Cherokee Armory
Second and Kansas Sts., Cherokee, OKThe Cherokee Armory is an exceptional resource for the local community. Architecturally, as a WPA building it is unique in its use of brick construction materials, contrasting with armories in the state other than those in the northwest which were generally built of native stone. Locally it is outstanding for its extensive use of concrete moldings at the roof-line and atop pilasters. The use of the building by the Oklahoma National Guard for the past 50 years underscores its significance. There units of the guard have prepared themselves for military action in World War II and Korea and for civil defense and disaster relief. In other ways the structure has also contributed to an improved quality of life in Cherokee. Construction of the armory poured wages from some 64,000 man-hours of labor into the local economy during a critical portion of the depression, materially improving the community's quality of life. Those same wages also enabled the laborers on the project, many of whom were agriculturalists driven to destitution by the drought, to provide for their own families and to tide themselves over the economic slump until better times returned.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.