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The buildings and landscape of the Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop can tell us a lot about the history of the site, its factories, and its people. On this page, you can explore information about the site and find links to more in-depth history.
See more: Campus map
An Ideal Location
When Eli Whitney arrived at the future site of his armory in 1798, he found a landscape that offered important resources: water, rock, and transportation.
At the Armory site, the Mill River fell over the gap between East Rock and Mill Rock, creating a small natural waterfall. The waterfall was an ideal source of water power for mills and factories, and the rock outcroppings on either side were a great source of building material. Boats could travel there from the harbor, bringing in supplies and taking away finished products. And at the time Whitney’s Armory was established, the New Haven and Hartford Turnpike was being built alongside it. All of this was ideal for Whitney’s needs.
Other people had been using the site and its resources for many generations. Eli Whitney and his successors would also take advantage of all the site had to offer.
First Residents
The Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop is located on the ancestral lands of the Quinnipiac people. No archaeological evidence has been found of Quinnipiac settlement in the immediate area of the Museum and Workshop, but it is likely that the natural waterfall was a fishing site.
Learn More: The Quinnipiac
New Haven Colony and The First Mill
In April 1638, a group of English Puritan settlers arrived with plans to create a new colony, which they named “New Haven.” To feed themselves, the colonists needed to build a mill to grind corn or wheat into flour. The natural waterfall below East Rock was an ideal site. There was still a grist mill there in 1795 when Eli Whitney founded the Armory.
Learn more: The Mill River and the First Mill
Buildings and Surroundings
Very few buildings from Eli Whitney’s time survive at the Armory site. The site underwent frequent change throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, and records of some buildings are scarce. However, there is still a great deal to discover about how the site was built and evolved.
The Armory was built on the site of a grist mill that had been producing flour for New Haven residents since 1630. Whitney leased the property from prominent New Haven resident James Hillhouse and his business partners, who had purchased the land to build the New Haven and Hartford Turnpike. Whitney also purchased a large farm on the other side of the turnpike.