Phoenix Shot Tower
N 39° 17.452 W 076° 36.335
18S E 361537 N 4350283
The Phoenix Shot Tower, also known as the Old Baltimore Shot Tower, is a red brick shot tower, 234 ft and 3 inches tall, located near the downtown and Little Italy areas of Baltimore, Maryland.
Waymark Code: WM46AY
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 07/14/2008
Views: 26
When it was completed in 1828 it was the tallest structure in the United States. The tower was originally known as the Phoenix Shot Tower, then the Merchants' Shot Tower, and now is called the Old Baltimore Shot Tower.
The tower was built by Jacob Wolfe using bricks manufactured by the Burns and Russell Co. of Baltimore. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, laid its cornerstone. The circular brick structure's walls are 4.5 feet thick from the bottom to about 50 feet up; then they narrow in stages of 4 inches each, until at the top the thickness is 21 inches.
The tower remained the tallest structure in the United States until 1846, when Trinity Church, New York was erected. It remained the tallest free-standing masonry structure in the world until 1864, when the Washington Monument in the District of Columbia was completed.
The shot tower was originally owned by the Merchant's Shot Tower Company. The company closed in 1898.
In 1921 the tower was purchased for $14,500 by the Union Oil Company, which planned to tear it down and put a gas station in its place. After strong objections by the community, by 1928 enough money had been raised to purchase the tower and present it to the City of Baltimore.
The tower was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972.
From the Wikipedia entry.
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