His success was so rapid that, as early as 1851, it became necessary to provide still more ample accommodations for his manufactory.  The next year he began the execution of a plan, the magnitude of which caused many of his friends to tremble for his future prosperity.  He resolved to build the largest and most perfect armory in the world, one which should enable him to manufacture his weapons with greater rapidity and nicety than had ever yet been possible.

Just to the south of the Little or Mill River there was a piece of meadow land, about two hundred and fifty acres in extent, generally regarded as useless, in consequence of its being submerged every spring by the freshets in the river.  Colonel Colt bought this meadow for a nominal sum, and, to the astonishment of the good people of Hartford, proceeded to surround it with a strong dike, or embankment.  This embankment was two miles in length, one hundred and fifty feet wide at the base, from thirty to sixty feet wide at the top, and from ten to twenty-five feet high.  Its strength was further increased by planting willows along the sides; and it was thoroughly tested just after its completion by a freshet of unusual severity.  Having drained the meadow, Colonel Colt began the erection of his armory upon the land inclosed by the embankment.  It was constructed of Portland stone, and consisted of three buildings—­two long edifices, with a third connecting them in the center, the whole being in the form of the letter H. The front parallel was five hundred by sixty feet, the rear parallel five hundred by forty feet, and the central building two hundred and fifty by fifty feet—­the front parallel and central building being three stories in height.  Connected with these buildings were other smaller edifices for offices, warerooms, watchmen’s houses, etc.

In 1861, the demand for the arms had become so enormous that the armory was doubled in size, the new buildings being similar in style to the old.  “In this establishment there is ample accommodation for the manufacture of one thousand fire-arms per day,” which is more than the arsenals at Harper’s Ferry and Springfield combined could turn out in the same time previous to the war.  In 1861, Colt’s armory turned out about one hundred and twenty thousand stand of arms, and in 1860, the two armories before mentioned made about thirty-five thousand between them.  A portion of the armory at Hartford is devoted to the fabrication of the machinery invented by Colonel Colt for the manufacture of his pistols.  This machinery is usually sold to all parties purchasing the right to manufacture the revolver.  Colonel Colt supplied in this way a large part of the machinery used in the Government manufactory at Enfield, in England, and all of that used in the Imperial armory at Tulin, in Russia.  Near the armory, and in the area inclosed by the dike, Colonel Colt erected a number of tasteful cottages for his workmen, and warehouses for other kinds of business.  His entire expenditure upon his land and buildings here amounted to more than two million five hundred thousand dollars.