Existing comment:
Armory Workers
Expanding armory operations in the opening decades of the 19th century resulted in overcrowded and unhealthy living conditions for workers. Families shared inadequate, unventilated housing, while single men slept in the workshops.
To alleviate the housing shortage, armory superintendent James Stubblefield allowed workers to erect dwellings, at their own expense, on public lands along the Shenandoah River, "being the only disposable level ground at the armory." In the late 1820s and 1830s, the U.S. Government purchased the privately-built houses and leased them back to the workers. |