Torpedo Factory Art Center - Alexandria VA - Converted Factories on Waymarking.com

TEXT from the marker on the right side of the North Union Street Entrance: United States Naval Torpedo Station (Building Two) The
Naval Torpedo Station construction began on November 12, 1918, the day after the armistice which ended World War I. building One housed machine shops, the dispensary, and a cafeteria, while Building Two held torpedo storage and offices. The project cost $2,750,000. the Torpedo Station was occupied in June, 1919. The first Alexandria torpedoes came off assembly on November 20, 1919. Operations were phased out by 1923. The 900 torpedoes stored in Building Two were shipped to England in the Lend-Lease plan of 1939.

World War II brought additional buildings along the waterfront and thousands of workers. The torpedo plant produced the MK14, 3A Torpedo, the primary typ used by destroyers and submarines in the war. The MK14, with a 21 foot length, 21 inch diameter and a quarter ton of explosives, was longer, faster, and heavier, and it ranged further than previous models. From January 1, 1939, to June 1, 1946, nearly 10,000 were manufactured here. After World War II, Building Two became the repository for Federal records and for the Nazi war records used in the Nuremburg trials.

In 1969, the City of Alexandria purchased the Torpedo Station from the Federal Government for $1.5 million.

For 250 years the land on which the Torpedo Factory stands has been central to Alexandria's commercial activities. The 18th Century wharves and warehouses of John Carlyle and William Ramsey were later replaced in the 19th Century by Henry K. Field's Planing Mill and Smoot's Lumber Yard. In 1919, at the time of the redevelopment of the land for the use of the Torpedo Factory, an article in the Alexandria Gazette presented this view:
"Alexandria has quietly awaited her day, while
the sun of prosperity has been rising upon
other places in the Old Dominion ... Now that
things are coming here way, we all realize that
we have much to be thankful for."

Address:: 105 North Union Street Alexandria, VA USA 22314 Year built: 1918 Year converted: 1969 Web page: [Web Link]

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