Prior to the Armory which was built on Pleasant Street in 1913, Willimantic had used two other buildings as armories. The first was on Center Street in a building known as the Adams Block. The building was later owned by a Mr. M.E.Lincoln and was used frequently as a dance hall. However, there was a fear that the floor timbers could not support a large, dancing crowd and so the building was inspected by an architect who pronounced the building safe. However, the state military department decided to contract for a different armory quarters and settled upon a new building on Valley Street owned by the same Mister Lincoln. This building housed the Young Men’s Athletic Club as well as the armory which would occupy the entire second floor. The state had leased the building for only one night a week and so the main area of the armory, used as a drill room, left Mister Lincoln, “at liberty to lease it for socials, fairs and dancing parties”. Willimantic’s National Guard Company “E” , third regiment  had been organized in 1891 as part of the Connecticut National Guard and then mustered into Federal service during the Spanish-American War in 1898.The Company remained at Fort Meade for the duration of the War and returned to Willimantic in March, 1899. In 1903, it was redesignated as Company “L”. Company “L” was mustered into Federal service in 1917 for service on the Mexican border. By 1934, the company had become redisignated as Company C, 169^th Infantry and eventually the 248^th Engineer Company. The two original armories continued to be used until each fell victim to Willimantic’s redevelopment plan. Over the years, the Center Street Armory building had housed a small mill, a roller rink,  the Sons of Israel Congregation, several small stores and finally, the Franco-American Civic and Social Club. Many older Willimantic citizens still remark about the “bouncy” dance floor. The Valley Street building, at various times, was home to the Willimantic Welfare Bureau, the United Charities Association, and by 1938 had become home to another dance hall, the Al-Pierre Tabarin. In the 1940s, the First Spiritualist Society and Watson’s Movers also used the building. By the 1950s, the buiding was used entirely by Watson’s Moving and Storage and Watson’s Taxi. This week’s photos  shows the two buildings; the Center Street building prior to being demolished (right) and the Valley Street building (left) when it housed the Al-Pierre Tabarin dance hall. For questions or comments about this  week’s photo or article, please e-mail us at “threadcity@outlook.com”.