Column from Washington Navy Yard
date: label: date made
content: Ca. 1880
notes: label: Description
content: This cast-iron column from the Washington Navy Yard documents Navy history and local D.C. history. Established in 1799, Washington Navy Yard is the Navy’s oldest shore station and the oldest continuously operated federal facility in the United States. This architectural column, which dates to roughly 1880, was probably originally part of a naval gun factory machine shop. This exemplifies the history of Washington Navy Yard, which was focused on ordnance production from the 1860s through World War II, when it was the Navy’s primary ordnance production plant.
label: Description
content: After World War II, however, Washington Navy Yard shifted from being a manufacturing site to being mostly a site for administrative work. At an unknown date (but likely after the naval gun factory closed), this column and a twin column from the same building were repurposed: because they were hollow, the columns were buried and used as drains. In 1969, it was found during an excavation of storm sewers in Washington Navy Yard. This column was donated to the Smithsonian, while its twin was donated to the Navy Museum.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: US Naval Station Washington DC thru Lt. Blaine Cliver
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.330210
label: accession number
content: 287623
label: catalog number
content: 330210
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Column