American Powder Mills (1883–1929) was a Massachusetts gunpowder manufacturing complex on the Assabet River.
It expanded to include forty buildings along both sides of the river in the towns of Acton, Concord, Maynard, and Sudbury.
In addition to black powder for blasting and other purposes, APM made smokeless gunpowder for shotgun-using hunters under the brand name "Dead Shot.
[4] While the plant was manufacturing gunpowder for the Russian Empire during World War I, a September 4, 1915 explosion was heard as far away as Lowell and Boston.
The Assabet River dam at the original mill pond site is being used to generate hydroelectricity for municipal Concord.