Water Shops Armory Dam

The Water Shops Armory Complex at 1 Allen Street in Springfield is a manufacturing complex of brick buildings built by the U.S. Armory on Water Shops Pond at its outlet to the Mill River, about a mile south of the main Armory Hill Shops (a National Historic Landmark). It served as the heavy manufacturing facility where raw materials were converted into gun components for assembly at the Hill Shops. The buildings date from 1857 to 1941, with the main shop (1857) forming the cornerstone of the complex after Commandant James Wolfe Ripley consolidated the armory's earlier Lower, Middle, and Upper Watershops into one site powered by a new dam raising the waterfall to 35 feet. It is significant as the principal heavy-arms manufacturing and research site for the U.S. military, key to ramping up rifle-musket production during the Civil War after Harpers Ferry was lost, and as a distinctive, unified example of industrial architecture.

Water Shops Armory Dam is a landmark in Springfield, Hampden County. It is one of 3,654 landmarks documented in Hampden County, among 3,815 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.

The site sits at 42.0973, -72.5629 near Springfield. The nearest cataloged historic site is Water Shops Armory Machine Shop Addition (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Water Shops Armory Machine Shop Entry, Water Shops Armory Connector, and Water Shops Armory Manufacturing.

This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.