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History of the Memorial Armory Auditorium

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 History and Progress
 

1. On March, 2003, the Board of Commissioners with County Administrator, proposed to tear down the "Rock Gym" and make it into a parking lot.

2.  From March, 2003, through September, 2003, Grassroots Citizens was able to convince the BOC that the building was worthy of saving, and finally the Board of Education agreed not to allow the building be destroyed.  In the lease agreement between the BOC and the BOE, the lease states the Rock Gym cannot be torn down thanks to Friends William O. Jones and Joseph F. Jones, and Mrs. Lois Jones.

3.  Prior to November 3rd, 2003, the EC Historical Society voted to submit a Georgia Department of Transportation Grant for $907,000.  Then on November 3rd, the GDOT grant was submitted through the BOE and the wait began.

4.  On April 14, 2004  the GDOT announced to the BOE $500,000 was awarded for the Transportation National Guard Museum and the Conference & Welcome Center as was proposed in the grant proposal. 

5.  On May 5th, a group of grassroots citizens met at the Armory Auditorium to celebrate the GDOT award, and at that time it was announced to the public a "Restore the Memorial Auditorium" Fund was established to help defray the cost for restoring the Memorial Armory Auditorium.

6.  On May 12, 2004, at a Commissioner's meeting, the BOC approved a request from the EC Historical Society to submit other grant proposals to help restore the Army Auditorium.  The BOC approved the request 5-0.  At that time the BOC requested the EC Historical Society set up a Steering Committee for the Restoration of the Rock Gym.  The EC Historical agreed to this request.  (Will be introduced September 13, 2004.)

7.  June 6, 2004, the BOC voted 5-0 to Administer the GDOT grant.  Charles Kinney signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)  for the GDOT June 8, 2004, and submitted it with a revised budget to GDOT grant administrators.  The revised budget clarified the "In-kind" services of matching money of $125,000, and the parking lot to be constructed on the corner of Church Street and Forest Avenue will qualify for $95,000 (to be approved within the next month (September, 2004).  On the revised budget, the remaining "In-Kind" money was itemized for architect's fees to be donated by the EC Historical Society, and the administration of the grant. 

8.  On June 16, 2004, the BOE sent a letter to the GDOT grant administrators to assign the Administration of the $500,000 grant to the Board of Commissioners, as agreed by the BOC.

9.  On June 17th, 2004, Mr. Jerry Harris of the GDOT grant administrators (Moreland & Altobelli Assoc, INC) gave the official "Notice to Proceed" on the GDOT grant.  The tentative revised budget had been approved, and further steps to on the GDOT grant may proceed.

10.  On June 17th, 2004 the Steering Committee purposed by the BOC was finalized and all participants have agreed to participate

11.  On July 27th, the Section 106, the CE report, and the Force Account on the Parking Lot was mailed to the GDOT administrators, Jerry Harris and Melanie Nable.  Ms. Nable responded and confirmed they were there and said both the Section 106 and CE reports look "good".  She made some minor corrections for readability and language on them and submitted the SEC 106 to the Historic Preservation Section of DNR. 

12.  On August 4, in the Elberton Star, the EC Historic Society published a request for all veterans of the National Guard to sign up for an Oral History session at the Depot August 31, 2004.  This was published several times.

13.  August 09, 2004, the BOC announced the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Commission administer the GDOT for the BOC.  The EC Historical Society earlier had reported back to the Administrator that the Society could not afford the $20,000 as requested by the BOC.  But, at the meeting, the BOC said they would pay the $20,000 to RDC for administration. 

14.  August 25th, 2004.  A new website was announced to keep track of the Restoration progress of the Memorial Armory Auditorium.

15.  August 24th, 2004.  Mr. Bruce Green, Director of Economic Development for the State of Georgia, spoke at the Elberton Civic Center at 7:00 pm, and discussed ideas on how to market the Armory Auditorium and specifically Elbert County in general.  He spoke of the Armory as being a "stranded infrastructure" implying the building had a potential market for Elbert County, but the building had been overlooked and there was no focus to use it as an economic asset.  Mr. Green had much to say about the economic development of Elbert County, and suggested that everything coming from Elbert County "sing of granite".  He mentioned granite was "an agriculture product" and we needed to "harvest" it as one would do in harvesting crops.  In some earlier statements he said everything coming from Elbert County should be "granite, granite, grant".  He said we should "sing" granite, "eat" granite, "sleep" granite, and "drink" granite.  T-shirts should tout "Elberton Granite Capital of the World".  He mentioned several successful projects in Georgia such as "Georgia Grown", "Broadway productions", and several other successful restoration ventures of some cities that developed their "stranded infrastures" into economic success.  He suggested such things as "Have you seen a Yetti in a "Yurk?" might be successful in Elberton if the whole of Elbert County sets their mind to it. 

He gave a recipe for economic development in Elbert County: 

1) Inventory and Assess the Assets of Elbert County.

