Firearm Factory of the Month: Boulton Gun Works

 The story of Boulton Gun Works goes back to the 1730s when Irish immigrant came to America and settled in southeastern Pennsylvania near Lancaster.

John Henry was either a trained gunsmith or found work as an apprentice gunsmith. This led his family down a long path of gun making.

All three of Henry's sons became gunsmiths, John Henry died in 1747.

John Henry Jr. continued the family business in Lancaster, as the family spread out, they founded gunsmith shops throughout the old-old west (back then Kentucky and Ohio were frontier territory)

Henry Jr's oldest son, William, moved to a community near present day Nazareth Pennsylvania to repair guns for the local militia.

Meanwhile John Henry Jr. was now a procurement officer for the Continental Congress and had the power to administer contracts for rifles for the Continental Army.

William received a contract for rifles from his father, many of his guns served during the Revolution. With the end of the war came more contracts. William moved his factory to a larger facility on the banks of Bushkill Creek. Meanwhile another of the Henrys opened a gun factory in Philadelphia.

The creek was needed for waterpower, the milling machines ran off belts turned by a water wheel.

When the War of 1812 broke out, more contracts were issued to the Henry family. The none of the factories were large enough, so a new gun factory was built on the banks of Bushkill Creek, just downstream from the previous gun factory. This factory became known as Boulton Gun Works.

After the War of 1812 the Henrys focused on sporting arms, but the technology was advancing. Flintlocks were being replaced by percussion ignition and cartridges after that.

In 1895 production ended at Boulton, some guns continued to be assembled from parts made elsewhere until around 1904. In 1912 the last Henry gun maker died, and the dynasty came to an end. More than 100,000 rifles had been produced at Boulton.

What Remains:

The Henry family had a big part in the founding of Pennsylvania and the United States. That legacy is being preserved by the Pennsylvania Long Rifle Museum.

The Boulton Gun Works main building is gone, but there is a building or two left on the property.

There is a historical marker at the entrance to the factory property, right on Henry Road next to Bushkill Creek in Eastern Pennsylvania just north of the town of Easton.

In the same neighborhood visitors can find the Jacobsburg Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Long Rifle Museum.