About Reichhold Chemicals Valley Park Missouri
Reichhold Chemicals operated from 249 St. Louis Ave., Valley Park, Missouri (St. Louis County) — positioned in the heart of the St. Louis industrial corridor with direct access to the manufacturing customers that purchased its molding compound. Reichhold manufactured thermoset phenolic molding compound sold under the RCI brand designation to electrical component manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and industrial customers throughout Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and the broader Midwest.
ReiChold also manufactured phenolic molding compound at its Carteret, New Jersey plant, which served eastern and mid-Atlantic markets. Both facilities produced asbestos-containing formulations under the Reichhold Chemical Industries (RCI) product numbering system.
ReiChold Chemical Industries manufactured and sold asbestos-containing phenolic molding compound from at least the 1960s through the early 1980s — covering the full peak period of asbestos use in thermoset phenolic compound. Reichhold sourced asbestos fiber for its compound formulations through a documented supply relationship with Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which provided asbestos fiber to Reichhold’s compound manufacturing operations from at least 1975 through 1980. In 1986, Reichhold sold its specialty resins and compound business to BTL Specialty Resins, but liability for products manufactured under the Reichhold name during the asbestos era continued to follow the former company and its successor entities.
ReiChold produced over 63 documented asbestos-containing phenolic compound formulations under its RCI numbering system. These formulations contained chrysotile, crocidolite, or amosite asbestos at percentages ranging from less than 10 percent to more than 40 percent of compound weight by formulation. These formulations were engineered for electrical and industrial applications requiring heat resistance, electrical non-conductivity, and dimensional stability under mechanical stress — precisely the performance requirements that made asbestos fiber an attractive and extensively used filler in thermoset phenolic compound throughout the mid-twentieth century.
General Equipment at Reichhold Chemicals Valley Park Missouri
The equipment below represents the systems and infrastructure documented or typically present at this facility during the era when asbestos-containing materials were specified in industrial construction. This is general facility-equipment reference — not a legal attribution of any specific product, manufacturer, or exposure event to this facility. Material-category and manufacturer information is addressed in the AsbestosIndex Product Crosswalk linked under the records table below.
Documented Asbestos Evidence
The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (Missouri DNR) was notified under federal NESHAP rules, the work was logged, and the asbestos-containing material was confirmed and removed under regulated conditions. These are not allegations or estimates — they are paper records tying documented asbestos-containing material to this specific site.
Material Categories in Documented Records
The materials documented above (and similar asbestos-containing materials commonly encountered in records of this type) appear in the AsbestosIndex catalog with historical manufacturer and trust-fund information. Click a category to view manufacturers historically associated with that material:
Who May Have Been Exposed at Reichhold Chemicals Valley Park Missouri
Asbestos fibers in phenolic molding compound are released into breathing-zone air at multiple stages of the manufacturing and processing chain. Workers at Reichhold Valley Park may have been exposed through compounding operations, where blending raw asbestos fiber with phenolic resin, fillers, and processing agents in industrial mixers and mills produced among the highest airborne asbestos fiber concentrations in the manufacturing chain. Occupational sampling at compound manufacturing facilities documented fiber concentrations during compounding activities that exceeded OSHA’s permissible exposure limit by factors of ten to one hundred. Raw compound handling and shipping workers who transferred finished Reichhold compound between storage and production, loaded bags and drums for shipment, or received compound at customer facilities inhaled unbound asbestos fibers that became airborne during every pour and transfer. Equipment maintenance workers who serviced compound-contaminated mixing equipment, conveyors, and processing machinery — cleaning mixer bowls, replacing wear components, clearing jammed conveyors, or performing general area cleanup — disturbed accumulated compound dust and re-aerosolized asbestos fibers during routine and corrective maintenance.
Workers who processed Reichhold RCI compound at customer facilities — most directly documented at Square D, Columbia, Missouri — faced the complete downstream exposure spectrum: Press operators loading press hoppers with RCI compound generated visible compound dust at every charge cycle; deflashers and trimmers removing flash from molded circuit breaker housings and components by hand or power tool abraded the cured phenolic matrix and released fibers from the compound; equipment maintenance workers servicing compound-contaminated presses, dies, and conveyors disturbed settled fiber accumulated throughout the production floor; and bystander workers in the press area accumulated exposure from compound dust that settled on surfaces and was continuously re-aerosolized by foot traffic, HVAC airflow, and ongoing production activity.
Critical Filing Deadline & Next Steps
Missouri law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 5 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 3 years from the date of death (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.100). The two deadlines run on separate tracks — preserving one does not extend the other.
The personal-injury clock runs from diagnosis, not from exposure. Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years, so workers exposed in the 1950s–1980s are being diagnosed today.
Practical first steps
- Document what you remember. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, coworker names, and dates of employment. The WorkChain widget on this page can save a copy you can email yourself.
- Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
- Identify household members. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children of plant workers are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
- Speak with an asbestos attorney with Missouri experience. The first conversation is free and confidential. Asbestos trust-fund claims and civil claims run on different tracks — both can be pursued in parallel.
Asbestos-Related Diseases
Asbestos fiber exposure can cause several specific diseases that typically appear decades after the original exposure. The latency period — the gap between exposure and diagnosis — usually runs 20 to 50 years. That's why workers exposed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are receiving diagnoses today.
Mesothelioma
A rare, aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), abdomen (peritoneal), or heart (pericardial). Mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure, which is why a mesothelioma diagnosis often points directly to historical workplace exposure. Average latency from first exposure to diagnosis is 30-50 years.
Asbestosis
A chronic, non-cancerous scarring of lung tissue caused by inhaled asbestos fibers. Asbestosis causes progressive shortness of breath, persistent cough, and reduced lung function. It does not improve with treatment, and it is a recognized basis for compensation under most trust schedules and civil claims.
Lung Cancer
Asbestos exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer, particularly when combined with a history of smoking. Asbestos-related lung cancer is compensable under the same trust schedules and civil claim avenues as mesothelioma.
Other Recognized Diseases
Pleural plaques, pleural thickening, laryngeal cancer, ovarian cancer, and certain gastrointestinal cancers are also recognized as asbestos-related under various trust schedules and case-law authorities, though eligibility and proof requirements vary by claim type.
If you have any of these diagnoses and you worked at this facility, lived with someone who did, or were exposed in any documented capacity, you may have a claim worth pursuing. Speak with an attorney before assuming you don't qualify.
Data Sources
Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:
- EPA ECHO Facility Compliance Database — enforcement and compliance records for industrial facilities
- OSHA Establishment Search — federal workplace inspection history
- EIA Form 860 Plant Data — power-plant equipment and ownership records (where applicable)
- Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) NESHAP asbestos abatement notification records
- Published asbestos trial and trust fund records (publicly filed court documents)
- AsbestosIndex Product & Manufacturer Crosswalk — historical asbestos-containing product schedules linked to manufacturers
If specific equipment or product claims in this article are sourced from a non-public database, the source is identified parenthetically within the text above.