National Register Listing

Weatherford Armory

a.k.a. National Guard Armory

123 W. Rainey St., Weatherford, OK

The Weatherford Armory (Weatherford National Guard Armory) is significant within the economic context of Works Progress Administration projects in Weatherford, 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 $45,000 into the economy of Weatherford, Oklahoma by employing an average of thirty-three previously unemployed, unskilled workers for more than sixteen months. The armory also filled a longstanding military need for an adequate, secure drill hall and arms storage building for Battery D, 158th Field Artillery, of the 45th Infantry Division of the Oklahoma National Guard, which previously had no permanent armory. The Weatherford Armory is significant architecturally as an excellent, intact example of WPA architecture. The materials, brick manufactured in Oklahoma by convict labor, and workmanship, evident in masonry and cast concrete detailing, reflect both the goals of the WPA Building Program in Oklahoma and the practical considerations of using unskilled labor to construct large public buildings. The armory is the largest and best preserved of seven WPA resources remaining in Weatherford, and it is the town's only example of military-style architecture. As it is essentially intact, the Weatherford Armory is able to convey appropriate feelings and associations within these three contexts.

Oklahoma suffered severely during the initial years of the Great Depression, 1929-1933, but here, in a predominantly rural state, where in 1930, 65.7 percent of the population lived in rural areas, and twenty-seven of the state's seventy- seven counties had no "urban" areas, or towns of more than 2,500 persons, drought, general agricultural failure from 1932 through 1938, and a downturn in the petroleum industry exacerbated the general economic depression. Rural communities, towns, and cities, which functioned as agricultural or petroleum service centers, consequently foundered.

Oklahoma's state and local governments were unable to provide much help for citizens, whether urban or rural. Limited relief offered by counties did not alleviate the suffering, nor did meager annual appropriations by the state legislature. No public funding was available to maintain the existing infrastructure, and private charities failed to create or support relief initiatives. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, established in May of 1934 by the Roosevelt administration, provided some direct relief, in terms of food, clothing, and small stipends, but until the inception of the Works Progress Administration in 1935 only a few Oklahomans received adequate assistance. urban unemployed and displaced farm families combined to create a situation in which 33 percent of all Oklahoma families were on the direct relief rolls by the time that Roosevelt created the WPA by executive order in May 1935. By July 1935, there were 127,416 jobless men certified in Oklahoma.

The inauguration of the Works Progress Administration in 1935 stands as one of the benchmarks of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" for the United States. The program was designed to assist in lifting the nation from the depths of severe economic depression. Make-work projects provided work relief for literally millions of individual citizens whose lives had been devastated by the near collapse of the American economy. The infusion of cash into work-relief projects all over the state made a significant economic impact on hundreds of communities. During the seven-and-one-half-year life of the WPA, more than $10.75 billion were expended, of which Oklahoma received more than $185 million for projects ranging from school lunch programs, flood control, and archeological excavations, to major construction projects such as armories, highways, bridges, schools, stadiums, and museums.

Localities competed for WPA funds from the outset. Chambers of Commerce and planning committees drew up specifications to meet three major criteria established by the administration:
1) projects must meet a well-defined community need;
2) each project must be sponsored by a public body, such as a city or county government or school district, which was required to provide from 10 to 25 percent of the project cost in cash and/or materials; and 3) 90 percent of those hired must be unemployed employable workers who were carried on the relief rolls. Compensation was to be based on 130 hours of work for $21 (later $23) per month for unskilled labor." In June of 1935 Oklahoma WPA Director (Gen.) William S. Key estimated that there were already "70,000 employable unemployed" ready to work on his agency's projects throughout the state; by November of that year, 67,973 people were at work for the WPA, and by January of 1936, WPA rolls reached an all-time high of 94,281."

Armory construction was the first major thrust of the WPA Building Program in Oklahoma. By mid-1937, 126 armories had been constructed throughout the United States, and 51 of these projects were located in Oklahoma. When the WPA ended its program in 1943, 54 armories had been built and 53 others "reconstructed" in the state. The new construction had infused $3.5 million into local economies."

Custer County, in western Oklahoma, was an agricultural region. The town of Weatherford was founded in 1898 by William J. Weatherford when a rail line was completed to the site. Agriculture, primarily wheat farming, was the mainstay of Custer County. With a 1930 population of 2,417, Weatherford was the county's second-largest town and functioned as a major service center. During the early 1930s, a severe drought compounded the problems associated with a generally depressed economy. By September of 1934, 1,848 families, or 28.2 percent of the county population were on direct relief. The WPA made a difference in Custer County, Oklahoma. By September of 1935, the number of families on relief had been reduced to 966, or 14.8 percent of the county population. In Weatherford, Oklahoma, by November of 1935, all available unemployed workers in town were on work relief, and by September of 1936, 610 persons in Custer County were employed by the WPA.

