Word: watertown
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...Opened in 1816, the Watertown Arsenal was the first major military laboratory in the U.S., employing over 10,000 people at its height during World War II. After the war, the U.S. Army Research and Materials Laboratory used the Arsenal to test the nation’s most cutting-edge artillery systems, transforming it into an advanced research and development facility...
...however, the Arsenal had become outdated. The U.S. Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended that it be closed, and the Department of Defense began a systematic reduction in the Arsenal’s activities. The challenge for Watertown, however, had just begun...
...Watertown leaders say that the cleanup and the subsequent commercial growth under Harvard’s ownership represents one of the most successful revitalization efforts of any industrial facility in the country...
...think this has been a really positive redevelopment,” says Susan Falkoff, a Watertown city councilor who played a leading role in the cleanup effort. “There was a real commitment at all levels to getting this job done right, and that’s certainly not something you have everywhere...
...Though the Arsenal was once as large as 130 acres, the Pentagon had reduced the site significantly. In 1968, it sold 55 acres to Watertown, which the town redeveloped into the Arsenal Mall and neighboring park. Due to the complexity of the cleanup effort, the EPA split what remained of the site in 1988 into three parts, one of which was the Arsenal buildings that Harvard now owns...