then as a place for repairing arms. The first shops were on Main Street,
and among them was a laboratory for cartridges and various kinds of
fireworks. The oldest record in the armory relates to the work done in
this laboratory during the month of April, 1778, showing that about
forty men were then engaged in the business. Not far from the date of
this document the works were removed to the hill, where, enlarged and
perfected, they are legitimately the object of admiration and pride. The
act establishing the armory was passed by Congress in April, 1794.

The arsenal, storehouse, offices, and principal manufacturing buildings
are situated on Springfield Hill, and overlook the Connecticut valley at
a commanding elevation. The heavier operations of the armory are carried
on in another part of the city, about a mile distant, in buildings known
as the water-shops. These are situated upon a small stream which flows
into the Connecticut River at this point.

The armory-grounds on the hill cover an area of seventy-two acres, and
are surrounded, with the exception of a small square detached from the
main grounds, by an ornamental iron fence, nine feet in height. These
grounds are exceedingly beautiful, and present every variety of
landscape. A beautiful slope to the south and west, covered with
luxuriant verdure, and crowned with groves of deciduous trees and
evergreens, affords the eye peculiar gratification. The grounds combine
also the useful with the ornamental, supplying hay enough to feed a
score of horses belonging to the establishment.

There are fifteen buildings used in the manufacture of muskets at the
works on the hill, and about the same number occupied as residences by
the various officers and head-clerks of the armory. Some of the
buildings are spacious and elegant in their construction, particularly