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Watertown Arsenal Historic District | |
Location | Watertown, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°21′44″N71°9′58″W / 42.36222°N 71.16611°W |
Built | 1816 |
NRHP reference No. | 99000498 [1] |
Added to NRHP | May 14, 1999 |
The Watertown Arsenal was a major American arsenal located on the northern shore of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. The site is now registered on the ASCE's List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks and on the US National Register of Historic Places, and it is home to a park, restaurants, mixed use office space, and formerly served as the national headquarters for athenahealth.
The arsenal was established in 1816, on 40 acres (16 ha) of land, by the United States Army for the receipt, storage, and issuance of ordnance. In this role, it replaced the earlier Charlestown Arsenal. The arsenal's earliest plan incorporated 12 buildings aligned along a north–south axis overlooking the river. Alexander Parris, later designer of Quincy Market, was architect. Buildings included a military store and arsenal, as well as shops and housing for officers and men. All were made of brick with slate roofs in the Federal style, and a high wall enclosed the compound. By 1819 all buildings were completed and occupied.
The arsenal's site, duties, and buildings grew gradually until the American Civil War, enlarging beyond the original quadrangle. During the war it greatly expanded to produce field and coastal gun carriages, and the war's impetus led to the quick construction of a large machine shop and smith shop built as contemporary factories, as well as a number of smaller buildings.
During the Civil War, a new commander's quarters was commissioned by then-Capt. Thomas J. Rodman, inventor of the Rodman gun. The lavish, 12,700 sq ft (1,180 m2), quarters would ultimately become one of the largest commander's quarters on any US military installation. This mansion is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The expense ($63,478.65) was considered wasteful and excessive and drew a stern rebuke from Congress, which then promoted Rodman to brigadier general and sent him to command Rock Island Arsenal on the frontier in Illinois, where he built an even larger commander's quarters.[ citation needed ]
Activities and new construction at the Watertown Arsenal continued to gradually expand until the early 1890s.
Activities changed decisively in 1892 when Congress authorized modernization to gun carriage manufacturing. At this point the arsenal became a manufacturing complex rather than storage depot. A number of major buildings were constructed, which over time began to reflect typical industrial facilities rather than the earlier arsenal styles. In 1897 an additional 44 acres (180,000 m2) were purchased, and a hospital built.[ citation needed ]
Scientific management as designed by arsenal commander Charles Brewster Wheeler was implemented between 1908 and 1915. [2] It was considered by the War Department as successful in saving money over the alternatives; but it was so hated by the work force that the Congress eventually overturned its use. [3] [4]
During World War I the arsenal nearly tripled in size. Building #311 was then reported to be one of the largest steel-frame structures in the United States, sized to accommodate both very large gun carriages and the equipment used to construct them. Railroad tracks ran throughout the arsenal complex. World War II brought an additional 7 acres (28,000 m2) with existing industrial buildings, as the arsenal produced steel artillery pieces. In 1959–1960, a research nuclear reactor (Horace Hardy Lester Reactor) was constructed on site, for material research programs, and operated there until 1970.[ citation needed ]
In 1968 the Army ceased operations at the arsenal; 45 acres (180,000 m2) were sold to the Watertown Redevelopment Authority, while the remaining 48 acres (190,000 m2) were converted to the United States Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center, renamed the United States Materials Technology Laboratory in 1985. In 1995 all Army activity ceased and the remainder of the site was converted to civilian use.[ citation needed ]
The Armory site was formerly included on US EPA's National Priorities List of highly contaminated sites, more widely known as Superfund. The site was removed from the NPL in 2006.[ citation needed ]
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted use since its establishment in 1891; it has also been known as Navy Yard Puget Sound, Bremerton Navy Yard, and the Bremerton Naval Complex.
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Colonial National Historical Park is a large national historical park located in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia operated by the National Park Service. It protects and interprets several sites relating to the Colony of Virginia and the history of the United States more broadly. These range from the site of the first English settlement at Jamestown, to the battlefields of Yorktown where the British Army was defeated in the American Revolutionary War. Over 3 million people visit the park each year.
Completed in 1796, the Pawtucket Canal was originally built as a transportation canal to circumvent the Pawtucket Falls of the Merrimack River in East Chelmsford, Massachusetts. In the early 1820s it became a major component of the Lowell power canal system. with the founding of the textile industry at what became Lowell.
Selfridge Air National Guard Base or Selfridge ANGB is an Air National Guard installation located in Harrison Township, Michigan, near Mount Clemens. Selfridge Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, located in northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee, preserves the sites of two major battles of the American Civil War: the Battle of Chickamauga and the Siege of Chattanooga. A detailed history of the park's development was provided by the National Park Service in 1998.
