The Phoenix Shot Tower’s late-1920s restoration included an unusual finishing touch: a device that lit its top red at night. The Maryland Historical Trust’s register account says the glow was meant to suggest smoke and fire. By then, the tower’s manufacturing life had been over for decades; shot production ended in 1892. [1]
The brick shell had been built in 1828 around a process that needed a long drop. Lead descended from an upper platform into water below; the finished shot was dried, polished and packed. The tower narrowed from about forty feet across at its base to twenty at the top. The register describes the walls themselves as five and a half feet thick at the base, thinning to twenty inches at the top. [1]
Where is this place?
Phoenix Shot Tower, Baltimore. This map locates the town or region, not a verified exact historic event site.
In 1921, demolition permits threatened the tower with replacement by an automobile garage, according to Baltimore Heritage. Residents organized against the loss. On 11 October 1924, a citizens’ group bought the tower for $17,000 and gave it to the city on the understanding that it would be preserved. [2]