Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

The Armory, A Company, 6th Regiment, near the corner of Main and Water Streets, 1906

Description

"In April 1894, the armory in the Rink Building at 390 Main Street, was deemed unfit for use by state building inspectors, and Company A, also known as the Richardson Light Guard, was ordered to remove all state property from the building. On May 1, 1894, Town Meeting voted to appropriate $12,000 to build a new Armory. Shortly thereafter, a lot of land was purchased next to the Cutler Bros. grocery and grain store at the corner of Main and Water Streets, just south of Town Hall. To help furnish the building, the company held an event on December 19, 1894 that 'cleared' $100. The new armory was designed, built, painted and decorated by members of Company A. The new armory was dedicated on February 15, 1895 in a ceremony that was called 'a notable event' with 'many distinguished military guests' present. The evening included a banquet at 4:30 p.m., followed by a concert and grand ball attended by 100 couples. Just 16 years later, Company A was without a home again when fire partially destroyed the armory after lightning struck wires at the corner of Water and Main Streets on July 6, 1911, igniting the Cutler Bros. store and, eventually, the armory. The building was later rebuilt, with the former drill hall becoming the new home of Robert Godfrey and Jacob Barnard's Quannapowitt Bowling Alley, and the front of the building remodeled into storefronts. The company's final armory, now the Americal Civic Center, was dedicated in January 1913, and was built across the street from its former home, on the north corner of the Cyrus Wakefield estate." - Text from calendar by Jayne M. D'Donofrio.

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2009

Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

1906

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

[Wakefield, Mass.] : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Armories

Massachusetts Infantry. 182d Regiment Soldiers National Guard. Company A, 1898-

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture : b&w

Extent

17 x 30 cm.