After the U.S. Congress declared war on April 6, 1917, agents of the U.S. government discussed the need for new gunpowder plants with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, a chemical company more commonly known as the DuPont Company. DuPont scouted out sites for building three large explosives manufacturing facilities. Congress passed the Deficiency Appropriations Act on October 6, 1917, and under that law, the DuPont Engineering Company was contracted to survey and do preliminary design for an explosives plant on the Kanawha River sixteen miles west of Charleston, West Virginia. This was to be one of three new government plants and was called Explosives Plant "C." (The other plants were to be near Nashville and Louisville, but the Louisville plant was later deemed unnecessary, and work was never begun on it.)

In December 1917, the DuPont Company was removed from the project by the government due to political concerns over the profits the company might be making. D.C. Jackling was appointed Director of U.S. Government Explosives Plants, and in January 1918, a contract was signed with the Thompson-Starrett Company of New York for the construction of the plant at what was to be called Nitro, West Virginia. The huge project proceeded very quickly, and on May 9, 1918, the government signed a contract with the Hercules Powder Company of Wilmington, Delaware, to operate the plant. By the time of the armistice in November 1918, the plant was in partial operation, but production ceased immediately. In January 1919, the plant was declared surplus and turned over to the Ordnance Department for disposal. Eventually, several major private companies moved onto the site, including the American Viscose Company and Monsanto.