Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Bryan Spreitzer | Workers from Shores Builders and Construction lower one of the 6,300-pound concrete...... read more read more
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Springfield, Ill. – A vacant lot now sits where the McMackin Armory and its hulking, six-foot tall concrete eagles once greeted drilling Soldiers on the corner of North College Street and Warmouth Street in Salem, Illinois. For nearly 80 years the Art Deco/Art Moderne styled armory was home to 12 separate Illinois Army National Guard units.
Completed in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration under President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” the armory was selected to be closed due to a force restructure and subsequently vacated when the new Armed Forces Readiness Center in Mount Vernon, Illinois, was completed in 2010, the McMakcin Armory was vacated.
In the years the armory was empty, time took hold and eventually claimed the aging, concrete behemoth. Upgrade, maintenance and repair cost estimates were well into the multi-million dollar range.
“We exhausted all avenues in trying to transfer the armory,” said Charles Evans of Springfield, Illinois, an engineer technician with the Illinois National Guard’s construction and facilities department in Springfield, Illinois. “With repair costs so high, it was difficult for the Guard to find a willing acceptor of the armory.”
Evans said it made more sense fiscally to demolish the armory at a fraction of the repair estimate than it did for any party to take possession of the building.
Maj. David Helfrich of Freeburg, Illinois, chief of design and projects for the Illinois National Guard’s construction and facilities management office, said along with the high repair costs, policies in place at the national level required that when a new building is built, an equal amount of outdated square footage must be mitigated.
“For every square foot we build that’s new, we’re required to tear down or divest ourselves of an equal amount of square footage,” said Helfrich. “It costs a certain amount to keep all of our facilities running and updated. National Guard Bureau doesn’t want states adding to that cost by adding additional facilities.”
Helfrich said the Illinois National Guard worked very closely with organizations like the Illinois Historical Preservation Society and surrounding communities to find alternate uses for divested properties.
“It’s very rare that we actually have to demolish a building like this,” said Helfrich. “Since 2012, we [the Illinois National Guard] have divested six buildings, and only had to demolish one [Salem].”
Though the building is now gone, all is not lost. Helfrich said some parts of the armory were salvaged for use in other locations and projects.
The two concrete eagles, each weighing nearly 6,300 pounds, were removed from their perches and given to the cities of Salem, Illinois, and Mount Vernon, Illinois. The City of Salem placed its eagle in the Eastlawn Cemetery in Salem, Illinois, to be part of the Marion County Veteran’s Memorial. The City of Mount Vernon replaced a crumbling eagle on what was once the Mt. Vernon Readiness Center, another WPA armory that was divested and is being turned into a community center.
Helfrich said the salvageable wood flooring from the stage of the McMackin Armory was repurposed for various projects.
“During the decision making process we were in the process of finalizing designs for [remodeling] the auditorium at the Illinois Military Academy here on Camp Lincoln,” said Helfrich. “We thought that it would be a fitting tribute to our history and our Soldiers to use a good portion of the salvageable wood in the design of the new auditorium.”
Helfrich said that during the remodel of the new auditorium the workers installing the panels had a moment of reflection.
“At one point as the contractors were installing the recycled flooring one of them said, ‘Soldiers that fought in World War II walked across this floor,” said Helfrich. “I noticed after that moment, they took a little bit more time and care with the pieces of flooring.”
Master Sgt. Greg Hoffman of Athens, Illinois, a budget analyst with Joint Force Headquarters based in Springfield, Illinois, used some of the floor to make commemorative pens.
“I love taking a piece of the Guard’s history and giving it a new purpose,” said Hoffman. “It’s a way to give back to the organization and to put a piece of history in someone’s hand and continue our story.”
Hoffman has also made pens from a white oak felled on Camp Lincoln.
Hoffman said some of the pens are donated to veterans’ organizations in Illinois and some are given to former members of the Illinois Army National Guard.
Retired Command Sergeant Major Mark Howe of Salem, Illinois, the former first sergeant of Company D, 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment, based in Salem, Illinois, was able to acquire some of the floor and used it to build a conference table that will be loaned to the City of Salem.
“I served in various positions in the McMackin Armory, both as a traditional Soldier and a full-timer,” said Howe. “I have a lot of memories of the armory, as do many of the residents in Salem. I just want to preserve that history.”
Howe started his military career in Salem, Illinois, in 1989 and was there for three transitions form an infantry company to a field artillery battery, then back to infantry.
“We had good and bad times,” said Howe. “I remember the trips to annual training, the long bus rides, the first sergeant who fell asleep during his own briefing and all of the faces that passed through the unit.”
Howe said he occasionally runs into former Illinois Soldiers and, comparing notes, discover they served together at some point in the same armory.
“It’s important to remember our history,” said Howe. “Not just our own personal histories, but everyone who served and passed through that armory. We were all a part of that community at some point in time.”
The city is finalizing plans to display the table at the Salem Library in Salem, Illinois.
Howe said the table will have a plaque with a brief description of the McMackin Armory and a commemoration to all who passed through it, as well as a description of the table and its construction.
“The plaque will commemorate all who served in the armory,” said Howe. “There were men 70 years ago that walked across that floor who fought in World War II and men more recently who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. That table is for them, so we don’t forget the sacrifices that all Soldiers make.”
| Date Taken: | 04.14.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2017 12:25 |
| Story ID: | 230446 |
| Location: | SALEM, IL, US |
| Hometown: | ATHENS, IL, US |
| Hometown: | FREEBURG, IL, US |
| Hometown: | MOUNT VERNON, IL, US |
| Hometown: | SALEM, IL, US |
| Hometown: | SPRINGFIELD, IL, US |
| Web Views: | 240 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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