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Old National Guard Armory soon to be just a memory
The old National Guard Armory on College Avenue is in the process of being torn down to make way for a Walgreens. Although it remained empty for a number of years, the building was once a hub of activity in the town. Two past members of the National Guard unit that once occupied it recently reminisced about their time there. Billy Allday said he believed the building was constructed sometime in the mid to late 1950s. “The city had it built with the stipulation that if and when the National Guard no longer needed it, it would revert back to them.” Allday recalled that the unit originally met in a building that was located behind the old Jackson City Hall before the new building was constructed. “The unit changed a lot through the years while we were there,” he said. “We were a petroleum (fuel) depot, a floating bridge unit, a parts depot and a maintenance company.” The unit had at least 160 members at one point, whereas now it only has about 50. Allday recalled attending summer training camps in a number of foreign countries including Korea, Panama, Ecuador and Germany. Other camps were also held in Pennsylvania and Virginia. “We traveled a good bit,” he added. One particular activation he recalled was during a huge flood in 1961, when the unit was a floating bridge unit. “We spent nearly a month helping people in flooded areas,” he said. Allday’s last activation, before he retired from the guard, was during the 1990 Persian Gulf War. “I served as the mess officer and communications/ electronics officer,” he said. “The mess officer deal was handed to me unexpectedly, when the officer who was supposed to handle it got sick with cancer and was unable to make the trip. I was told when we arrived that the additional responsibility had been added to my regular duties.” Billy Finch, of Winn, served in the unit during those years as well. He worked as the armory’s custodian. Finch, like Allday, remembered the old armory being a hub of activity for local events. “There used to be wrestling every Wednesday night,” he said. “Wrestlers from Mobile would come up and put on shows here. What was funny to me was that they would arrive in the same car, a huge station wagon, go to their dressing rooms and change, then come out and fight with each other as if they hated one another. Then, after the show, they would all pile back in that station wagon together and drive back to Mobile.” Perhaps the old armory’s biggest claim to fame, was a performance there by a young singer from Mississippi, Elvis Presley, who later attained worldwide fame. “Only eight people, including myself, showed up for the show,” laughed Finch. “But, he performed as if he were playing to a packed crowd. Afterwards we ate supper together. He was a very nice, quiet young man.” Finch also recalled the 1961 flood. “That’s when we were the floating bridge unit,” he said. “We had a big barge we used to go up the Alabama River to Camden. That was the worst flood I can remember. We were rescuing animals from islands created by the flood and people from rooftops. It was really a bad situation.” The old armory was closed in 1982 after the construction of the new one, located on Highway 69. After it closed, it reverted back to the city and was sold to Joe Carpenter who partnered with Bill Pearce, son of longtime company commander H.W. Pearce, to open Clarke County Hardware.
The business was eventually sold by Carpenter to Jerry Drinkard. After it closed, the building remained empty until recently when it was sold by Drinkard to Walgreens.
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