Editing Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (section)

==== The federal armory ====
{{Main|Harpers Ferry Armory}}
In 1796, the federal government purchased a {{convert|125|acre|km2|1|adj=on}} parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper. Construction began on what would become the [[Harpers Ferry Armory|United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry]] in 1799.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/armory.htm
|access-date=November 12, 2008
|url-status=dead
|first=David T.
|last=Gilbert
|year=2005
|title=Harpers Ferry Armory & Arsenal
|publisher=Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Photo Archives
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081108160124/http://www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/armory.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2008}}</ref> It is referred to locally as both "the armory" and "the arsenal," but it is the same facility. This was the second of only two such facilities in the United States, the first being in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]]. Together they produced most of the small arms for the U.S. Army. The town was transformed into a water-powered industrial center. Between 1801 and 1861, when the armory was destroyed to prevent capture during the [[American Civil War]], it produced more than 600,000&nbsp;muskets, rifles, and pistols. Inventor [[Captain John H. Hall]] pioneered the use of [[interchangeable parts]] in firearms manufactured at his rifle works at the armory between 1820 and 1840. His [[M1819 Hall rifle]] was the first breech-loading weapon adopted by the U.S. Army.<ref>Congressional Serial Set. (1868). U.S. Government Printing Office.</ref>{{rp|151}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2021}}