Address: Seminole and First Streets, Wewoka, OklahomaCounty:Seminole
Started: Completed: 1936
Agencies:WPANRHP:No

Current Usage:

Informed by Seminole nation Museum Executive Director that the building was demolished.

Description:

The Wewoka Armory is a single-story, brick structure measuring 213 feet by 130 feet with a central drill floor and wings on either side. The drill floor has a high arched roof, and the wings have lower flat roofs. Arched entryways of pre-formed concrete are located on the east and west sides of the structure and are framed by pilasters capped with molded concrete and a stepped cornice at the roof line. There are eight garage doors (four on each wing) on the north side of the building, and one on the south side. Parapets, brick insets above the windows, and pilasters capped by concrete moldings decorate the building. Enclosure of elongated windows with wood insets has not compromised the integrity of the building.
The Wewoka Armory is especially significant because of its scale. Armories with wings on either side of the drill floor, so-called two unit armories, are relatively rare, especially in southcentral Oklahoma. The structure is also unique in the predominance of molded concrete caps on its pilasters. That feature is not unknown, but it seldom appears as frequently as on the Wewoka Armory. The building is architecturally distinctive within the community in terms of type and style. Especially significant is that the armory helped to prepare units of the Oklahoma National Guard for service in World War II and during the Korean War and that its construction provided job opportunities for destitute laborers in 1935 and 1936 who had long been on relief rolls.

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: A tract 280′ x 300′ between Blocks 17 and 18, Wewoka original

Sources:

  1. Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination
  2. Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality Reports

Supported Documents:

  1. WPA Properties Seminole County – Wewoka Armory

Photos: