A contributing property in the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. A National Historic Landmark comprising Armory Square, the fifty-four-acre hilltop administrative core of the Springfield Armory, the federal arsenal formally established in 1794. Arranged around an 8.75-acre parade ground, the complex holds nearly thirty brick buildings, mostly in a restrained functional idiom with Greek Revival and Federal detailing, ranging in date from the 1807 West Arsenal through World War II, unified by consistent scale, white trim, slate roofs, and a mid-19th-century iron fence. The Armory served the American Revolution as a supply depot, was the target of Shays' Rebellion in 1787, pioneered the interchangeability of parts, and for decades was the nation's principal manufacturer of military small arms. It is significant in military and industrial history and as the best-preserved administrative center of a major arsenal that reached its greatest growth in the first half of the 19th century.
Springfield Armory Museum - Wait Stone
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Springfield Armory Museum - Wait Stone is a historical marker in Springfield, Hampden County. It is one of 129 historical markers documented in Hampden County, among 3,815 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 42.1072, -72.5815 near Springfield. The nearest cataloged historic site is Milestone, 1767 (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Springfield Arsenal - Main Arsenal, Springfield Armory - Tennis Court, and Springfield Armory - Circular Driveways.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
This stone stands at the Springfield Armory, the United States' first national armory, established at Springfield in 1777 during the Revolution on the recommendation of General Henry Knox. The site on the bluff above the Connecticut River was chosen for its safety from naval attack, and it served first as an arsenal before beginning to manufacture muskets from scratch in 1794. For nearly two centuries the armory was a leading center of American firearms design and production, developing weapons such as the Springfield rifle, until it closed in 1968 and became a National Historic Site.
Sources: en.wikipedia.orgbritannica.com
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