1851, it became necessary to
provide still more ample accommodations for his manufactory. The next
year he began the execution of a plan, the magnitude of which caused
many of his friends to tremble for his future prosperity. He resolved to
build the largest and most perfect armory in the world, one which should
enable him to manufacture his weapons with greater rapidity and nicety
than had ever yet been possible.

Just to the south of the Little or Mill River there was a piece of
meadow land, about two hundred and fifty acres in extent, generally
regarded as useless, in consequence of its being submerged every spring
by the freshets in the river. Colonel Colt bought this meadow for a
nominal sum, and, to the astonishment of the good people of Hartford,
proceeded to surround it with a strong dike, or embankment. This
embankment was two miles in length, one hundred and fifty feet wide at
the base, from thirty to sixty feet wide at the top, and from ten to
twenty-five feet high. Its strength was further increased by planting
willows along the sides; and it was thoroughly tested just after its
completion by a freshet of unusual severity. Having drained the meadow,
Colonel Colt began the erection of his armory upon the land inclosed by
the embankment. It was constructed of Portland stone, and consisted of
three buildings--two long edifices, with a third connecting them in the
center, the whole being in the form of the letter H. The front parallel
was five hundred by sixty feet, the rear parallel five hundred by forty
feet, and the central building two hundred and fifty by fifty feet--the
front parallel and central building being three stories in height.
Connected with these buildings were other smaller edifices for offices,
warerooms, watchmen's houses, etc.

In 1861, the demand for the arms had become so enormous that the armory
was doubled in size, the new buildings being similar in style to the
old. "In this establishment there is ample accommodation for the
manufacture of one thousand fire-arms per day," which is more than the
arsenals at Harper's Ferry and Springfield combined could turn out in
the same time previous to the war. In 1861, Colt's armory turned out
about one hundred and twenty thousand stand of arms, and in 1860, the
two armories before mentioned made about thirty-five thousand between
them. A portion of the armory at Hartford is devoted to the fabrication
of the machinery invented by Colonel Colt for t