its headquarters are in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA...
. The famous Double Wasp
Pratt & Whitney R-2800
The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp is a two-row, 18-cylinder, air-cooled radial aircraft engine with a displacement of 2,804 in³ , and is part of the long-lived Wasp family....
airplane engines were manufactured for the Navy at the facility through the duration of the war effort. Following the victory in Japan, the facility was closed and remained vacant until 1947.
A Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
landfill was established in 1942 on a portion of the area, as a disposal site for the Bannister Federal Complex. From 1942 to 1964, when the landfill was closed, several government contractors, including Pratt and Whitney and Westinghouse, disposed waste into the landfill. Disposal activities at the landfill resulted in contamination to soil and groundwater by solvents, metals and, petroleum contaminants.
Post-war
In 1947, the Internal Revenue ServiceInternal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
moved facilities onto the site, and in 1949 the largest portion of the plant was leased to a division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. The plant again began producing aircraft engines, this time jet engines for the McDonnell F2H Banshee
F2H Banshee
The McDonnell F2H Banshee was a single-seat carrier-based jet fighter aircraft deployed by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps from 1948 to 1961. It was one of the primary American fighters used during the Korean War and was the only jet-powered fighter ever deployed by the Royal...
naval fighter jet, and others to be used in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. At that time, the Fairfax Storage Company also began using part of the complex as a warehouse for tires, raw rubber, sugar, and lumber. Westinghouse also subleased part of the plant to Bendix
Bendix Corporation
The Bendix Corporation was an American manufacturing and engineering company which during various times in its 60 year existence made brake systems, aeronautical hydraulics, avionics, aircraft and automobile fuel control systems, radios, televisions and computers, and which licensed its name for...
beginning in 1949, which later became Allied Signal. Bendix began operating the facility for the Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
and building nonnuclear components for nuclear weapons. This portion of the complex became known as the Kansas City Plant. The Kansas City Plant occupied the greatest portion of the complex, and in 1958 Westinghouse moved out and Bendix expanded operations at the Kansas City Plant.
Current usage
The Kansas City Plant portion of the Bannister Federal Complex, which is operated and managed by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLCHoneywell
Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
for the National Nuclear Security Administration
National Nuclear Security Administration
The United States National Nuclear Security Administration is part of the United States Department of Energy. It works to improve national security through the military application of nuclear energy...
(NNSA), continues to provide high-tech production services to government agencies. As one of the most secure production facilities in the country, the plant produces nonnuclear mechanical, electronic and engineered material components for U.S. national defense systems such as high-energy laser ignition systems, microwave hybrid microcircuit production, and miniature electromechanical devices. The plant also provides technical services such as metallurgical/mechanical analysis, analytical chemistry, environmental testing, nondestructive testing, computer-based training, simulations and analysis, and technical certification. The nonnuclear components produced at the Kansas City Plant comprise 85 percent of the parts manufactured within the nuclear weapons complex, as well as 85 percent of the components that constitute a nuclear weapon. The Kansas City Plant is the NNSA’s highest rated production facility As of fiscal year 2007, the Kansas City Plant had 2,711 employees. Gross operating cost for KCP in FY07 was $501 million.
The Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
once occupied 474000 square feet (44,036 m²) in two buildings of the complex, but IRS moved into a new facility near Union Station in October 2006, taking about 2,500 jobs out of the Bannister complex. The National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
, which occupied 153000 square feet (14,214.2 m²) of space at the complex, began operating in a new location, also near Union Station on Memorial Day 2009. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service
Defense Finance and Accounting Service
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service is an agency of the United States Department of Defense that provides finance and accounting services for the civil and military members of the Department. Headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, it was activated on Jan. 18, 1991...
has also been removed from the complex, leaving about 300000 square feet (27,870.9 m²) vacant.
GSA still employs nearly 800 people in the western portion of the complex, which serves as the headquarters to GSA's Heartland Region.