Recycled Torpedo Plants

You, your readers, and Robert Friedman, who wrote “Digging Up the U.S.” (August/September 1983 issue), may be interested in learning that Alexandria’s World War I torpedo plant buildings are alive and well. The buildings, which contain an element of history since they form one of only two plants of this kind, have not been torn down as stated in your article. After extensive redevelopment, the two buildings are being used to house an art center and a parking garage. Your author apparently was standing on the site to the north of the two still-remaining World War I buildings looking up “slaunchways” at the Carlyle House—the site where five colonial governors met to decide to fight the French and Indian War, and the house that also served as British Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock’s headquarters prior to his disastrous march toward Fort Duquesne, which is now Pittsburgh. This site where your author was standing was that of a World War II addition made to the plant. It was demolished.