Looking Back to Arsenal Days
The events by which a beautiful wooded tract of approximately seventy-six acres became the site of a Government Arsenal is an interesting story, as is the preservation of this beauty spot of nature, now in the heart of the City of Indianapolis, and its transformation from a military center to the site of a peaceful comprehensive high school.
Early in 1861, shortly after the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency of the United States, rumor of war arose, and soon it became evident that a civil war was unavoidable.
One Indianapolis citizen, Herman Sturm, a maker of fine mathematical instruments, was aware that the country was not supplied with sufficient quantities of ammunition to meet the demand. He had made a thorough study of the manufacture of ammunition in Hanover, Germany, so he set to work as early as February of 1861 to make samples of cartridges in his own home.
When war was imminent he conferred with Governor Oliver P. Morton, who, although he saw the importance of having cartridges made, could not aid Mr. Sturm financially because he did not have the sanction of the legislature.
Through Sturm's efforts, according to his sister Helena, the local bankers promised to finance his undertaking. Then Governor Morton advised him to go at once to Washington for a personal interview with President Lincoln and to have his cartridge approved. The cartridges were found to be of the best quality. Upon Mr. Sturn's return to Indianapolis on April 27, 1861, which was shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, Governor Morton ordered the building of a temporary State Arsenal on the north half of the present State House grounds from Market to Ohio Street, for the purpose of supplying munitions of war for the Indiana regiments.
Long wooden buildings were erected in which the cartridge shells were made; and a small brick foundry was build for the molding of bullets and the filling of the cartridges. Here, also, was the office of the Ordinance Department. Work was under the supervision of Robert Sturm.
Within ten days the place was ready for work, with Herman Sturm appointed Superintendent of the Arsenal with the title of Captain of the Ordinance Department. In 1862 Captain Sturm, according to his sister, formed a company of artillery and was ready for action at the front; but on eve of his departure Governor Morton came to him and said, "Sturm, I cannot let you go. I need you here to stay with your work in
Because laborers had enlisted, there were few men available for work when the Arsenal opened. About one hundred women and girls, mostly relatives of the volunteers, were employed to make the cartridges. Boys from the public schools also helped.
On October 18, 1861, Governor Morton asked that the work of the Arsenal be continued at the expense of the government.
Soon work had increased to such proportions that it was considered dangerous to be making and storing munitions in the heart of town so the Arsenal was moved from West Market Street to leased ground on the south side of Michigan Street, one and one-half miles east of the center of town. It was owned by Colonel Sturm who had the buildings erected at his own expense.
It is interesting to note that the Arsenal then ceased to be a matter of interest to the townspeople who had enjoyed pointing it out to visitors when it was downtown.
As war progressed, an increasing work force of men and women was required, from 500 to 700 working day and night, producing 300,000 rounds of ammunition every twenty-four hours.
On July 11, 1862, the War Department "began making preparations to direct exclusively the purchase and manufacture of all munitions for the conduct of war, and on that date Congress passed an act providing for a permanent National Arsenal at Indianapolis for the deposit and repair of arms and munitions of war."
Governor Morton, assisted by the Honorable Robert Dale Owen, then agent for the state to purchase arms and munitions of war, consulted with the National Congress about the location for and building of the United States Arsenal.
Following the act of Congress, "A beautiful tract of wooded land one and one-half miles east of the City of Indianapolis containing 75.14 acres, was purchased for $35,500" (so the record states). This land was directly north of the Sturm property, on the north side of Michigan Street.
The Indiana Arsenal was formally closed in April of 1864, and the National Government took over the munitions work and began improvement on the new site.
Thus, the manufacture of ammunition ceased in Indianapolis. The state had realized a profit of $77,457.32--$71,381.01 in cash, plus tools and ammunition had been sold outside the state.
In August of 1863 Captain of Ordinance Thomas J. Treadwell was appointed in command, and work on the New National Arsenal was started.
Far-sighted and energetic, this thirty-one-year-old captain, a very capable and progressive young man, saw great possibilities for starting the Arsenal on this beautiful acreage, and after reviewing the situation, he wrote the first of a series of sixty-two letters to General James W. Ripley, Chief of Ordinance, Washington, D.C.