As soon as possible in late 1935 and early 1936 Custer County municipalities created potential WPA projects. By the summer of 1936, these sponsors had submitted more than $250,000 in proposals. The Weatherford city commission submitted plans for a library, a swimming pool, a new park, and a $32,000 armory. A bond proposal funded the purchase of five downtown lots, which were deeded to the state. Thus, the city's share of the cost of the armory was provided on the land.

Groundbreaking for the Weatherford Armory took place on October 22, 1935, and construction proceeded through the rest of the year, through 1936, and into 1937." Local purchases of materials added to the project's importance for the local economy. Due to funding lapses, materials shortages, and weather-related shutdowns, a short project expanded into a long one. In January of 1936, WPA administrator Gen. William S. Key ordered project supervisors to rearrange the work schedule from one eight-hour shift to two six-hour shifts per day. This would accomplish two purposes: it would employ more workers, a bonafide WPA goal, and it would bring the project back onto its original schedule. At this time, thirty-three men were employed on the site. Finally completed in February, the Armory was dedicated on March 8, 1937. On that day, Weatherford celebrated with an open house, banquet, and band concert. General Key, the state WPA director, and other state and local dignitaries participated in the dedication, and the program concluded with a dance in the new armory.

WPA projects in 1935-1937 propped up the sagging rural economy of Custer County. By the end of 1937, estimated WPA expenditures in the county topped $500,000, and projects in Weatherford totaled more than $155,000 and included a $6,000 library, a $10,000 pool and bathhouse, school buildings totaling $28,000, and bridge and road improvements totaling around $42,000. The WPA'S cost on the armory project was $45,000, with the city contributing the land. In human terms, thousands of person-hours of labor went into the armory's construction. Most significantly, a monthly average of forty-five men were employed on the project. These figures testify to the labor-intensive nature of WPA projects, which were designed to provide as much work as possible for those on relief rolls. Most of the hours were consumed in hand labor--head carrying, bricklaying, concrete-pouring, and installing a wood-block floor in the 80' by 125 drill room (more than 200,000 pine blocks were cut, primed, set in asphalt, sanded, oiled, and polished, in sections). A concrete floor would have sufficed, but ample time and labor were available to create a complicated design.

Upon completion, the Weatherford Armory became the home of Battery D, 158th Field Artillery, 45th Infantry Division, Oklahoma National Guard.14 Reorganized under the National Defense Act of 1920, the Guard was an integral part of United States military preparedness. Since 1920, approximately five-sixths of America's military strength lay with "citizen soldiers"--National Guard divisions and Reserve divisions in nine corps areas across the nation. Each corps area had one Regular Army division, two National Guard Divisions, and three Reserve divisions. Oklahoma, along with New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, formed one division of the National Guard within the Eighth Corps. Despite inadequate training facilities, the Oklahoma National Guard provided service during various natural disasters and civil disturbances in the 1920s and 1930s. Because the Guard paid its members a monthly stipend, which they spent locally to feed and clothe their families, Oklahoma communities actively competed to secure local Guard units during these years. In Weatherford, the local field artillery unit had been established in 1924. By 1937 the unit included three officers and thirty enlisted men.

The National Guard received only one-tenth of the War Department's budget in the interwar years, and equipment was surplus from World War I. Many units needed permanent training, drilling, and storage facilities, as Guard members were required to meet 48 drills per year.

Units without permanent armories usually rented space in warehouses that often lacked proper security. Four hundred new armories created by the cooperative effort of the federal and local governments helped correct this serious deficiency."

The new Weatherford Armory provided permanent housing for the unit, which formerly had been housed in a building at the stock pavilion (fairgrounds)." The new facility was more than adequate for the detachment's needs. The building was divided into areas serving specific functions. The entire north section housed the drill hall, comprising the stage and the drill floor. The front, or south, section, housed the arms vault, supply room, dressing room, classroom, offices, storage rooms, locker room, and garage. Underground, on the east side, beneath the stage, is a rifle range. Thus the building provided virtually every training need, except for field training exercises.

Due in large measure to the WPA armory-building program, the 45th Infantry Division was able to achieve a level of military efficiency and readiness that prepared it to be among the first four National Guard divisions federalized in late 1940 by President Roosevelt. After the United States entered World War II, the 45th saw action in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy."

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