WATERVLIET, N.Y. -- “Started out with 25 acres and now it’s almost 150 acres,” said Robert Pfeil, Watervliet Arsenal Museum Acting Curator.

Military weapons have been made at the Watervliet Arsenal for nearly 200 years. Yet for many. it's still a mysterious place.

“We were considered a site to be targeted in the Cold War,” Pfeil said.

Pfeil, acting curator at the arsenal's museum, says the arsenal has always mattered. During the Civil War, schools closed so children could make ammunition. By the 1900s, engineers created cannons here. In 1991 they even built the so-called "bunker buster."

“Went through a cement barrier over 20 feet thick and kept going another half mile before it finally stopped,” said Pfeil.

The "bunker buster" was designed and shipped in only 23 days. Over 15 years later, the almost 150 acre property is still busy. You can even golf here. But the number of workers has decreased from 10,000 to 1,300.

“Most of the public, they're not aware, it seems to me, that we're still open. Open for business,” said John Snyder, Public Affairs Officer at Watervliet Arsenal Museum.

Now, of course it is true that plenty here is still classified. We can only see so much and learn so much. But that being said, folks here are planning to do more with the private sector and that could mean plenty of new jobs.

“The Army is going to open up 57 acres of arsenal land for private development,” Snyder said.

Snyder calls it a win for any business that might move in to the already secure location, a small city with its own services. And he says it would help the arsenal to modernize as well.

“Instead of receiving a check at the end of the month or end of the year, we're going to see maybe a new paved road or a new roof on our facilities,” Snyder said.

And all of this would mean jobs to transform the available land, and then more jobs, when businesses move in.

“Potential for creating hundreds of jobs,” Snyder said.

They're meeting with potential developers next week at a place that has always made a difference in war, a place that could soon make a bigger difference in the local economy, too.

If you want to learn more about the Watervliet Arsenal, the history, the engineering and the community impact, you can stop by the museum, which is located off Route 32 at the main site. It's open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $2.