In his second letter, August 14, Captain Treadwell wrote: "Sir: I have the honor to submit the enclosed plan of the Indianapolis Arsenal site...I have made careful examination of the whole ground and have decided the best site for the main Arsenal Building is as indicated by the red line, C>A>, running east and west parallel to and at a distance of 300 feet from the southern boundary line of the arsenal ground...This will allow for a street in from 100 feet broad, and 200 feet space between the enclosure and front line of buildings and gives a southern front...all to the east and north of the site is thick forest."
Captain Treadwell had found that there were no roads on which to haul materials to build the Arsenal so he purchased land from Messrs. Fletcher and Sturm at a cost of $472 for a road connecting the Arsenal grounds with the National Road. This is now called Arsenal Avenue.
Concerning the progress of the three-story brick and stone-trimmed Arsenal or storehouse, Captain Treadwell wrote in his letter of January 13, 1864, "I will not be able to begin the foundation until the season opens next spring...I am determined to make all the bricks required (2,000,000) on the grounds, and hope to have them ready by September first, all material being furnished on the grounds...No useful or ornamental trees are being cut except such as are on the site of the building...Excavation for basement was made during the fall."
In spite of his plans it was necessary to send to Cincinnati for some of the bricks, as well as for the timber. Stone used for the foundation and trimmings of the buildings came from Vernon, Indiana. It was hauled from the railroad on wagons pulled by oxen. One woman who lived near the grounds and whose fiancé helped to build the storehouse said that the cornerstone blocks were so heavy that only one could be hauled at a time. Undoubtedly the dirt road, especially when it rained, made hauling doubly hard.
The date on the keystone of the south archway of the tower of the storehouse(Arsenal) is 1865. The other nine buildings--Artillery, Guard House, Office, Barn(or corral), Magazine, Barracks, Electric, and two officers' residences, were completed by 1893.
The grounds were laid out by an expert landscape gardener, a Scotsman by the name of George Graham. The walks and carriage ways were curved; rose bushes, lilacs, pear and apple trees, and grapevines were planted. The soldiers kept the grounds in excellent trim.
Major Treadwell was in charge for only a short time; in fact, when he left in 1864, only the basement of the storehouse had been completed. He was succeeded by James M. Whittimore, Captain of Ordinance, who was relieved, at his own request, in 1866, by Lieutenant Colonel W.H. Harris.
Fifty soldiers were stationed at the Arsenal and fifteen different commanders were in charge during the approximately forty years that the United States Government had this Arsenal.
Two of the buildings are of special interest: the Arsenal and Powder Magazine. The tower of the storehouse, now called the Arsenal, is seven stories high. Through its open archway, paved in cobblestone, carts and wagons would be driven to be unloaded by means of wooden hoist on the fourth floor. The rope which hung down through the tower from the hoist had a huge knot at the end: this made a tempting swing for children. The clock works, enclosed in a glass case on the sixth floor of the tower, are wound by hand, taking four to five minutes to wind. The heavy weights extend down two stories through a shaft. The clock was installed July 6, 1867. A huge bell is mounted on the tower. The clock faces are six feet in diameter. The hands have been replaced twice: the first two sets were of wood; the last of metal.
This Arsenal clock was the clock-setter for residents of Woodruff Place. Once, when the clock stopped, workmen found that a Yellow Hammer had become entangled in one of the wheels. When the bell began ringing again, neighbors were heard to remark, "It was like getting a letter from home."
The Powder Magazine, located in the north west center section of the grounds near Pogue's Run, was built in 1866.
Because the powder had to be kept dry, the building was really one of the earliest air-conditioned structures. It has double walls, each two and one-half feet thick, with an air-shaft between, and a series of ventilators resembling chimneys. There is just one window. While powder was stored here, a lamp outside the window lit the interior.
Only copper nails and spikes were used. The floor was covered with tan bark to prevent fire from breaking out. When a soldier entered he had to wear rubber-soled shoes which he kept outside the entrance. No visitors were allowed to enter the Magazine; a sentinel was usually stationed on the mound that had been raised around the building so that if an explosion occurred, the debris would be shot up instead of spreading out, thus protecting the homes on Oriental Street.
