[1] It manufactured gunpowder until after World War I, at which time the facility also began producing heavy munitions and grew more involved in research and development activities.

Today, the facility develops new technologies for the United States Armed Forces and builds various munitions, weapons and armor systems.

Their building has been recently renamed in honor of one of their deceased soldiers, SFC Scott "Smitty" Smith, who was killed in Iraq in July 2006.

Four days later, it changed the name to the Picatinny Powder Depot "after the Lenape-named peak overlooking the old forge, loosely translated to mean 'rugged cliff by water' or 'water by the hills.

George E. Righter transferred 1,195.8 acres (483.9 ha) centered on Lake Picatinny to the United States government in return for $35,874.00.

In 1880 and 1881, the government also purchased tracts from Uel H. Wiggins, Edward C. Fiedler and other, Henry and Michael Doland, and John E. Kindred.

At the same time, the government gave $200.00 to Lewis Spicer and his wife for a 50-foot (15 m) strip on which to construct a road from Spicertown to the powder depot.

Major accomplishments of this period included better methods for storing smokeless powder, improved processing of cyclonite, more commonly called RDX, and the discovery of a new explosive, then known as haleite but later known as Ednatol.

Over the years, the Army continued to make small land purchases to round out arsenal boundaries, but the next major expansion came in 1941, just before the United States entered World War II.

Property on the opposite side of Parker Road was acquired from Helen Jane Larsen with 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) for $10,534.00, as well as the former home of Clarence and Agnes Burdette, constructed around 1919.

As one of the few facilities with the ability to manufacture munitions, it employed 18,000 people and ran three shifts turning out bombs and artillery shells.

In periods of peace, the arsenal made important contributions to progress in the areas of radar, pyrotechnics, missiles, time fuzes, and nuclear munitions, including the M65 atomic cannon 280mm howitzer known as "Atomic Annie") When war broke out again, it gave troops in Vietnam a complete family of 40 mm ammunition for grenade launchers and helicopter gunships.

In 1992, Picatinny Arsenal was tasked to develop a standardized mounting system after the United States Army was dissatisfied with the products on the market.

The Picatinny team was headed by mechanical designer Gary Houtsma (who was awarded the Order of Saint Maurice Award in 2014 for this contribution[4]), who took the measurements from about twenty different Weaver rail mount products from weapons bunkers at Picatinny, and even local sporting goods stores, coming up with an average set of numbers set on a 45-degree angled surface.

Houtsma then took the specifications to the production facility and requested they design a dimensioning style so the rail could be easily produced and inspected.

Captain Otto Dowling, USN, was in charge at the time, and received a Distinguished Service Cross for his handling of the situation.

This line connected the various railroads serving the Wharton area with the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway at Green Pond.

Since 1976 the Army conducted numerous environmental studies on Picatinny; in March 1990 it was declared a superfund and placed on the National Priorities List.