Kennebec Arsenal
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nomadwillie
N 44° 18.116 W 069° 46.255
19T E 438506 N 4905697
Kennebec Arsenal is a historic arsenal and National Historic Landmark District on Arsenal Street in Augusta, Maine. The arsenal was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and designated a Landmark in 2000.
Waymark Code: WM7WKH
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 12/14/2009
Views: 11
The arsenal was built during a border dispute with Canada and completed in 1831. It was active during the Mexican and Civil wars, but grew silent in later years, and by the time of the Spanish-American War was manned by only a skeleton crew.
After the Army turned the site over to the state in 1905, it was used for a time to house patients from the state mental hospital. For three decades it has been vacant and neglected.
Construction of the arsenal was authorized by Congress on Mar. 3, 1827. The act required the Secretary of War to "purchase, as soon as can be effected on reasonable terms, a site for an arsenal in the town of Augusta in the State of Maine, and cause to be erected such an arsenal as may be deemed proper for the safe keeping of arms and munitions of the United States for the northern and eastern frontier." The cornerstone was laid on June 14, 1828.
During the Civil War, it was feared that rebel forces might reach Augusta from Canada and destroy the arsenal. On one occasion, a boat filled with men was spotted approaching the wharf. Shots were fired by the sentries, and the intruders fled.
The Kennebec Arsenal in Augusta has been sold to an out-of-state developer
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