Picatinny Arsenal

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The Picatinny Arsenal is a military research and manufacturing facility located on a 6,400 acre lot in northern New Jersey. The Arsenal is known for inventing the ubiquitous Picatinny rail, among other things.

The facility was founded in 1880 as the Picatinny Powder Depot. It manufactured gunpowder until after World War I—at that point the facility also began producing heavy munitions and grew more involved in research and development activities. Today, the facility develops new technologies for the US armed forces and builds various munitions, weapons and armor systems.

In 1891 the Navy acquired 317 acres on the Army's Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey to establish their Lake Denmark Powder Depot. On July 10, 1926, lightning struck and started a fire. As a result, several million pounds of explosives detonated over a period of 2-3 days. This left not only structural devastation, but military and civlian casualties as well. As a result of a full-scale Congressional investigation, Congress directed the establishment of the Armed Forces Explosives Safety Board to provide oversight on every aspect of explosives under the control of the US Armed Forces.