Torpedo Factory Art Center (Dedication Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside dedication marker:

Torpedo Factory Art Center
City of Alexandria, Virginia
— Dedicated April 30, 1983 —

The Torpedo Factory Art Center Building was formerly a munitions plant during World Wars I and II. In September, 1974, the Art Center opened in the Torpedo Factory as a Bicentennial project. The idea was conceived by Marian Van Landingham, a local artist, who became the Center’s first director. The Alexandria City Council approved the rehabilitation of this building for the continuing use by artists and the community.

Erected 1983 by City of Alexandria; Alexandria City Council, Charles E. Beatley, Jr,. Mayor; James P. Moran, Jr., Vice Mayor; Donald C. Casey, Lionel R. Hope, Margaret B. Inman, Carlyle C. Ring, Jr., Patricia S. Ticer, City Manager Douglas Haman, General Contractor Eugene Simpson & Brother, Incorporated; Architect Keyes, Condon and Florance Metcalf Associates; Engineering FDE Ltd. Structural Engineering; Girard Engineering Ltd.


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Here follows an excerpt from the book, “Snake Hill to Spring Bank” which was an oral history project conducted by students at Groveton High School in the mid-1970s. The interviews were transcribed under the direction of their teachers and local historian Edith Moore Sprouse.

From the interview with Kent Crowther:
"I came here December 7, 1940, and have lived here since that time. My dad came here to open up the Torpedo plant. He was one of the four men picked to open the Torpedo plant to make torpedoes for World War II."