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Some of the Guard's oldest armories offer a glimpse at a force and a culture almost forgotten
THE NATIONAL GUARD armory is an American institution.
For decades. National Guard armories have served as community meeting places, hosting craft shows, sports contests and conventions.
The sense of community created in armones actually predates them. The earliest Guard units met in bars, storefronts and town halls, where they practiced military drills and socialized over a pint of beer or a meal.
The Industrial Revolution changed the way the militia did business. Most militia members were oí the middle una upper classes and worried about class warfare in their communities.
So when the first armories were designed and I uncled by state and local officials, they were meant to look like castles and petform much like one by scaring and repelling the invading swaths ol laborers and unionists many militiamen believed would rise up against them.
The first major armory projects, like the Seventh Regiment Armory in Manhattan, were designed with a "headhouse," or headquarters office, and a drill court. Today, most modem armories still have this same layout.
The castle armories of the 19th century were short lived. Luckily for the militia, the riotous masses never materialized.
But the early ideas about armory building remained and are still in use.
Armory construction evolved from the 19th century castles to more functional buildings expecting less pomp and circumstance. By the 1940s and '50s, the most prolific period of armory construction, the Guard was building flat-roofed, brick-sided standardized armories like many still in use across the country today.
The average armory is 43 years old. NGAUS estimates the Guard needs up $1.5 billion annually to reduce a backlog of $13 billion in Army Guard militar)' construction projects. Last year, the lederai government shelled out $582 million for new Army Guard construction. This amount included an extra $30 million for critical unfunded requirements, which NGAUS helped secure.
For the armories no longer fit for duty, like the four historically significant buildings featured below, there are many questions. While some, like the Seventh Regiment Armory, have been preserved, others sit empty, waiting for the right developer, community group or individual to take the lead to restore them.
Regardless of their...