The Frankford Powder-Mill is a historic gunpowder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

 factory in the Frankford

Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Frankford is a large and important neighborhood in the lower Northeast section of Philadelphia situated about six miles northeast of Center City. Although its borders are vaguely defined, the neighborhood is bounded roughly by the original course of Frankford Creek, now roughly Adams to Aramingo...

 neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

.

At the time it was built in 1774 by Oswald Eve

Oswald Eve

Oswald Eve was a mariner, ship chandler, gunpowder manufacturer and member of the American Philosophical Society, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the College of Philadelphia and was an associate of Dr...

, it was the only such mill in the American colonies. Eve built his mill next to Frankford Creek

Frankford Creek

Frankford Creek is a minor tributary of the Delaware River in southeast Pennsylvania. The stream originates as Tookany Creek at Hill Crest in Cheltenham Township and meanders eastward, then southeastward, throughout Cheltenham Township, until a sharp bend near the Philadelphia border at Lawncrest,...

, from which it drew its power.

When in the following year King George III

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

 banned shipments of gunpowder to the colonies, Eve was left with a monopoly on the commodity. The mill was the first American powder mill

Powder mill

The term powder mill is usually used for a mill that manufactures blackpowder, a type of gunpowder.A powder mill could be driven by wind or water power, and contained rollers for grinding the ingredients of gunpowder together, as well as presses and tumbling barrels and sieves for compacting,...

 to supply the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

.

Before and during the early American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

, the mill was operated by Eve, then by his son Oswald Eve, Jr. On January 11, 1776, the Continental Congress

Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....

 contracted the elder Eve to manufacture gunpowder for the Colonies at $8.00 per hundredweight

Hundredweight

The hundredweight or centum weight is a unit of mass defined in terms of the pound . The definition used in Britain differs from that used in North America. The two are distinguished by the terms long hundredweight and short hundredweight:* The long hundredweight is defined as 112 lb, which...

. Later, Paul Revere

Paul Revere

Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...

 visited the mill to observe Eve's production methods. By April 1777, Eve had delivered 25,000 pounds of powder to the state. In 1778, the elder Eve was accused of clandestine dealings with the British and was convicted of treason by the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

The Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania comprised the executive branch of the Pennsylvania State government between 1777 and 1790...

, who confiscated all his property, including the mill. It later passed into the hands of John Decatur, father of Revolutionary War naval hero Stephen Decatur, Sr.

Stephen Decatur, Sr.

Stephen Decatur, Sr. was an American naval captain in the Revolutionary War and later in the Quasi-War. He was the father of Stephen Decatur, Jr. During the American Revolution he commanded the Royal Louis, the Comet, the Retaliation, the Rising Sun, and the Fair American...

, then in 1806 to local war hero General Isaac Worrell.

The building still stands but has long since been devoted to other uses.