The Second Armory

The Second Armory. . , Eli Whitney died in 1825. His son. Eli Whitney, Jr. was just 5 years old. The Blake brothers, Whitney's nephews, ran the Armory for 10 years. Trustees managed the work until 1842 when Whitney Jr. age 21, graduated from Princeton and returned to take charge of Whitneyville. He would lead the Armory for 46 years., The younger Whitney returned to a site in decline. He was a resilient and resourceful leader. He managed government contracts, the first Colt production in Connecticut, and sales to a nation migrating westward., In 1850, an explosion destroyed the original 1798 Machining and Filing Shop. The younger Whitney built a more modern Armory of bricks produced in Hamden and North Haven. The younger Whitney was an energetic promoter. The notorious adventurer Kit Carson endorsed Whitneyville's percussion rifles. In 1852, the Hungarian freedom fighter Louis Kossuth visited Whitneyville. Workers presented him rifles to support the struggle to overturn Austrian domination. Whitney's moving gesture won national acclaim. The American Civil War pushed the Armory's production to its peak. The workforce swelled to 500., By 1888, the Winchester repeating Arms Company in Newhalville with its access to the burgeoning rail network, took over the last of Whitney's patents and production. A succession of enterprises occupied Whitneyville's factory buildings until they were demolished in the 1960s. The last of the Second Armory's bells resides above the Museum's entrance. It was a gift from the Hamden Historical Society, facilitated by Charleton Gilbert, a thoughtful and generous friend of the Museum., Fragments of the Second Armory's foundation are still visible along the River's edge.