2) Outline an enhance strategy.

3) Gather support and partners.

4) Develop financing.

5) Determine "Management Strategy"

6) Development

7) Marketing (Pre and past development)

When Mr. Green came to Elberton the first time and stepped into the Armory Auditorium he exclaimed "WOW, what a Venue".  He said it was a big building, and it had to have a lot of emotional attachment.  Mr. Green was quoted in the newspaper and radio on "the stranded infrastructure" we had in Elbert County and the Citizens of Elbert County needed to find a market for it.  As one citizen said "we needed to get outside of the box".

16.  September 8th, 2004, the EC Historical requested to get on the agenda of the BOC and present a request to be provide input to RDC from the Steering Committee.

17.  October 27th, 2004, a "called meeting" by the BOC allowed Northeast Georgia Regional Development Commission (RDC) to provide input as to the progress of the GDOT grant of $500,000.  Chris McGahee and Burke Walker of RDC (contracted with BOC)  reported the grant was on track, but two problems were noted.  a) The architect had not been selected, and b) there was a 20% cash matching.  (At the next regular meeting this was admended to state the 20% could be "in-kind" funds.)  At the meeting RDC stated they preferred to do a RFQ (request for quality) for the architect and later they devised an agenda by which they would obtain an architect.  Nov 15    RFQ Published; Dec 14    Qualifications statements received;  Dec 16    Vendor list prepared;  Jan 6-Jan 31    Vendors reviewed and selected by BOC -  Burke Walker, Preservation Planner N.E. Ga RDC.  The RFQ was published in the Athens Banner Herald and the Elberton Star the week of Nov 15th. 

18. November 3rd, 2004, the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation notified the Elbert County Historical Society they were awarding $400,000 toward the restoration of the Armory Auditorium. 

19. Iris Anderson, chair of the Preservation of the Armory Auditorium committee for the EC Historical Society, and Jim Lloyd, member of the same committee, have planned a meeting with the Elbert County Board of Commissioner's Chair Melna Cornell and will meet during the week of November 29th to discuss the Woodruff funds and to discuss the arrangement of RDC's method of appraising the EC Historical Society of the their progress in the administration of the two grants - GDOT TEA-21 grant of $500,000 and the Woodruff grant of $400,000.

  20. On December 13th, the Elbert County Historical with Larry Wilson presenting to the Elbert County Board of Commissioners a "Letter of Understanding" for the BOC to sign with the Historical Society to develop better communication with the Board of Commissioners. 

21. On February 4th, Jim Lloyd and Bunny Lyle met with Chairperson Melna Cornell and Cornell stated that the parking lot the Society was going to use for the 20% match of the GDOT funds would not be constructed until the other governmental complex renovation of the old Middle School had been completed.  At this point, the Society realized we may encounter unrealistic delays on the GDOT grant waiting for the parking lot to be constructed.  A decision was made to use Woodruff funds for the 20% match.

22. February 14, 2005, this "Letter of Understanding" was rejected by the BOC with the president of the Historical Society presenting at the February 2005 meeting.  However, the BOC did invite the president of the Historical Society and the Chairperson of the Steering Committee to "call" Mr. Kinney and ask for an appraisal of the progress of the two grants.  At the same meeting a member of the Steering Committee for preserving the Armory Auditorium requested that the BOC send a letter to the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and the GDOT (Moreland and Altobelli Associates, INC) to drop out the parking lot for the 20% match of the GDOT grant and insert the Woodruff Grant moneys as the 20% match and also change the method of funding the architect.

23. At this same meeting the County Administrator Charles Kinney reported the 2nd RFQ submitted for architects had resulted in 9 qualified architects and a decision was to be made on the architects by the next meeting.  Later Horace Harper brought to the Historical Society a list of these architects and reported they could see the credentials of the architects in the Board room.  Late in October, 2004, the first RFQ published in the Athens Daily News and the Elberton Star resulted in no submission of credentials of any architects.  RDC would not send any architects the RFQ directly - not even at our request.

24. February 22, 2005, the Steering Committee met to recommend changes on the construction plan and uses of the funds of the GDOT and the Woodruff grants.

25. February 22, 2005, in addition, the Steering Committee asked for a special account (for auditing purposes) to be set up for recording the grant expenditures - this was requested for both grants by the Society through Horace Harper, Commissioner.  Mr. Harper took this back to the County Commissioner Charles Kinney for action. 

26. February 23, 2005, the Elberton Star published a full page article on the success we have had so far on the two grants.

27. February 24, 2005, a revised combined grant budget was submitted to Charles Kinney, the County Administrator, to submit to both the Woodruff Foundation and GDOT for their approval so that the 20% match for the GDOT grant could be taken from the Woodruff funds. The Society member presenting the letters to Administrator Charles Kinney could not obtain a meeting nor a telephone call to Mr. Kinney for discussion of the letters - so the letters were left at the clerks desk.

