Of rubble stone construction, this building appears to have been built sometime between 1650 and 1750. Its type of construction is unique to the Fall Zone where stone can be quarried from the building site's environs. Between 1785 and 1791 the building served as Petersburg's first magazine for powder and arms storage. There was a disastrous fire in this area in 1808. Insurance records show another fire occurred in 1840 followed by a renovation of the building in 1845. The earliest extant photographs show this renovated building.

The structure served as a detention facility during the Civil War principally to house both recalcitrant Virginians and captured northern soldiers. At one point after the Battle of the Crater, the facility housed captured Native-American Federal soldiers from Michigan and Confederate soldiers serving punishment for military offenses. The brick addition may have been built during this period. In the 20th century, the building served a variety of purposes, last as part of a granary gutted by a destructive fire in 1980.

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Show me all markers in:  Petersburg, VA  |  23803  |  Virginia  |  United States of America

Peter Jones Trading Station
Peter Jones Trading Station
Rock Garden
Major Peter Jones
Concrete Bunker
Petersburg's Role In Trade
Tavern Park
Golden Ball Tavern
Lt. Col. Howard Baugh, Tuskegee Airman
Early English Exploration

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