The Town
Anniston was a textbook Southern town, thriving on industry and optimism. Beneath the everyday rhythms of porch swings and church bells lay a hidden contamination — the byproduct of decades of unchecked industrial prosperity.
Monsanto’s chemical legacy, invisible and odorless, seeped into Anniston’s soil and waterways, quietly rewriting the town’s future. Neighborhoods vanished overnight, homes became hazardous, and an idyllic community fractured — leaving residents to confront an industrial nightmare they never saw coming.
Bird’s-eye view of Anniston, Alabama — 1887
Timeline of Contamination
A century in the making
1872
A model city rises
Anniston is founded as a planned industrial town in northeast Alabama, built on the promise of iron, textiles, and Southern prosperity.
1929
PCB production begins
Swann Chemical Company begins manufacturing polychlorinated biphenyls in Anniston — synthetic chemicals prized for their stability and heat resistance.
1935
Monsanto takes over
Monsanto acquires the Anniston plant and expands production of PCBs under the brand name “Aroclor,” selling them across the industrial world.
1966
Early warnings, kept quiet
Testing in a local creek reveals fish dying within minutes of exposure. The findings are documented internally rather than disclosed to the public.
1979
The nation bans PCBs
The United States prohibits the manufacture of PCBs under the Toxic Substances Control Act — but decades of contamination already saturate Anniston's soil and water.
1990s
A community organizes
Residents form grassroots groups, demand testing, and begin uncovering the paper trail that shows how much was known, and for how long.
2003
A $700 million reckoning
After landmark litigation drawing national attention and attorney Johnnie Cochran, a roughly $700 million settlement is reached for Anniston residents — victory shadowed by lingering questions of accountability.
Today
The next forever chemical
As remediation continues, Anniston confronts new threats like PFAS — the so-called “forever chemicals” — proving the story is far from over.
Dates reflect widely reported history and should be verified against primary sources before publication.