Date Posted:12:10:31 06/06/09 Sat Author:Randall K. Wilson '70 Subject: Re: TECH TRIVIA QUESTION In reply to:
David Houk Class of 1954
's message, "Re: TECH TRIVIA QUESTION" on 11:45:11 06/06/09 Sat
Dave, breaking it down in ONE inch increments your one answer could be kind of looked upon as 13 answers. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 INCHES. Would you like to be a little more specific and pick just one exact inch measurement and re-submit. Thanks for participating. :-)
David Houk your answer of 30 inches is correct. Congratulations!!!!! See details below:
The Powder Magazine
Between the student parking lot and the football stadium stands the small brick building known as the Powder Magazine, surrounded by a hill of dirt twenty feet high. This building has a number of stacks which look like flues, but are ventilators used to keep the Magazine dry. This building, the best naturally ventilated building in Indianapolis, was completed in 1866
The inside of the building is exceptionally cool and dry because of the ventilators. The ceiling is fourteen feet above the floor. At the entrance of the Magazine there is a large door resembling a jail door and large bars and a lock.
When the Magazine was originally built, only copper nails and spikes were used. The copper nails were of the cut nail variety, stamped out of sheet copper instead of wire type made today of steel. The floor, which at first was only dirt, was supported above the level of the ground by brick arches. This unique arrangement allowed the air to circulate under the floor and thus keeps the powder dry.
The brick walls of the Magazine are two and a half feet thick. These bricks were made by the solders of the Arsenal. The clay used for the bricks was taken from the present site of our campus. At the time the Magazine was occupied, Army sentinels stood on top of the large mound surrounding the structure. This hill was raised about it as a protector for outlying home: in case of an explosion the building would explode upward instead of outward. Dirt for the mound was taken from the banks of Pogue’s Run.
About three years ago the mound was surrounded with a wire fence and bushes and vines were planted on the mound to protect and preserve it. The magazine, under the direction of Colonel Will H. Brown, is now used as a supply depot for the Indianapolis R.O.T.C.
