Raritan Arsenal, Warehouse M-4, 2890 Woodbridge Avenue, Bonhamtown, Middlesex County, NJ

Significance: With the entrance of the United States into World War I in 1917, the War Department chose a site on the Raritan River in New Jersey as the U.S. Army's primary base for the storage and transshipment of munitions and other war materiel to Europe. The site comprised 2,150 acres, on which 275 buildings that came to constitute the Raritan Arsenel were erected during the period of October 1917 to November 1918. The masonry warehouse building originally designated M-4 was constructed in 1918, as part of the "Manufacturing Plant" group of buildings on the northern portion of the site. It was used to store and package truck and automobile bodies. During World War II the building was modified, but continued to be used by the Army for storing non-explosive materiel. The building is utilitarian in nature, one story high, approximately 114 feet wide by 580 feet long. It was constructed with a perimeter of evenly spaced masonry piers and an interior grid of wooden piers, which permitted large openings in the walls. The shallowly pitched roof is pierced by steeply slanted skylights. This warehouse is significant as a typical non-munitions storage component of the Raritan Arsenal, which fulfilled an important function in supplying the U.S. Army in Europe in both World Wars I and II.
Survey number: HABS NJ-1061-B
Building/structure dates: 1918 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1977 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: ca. 1942 Subsequent Work