History on a Wall

We went to visit The American Precision Museum in Windsor, Vermont.  Parking is around the back of the museum, and this is what we saw getting out of the car!  This factory served a number of purposes over the years since it was built in 1846 as the Robbins & Laurence armory.  It was used for a number of purposes, including power generation, after the armory closed 10 years after building the factory.  What I found fascinating was the archeology of the wall on the back of the factory.  A number of windows and doors have been bricked up, and you can see where perhaps other floors may have been connected to this wall - perhaps there was an addition at one time that was since demolished.  I love that this is a kind of archaeology - fascinating to look at and study.

Here are two more photographs of the building.  This museum is popular with school children because of some of the hands on activities.  This is called the "Precision Museum" because it preserves the heritage of the mechanical arts, and celebrates the ingenuity of our mechanical forbears. It now holds the largest collection of historically significant machine tools in the nation.  The tools and the methods which make mass production possible were pioneered at the Robbins & Lawrence Armory.  Using precision metal cutting machines and high standards of accuracy, the armory proved the effectiveness of a new type of manufacturing that would soon be known as the American System, where parts were produced to be interchangeable.  Across America, a powerful machine tool industry grew up, flourishing especially in New England and the northern Midwest.