{"nrhp_refnum":"97000357","name":"Orange Mill Historic District","other_names":["Orange Powder Mill","Algonquin Powder Mill Park"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Powder Mill Rd., near jct. with NY 52","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newburgh","county":"Orange County","state":"NY","lat":41.523349659000075,"lon":-74.05952187599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-05-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Engineering","Industry"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former black powder manufacturing complex on Powder Mill Road in Newburgh, Orange County, New York, now largely within Algonquin Park. It contains ruins of mill buildings, ponds, sluiceways and worker housing, with milling beginning in 1815 and the earliest wheel mills built in 1818.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the site is one of very few surviving powder mills of this size and reputation, and that its ruins show early black powder technology and water-power engineering. Orange powder was widely endorsed in the sporting world, and the layout of ponds, sluiceways and widely spaced buildings illustrates the manufacturing process and its safety design.","narrative":"Powder Mill Road in Newburgh, New York, leads to the remains of a black powder works that operated from 1815 into the early twentieth century. Much of the site now lies within Algonquin Park. Stone ruins of wheel mills, a charge house, a saltpeter building and a cylindrical wash and change house sit among three mill ponds fed by Quassiac Creek, linked by sluiceways that once drove turbines. The buildings were spaced apart to limit damage from explosions. Daniel Rogers acquired the mill in 1818 after earlier explosions, and Smith and Rand later expanded it to 190 acres. Its Orange brand sporting powders gained a strong reputation, and production peaked in the 1890s. The district was listed because few powder mills of this scale survive, and the ruins and water system show how the technology worked. In the 1930s the site became a park, and fireplaces and a shelter house were added. Some ruins stand three walls high.","period_of_significance":"1815-1908","architect_builder":"Rogers and Company (built the first wheel mills, 1818)","architectural_style":"Early Republic/Federal; Mid-19th Century/Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Mostly ruins and archaeological remains, used as a public park; some sluiceways, ponds and buildings are deteriorated and need masonry repairs.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:51.122293-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/97000357.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000357/b70a735bd4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000357/b70a735bd4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"The original uploader was Daniel Case at English Wikipedia.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orange_Mill.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">The original uploader was Daniel Case at English Wikipedia.</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orange_Mill.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320716","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Mill_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7099672"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/orange-county/orange-mill-historic-district-97000357/"}