The Antique Boat Museum is a located in the 1000 Islands on the St. Lawrence River, in Clayton, New York, United States. The Antique Boat Museum is the premier freshwater boating museum in North America. The ABM's collections hold over 320 unique boats and thousands of related artifacts and archives. The 4.5-acre campus comes alive with speedboat rides, a working skiff livery, and educational programs. It is the site for the country's longest, continuously running annual Antique Boat Show and Auction. The museum has seasonal hours and is open from the first Friday in May to the end of October.
Rock Island National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located within Rock Island Arsenal near the city of Rock Island, Illinois. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 66 acres (27 ha), and as of the end of 2006, had 24,525 interments. The cemetery is also nearing compliance with the National Shrine guidelines, due to its use of college students during the summer to reset and realign stones. When looking from any one stone there should be seven lines visible and all should be straight.
The Watervliet Arsenal (WVA) is an arsenal of the United States Army located in Watervliet, New York, on the west bank of the Hudson River. It is the oldest continuously active arsenal in the United States, and today produces much of the artillery for the army, as well as gun tubes for cannons, mortars, and tanks. It has been a National Historic Landmark (NHL) since 1966.
The Union Stockyards of Omaha, Nebraska, were founded in 1883 in South Omaha by the Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha. A fierce rival of Chicago's Union Stock Yards, the Omaha Union Stockyards were third in the United States for production by 1890. In 1947 they were second to Chicago in the world. Omaha overtook Chicago as the nation's largest livestock market and meat packing industry center in 1955, a title which it held onto until 1971. The 116-year-old institution closed in 1999. The Livestock Exchange Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
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The Georgia State Railroad Museum is a museum in Savannah, Georgia located at a historic Central of Georgia Railway site. It includes parts of the Central of Georgia Railway: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities National Historic Landmark District. The complex is considered the most complete antebellum railroad complex in the United States. The museum, located at 655 Louisville Road, is part of a historic district included in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Lowell Power Canal System is the largest power canal system in the United States, at 5.6 miles in length. It is operating through six major canals on two levels, controlled by numerous gates. The system was begun in the 1790s, beginning its life as a transportation canal called the Pawtucket Canal, which was constructed to get logs from New Hampshire down the Merrimack River to shipbuilding centers at Newburyport, Massachusetts, bypassing the 30-plus-foot drop of the Pawtucket Falls.
The Commanding Officer's Quarters, Watertown Arsenal is a historic house in Watertown, Massachusetts. During the American Civil War, a new commander's quarters was commissioned by then-Capt. Thomas J. Rodman, inventor of the Rodman gun, for the Watertown Arsenal. The lavish, 12,700 sq ft (1,180 m2), quarters would ultimately become one of the largest commander's quarters on any U.S. military installation. The expense ($63,478.65) was considered wasteful and excessive and drew a stern rebuke from Congress, who then promoted Rodman to Brigadier General and sent him to command Rock Island Arsenal on the frontier in Illinois, where he built an even larger commander's quarters. The Watertown commander's quarters house now houses offices and a museum about the arsenal.
Greeneville is a neighborhood of the city of Norwich, Connecticut, located northeast of downtown Norwich along the west bank of the Shetucket River. Most of the neighborhood is designated Greeneville Historic District, a historic district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Fort McKinley is a former United States Army coastal defense fort on Great Diamond Island, Maine in Casco Bay, which operated from 1873 to 1947. It was named for President William McKinley. It included a sub-post, Fort Lyon, on Cow Island, just north of Great Diamond Island. Fort Lyon was named for Nathaniel Lyon. Both forts were part of the Coast Defenses of Portland, renamed the Harbor Defenses of Portland in 1925, a command which protected Portland's port and naval anchorage 1895-1950. In 1946 Fort Lyon was closed and turned over to the City of Portland. After Fort McKinley's closure it was transferred to the United States Navy, which sold the site to private interests in 1961. The Fort McKinley Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Yard-Dickson Manufacturing Co. Site is a national historic district located in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. It encompasses the Steamtown National Historic Site and Scranton Army Ammunition Plant and includes 16 contributing buildings, four contributing sites, and five contributing structures. The yard includes buildings and structures related to the yard's expansion in 1899-1939, and its usage as steam locomotive maintenance complex. The Dickson Manufacturing Company built steam locomotives, and the site of its works are included in this district.
The Smith Mine Historic District, in Carbon County, Montana, near Bearcreek, Montana, is a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. The district included 27 contributing buildings and 12 contributing structures on 200 acres (81 ha).
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