Oliver Winchester aimed to manufacture repeat firearms in New Haven on this day in 1857 when he formed the Winchester New Haven Arms Company on April 25. 

Connecticut State Historian Walter W. Woodward says Winchester operated rifle manufacturing plants in New Haven and Bridgeport for over 100 years and revolutionized the repeating rifle, the world’s first multiple-round-firing longarm.

The Winchester repeating rifle is often credited as “The Gun that Won the West.”

Winchester also manufactured arms for the American Civil War and the M1 Garand, the main staple firearm for allied forces during World War II.