Constructed for the storage of gun powder, armaments, and field supplies, the Powder House is a small brick gable-sided structure. It sits on a high ridge, providing an expansive view of the Kennebec River. It has no windows and the brick is laid in American or common-bond pattern, with a course of short end bricks laid between several courses of long sided bricks. The Powder House is one of three surviving early-nineteenth-century magazines in the state, though the other two were constructed in response to the War of 1812. This powder house was constructed in anticipation of Maine becoming a separate state from Massachusetts at a time when local defense was typically the responsibility of the community. Hallowell, then a civic, commercial, and intellectual center along the Kennebec River, had a well-established militia. The militia wanted a powder house to easily access supplies for training, ceremonial events, and in case of military advances up the Kennebec River. By 1843 the Powder House fell out of use when the state legislature relaxed requirements for local militias. In the late-nineteenth century the cannon "Thunder Jug of Maine" was placed next to the Powder House. In 1947 the Town sold the Lot to the Mary Kelton Drummer-Patience Stanley Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Year Listed: 2002
For more information: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=22545e57-ed9c-469a-b822-951c634d7c19