Arsenal

In a December 4, 1815 report from Fort Mifflin, Captain Samuel Babcock, Engineer, enclosed plans and an estimate for additions and repairs he considered necessary, including a bombproof intended to serve as a guard house and prison because the existing bombproofs were damp, dark, and nearing decay. He planned it parallel to the revetment, with one side facing the parade and the other joining the rampart, its arch covered with earth and fitted with small grated circular apertures instead of windows to provide light and fresh air. By 1816 the building was complete, but a conventional frame gable roof with metal sheathing replaced the earth-covered barrel vault first proposed. Its four-foot-thick walls and deeply set iron grates in circular masonry openings were meant to prevent escapes, while chimneys in the large and small rooms could accommodate heating stoves, and square insets over the north façade's circular windows appear to have been ornamental. Documents from the 1835-1839 fort renovation identify the building as an arsenal after its guard house role passed to a new smaller frame building between the main gate and the Quartermaster's Store. An arsenal held small arms such as pistols, rifles, bayonets, and swords, which in the 19th century came from the Schuylkill or Frankford Arsenals. During the Revolutionary War, citizens worked for the Military Stores Department, and a 1780 voucher book identifies payments to individuals including Patrick Fottrill, who received 190 pounds for cleaning and repairing 19 muskets, Mary Lorenz, who received 225 pounds for making 1800 flannel cartridges, Andrew Kuhn, who received 305 pounds 17 shillings and six pence for 29 days of casting musket balls, and Daniel Joy, who received 112 pounds 10 shillings for casting two iron 24-pound cannon, three 18-pounders, and a wrought iron gun.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States