Martin Meylin's Gunshop
West Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Old gunshop, built in 1719, is located about one mile northeast. Here, before 1745, the earliest known Pennsylvania Rifle, misnamed Kentucky Rifle, was made. Building is marked with a tablet.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In this modest shop, built in 1719, a Pennsylvania gunsmith helped perfect one of early America's defining tools. By the 1740s the long, accurate flintlock later mislabeled the 'Kentucky Rifle' was taking shape here, its grooved barrel and slim stock ideal for frontier hunting and warfare. German and Swiss craftsmen in Lancaster County refined the design that would carry settlers—and armies—westward.
Why it matters
The Pennsylvania long rifle was a genuine American innovation, arming frontiersmen and Revolutionary marksmen and becoming a symbol of self-reliance on the expanding frontier.
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Related people
- · Martin Meylin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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