American Powder Mills (1883–1929) was a Massachusettsgunpowder manufacturing complex on the Assabet River. It expanded to include forty buildings along both sides of the river in the towns of Acton, Concord, Maynard, and Sudbury. Press mills, kernelling mills, glazing mills, and storehouses were dispersed over four-hundred acres to minimize damage during explosions. A narrow gauge railway transferred raw materials and products between the buildings.[1]
American Powder Company reorganized as American Powder Mills in 1883 with business offices in Boston. The facility was sold to American Cyanamid in 1929, with gunpowder production continuing to 1940. In addition to black powder for blasting and other purposes, APM made smokeless gunpowder for shotgun-using hunters under the brand name "Dead Shot."[1]
Newspaper reports record a number of deadly accidents at the facility. The first explosion, in 1836, in the first year of operation, killed four men. Henry David Thoreau's journal records his observations of another explosion killing three men in 1853. Five men were killed in May 1895 explosion.[4] While the plant was manufacturing gunpowder for the Russian Empire during World War I, a September 4, 1915 explosion was heard as far away as Lowell and Boston. The last three explosions in 1940 ended gunpowder production, and the property passed into W. R. Grace and Company ownership.
The Assabet River dam at the original mill pond site is being used to generate hydroelectricity for municipal Concord.[1] The body of water created by the dam goes by the name Ripple Pond, and is located in Acton and Maynard.
References
^ abcdMark, David A. (2014). Hidden History of Maynard. The History Press. pp. 78–82. ISBN978-1626195417.
^Sharpe, Philip B. (1953). Complete Guide to Handloading (Third ed.). New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 135.
^Congressional Serial Set. United States Government Printing Office. 1912. p. 350.
