A World War I chemical weapons base was buried beneath Washington D.C. suburbs.

Evidence

In its heyday, the American University Experiment Station was the world’s second-largest chemical weapons production facility. Some call it World War I’s Manhattan Project. Almost two thousand chemists, engineers, and technicians tested hundreds of chemical substances there, including arsenic trichloride, ricin, and 498 variations of mustard gas. The station created the war’s deadliest chemical weapon—seven times deadlier than mustard gas. Its name was Lewisite, the “dew of death.” A single drop could kill. After the war’s end, the then tiny American University gave the Army permission to bury large quantities of munitions, weapons material, and chemicals on its grounds in exchange for leaving some of the base infrastructure for university use. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 400

Categorization

• QUESTION: How widespread is the pattern of postwar bases being buried or repurposed without cleanup for decades? Does DC’s Spring Valley case typify or exaggerate it?
• SHARE: Someone living in the DC area or interested in environmental/urban history would care that American University sits atop a buried chemical weapons dump.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 400