Somerville's Powder House
In 1703 John Mallet, a French Protestant shipbuilder, built a windmill on land (then known as Two Penny Brook Quarry) that is located at the intersection of Broadway and College Avenue in Summerville Massachusetts. John had purchased the land from Jonathan Foskett because of the height of the hill. While he owned it, the structure functioned as a windmill for the Mallet farm. With some pressure from the colony, In 1747, the Mallet family sold their land to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Colony used the windmill structure as a powder magazine (from which it derives its modern-day namesake). It remains the oldest stone building in Massachusetts.[2]
The Powder House held the largest supply of gunpowder in the colony. King George III ordered General Thomas Gage (the military governor) to enforce Intolerable Acts. The unpopular act was passed by the British Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party. Gage wanted to prevent the outbreak of war and believed the best way to accomplish this was to confiscate military stores from storehouses and arsenals in New England.[3]
Photo by Rie Lowenstein as it appeared in 2015
The Power House stands 30 feet tall and sits atop Quarry Hill. The tower was constructed of stone and originally featured three interior levels, complete with a fireplace and chimney. It became part of the city of Summerville's city seal in 1972.
On September 1, 1774, General Thomas Gage sent British troops up the Mystic River to the 10 Hills Farm. From there they marched up Broadway and took possession of 250 barrels of gunpowder that were being stored by the colonists. This was a key event that led to the American Revolution. It was the first time the British government has intentionally gone into a town and seized their stores. It is what started the "Powder Alarm," when the British ventured into the countryside in search of gunpowder to be either confiscated or destroyed.
The windmill did survive the British taking the gunpower and was later used by the Continental Army as a munitions depot during the siege of Boston in 1775-1776.
