The Mansfield State Armory

On March 13, 1921, Battery D, First Field Artillery of the Ohio National Guard was organized in Mansfield, Ohio. A few months later on July 1, 1921, the company was reorganized and redesignated as Battery D, 134th Field Artillery, an element of the 37th Division.^[1] The company would eventually become a detachment of the 1486th Transportation Company located at Ashland, Ohio and, in 2010, the two would consolidate and move to a new facility near Mansfield Lahm Airport. When first organized, Battery D rented the fairgrounds to train. Five men would be at the fairgrounds day and night, along with 35 horses.^[2] Their headquarters and armory would be located in the Blecker Block at the corner of North Main and Fourth Streets. Discussions began almost immediately about building a proper Armory in Mansfield for the company. Four years later, in April 1924, the headquarters were moved to the Citizens Building at 46 North Main Street.^[3] It would be another four years until a proper Armory was constructed in Mansfield.

In 1925 state representative Minor K. Johnson submitted a bill for the construction of an armory in Mansfield. The bill passed the house and senate and $60,000 was appropriated, providing the city of Mansfield furnish a site for the new armory. It took over a year for a site to be secured and, in May of 1926, a site on Ashland Rd, at the end of East Fourth St., was selected. The site cost $12,000. Freed W. Elliott was selected as architect for the new building. Elliott was a well known architect out of Columbus. Early in his career he had designed a number of theaters. Most notably the Murray Theater in Richmond, Indiana. He would later design many other Ohio armories, including ones located in St. Mary’s, Hamilton, and Akron.

The new armory was dedicated on December 15, 1928. Several hundred citizens came to watch the proceedings. After the playing of the Star Spangled Banner and a 21 gun salute, the crowd filed inside to where the dedicatory address was given. Adjutant General Frank B. Henderson spoke saying he was proud to turn the armory over to Mansfield and that it was one step closer to his goal to have every National Guard unit in its own home. Before handing the armory over to Mayor Ports, Henderson urged the citizens of Mansfield to make the armory a large part of the community.^[4] In addition to housing Battery D, the armory would be the location of numerous sporting events, including boxing and wrestling expeditions, and polo, of which Battery D started the first team in the city.

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Sources:

1. https://history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/trans/1486trco.htm
2. The Mansfield News (Mansfield, Ohio). 06 March 1921, p. 16.
3. The Mansfield News (Mansfield, Ohio). 04 April 1924, p. 16.
4. The Mansfield News (Mansfield, Ohio). 17 December 1928, p. 3.