[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 132 (Thursday, September 8, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CELEBRATING THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF THE BAY CITY ARMORY BUILDING

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                          HON. DALE E. KILDEE

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 8, 2011

  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 100th birthday 
of the Bay City Armory Building.
  The landmark Bay City Armory building, designed by local architects 
Pratt and Koepke, celebrates its 100th birthday this month.
  Dedicated on September 18, 1911, the Bay City Armory was first used 
by the military to organize and train local soldiers to chase Mexican 
strongman Pancho Villa along the U.S. border. They later trained 
soldiers for the battlefields in France and Belgium during World War I. 
Their units were on hand to help with disasters, riots and the 
conflicts of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The building became home 
for Company C of the Peninsulars militia. The armory also was home to 
what became the 128th Ambulance Company, later the 121st Ambulance 
Company and the 207th Engineering Battalion.
  In 1912, the Armory was also the site of the Republican state 
convention, where infighting among the delegates, some supporting 
President William Howard Taft and others backing former President 
Theodore Roosevelt, was so fierce that fist fights broke out inside and 
in front of the building. The 1912 convention broke apart the party, 
with the splintered faction helping to form the Progressive Party, or 
Bull Moose, in the November elections.
  The last National Guard units moved out of the building in 1986 and 
it was acquired by the Bay County Historical Society to be renovated as 
the new historical museum. It opened as a museum in 1988 and continues 
to highlight Bay County's history.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Bay County Historical 
Society for preserving the Bay City Armory Building, one of Bay City's 
architectural jewels, and keeping Bay County's rich history alive.

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