 |
| Archives, Springfield Armory NHS, US NPS | | This is a view East, from about 1850, of the Hill Shops of Armory Square in the central quadrangle which today forms Springfield Armory NHS (in the foreground) and Springfield Technical Community College (which uses many of the old Armory buildings). The Main Arsenal building in the foreground is now the Museum, housing archives, industrial exhibits, and the world's largest collection of historic American military shoulder arms. |
 |
A brief overview of the history of Springfield Armory
From its position at the crest of a hill overlooking the Connecticut River, Springfield Armory exerted a profound influence over the city of Springfield and on the nation. It carried out the manufacturing, storage, repair, testing and development functions assigned by the United States Army. In doing so it stimulated technological innovation, encouraged improved manufacturing processes and fostered increased use of laborsaving machines. All of this had a lasting and important impact on American industry.
The Armory made five major types of shoulder arms between 1795 and 1968. Single-shot, smoothbore flintlock muskets, based on late 18th century French models, were the earliest and longest-made, produced at Springfield in several variations between 1795 and 1842. Private contractors and the national armory at Harpers Ferry, [West] Virginia (destroyed in 1861) also made flintlock muskets for the Army during this period. Similar weapons, with locks adapted to percussion ignition, were produced at Springfield as smoothbore muskets from 1844 to 1855, and as rifle-muskets from 1857 to 1865. These percussion weapons were, for the first time, fully interchangeable at both national armories. Breech-loading rifles, made from 1865 to 1893 with a so-called trapdoor mechanism, were the third major weapon type and the final variation on Springfield single-shot shoulder arms.
Beginning in 1893, the Armory concentrated on fundamentally different rifles which comprise the last two major weapons types. First, the Armory made two types of bolt-action magazine, or repeating, rifles as standard infantry issue until 1931. These included the so-called Krag rifle, based on a Norwegian design, and the Model 1903 Springfield rifle designed at the Armory and based on the German Mauser rifle. The fifth type of rifle, in which combustion gas from fired cartridges operated the breech mechanism, included the semi-automatic M1 or Garand rifle made from 1937 to 1957, and the selective-fire full automatic M14 made from 1959 to 1963. In 1968, Springfield Armory was closed in a cost-saving effort resulting in U.S. military reliance on private contractors ever since.
(written by Richard Colton, Historian, Springfield Armory NHS, Jan. 2008)
The US National Park Service provides on-line links to important histories, studies, and documents from Springfield Armory National Historic Site. "CLICK" on any of those below to view them:
|
