Morrisonville, Louisiana

In the 1980s and 1990s, chemical pollution was discovered in the town's wells.^[3] To avoid lawsuits, Dow decided to buy up the town and move its residents away to create a buffer zone around the factory.^[3][5] In 1989, just before the release of a federal report into toxic emissions from the factory, Dow announced that it was going to buy up all the homes and land in Morrisonville, and that if the residents refused their property would be worthless.^[5]

Although about twenty families refused to move at first, by 1993 the town was eventually abandoned.^[5] All that now remains is the graveyard of the former Nazarene Baptist Church and an open-sided prayer site, built of wood, provided by Dow for family members who return to visit the graves.^[6]

The residents were transferred to newly built homes at Morrison Acres, but many died before they could settle in.^{[citation needed]} The large number of petrochemical plants producing PVC in the surrounding area, an 80-mile (130 km) stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, first led to it being known as the 'Chemical Corridor' and later as Cancer Alley, and many other communities in the area have been similarly affected by groundwater pollution and other toxic emissions.^[4][7]

• "Morrisonville". West Baton Rouge Museum.