Phoenix Shot Tower facts for kids
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Shot Tower
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Phoenix Shot Tower
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 Location in Baltimore
Location in Maryland
Location in the United States
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| Location | Baltimore, Maryland |
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| Built | 1828 |
| NRHP reference No. | 69000373 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 1, 1969 |
| Designated NHL | November 11, 1971 |
The Phoenix Shot Tower, also called the Old Baltimore Shot Tower, is a tall, red brick building in Baltimore, Maryland. It stands about 234 feet (71 meters) high. When it was finished in 1828, it was the tallest building in the entire United States.
This amazing tower is located near the downtown area of Baltimore. It's close to neighborhoods like Jonestown and Little Italy. The Shot Tower is the only one of its kind left in Baltimore. There used to be four!
The tower is very important to history. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1971. It also became a special Baltimore City Landmark in 1975. The nearby subway station, Shot Tower/Market Place, is named after it. Even the old basketball team, the Baltimore Bullets, got its name from the tower's history of making "shot."
Building the Shot Tower
The Phoenix Shot Tower was built by a person named Jacob Wolfe. He used bricks made by a local company in Baltimore. A very important person, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, helped start the building. He was the only person who signed the Declaration of Independence who was still alive at that time. He laid the first stone on July 4, 1828. The tower was finished in the same year.
The tower is round and made of brick. Its walls are very thick at the bottom, about 4.5 feet (1.4 meters) wide. As the tower goes up, the walls get a little thinner. At the very top, they are still about 21 inches (53 centimeters) thick.
How Shot Was Made
This tower was used to make small, round lead balls called "shot." These were used for old guns like muskets. Here's how it worked:
- Workers would melt lead at the very top of the tower.
- They would pour the hot, melted lead through a special screen. This screen was like a sieve.
- The lead would fall in tiny drops, all the way down the inside of the tower.
- At the bottom, there was a big vat of cold water. The lead drops would land in the water and cool down very quickly. This made them hard and perfectly round.
After the shot was made, it was dried and polished. Then, it was put into bags that weighed about 25 pounds (11 kg) each. The tower could make about 100,000 bags of shot every year! If there was a lot of demand, they could make even more.
The tower stopped making shot in 1892. This was because a new way to make shot was invented, and the tower was no longer needed. It did open again for a short time in the early 1900s, but then it closed for good.
Saving the Tower
The Shot Tower was the tallest building in the United States until 1846. That's when Trinity Church was built in New York City. It was also the tallest building in Baltimore until 1875.
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The company that owned the tower closed in 1898. In 1921, a company called Union Oil wanted to buy the tower for $14,500. They planned to tear it down and build a gas station there.
But the people in the community really loved the tower! They strongly objected to it being torn down. By 1928, enough money was raised to buy the tower and give it to the City of Baltimore. This helped save it as one of the city's first protected historic landmarks.
In 1971, the tower was officially named a National Historic Landmark. A special bronze plaque was placed on its brick wall. Today, a group called Carroll Museums Inc. helps manage and care for the Shot Tower, so people can still visit and learn about its history.
