What Were the Functions of the Doylestown Armory?

I'm glad to see the front section of the old armory on Shewell Avenue has been saved and will become part of the new courthouse now under construction. I was wondering what military units occupied the armory over the years and what other functions it served? - A.R., Buckingham

In 1877, Pennsylvania Gov. John Hartranft issued a call for militia units to disperse striking coal miners at upstate mines.

Col. Thomas P. Muller gathered together some men in Doylestown, and in September 1877 formed Company G of the 16th Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Pennsylvania National Guard.

The outfit was known as the Naglee Rifles, in honor of Brig. Gen. Henry M. Naglee, a commander of the 104th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment from Bucks County during the Civil War.

Company G was first called out on Dec. 6, 1877 to put down a disturbance at the Bucks County Prison on South Pine Street (now home to the ). The unit originally met in the basement of Masonic Hall on East State Street, and moved to in 1878.

During the Spanish-American War in 1898, Company G reported for duty as part of the 6th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Capt. Abel MacReynolds, who saw service in Puerto Rico, became company commander sometime after the war.

MacReynolds spearheaded a campaign to persuade the state to build an armory in Doylestown to house Company G, the only military unit based in Bucks County.

The Legislature appropriated $25,000 for an armory on Shewell Avenue. MacReynolds, an engineer, drew a suggested design for the structure that was closely followed by the architects.

As the armory neared completion in December 1909, the Doylestown Daily Intelligencer described it as follows:

The armory "is of brick and light colored stone. The battlemented administration building contains the assembly room of the men on the second floor, with the library or reading room adjoining. In the assembly room is a mammoth open fireplace attractively designed and set with Mercer tiles, above which is an attractive keystone" featuring a "6" inside a "G."

"On the first floor are the locker rooms of the men, fitted up with the latest steel lockers; a ticket office facing a spacious reception hall; the commissary's room; the officers' room; and a non-commissioned officers' room. The latter will be used as a ladies' cloak room when entertainments or dances or anything of that sort is held there."

"Back of these rooms is the drill shed, which has the largest floor space in town [80 feet long and 40 feet wide]; with an arched roof supported by steel girders on which are attached incandescent electric lights. Over the entrance to the shed is a good-sized gallery."

Dedication Day

On Friday, Feb. 4, 1910, about 500 people attended dedication ceremonies held inside the field house.

"At the rear of the big drill shed, which surpasses all other auditoriums in the town, there was a platform for the speakers at the ceremonies," the Intelligencer reported. "Over this was draped an immense American flag. About the sides of the room were flags of all sizes tastefully arranged to good effect. Four hundred and seventy chairs afforded seating capacity for the audience."

The event began at 3:30 p.m. with the presentation of an American flag to the company by Doylestown Council No. 166, Order of United American Mechanics (skilled workers then were called mechanics).

Capt. MacReynolds thanked the order for its recognition of "our efforts to develop an efficient National Guard Company in Doylestown, and also of our efforts to secure an armory here properly befitting the responsibilities the citizen soldiery have to face. The best safeguard against militarism in the United States, and all the evils and extravagances that grow out of it, is efficient State Militia, respected at home, and hence feared abroad by those who would overturn our free institutions."

Col. James B. Coryell, of the Sixth Regiment, formally turned the armory over to Company G.

Doylestown "has a company and an armory the people may feel proud of. It should result in benefit to the young men of the town, for no man can join the National Guard without becoming a better citizen," he said.

In accepting the armory, State Sen. Webster Grim, of Doylestown, remarked: "So far as my observation goes, this is the finest auditorium in the county and undoubtedly before many years practically all of the largest gatherings will be held here. That is another thing for which we can be thankful as citizens."

The day's events concluded with an evening banquet and ball in the drill shed.

"The Sixth Regiment Band furnished superb music for the devotees of Terpsichore, whose round of pleasure began promptly at 9 o'clock and lasted until the wee small hours of the following morning, with a welcomed interruption between 10:30 and 12 o'clock for a buffet luncheon served in the assembly room. For those who did not care to dance, there were card tables in one of the rooms of the administration building and many availed themselves of this amusement," the Intelligencer reported.

When the United States entered the First World War in 1917, Company G was mobilized as part of the American Expeditionary Force sent to fight on the side of the Allies in Europe.

Sixteen members of Company G, including Albert R. Atkinson, Jr., were among the 25 soldiers from the Doylestown community who during the war. All of their names are listed on a plaque outside the on North Street.

A Cornerstone of Life in Doylestown

After the war, the armory served both military and civilian uses.

While Doylestown High School had a practice gymnasium, the boys' and girls' basketball teams played their home games in the armory. The high school's rifle teams practiced shooting in the rifle range in the basement. Adult teams even played indoor baseball games in the armory.

Public dances, holiday balls, community suppers, political rallies, antiques shows and fundraising events were held in the spacious drill shed, which could accommodate about 500 people.

For example, a ball held January 30, 1934 in the armory, to celebrate President Franklin Roosevelt's 52nd birthday, raised about $450 for the children's polio sanitarium at Warm Springs, Ga.

"Beautifully gowned ladies from all parts of the county, an attractively decorated hall and excellent music by Louis Pearlman's special orchestra made the event one long to be remembered as a special social event," the Intelligencer reported.

By 1940, the National Guard unit had become Company D of the 111th Infantry Regiment. Local Guardsmen underwent regular training at practice military maneuvers held at bases in New Jersey, New York, Virginia and other locations.

The night of Feb. 26, 1941, the company paraded through Doylestown to the train station before departing for a year's training at the Indiantown Gap Army camp in Lebanon County.

"An estimated 400 men, women and children--mothers, dads, sweethearts, brothers and sisters--were on hand as Captain Oscar E. Gerney, Jr., of Somerton, commanding officer of Company D, snapped out orders to entrain," the Intelligencer reported.

"'Goodbye soldier, we hope you'll be back a year from today,'" was what everybody was saying as the troop train pulled out of the dimly lighted Reading station at 4:20 this morning, carrying 120 enlisted men and four officers on their way to the 'big show' at Indiantown Gap," the article stated.

But the company did not return as scheduled because America entered World War II after the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Guardsmen from Doylestown fought largely in the Pacific theater during the war.

The Postwar Era

In the postwar era, the armory continued to serve as the home of the local National Guard unit. A 1961 article showed Guardsmen on a Sunday training exercise on farmland in Doylestown Township.

By the late 1960s, the unit's designation had been changed to Company C, 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment, 56th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division.

The company remained an infantry outfit until 1993, when it became Battery D, 1st Battalion, 213th Air Defense Artillery. As the Pennsylvania National Guard consolidated units into larger armories, Battery D was transferred to Easton, and the Shewell Avenue armory closed in May 2003.

The state conveyed the building and grounds to Bucks County prior to the start of .

The contractor tore down the field house last summer, but the front of the main armory building will be incorporated into the Shewell Avenue facade of the courthouse, due to open in October 2013.