Continental Steel Corporation

Within a year of its founding, the various plants of Continental Steel employed 2288 individuals, a new bar mill was in operation, and the firm was preparing to produce its first steel. Continental Steel would become, at one time, the largest employer in Kokomo, with a workforce approximating 3000 at its peak. In 1929, the construction of a sheet rolling plant and sheet galvanizing units at Kokomo were authorized, with production in the sheet mill beginning that summer. Continental was able to surmount the rigors of the Great Depression of the 1930s, and in 1936 its stocks, listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange since 1929, were admitted on the New York Stock Exchange. Its earnings for 1935 had reached over one million dollars, with total assets valued at more than $18,000,000. During the Second World War Continental produced large tonnages of barbed wire, nails and sheet steel for military use, and it provided material for products manufactured by defense industries. These included aerial bombs, fuel containers and landing mats for air strips.

Pension and environmental controversies

Even after its closing Continental Steel generated controversy. Embittered workers, who had earlier been led by management to believe that their pensions were secure, discovered that this was not the case. The dispute that ensued was only partially resolved through compensation provided by the Federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

In its last few years of operation, Continental Steel had encountered problems with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to alleged improper disposal of hazardous wastes and PCBs, and in March 1989, the 183-acre (0.74 km2) area that it had occupied was declared a Superfund site, with the EPA and IDEM sharing responsibilities for a massive, costly cleanup which would include the decontamination and demolition of its plant buildings in 1999–2000. While considerable progress has been made over the past two decades, decontamination efforts continue, accompanied by vigorous discussion and debate in Kokomo concerning what use might be made of this property in the future.

In 2016, the site was converted into a solar energy park, which began operating on December 29, 2016.