Residents Learn of Little-Known Building from Little-Known War

Catie White, an eighth-grader at Roger Ludlowe Middle School, got a kick out of going into the Powder House, a small building built by Fairfield residents in 1814 to store ammunition and gunpowder during the War of 1812.

"It was kind of creepy with the bugs, but it's kind of cool," Catie, 13, said this afternoon. "The only other Powder House I was in was the one in Williamsburg. That was like an armory, bigger and with less bugs."

Claire Abate, 10, of Black Rock, also liked the Powder House, which was restored last year by the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, local architects and town Department of Public Works' crews.

"I think it's really cool because it's still here, and it's [from] 196 years ago. They don't use it, but it's still there," Claire said.

When Elizabeth Oderwald, a DAR member, asked who wanted to take First Selectman Ken Flatto inside the Powder House, Claire quickly raised her hand.

Kim Stevens, Claire's mother, said her daughter has always loved history. "She loves everything old...She hates when she sees new buildings going up. She says, 'Why did they have to tear that one down?' "

Claire said she likes history because "it actually happened a long time ago; it's real, it's not fantasy. I really do like learning about American history."

There was much to learn about American history this afternoon - particularly the War of 1812 and Fairfield's role in it - during a presentation by Oderwald on that war and the Powder House.

Oderwald, president of the Connecticut Society Daughters of 1812,  said Fairfield farmers didn't build the Powder House when the War of 1812 started because Britain was fighting France and the war didn't seem likely to come to Fairfield, which had been burned to the ground by the British only 33 years earlier.

But when the British defeated France in the spring of 1814, British eyes turned with more focus toward America and particularly the coastline, where the British could attempt invading from the water, Oderwald said.

The British had ships in Long Island Sound while the War of 1812 was going on and they had blockaded the coastline, but it was only after Napolean surrendered that Fairfield residents figured the war might be coming too close to home.

"When Napolean surrendered, I've got all these ships and soldiers. Now I can look at you, United States, and I've got you," Oderwald said of British thoughts at the time. "I've got you because I've got all these ships and I really control the whole eastern seaboard."

The British attacked and burned Washington, bombarded Stonington, burned a ship-building center in Essex and tried to attack Stratford but were repelled, Oderwald said. "I think finally the people in Fairfield said, 'You know what, they're going to come here. They're not kidding around...It wasn't until that point, where everybody around them was being attacked," she said.

Levi Jennings donated land for construction of a Powder House in October 1814, and Fairfield farmers quickly built it. It was used to store ammunition and gunpowder and was in a good location because it was on a hill, offered a clear view of British ships in Long Island Sound and was beyond the range of a cannonball fired from a ship. It also was centrally located to forts built in Black Rock, which was then part of Fairfield, Southport and the center of town, where Old Town Hall is today, Oderwald said.

America got involved in the War of 1812 because an embargo had closed American ships to French and English ports and the United States was dependent on trade with Europe, Oderwald said.

Getting food for all the troops on board British ships in Long Island Sound was a strong motivator in the British's attempt to invade the eastern coast of the United States; otherwise, they would have had to sail to Halifax to get supplies, Oderwald said.

The British lost the War of 1812 in December 1814, but Fairfield residents didn't hear the news until the following February or March. When they did, they made a pyramid of tar barrels on the Town Green, set it on fire, killed and roasted an oxen and had a feast in the Fairfield Academy on Town Green, next to the present-day St. Paul's Church, Oderwald said.

The War of 1812 is often forgotten because it's sandwiched in between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, but Oderwald said it was an important war because it helped unify the country.

The Powder House has a new door and new roof, but nearly all of its walls are made from the original stones. A slab that is on the ground in front of the door also is probably original, Oderwald said.

"This is strictly a utilitarian building," said Richard Oderwald, Elizabeth's husband. "It wasn't built for beauty. In fact, it's probably more beautiful now than it probably was back then."

Flatto said there was some debate about the type of roof that was on the Powder House when it was built because no photographs of it exist from its original construction. "It was hard to prove how the building was in its first iteration," Flatto said.

Richard Oderwald figured the original Powder House roof was made of brick and layered over with concrete and possibly tar to make it watertight. The roof, as it appears from inside the Powder House, is brick. Architects who designed the Powder House's restoration eventually settled on cedar shingles for the exterior part of the roof.

Flatto praised the local DAR chapter for getting the Powder House's restoration on the town's agenda and raising money for it. "It looks beautiful. The DAR was kind of a sparkplug to...raise money for it, and having a sponsor of a historic structure like this is vital," Flatto said.

Jessica Zaccagnino, 14, a freshman at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, said she mostly learned about colonial history and World War II in school. She liked hearing about the Powder House and going inside it. "I think it's cool, except for the bugs," she said.

The DAR likely will hold special programs in 2012 because that will be the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, Oderwald said.

Fairfield's Powder House, located behind Tomlinson Middle School, is pretty unique in Connecticut, according to Oderwald. "This is the only one built in that war that's still standing," Oderwald said, adding that the DAR is trying to get it listed on the State Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places.