“M” is for Mount Dearborn Armory

“M” is for Mount Dearborn Armory. Situated on an island in the Catawba River in Chester County, Mount Dearborn was initially conceived and selected by President George Washington to be one of the nation's three national arsenal-armories. In 1802 Secretary of War Henry Dearborn purchased 523 acres near the village of Rocky Mount. By early 1804 construction began on the magazine and arsenal, but the armory was never constructed. By 1807 the army refocused its defensive priorities on Charleston, and construction at Dearborn slowed. In early 1816, Congress proposed Mount Dearborn as the site for one of three regional military academies. Eventually lawmakers decided just to provide more funds to West Point in New York. By 1825 the Mount Dearborn Armory site was reportedly abandoned, and the land officially returned to the state four years later.