According to stories of that time, children going along Oriental Street would run when they neared the Magazine for fear an explosion would blow up the building and they would be killed.
Children living in Woodruff Place loved to sneak into the Arsenal grounds to play and to slide down the mound around the Magazine. One of the crowd would serve as a lookout, waving a handkerchief when there was a guard approaching.
One day the boy selected to be the "lookout man" forgot his assignment, left his post, and joined in the fun with his playmates so the children failed to see the guard approaching. When the guard called "Halt, in the name of the U. S. Government," the youngsters raced to scale the picket fence between the grounds and Woodruff Place.
One lad was caught; and to the children's horror, the guard handcuffed him and led him to the Guard House. The children were sure he would be shot at sunrise! However, the guard had the boy's parents notified that he would keep the lad until sundown. Then, he took the boy on a tour of the grounds and buildings, showing him everything of interest; so the chap had an interesting day, after all.
In enclosing the Arsenal grounds with a wooden panel fence, twelve and one-half feet on the north, thirty on the south and west and twenty on the east were left outside to allow plenty of room for roadways and streets, so as to obliterate in the future the necessity of the government to donate land to the city for that purpose and thus, to save the expense of moving back the fence.
On the east side trouble arose when Mr. Woodruff, platting Woodruff Place, disregarded the agreement with the former owner of the land that twenty feet would be left along the boundary line, corresponding with the number of feet would be left by the government, for a roadway, and planted stakes on the line of the U.S. twenty feet. He intended to use the government's twenty feet as an alleyway for his property owners. Although Mr. Woodruff was informed of his error, he refused to move the building line for barns and outhouses back twenty feet, so the government fence was erected at the boundary and the "alley," as it was called, was never opened to the public.
In 1894 the wooden fence was replaced with an iron fence which still stands. It is seven feet high with pickets of three-fourths-inch gas pipe pointed with malleable iron spike.
The wooden flagpole was raised in 1884, the pole being 169 feet high. It was placed between the Artillery Building and the West Residence on a direct line with Arsenal Avenue.
In the southwest corner of the grounds was a little creek and a dense wooded section, called Ritsinger Woods. Here large yellow violets grew profusely. Children discovered one of the fence pickets was loose, so when a guard wasn't looking they would creep through the hole to pick the violets.
A large brass cannon, mounted on a carriage, was placed on the mound across the driveway, just west of the Guard House. At sunrise and sunset, following the bugler's playing, the cannon would be fired, making a terrific noise. When homes were built on Davidson's Hill, now called Sturm Avenue, housewives complained because windows and dishes in the cupboards would rattle when the cannon was fired. Thus, the cannon was moved to the east side of the grounds behind the Barn, near the entrance gate to Woodruff Place.
However, the carriage cannon, according to pictures taken in 1902, was replaced by a small one mounted on a wooded base. Whatever became of the original cannon is not known.
A guard always paced back and forth on the porch of the Guard House which is located just inside the entrance to the Michigan Street gate. Two guards paced the grounds from north to south on a path in the approximate center of the grounds. One would start at the Michigan Street gate and the other at the Clifford Street( the present East Tenth Street) entrance. They would meet halfway, turn around, and retrace their steps.
Rules for the soldiers were strict. They had to take a pledge "to follow the dictates of their conscience and abstain from intoxicating liquor and passionate language." Once a soldier was discharged for using language disrespectful to the President of the United States.
Smoking was frowned upon. However, it was permitted "within ten feet of the Barracks, on the road from the flag staff and the Commanding Officer's Quarters to the south entrance."
Singing, whistling, loud talking, and boisterous conduct of any kind were strictly forbidden. One soldier was reduced to Second Class Private, lowest rank, for conversing and laughing with prisoners in the Guard House.
If an employee was an offender of one of the rules, he was discharged; if a visitor was the offender, he was forced to leave the grounds. Worst soldier offenders were put in a dark cell in the Guard House for seven days and nights, on a bread and water diet.
