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In 1890, the Second Corps of Cadets purchased the Francis Peabody House at 136 Essex Street. The group converted the home into the Salem Armory’s head house and constructed a drill shed behind the property. The Francis Peabody House was a Federal style mansion but featured an addition with an extensive Gothic-style banquet hall built for the Peabodys. The hall contained tall fireplaces with carved medieval lions and leopards and was also adorned with large antler chandeliers. The Second Corps of Cadets razed the main portion of the Peabody house in 1908 in order to build a new, larger head house. The new armory incorporated the original drill shed from 1890 and Francis Peabody’s ornate banquet hall. The new castle-like building was designed by John C. Spofford and was also styled in the popular Gothic-revival design of the time.
In addition to housing the Second Corps of Cadets, the Salem Armory was used for a variety of civic purposes including celebrations, fairs, dances and performances by Salem’s Cadet Band. On November 1, 1933, during his first presidential campaign, Franklin D. Roosevelt greeted a crowd of over 5,000 at the Armory. He was quoted by The Salem Evening News as telling the attendees that he was very excited to be back in Salem, a city he had visited many times while attending Harvard in nearby Boston.
In February 1982, the head house of the Salem Armory was destroyed in a series of arson attacks that ravaged the city. That time would be referred to by local police and firefighters as “a reign of terror.” More than 30 communities sent firefighters to aid in battling the inferno at the Armory, as well as fires set at the Power Block and Masonic Building, both on nearby Washington Street. Unfortunately, many records and artifacts related to the Second Corps of Cadets housed in the Armory were lost in the fire.
After the 1982 fire, the surviving drill shed, located in back of the property, was converted into Salem’s Visitor Center operated by the National Park Service, it opened in 1994. The facade of the Salem Armory that remained after the fire, stood until 2000, when the lot was purchased by the Peabody Essex Museum. Despite reuse proposals, it was ultimately deemed unsafe by the museum and demolished. The location where the head house once stood is now Armory Park, which was designed to commemorate the military members of Essex County.
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Digitized Archives
Salem Armory Photographs and Ephemera
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