24/09/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Erp7uVf5f/ Francis Bannerman, parinte al pietei de surplus SUA de multe ori a avut România ca furnizor. Din pacate dreptul firesc de preempțiune al cetățenilor români autorizati pentru cumpărarea a**elor pentru care au trudit înaintașii noștri nu a mai fost respectat după instalarea republicii. Iar stocuri uriașe de a**e cu valori de piață necercetate s-au vândut ieftin sau chiar s-au topit.
Bannerman's own stock of ri**es and bayonets grew so large it swallowed his Manhattan storefront floor to ceiling, years before any of it made it out to Pollepel Island.
Racks like these ran the length of his store, canvas duffel bags and cartridge boxes stacked wherever floor space allowed, because Francis Bannerman VI had turned decommissioned military surplus into an entire retail category most Americans had never imagined buying from a storefront. He advertised his business as the world's largest dealer in military surplus, and by the time his stock reached close to 30 million cartridges and barrels of black powder, no single Manhattan building could hold it all.
So in November 1900 he bought Pollepel Island in the Hudson River and began building a castle style arsenal there the following spring, purpose built storage disguised as a private fortress. Construction ran until his death in 1918, and the powder he moved out there eventually did what overcrowded storage always risks doing: some of it went off, on August 15, 1920.
Everything racked along this wall still had to survive a boat trip up the Hudson before it ever reached the island. Keep that in mind next time someone tells you an entire arsenal could disappear onto a private island without anyone noticing: would you have believed it if you hadn't seen the storefront it started from?
Sources:
- Bannerman Castle Trust, https://bannermancastle.org/history/
- Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollepel_Island
- National Park Service (NRHP nomination), https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/51ef6721-d1c6-4559-9cf1-818db9902853
AI Disclaimer: This image was generated with AI for creative and artistic purposes.
