Little more than four weeks after the sinking of the battleship Maine, volunteers in Company A of the Michigan National Guard posed on the courthouse steps on April 26, 1898, before leaving to fight in the Spanish-American War.

Although Company A saw no combat in Cuba, they were nonetheless greeted as heroes on their return to Ann Arbor in May 1899. Citizens raised $3,000 toward the purchase of a local armory as a gift to them, and city council appropriated $300 to buy medals for all who had served in the war.