National Register Listing

Anadarko Armory

a.k.a. National Guard Armory

700 W. Oklahoma St., Anadarko, OK

The Anadarko Armory (Anadarko National Guard Armory) is significant within the economic context of Works Progress Administration projects in Anadarko, Oklahoma, 1935-1937, within the military context of national defense requirements of the Oklahoma National Guard's local unit in the era between the two world wars, and within the architectural context of WPA building style and methodology locally and in Oklahoma. The armory was constructed between 1935 and 1937 by local men who were qualified for work relief under WPA guidelines. The project brought $60,000 into the economy of Anadarko, Oklahoma, by employing as many as 210 previously unemployed, unskilled workers for more than thirteen months. The armory also filled a longstanding military need for an adequate, secure drill hall and arms storage building for three units: Regimental Headquarters unit of the 158th Field Artillery; Company B, 158th Field Artillery; and Company F, 120th Quartermaster Regiment, all of the 45th Infantry Division of the Oklahoma National Guard, which had previously had no permanent armory. The Anadarko Armory is significant architecturally as an example of an excellent, intact example of WPA architecture. The materials, brick manufactured in Oklahoma, and craftsmanship evident in masonry work, reflect both the goals of the WPA Building Program in Oklahoma and the practical considerations of using unskilled labor to construct large public buildings. As it is essentially intact, the Anadarko Armory conveys the appropriate feeling and association within these three contexts.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1994.