Ehret Magnesia Mfg. Co. and later owners plant at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

In May 1921, Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, quoted the president of the Ehret Magnesia Manufacturing Company, A. M. Ehret, that "The Ehret Company will erect a new plant in ample time to prevent any possible lapse of production."⁴ In October 1930 the journal reported that the company's "new power plant" at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, "is now fully completed in all its parts," at a cost of "about one-quarter of a million dollars."² In February 1951 the company announced "the completion of their new plant, located at the Company's present site at Valley Forge, Pa.," which was making "an improved 85% Magnesia Insulation in both pipe covering and block form."¹

The Navy's 1951 list of qualified products names Valley Forge as the plant for Ehret's Thermalite and Enduro insulations, and later lists name it for Thermasil, in 1959 and again in 1972.³ Across those lists the products appear under the names of Ehret Magnesia, then Baldwin-Ehret-Hill, Inc., then Keene Corp.³

Keene Corporation, in its descriptions of the products reported to the EPA and published in 1990, said Thermalite was "produced 1904 to 1964 by Ehret and BEH," Enduro "produced 1924 to 1955 by Ehret," and Thermasil "produced 1956 to 1972 by Ehret, BEH, and KBPC"; those years cover the products in general, not Valley Forge alone.⁵ Keene's figures also describe each product in general: Thermalite contained "10 to 15% asbestos fiber" until World War II and "10 to 15% amosite" after, Enduro held "8.7% amosite fiber" and "1.1% No. 373 chrysotile asbestos," and Thermasil held "approximately 10% amosite asbestos fiber from 1956 to February 1969."⁵ According to Keene, the asbestos in Thermasil was reduced to about 8.6% in February 1969 and to 2% in 1970, and removed in November 1972.⁵

Location

Pictures of products made here

Labels, packages, photographs and catalog pages from our library of products documents say were made at this plant. Each picture has its own page and library number.

• Label: Thermusil (Baldwin-Ehret-Hill Incorporated)Thermasil (Keene)Label or package · ACL Doc 15077
• Label: Thermasil (Baldwin Ehret Hill)Thermasil (Keene)Label or package · ACL Doc 15075
• Label: Thermasil calcium silicate pipe insulation (Baldwin-Ehret-Hill, Inc.)Thermasil (Keene)Label or package · ACL Doc 20616
• Label: Thermasil pipe and block insulation (Baldwin-Ehret-Hill, Inc.)Thermasil (Keene)Label or package · ACL Doc 20617
• Package: Thermosil calcium silicate pipe and block insulation (Baldwin-Ehret-Hill)Thermasil (Keene)Label or package · ACL Doc 20706

Asbestos products made here

The products documents say were made at this plant, with the years a document gives for the product here. Each product's page has what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

• Enduro (Keene)³
• Thermalite (Keene)³
• Thermasil (Keene) · from 1959³

What each document says

Every statement about this plant in the documents, in each document's own words.

Other names

Documents call this plant “Valley Forge, Pa.”, “Valley Forge, PA”, “Valley Forge, Pennsylvania”.

See also

• Keene Corp.: the company's history, documents, people, products and plants
• Asbestos exposure sites in Pennsylvania

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1951, February 1951 (February 1, 1951), p. 20.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1930, October 1930 (October 1, 1930), p. 22.
3. Military Qualified Products List (1951–1995) (October 26, 1959), pp. 1–2, 51, 57, 60, 105, 108.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1921, May 1921 (May 1, 1921), p. 7.
5. Asbestos; Publication of Identifying Information (February 13, 1990), p. 11.