The
Eli Whitney Museum, in
HamdenHamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
, is an experimental learning workshop for students, teachers, and families. The museum focuses on teaching experiments that are the roots of design and invention, featuring hands-on building projects and exhibits on
Eli WhitneyEli Whitney was an American inventor best known as the inventor of the cotton gin. This was one of the key inventions of the industrial revolution and shaped the economy of the antebellum South. Whitney's invention made short staple cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic...
and A. C. Gilbert.
The museum building was originally the Eli Whitney Armory, erected by Whitney to produce
musketA musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder.Usually, the musket is thought to be the weapon that replaced the arquebus, and was in turn replaced by the rifle...
s on a site he purchased on September 17, 1798.
The
Eli Whitney Museum, in
HamdenHamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
, is an experimental learning workshop for students, teachers, and families. The museum focuses on teaching experiments that are the roots of design and invention, featuring hands-on building projects and exhibits on
Eli WhitneyEli Whitney was an American inventor best known as the inventor of the cotton gin. This was one of the key inventions of the industrial revolution and shaped the economy of the antebellum South. Whitney's invention made short staple cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic...
and A. C. Gilbert.
The museum building was originally the Eli Whitney Armory, erected by Whitney to produce
musketA musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder.Usually, the musket is thought to be the weapon that replaced the arquebus, and was in turn replaced by the rifle...
s on a site he purchased on September 17, 1798. The factory was powered by water from the Mill River and produced muskets for the
United States governmentThe federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and...
. On June 14, 1798, he contracted to produce 10,000 muskets to be delivered within 28 months at the cost of $134,000.00; in fact, it took ten years. When he signed the contract, Whitney had no factory, no workers and no experience in gun manufacturing. However, in a letter to
Secretary of the TreasuryThe United States Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, concerned with finance and monetary matters, and, until 2003, some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United States is analogous to the...
Oliver WolcottOliver Wolcott was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and also the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Connecticut....
, a fellow
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
graduate and friend, Whitney had written:
- I am persuaded that Machinery moved by water adapted to this Business would greatly diminish the labor and facilitate the manufacture of this Article. Machines for forging, rolling, floating, boring, grinding, polishing, etc. may all be made use of to advantage.... (May 13, 1798)
Whitney's factory was at the very forefront of the American
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
, using water-powered machinery, and it was among the first to have standardized, interchangeable parts (for some but not all of its parts).
The museum is on the site of what was once known as Whitneyville, the manufacturing village constructed along the Mill River to house the workers at the Eli Whitney Armory, and made famous by painter William Giles Munson, who sketched the Whitney Armory in 1826, a year after Whitney died, creating at least 3 paintings from those sketches over the next two decades. The grounds still feature the old barn, stone coal shed and boarding house which date back to the days of Whitneyville and the operational armory, along with a reconstruction of
Ithiel TownIthiel Town was a prominent American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the first half of the 19th century. He was high-strung, sophisticated, generous,...
's innovative lattice truss
covered bridgeA covered bridge is a bridge, often single-lane, with enclosed sides and a roof. They have typically been wooden, although some newer ones are concrete or metal with glass sides...
erected on the original pilings of one of the two bridges built to service the Eli Whitney Armory.
The Eli Whitney museum has exhibits on Whitney and his most famous invention, the
cotton ginA cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates the cotton fibers from the seeds, a job previously done by hand. These seeds are either used again to grow more cotton or, if badly damaged, are disposed of...
. Other exhibits cover the historic site and
A. C. GilbertAlfred Carlton Gilbert was an American inventor, athlete, toy-maker and businessman. Born in Salem, Oregon and died in Boston, Massachusetts, Gilbert is best known as the inventor of the Erector Set.-Early life:...
, the inventor and toy maker best known for his invention of the
erector setErector Set is the trade name of a toy construction set that was popular in the United States during much of the 20th century. Like Meccano that was patented in 1901, it consists of collections of small metal beams with regular holes for nuts, bolts, screws, and mechanical parts such as pulleys,...
. The museum is an experimental learning workshop for design and specializes in building projects for children blending science and invention. The site is located adjacent to the dam first built by Eli Whitney to power the armory, then raised to its current height by Eli Whitney Blake to provide more power. The museum also features water tables with canal locks and is adjacent to a water reservoir as well as hiking trails. In addition to visitor hours, the museum hosts summer and holiday programs and birthday parties, and is home to the annual Leonardo Challenge, a celebration of improvisational creativity that invites artists and designers from the
New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven is the second-largest municipality in Connecticut, after Bridgeport and just ahead of Hartford, with a core population of about 124,000 people. "New Haven" may also refer to the wider Greater New Haven area, which has nearly 600,000 inhabitants in the immediate area...
area to create uncommon inventions and designs from common objects, culminating in an exhibition of their creative efforts.