There was an ice-house on the grounds. Each soldier received his allowance of ice at seven o'clock every morning. If he reported late he was refused his portion.
Married soldiers lived with their families in small frame houses on Oriental Street, west of the grounds. The gardener was the only employee to live with his family on the grounds. He lived in a little white frame house on the northwest side.
Children of enlisted men were not allowed to play on the lawns; however, they could walk through the grounds on their way to school.
In the Post records is the story of Private David Shaffner who was married without permission. For this, when not at work he was confined to the Guard House, was reduced in rank to Second Class Private, and was treated as though he was not married.
The prisoners were watched rather closely. While in the Guard House they were not allowed to keep in their possession anything except the necessary changes of clothing. They were required to make their beds neatly in the short time between reveille and the morning call to work. All their meals were eaten in their cells.
Enlisted men could go downtown in the evening if they had special permission. If they failed to report back at the specified hour, they spent time in the Guard House.
All lights were turned out at nine o'clock in the Barracks except in the library where lights were out at eleven o'clock.
Another Post record read as follows: "The Commanding Officer has noticed that several of the employees of the Arsenal are in the habit of quitting work and putting up their tools some time before the ringing of the bell to cease work. Such practice is injurious to the public service and must be stopped... In cases of bad weather when the light is not sufficient to work, the master workman will direct when to quit."
In 1885 when Major A.L. Varney was in command of the Arsenal, a sergeant who was fond of beer sneaked a sprinkling can of the liquor onto the grounds, having bought it at a saloon on Clifford Street. He was enjoying it when his companion warned him that Major Varney was approaching. Quickly the sergeant pretended to be sprinkling a flower bed.
"Your water is rather muddy," remarked the Major, known for his sense of humor; and as he walked on, the relieved sergeant returned to his beer.
John S. Hatfield, master workman, who was employed during the entire history of the Government Arsenal, enjoyed his pipe. One day he was smoking while digging a ditch. As major Varney approached ,Mr. Hatfield stuffed his pipe into his pocket and jumped into the ditch.
As the major glanced down, he remarked, "I believe your coat is on fire, Mr. Hatfield."
"Why, so it is, Major, " Mr. Hatfield replied; and with a knowing smile Major Varney walked on.
All records were kept in a Post Guard Book concerning every detail on the grounds, the time anyone or any vehicle passed through the gate, and the names and misdeeds of enlisted men were recorded. For example: April 17, 1866: Early this morning Mr. Curry's horse broke loose, out of the stable, and through the grounds to the carpenter shop. April 19, 1866: Boland and Spencer, after fighting in the mess hall, were confined to the Guard House for twenty-four hours.
April 24, 1866: Private Keys confined to the Post for one week for not keeping the wash house in good order.
Later items, years omitted, follow:
August 27: Stain on table. Evening gun fired two minutes late
August 28: Private Welch did not report "off pass" in the usual way.
August 31: Ink spots on floor of Guard House.
September 1: Two gents with ladies passed out at 10:20 p.m.
September 7: Servant at Commanding Officer's passed out gate at 9:35 P.M.
September 18: Clock meddled with by Guard. Clock will not run.
September 28: Corporal Riley fired evening gun one hour too soon.
December 14: Cow passed in while Corporal Riles was at Guard House.
From the monthly Company Returns are interesting items, especially those concerning the early years.
November 7, 1865: The first six enlisted men arrived today. Their names have been entered in the book in the following manner: Edward Marshall, James Sullivan, Charles Swaney, Philip White, Dennis Sugrue, and James Gardner.
December 6, 1865: Dennis Sugrue is the first man to desert the Arsenal.
April 6, 1867: A bill was passed prohibiting payment by any officer to any person known to have been against the rebellion.
September 21, 1867: An order issued for the month of October by National Headquarters reads that officers are to be furnished with canned fruits and vegetables for the winter.
June 3l, 1868: Announcement was received today that the honorable ex-President Buchanan passed away at his home.
January 18, 1869: A bill was passed today relative to and limiting the amount of straw allowed to every horse in the service.
The Post Order Book contained official orders, read to the company at morning roll call. For example:
March 29, 1874: Death of ex-President Millard Fillmore was announced. Labor would cease for the day and the flag would be flown at half-staff.
