Watervliet Arsenal

Watervliet Arsenal, on South Broadway in Watervliet, New York, began in 1813 as a War of 1812 installation and is still an active Army arsenal. Its first brick buildings are gone, and the Erie Canal, which once crossed the grounds and powered workshops, was filled in 1940. Surviving early structures include the East Powder Magazine of 1828, with four-foot-thick stone walls and the oldest building on site, a second magazine of 1849, an 1840 ammunition laboratory, and limestone quarters and barracks from the 1840s. The 1859 cast-iron storehouse, fabricated by the Architectural Iron Works of New York, now serves as an ordnance museum. The arsenal's largest role came after 1889, when a government cannon factory was built. It produced seacoast guns, America's first 16-inch gun in 1902, 465 cannon in 1918, and the first atomic cannon in 1953. That long record of weapons manufacture underlies its recognition.