The Eli Whitney
Gun Factory by William Giles Munson, oil on canvas, 1826-8.
Courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan
Collection.
Contents:
1. Mill River
2. The Eli Whitney Armory
3. The Town Bridge
4. Whitneyville 1825
Mill River: Water Power and Water Supply
The Mill River, which flows through the
Whitney Armory site is on its way to Long Island Sound, has played
a crucial role in its history. Eli Whitney, Sr. came to the site
in 1798 specifically in order to use the water's power for running
machinery; sixty-two years later his son turned the river into
the first public water supply for the city of New Haven. For some
decades thereafter, the river continued to provide power not only
for the Armory's machinery, but also for pumping its own water
into the network of pipes reaching New Haven's buildings and hydrants.
Eventually it gave way, as a power source, to steam engines and
electric motors, but it continues to this day to supply water
for the city.
The low dam and waterwheels that Eli Whitney, Sr. installed made
possible the Whitney Armory with its adjacent small settlement,
Whitneyville. Like many another New England water-privilege site,
but unlike the larger planned waterpower complexes such as Lowell
or Holyoke in Massachusetts, the community remained of modest
size. Constrained in large part by the natural limits on its water
power, Whitneyville did not grow into an industrial city, but
led him first in the 1840s to replace the waterwheels with hydraulic
turbines, the latest advance in waterpower technology, and then
to make the dam five times higher in 1860. The other purpose of
this move - to form Lake Whitney as the as the first reservoir
for the New Haven Water Company - was what paid for the construction
of the dam we see at the site today. The creation of Lake Whitney
in turn prevented further industrial development at waterpower
sites upstream - by flooding them - thus leaving the Armory as
southern Hamden's only industrial site until a later era.
Whitney's Improved Fire-Arms Advertisement, c.
1862
New Haven Colony Historical Society
From the book, Windows on the Works: Industry on the Eli Whitney
Site 1798-1979
The Eli Whitney Armory: The Social Matrix
When Eli Whitney made his plans to supply the government with
muskets, water power and machines were two of his immediate concerns.
The third, but no less important component of his scheme for a
gun manufactory on the Mill River was a workforce. And Whitney
had given considerable thought to what characteristics he wanted
his workers to have:
My intention is to employ steady sober people and learn them
the business. I shall make it a point to employ persons who have
families, connections, and perhaps some little property to fix
them to the place - who consequently cannot be easily removed
to any considerable distance.
How well Eli Whitney succeeded in recruiting "steady, sober people"
is not clear. Research that can tell the story of the Whitney
workers, their relationship to Whitney and each other, their feelings
about their jobs, and the changes that occurred in both their
domestic and vocational choices is only now beginning.
Boarding House, now the
Connecticut Trust for Historical Preservation
Preliminary appraisals suggest that the social microcosm that
Whitney created at Mill Rock fits no easy model. We know that
the buildings on the west side of Whitney Avenue had a primarily
social rather than a manufacturing function. Despite some ambiguity
concerning its date and construction, the boarding house for unmarried
workers, located at the corner of Whitney Avenue and Armory Street,
was probably one of the first structures that Whitney built after
completing those structures essential to the gunmaking operation.
The series of buildings on Armory Street that Whitney built for
his married workers no doubt followed close behind. Benjamin Silliman
wrote that they were "beautifully constructed and arranged upon
one plan. And William P. Blake, a son of Whitney's nephew, Eli
Blake wrote that there were,
Whitneyville in 1832, engraving by J.W. Barber
From the book, Windows on the Works: Industry on the Eli Whitney
Site 1798-1979
ten or more dwellings besides the boarding house, erected for
the convenience and comfort of the operatives. The village, built
by the elder Whitney (the first 'Whitneyville) consisted of six
houses of stone, covered with stucco... Some of these buildings
were removed when the construction of the high dam rendered a
change in the direction of the road necessary.
Waterfall built by Eli Whitney, Jr. in 1860
The remaining houses were torn down in 1912. Finally, the Barn,
built in 1816, was the centerpiece of the Whitney farm. It was
the focus of agricultural activities which supplied the boarding
house kitchen and provided shelter for the draft animals used
at the Armory. Whitney's friend Silliman considered it "a model
of convenience and even taste and beauty," and further described
the unique features of its design:
It is perfectly characteristic of Mr. Whitney that his attention
was directed to the mangers for his cattle, and to their fastenings.
The latter are so contrived, by means of a small weight at the
end of the halter, that an animal could always move his head with
perfect facility, but could not draw out the rope so as to become
entangled in it, nor could he easily waste his hay. The fastenings
of the doors, as well as all the other appendages and accommodations
are equally ingenious.
That Whitney took an active role in the design and construction
of the non-Armory buildings on his site is thus well established.
The need for housing to accommodate his workforce was obvious
given the distance of the Armory from any other suitable lodgings.
The farm was necessary to provide food for the unmarried workers
and probably supplemented the gardens of the married workers living
on Armory Street.
The Town Bridge
In 1820, the architect Ithiel Town wrote to Eli Whitney requesting
a written opinion of the model of a wooden bridge on which Town
that year had filed a patent. Whitney's reply, "its simplicity,
lightness, strength, cheapness & durability, are in my opinion
such as to render it highly worthy of attention," recognized the
admirable qualities of Town's bridge, which was in fact a major
design innovation.
Town's Patent Drawing of the Lattice Truss, 1820
Ithiel Town Papers, Yale University Library
A current view of the bridge
The lattice truss was an uninterrupted series of closely spaced
diagonal timbers. The resulting web of overlapping triangles affected
the distribution of stress to all members, so that the independent
action of any one triangle was impossible. Ordinary pine or spruce
planks were used for the diagonals and wooden connecting pins
or tree-nails fastened the members at their points of intersection.
This "garden trellis fence" concealed a truss design of considerable
strength.
Not only was Town's design strong and made of economical standard-dimension
lumber, it was also easy to build: it did not require fancy mortises
and tendons and could thus be erected by a common carpenter's
gang; it did not have to be custom-fitted to piers or abutments
as arch bridges did. And the lightness of its timbers reduced
the amount of labor that had formerly been needed to erect the
pioneer bridges of Town's predecessors, Timothy Palmer and Theodore
Burr. Thus the lattice-truss bridge combined the features of strength
and economy, which had great appeal, especially to those engaged
in the expansion of the nation's transportation network of highways
and later, railroads.
Whitneyville 1825
In 1827, William Giles Munson drafted a now famous portrait of
Whitneyville, the manufacturing village that Eli Whitney had developed
for 25 years. Whitney died in 1825. Munson's painting records
buildings Whitney had built or had planned. Painters, journalists
and presidents visited Whitneyville. It was an accessible and
popular sampler of change that was sprouting next to rivers all
over New England.
Munson's Whitneyville is thoughtfully organized, peaceful, and
in easy harmony with the river and hills that surround it. By
the time the Industrial Revolution had reached full force, few
factory towns kept Whitneyville's idyllic balance. Munson's painting
is an image that finds its way into text books that describe the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution in part because it recalls
a beginning of friendly human scale and dignity not yet darkened
by smoke.
Factories are places of change. At least 18 buildings have come
and gone since Whitney Sr's time. We are still digging into that
history. With the painting and map, however, you can still find
artifacts of Whitney's era and mind.
Drawing of the barn, from Eli Whitney's Gun
Factory
Drawing of the fuel shed, from Eli Whitney's
Gun Factory
Drawing of the men's boarding house, from Eli
Whitney's Gun Factory
