Talk about how things have changed! Can you imagine the uproar today if an actual gunpowder manufacturing plant was built in Windham? But this is the way things were in Windham. During the Civil War, the gunpowder manufacturing plant at Newhall ran day and night to meet the demand of the war. It was the fourth largest such mill in the country. Later, the mill became a place where fiberboard was made. This cannon resting on the lawn of a resident’s home was used to test the gunpowder. It was donated as scrap iron in World War II. Photo from Windham Historical Society archives