National Guard Armory – Cherokee

Address:	201 S. Kansas, Cherokee, OK 73728	County	Alfalfa
Started	1936	Completed	1936
NRHP:	Yes	NRHP Year:	September 8, 1988
Agencies:	WPA

Current Usage:

Fire Department

Description:

The Cherokee Armory is a rectangular (141′ x 126′) structure constructed of red brick. The central portion is two stories, while segments on either side are single storied. The roof is flat with parapets of concrete molding. Four garage doors in archways on the north side flank a recessed entryway under a brick archway. Elongated metal casement windows with concrete sills are singly spaced on both first and second stories. Stepped pilasters crowned with white stone moldings decorate the walls.
The 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 roofline 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.[1]

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[2]

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: Lots 19 through 24, Block 26, Cherokee original.