Hercules Powder Company

AKA Bacchus Works, Magna, UT

(Associated names include Hercules, Inc., Bacchus Works, Bacchus West, Hercules Aerospace, Alliant TechSystems, ATK, Orbital ATK , Hexcel Corporation)

Jobsite

Since the early 1900s, Hercules, Inc., has operated in Utah and employed as many as 4,500 workers.  Originally a dynamite manufacturer, the company evolved into a munitions, propulsion, composites and explosives developer.  From working on defense contracts related to WWII efforts to supplying solid-fueled booster rockets used by NASA, the Bacchus Works facility in Magna has had a long-standing, national presence in the military and aerospace arenas.  The company was sold in the late 1990s.

Address or general location

8400 West 5000 South

Magna, Utah

Detail

Sometimes referred to as Hercules, Inc., the Hercules Powder Company (“Hercules”) was created as a result of a DuPont antitrust lawsuit in the early 1900s.  Based in Wilmington, Delaware, Hercules soon opened the Bacchus Works facility in Magna, Utah.   Initially a small dynamite manufacturing firm, Hercules evolved into a munitions manufacturer for the U.S. military and a rocket producer for NASA.  Employing as many 4,500 workers, the Bacchus Works facility was a significant employer to residences of Bacchus, Magna, and West Valley.

Hercules’ presence in Utah ended in the late 1990s when its two divisions were sold.  Alliant TechSystems (ATK) purchased the Hercules Aerospace Division of Bacchus Works in 1995.  The Hercules’ Composite Product Division was purchased by Hexcel Corporation in 1996.