Penniman was completed. Commonly known as the Penniman Plant or as Dupont plant #37, the high wages paid at the plant attracted workers from the surrounding area. Farmers were greatly handicapped in putting in their crops owing to the exodus of farm labor to the munition plants. Rents and food prices rose in the area with the influx of population. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) built a spur track on the Peninsula Subdivision from a point about east of Williamsburg (mp 33) to the York River site. The C&O depot was to be used for the DuPont station, which opened on June 1, 1916. In July 1916, the Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce requested the C&O establish passenger train service between the city and Penniman. By the fall of 1918, Penniman was a town of about 15,000 inhabitants; three passenger trains a day passed each way between Williamsburg and Penniman. Between the wars In November 1918, the armistice which ended World War I was signed, which meant the end of need for the ammunitions plant. The village eventually deteriorated and closed. For a while after World War I, Penniman was used for demilitarization activities. The workers of Penniman left when the jobs ended after what everyone called "the Great War." By June 1919, population of Penniman was estimated at fewer than 100. DuPont dismantled most of its equipment and facilities. During the approximately 20 years between 1923 and 1943, the land was in private ownership and was used for farming or left idle. World War II: Cheatham Annex During World War II, in 1942, the U.S. Navy condemned more than along the York River to establish Cheatham Annex. Much of the condemned property was part of Penniman. The land was placed into war use again, this time as government-owned storage and shipping facility for the U.S. Navy. Cheatham Annex was commissioned in June 1943 as a satellite unit of the Naval Supply Depot in Norfolk, Virginia to provide bulk storage facilities in the Hampton Roads area. The supplies handled there included bulk storage of gasoline, diesel and other fuels. The rural location was also used to dispose of toxic waste such as medical materials from Navy ships. After World War II Cheatham Annex continued as a Navy supply depot after World War II. A portion of the bulk fuel storage facilities was transferred by the federal government to the Commonwealth