28.  In March 2005, the BOC selected the architect after input from each of its members and from the EC Historical Society Steering Committee.  The architect selected was Jack Pyburn of the Atlanta firm OJP / Architect, Inc..  The website is http://www.ojparchitect.com/.  

 29. In May 2005, Mr. Pyburn did a "walk through" of the "Memorial" Armory Auditorium and later met two members of our Steering Committee, Jane Farmer and Iris Anderson. 

 30.  On June 13,  2005, Mr. Pyburn traveled to Elberton and met some 100-150 members of the Elbert County Historical Society at the historic Depot.  Mr. Pyburn noted to the members he was "excited" about the project and noted that the Historical Society was certainly an "energized" group.  President Jane Farmer introduced him to the Society as a "preservation architect" - a firm that has worked on many preservation projects (which could be viewed on the website: http://www.ojparchitect.com/).   The Society had nothing but positive comments about the architect Jack Pyburn!

31.  In the August 2005 Board of Commissioners meeting the commissioners voted to contract with OJP/Architect firm to direct the restoration of the "Memorial" Armory Auditorium.  Their website is: http://www.ojparchitect.com/  
On September 15th, 2005, the OJP/Architect firm sent two architects Courtney Swann and Amie Spinks to take measurements of the facility, determine the conditions of the facility, and prepare preliminary analysis to the structural engineer of the firm for "Planning and Engineering".  Initial indications show roof damage (water) over the lobby area, office damage (water) over the lobby area, some water damage on the edges of  the large curved roof, and water leakage into the building - especially in the basement/lower offices.  The plan is to restore the building back to the original condition when it was built.  The floors may have to have some under floor structure replaced, but all-in-all, the architects Swann and Spinks indicated the building was very sound!  It is anticipated the planning and engineering and the design phase will take some 3-4 months.  So roughly, after bid documents are approved by the GDOT (Department of Transportation), construction will take place in late winter or the spring of 2006.

32.  11/01/2005.  The Steering Committee Larry Wilson, Iris Anderson,  Dr. Joyce Davis, , Joyce Comolli, Joe Fernandez, Clyde Adams, George A. Gaines Jr,  Jack Davis, Jim Lloyd,   William Lee Lester, Bunny Lyle, Charles C.  Wansley & Toleda, Jane Norman, 2005-6 Officers:  Darla & Larry Wilson, Co-President, Judy Adams, V-President,  Audrey Hardin, Secretary, Scott Wilson, Treasurer.  The Steering Committee met at the Elbert County Library with Avient Museum Services representative Kathy Dixson and discussed visualizations of the 214th National Guard Museum.  Joyce Comolli presented a floor plan for the museum with discussion.

33.  12/07/2005.  The steering committee with County representatives Jerry Hewell and Burke Walker of the NEGRDC and the Mainstreet Director Julie LeNeave will meet with architect firm OJP/Architects and discuss design issues involving bathrooms, ticket booth, catering facilities planning, floor plan for the museum, entrance to the stage, heating & A/C, and other design issues that will affect the use of the "Memorial" Armory Auditorium according to the objectives of the two grants - GDOT and Robert W. Woodruff grant.

34.  12/07/2006.  The Steering Committee consisting of Charles and Toleda Wansley, chairperson Iris Anderson, Joyce Comolli, Jim Lloyd, Larry Wilson, Darla Wilson and Board of Commissioner Jerry Hewell, and also attended by NEGRDC Administrator of the grants Burke Walker and Georgia Trust member Paul Simo, met with architects Jack Pyburn and Courtney Swann of OJP/Architects in Atlanta, GA to begin the final design for the Armory Auditorium. George Gaines, a member of the Headquarters Battery during WWII, was unable to attend this meeting because of prior commitments.  Issues included were the museum floor plan, the expansion of the bathrooms for men and women in the main auditorium floor, creation of the "catering room" for small conferences/conventions, replacing the two roofs, replacing windows, sealing the building off from incoming water, and other issues according to the two grants approved - the GDOT grant and the Robert W. Woodruff grant. It is anticipated bids will go out by April 2006. This meeting commemorates the anniversary of installation of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bust/Statue installed in front of the "Memorial" Armory Auditorium December 6th, 1941, and also commemorates the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7th, 1941.  Our Elberton National Guard 1/214th Regiments, Battery G and Headquarters Battery were already mobilized into the USA Army on November 30th, 1940 prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

35. 01/03-05/2006, the EC Historical Society cleaned out the Historic Memorial Armory Auditorium with the help of  the City of Elberton with their Elberton Detail, and hauled off 5 truckloads of discarded equipment originally belonging to the EC BOE and BOC.  The EC Historical Society had to pay for the landfill service, but much was accomplished and  on January 7, 2006, and January 14, 2006, a "garage sale" was conducted.  Student desks, teacher desks, wooden tables, and other items were sold and several hundred dollars were accumulated for the preservation of the Armory.  Present plans are to lower the suspended ceiling January 14-20th.