The Detroit Naval Armory is located at 7600 East Jefferson Avenue in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It is also known as the R. Thornton Brodhead Armory. The armory was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1980 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1994.

Description

The Detroit Naval Armory is a limestone structure with four main sections: a vestibule, a drill hall, an office / penthouse section, and a company drill hall. The building mixes

Art Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...

and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

influences, and contains a large array of nautically themed WPA art by artists including John Tabaczuk,

Edgar Yaeger Edgar Louis Yaeger (1904–1997) was an American modernist painter from Detroit, Michigan. Yaeger studied under Robert A. Herzberg at the Detroit School of Fine and Applied Arts, by which he was awarded the Founder's Society Purchase Prize. Subseq ...

, David Fredenthal and Gustave Hildebrand. The building faces East Jefferson; the entrance is heavily decorated in military and naval themes using Pewabic tiles. In front of the building is a semi-circular drive encircling a flagpole, unveiled May 26, 1942, in honor of Captain R. Thornton Brodhead and a large Navy anchor from the '' USS Yantic'', a

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

gunboat whose hull is buried in a filled-in boat slip in Gabriel Richard Park.

History

In the 1880s, several states formed "naval militias", the forerunners of present-day Navy and Marine Corps Reserve units. Michigan formed the Michigan Naval Militia in 1893; the militia quickly became a popular pastime for wealthy Detroiters. Even so, the militia fought in both the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. By 1929, over 600 men were part of the militia, and it had outgrown its existing headquarters. Captain Richard Thorton Brodhead convinced the Michigan state legislature to construct a new building.R. Thornton Brodhead Naval Armory Marine Corps Reserve Center/Detroit Naval Armory
from Detroit1701.org The state of Michigan and the city of Detroit pooled $375,000 to build a new armory on Jefferson near the foot of the Belle Isle bridge. The new armory opened in 1930, and was used as both a training facility and civic event site. The indoor drill floor was used for dances, USO mixers, auto shows, and political and sporting events. In 1932, future heavyweight champion

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He r ...

fought his first career bout. Between May 1936 and 1939, improvements were made to the facility by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

, a

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

agency that provided employment and created

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

projects throughout the United States during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. The extensive remodeling and expansion project included a basement motorpool and gymnasium; enlargement of the third floor, to add an officer's wardroom, mess hall and kitchen; and a fourth-floor penthouse wing to accommodate visiting officers. The WPA also funded numerous

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administratio ...

contributions to the armory between 1936 and 1941. Captain Brodhead and architect William Stratton accepted a proposal by artist David Fredenthal and reconfigured an entire wall in the wardroom to include bookshelves and a fireplace. Fredenthal and his assistants then created a mural in five panels, in true

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

, depicting the range of experiences on shipboard. He also created a smaller mural in the adjacent bar area. A mural on the four walls of the mess hall was painted by

; one of his assistants, John Tabaczuk, carved some 20 insets for wooden doors in the building, as well as a fanciful bannister on the stairway to the penthouse. Gustave Hildebrand, assisted by James Johnson, incised plaster on the four walls at the main east entrance to create 800 feet of bas relief depicting the everyday activities of sailors. This collection of WPA art is the largest collection of federally funded Depression-era artwork of any building in the state; one authority stated that the Detroit Naval Armory contains "the richest WPA art collection of any building in Michigan, with the greatest variety of different media in one collection." During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the armory was used as a barracks and schoolhouse for Navy diesel and electrical schools. After the war ended, it was again used as a training center for reservists. The armory was eventually renamed the R. Thornton Brodhead Armory, in memory of its first Naval leader. The armory was home to Marines and Sailors of Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines until 2004."Brodhead Armory eyed for renovation"
''Detroit Free Press'', 2/14/2008 As of 2008, plans were to refurbish the armory to include bowling, fitness and youth boxing club facilities. In 2021, the City of Detroit sold the armory to The Parade Co., the organization responsible for Detroit's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

References

External links

"Detroit's Abandoned Naval Armory in 43 Ghostly Photos"

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Detroit (January 16, 2015) {{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Armories on the National Register of Historic Places Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Armories in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit Military installations established in 1930 Works Progress Administration in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites Art Deco architecture in Michigan Unused buildings in Detroit Federal Art Project 1930 establishments in Michigan