August 7, 1885: It was announced that August 8 had been designated "for the observance of the funeral ceremonies in testimony of respect for General U.S Grant." Thirteen guns were fired at dawn, and afterward, at intervals of thirty minutes between the rising and setting of the sun. At the close of the day there was a national salute of thirty-eight guns. The flag was displayed at half-staff.
Major Varney was in command of the Arsenal until May, 1899, when he was relieved by Major Charles Shaler.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War the Arsenal was being used mainly to store guns, powder, and relics and records of the Civil War. At one time 100,000 rifles were in storage.
In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the Arsenal was raised from third to first class. Infantry, cavalry, and horse equipment, and artillery harness were made in the shops. Altogether the government had ordered 32,000 haversacks, 200,000 haversack straps, 25,000 blanket bags, 20,000 blanket bag straps, and 20,000 coat straps.
After the Spanish-American War, the Arsenal declined and finally was offered for sale when Major William H. Miller, chief quartermaster of the Arsenal, advertised the grounds with all the buildings at public auction.
At once citizens, civic organizations and the press demanded that the property be purchased and kept intact as a public park or as a site of a school or university.
Mr. M. B. Wilson, a trustee of the Winona Lake Technical and Agricultural Institution, made the only bid--$154,000. Because the entire amount of the bid had to be on hand or promised before the bid could be made, Mr. Wilson had been working for nine months to raise the necessary amount. On March 6, 1903, the auctioneer went through a ceremony of auctioning the grounds and the deal was transacted. The Winona technical Institute was in session from 1903 to 1909, when it went into the hands of a receiver.
The final abandonment of the Arsenal had been authorized June 30, 1902. After the government officially abandoned the grounds, a detachment from FT. Thomas, Kentucky, was in charge until the funds were raised to buy the grounds.
Ed Schobe, a civilian who had been a clerk at the Arsenal for many years, packed all of the government records in seventeen boxes and shipped them to the Frankfort Arsenal; but before he closed the last box, he enclosed copies of several letters he had written to Major Shaler, the last commanding officer of the Government Arsenal
One of the letters contained this sentence: "I do not suppose that they (meaning the boxes) will ever be opened and will eventually mould away."
Walter N. Carpenter, a Woodruff Place resident, gave a touching account of the firing of the last cannon and the lowering of the last flag when the grounds were abandoned./ "In the cold gray dawn of April 13, 1903, my small son Paul and I made our way over to the Arsenal grounds to witness the firing of the last morning gun...
"Shortly before six o'clock a lone soldier strolled leisurely to the place where the small cannon, bolted to a block of wood, was embedded in the ground just north of the Barn. As the clock in the Arsenal Tower struck the hour he pulled the halyard, setting off the charge, and the last cannon had been fired at the old Arsenal...
"On the afternoon of April 15, 1903, under leaden skies, a detachment of soldiers marched to the foot of the flag staff, and as they presented arms, the Stars and Stripes were lowered slowly, for the last time, and the old Arsenal passed into history."
There is a postscript to Mr. Schobe's so-called prophecy. The summer of 1919, Miss Esther Fay Shover, one of the original eight teachers who, with Milo H. Stuart, principal, started the Arsenal Technical Schools in September, 1912, wrote to Washington, asking permission to examine the old Arsenal records at the Frankfort Arsenal.
When permission was granted, Miss Shover went to the Frankfort Arsenal, donned coveralls, and, with the assistance of one of the soldiers, ferreted out the boxes of records. Then she wrote to the Board of School Commissioners in Indianapolis asking it to pay the freight to have the boxes returned to Arsenal Tech.
The Board agreed and the seventeen boxes of records which Mr. Schobe had thought would never be opened again arrived at the school in December, 1919.
The shop classes made special boxes to hold the records. With the help of several students, Miss Shover catalogued all of the materials and filed them in the boxes.
These boxes are now stored in the government archives on the third floor of Treadwell Hall, which, through the efforts of Miss Shover, had been named for the first commanding officer of the Indianapolis Government Arsenal, Major T.J. Treadwell.