Ann Arbor Armory, 1911

223 East Ann Street

Ann Arbor Armory, 1911
Creator: Koch Brothers.

In 1910 the passage of a new state law enabled local communities to house military units. Those interested in military affairs in Ann Arbor wasted no time in organizing a fund drive to build an armory, only the third to be built in Michigan under the new law. The city donated the lot at the corner of Ann and North Fifth Avenue. The building was built by the Koch Brothers and completed in 1911 at a total cost of $25,000.

It housed a drill room 80 feet square, a reading room, billiard room, the captain's office, orderly rooms, locker rooms, an indoor shooting range, and a kitchen in the basement. Today it is the home base for the Company D 156 Signal Battalion.

The style is often referred to as "Collegiate Gothic" but might more appropriately be called "Military Gothic" due to its common use for armories. The smooth stone foundations and stone quoins bordering the windows, the end "turrets" and the two octagonal towers which flank the entrance on Ann Street, make the whole resemble a medieval fortress.

Over the years the Armory has served as more than a military staging area. Its large drillroom has been rented for weddings, dances, and gospel revivals. In the 1930s dances with Red Ritz' Band were held here every Friday and Saturday night. In the spring of 1975 the room was the site of the election-night ballot count in Ann Arbor's famous preferential election in which Albert E.Wheeler was elected Ann Arbor's first African-American mayor.

Membership in the battalion is 500 today, down from a high of 1000 men and women. The Guard plans to move soon to the new Washtenaw Armory complex and new uses for the old Armory are now under discussion.