Photo of the Winchester New Haven Factory|General Discussions & Questions|Forum|Winchester Collector

In looking at it I would call it a drawing rather than a photo. There is a drawing in Pauline Muerrle’s book “The Way it Really Was” that shows the building map of the factory that looks to have been updated from 1944 thru 1959

Here is a 1920 drawing

Bob

winchester nix said
Now what I am looking for is a photo of the plant after 1960, similar to the one I have shown.
  

I don’t believe that you will ever find one. At least not exactly like you’re thinking or wanting. What you showed on your first post is a “drawing” of the factory and not a photo. I’ve seen several other such “drawings” of the factory, but they stop at about 1920 or so. (I may own one from the 1930s) Which for the main plant property that is about the largest the factory ever got. I believe at about 1923 or so all the buildings had been built and this is after a few had been demolished.

This 1916 Catalog page drawing is probably the closet you’d get to a similar drawing. Its missing a few buildings built in the late 1910s / early 1920s that are North-East of the shot tower. Between 1914-1916 a few smaller buildings that were part of the original “Tract B” were demolished to build two longer skinny buildings in their place. Later these would be demolished for a parking lot. 

The only reliable source (that I’m aware) of “photos” of the entire plant from the era of your interest is from USGS aerial photography. Taken by a US government airplane on a specific date because of the lack of cloud cover. 

These two USGS photos side by side show the plant in 1959 and 1966 respectively. You’ll notice that sometime between those dates several portions of the old original “A” & “B” buildings built in 1870 were demolished for a employee parking lot. Which you really have to be time specific on the names of the tracts, because they renamed them. Tract A in 1970 is not the same Tract A in 1910.

I did find an aerial photo that is at a lower elevation that shows the majority of the main plant. It is Post-1960, based on the buildings present. It is a view from the north side back towards the south-west to Winchester Ave sort of along the railroad tracks. The problem with the photo is that is damaged and warped along the right side of it.

I don’t remember what year that they demolished the Shot Tower, but it is missing from the photo. 

Its technically impossible to have a photo of the entire Winchester Plant property and depending on the timeframe in question. Winchester owned and operated the land that was the old Whitney firearms plant in Whitneyville. They also had large tracts of land in Hamden, CT. The Pine Swamp is where the Powder Magazines were located and the Pine Rock is where the Fulminate Magazines were located in Hamden. They also had outdoor shooting ranges in Madison & Clinton, CT. The “Hammonassett” shooting ranges were on the beach and is now a State Park. Which years later the State gave the factory hell for all the lead contamination on the beach. They also had large tracts of timber for making stocks and wood shipping crates and for firewood in the plant boilers. 

If do end up finding what you’re looking for, I would appreciate you send me a PM about it. As if you can’t tell Factory Research is an interest of mine.

Sincerely,

Maverick

Here is a 1970 photo. This one still has the shot tower were the 1974 its gone

Bob

1873man said
Here is a 1970 photo. This one still has the shot tower were the 1974 its gone
Bob  

There is a November 10th, 1972 aerial photo that shows the shot tower still present. So I guess sometime in 1973-74 they demolished it. I imagine you could pull up a newspaper article about it being demolished given enough research. The concrete where the shot tower building was in that 1974 photo looks pretty fresh.

Sincerely,

Maverick