{"nrhp_refnum":"71000975","name":"Bellona Arsenal","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Off VA 673, NW of jct. with Rte. 147","address_restricted":false,"city":"Midlothian","county":"Chesterfield County","state":"VA","lat":37.55384766650005,"lon":-77.6169363868782,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A district near Midlothian in Chesterfield County, Virginia, made up of the surviving brick workshops and ruins of a federal arsenal built in the 1810s, beside the ruins of Major John Clarke's earlier Bellona Foundry.","why_significant":"The arsenal and its neighboring foundry were a major source of government ordnance before the Civil War and served the Confederacy during it. Together with Tredegar, Bellona gave Virginia two of the five plants casting heavy cannon on the eve of Secession. The surviving workshops and ruins, set above the James River valley, are also noted for their architecture and site.","narrative":"Bellona Arsenal is a complex of brick workshops and ruins near Midlothian, Virginia, left from a federal arsenal built in the 1810s. The quadrangle once held eight stone-walled buildings, including a three-story main arsenal, officers' quarters, four workshops and a barracks, with a thick-walled powder magazine outside to the west. Most were torn down about 1872. Three two-story brick workshops with hipped roofs and segmental arched openings remain, along with the roofless magazine and the ruins of Major John Clarke's foundry, which he established in 1814. The foundry supplied government cannon through the antebellum years and served the Confederacy, and the arsenal stored Clarke's guns from 1817. The government declared the arsenal surplus in 1837, and it was sold in 1856 and again in 1877. The workshops were renovated as a residence beginning in 1942. The listing recognizes the site's industrial and military history and its setting above the James River valley.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Three surviving workshops, empty shells before renovation began in 1942, have been converted into a private residence; the powder magazine survives as a roofless ruin. Condition is marked good and ruins.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.76397-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/58/6801/41680158/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/71000975.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000975/bdadbccd92-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000975/bdadbccd92-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellona_Arsenal,_Workshops,_State_Route_673_vicinity,_Richmond_vicinity_(Chesterfield_County,_Virginia).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellona_Arsenal,_Workshops,_State_Route_673_vicinity,_Richmond_vicinity_(Chesterfield_County,_Virginia).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680158","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellona_Arsenal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4884112"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/chesterfield-county/bellona-arsenal-71000975/"}