John Brown's Fort was the building built in 1848 that was originally constructed for use as a guard and fire engine house for the federal Harpers Ferry Armory in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, then a part of Virginia. An 1848 military report described the building as "An engine and guard-house 35? x , one story brick, covered with slate, and having copper gutters and down spouts…"[citation needed] The building achieved notoriety during John Brown's Raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory in 1859.