A Long Shot in Baltimore

By Linda Tancs

Built in 1828, the Phoenix Shot Tower in Baltimore, Maryland, was the tallest building (at 215 feet) in the United States until 1846. It was a manufacturing facility for drop shot used in small game hunting using a patented process of pouring molten lead down the open shaft, which would cool as it descended and form into a smooth ball. The shot would be collected from a water barrel at the tower’s base and then sorted for distribution. The tower remained active until new methods of production rendered it obsolete in 1892. Now on the National Register of Historic Landmarks, the tower is open to the public as a museum.