The Nixon Nitration Works, which included a number of plants, covered about twelve square miles on the Raritan River, near New Brunswick, in what was then officially known as Raritan Township (later changed to Edison) and unofficially known as Nixon, New Jersey. It was originally created by naval architect and industrialist Lewis Nixon in 1915, upon the outbreak of World War I, to supply some of the warring nations of Europe with gunpowder and other war materials.^[5][6] When the war ended its facilities were put to broader uses, involving other explosive materials.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924 Nixon Nitration Works disaster