A military unit of some kind has been organized in Louisville since 1839. The Louisville Legion was organized that year "....under a charter from the State Legislature, the companies being known as the "Louisville Guards", "Washington Blues", "Kentucky Riflemen", and "Louisville Greys.'" The Louisville Legion volunteered for service during the Mexican War from 1846-1847. They were assigned to the Army of General Zachary Taylor, and participated in the battle of Monterey. The unit was mustered out of federal service in 1847, but was reorganized again in 1851 and served as a volunteer regiment until 1860, when it became part of the First Infantry Regiment of Kentucky. In 1861, permission was granted for the Louisville Legion to raise troops for the Union Army. From 1861 to 1864, the unit, officially known as the Fifth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry (unofficially the Louisville Legion), served at Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, and many other famous battle sites. In 1864, the unit was mustered out of federal service.
Following the Civil War, the Louisville Legion was organized into several volunteer units under different names. In 1898, the Louisville Legion, still an infantry regiment, was activated for federal service during the Spanish-American War. The unit fought in Puerto Rico as part of the First Kentucky Infantry. The unit was once again activated for duty in World War I, where it patrolled the Mexican border and sailed to Camp de Meucon, France. The Louisville Legion was federally recognized as the 138th Field Artillery, Kentucky National Guard, in June of 1922.
The 149th Armored Brigade, currently at the Louisville armory, was federally recognized as Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion of the 149th Infantry, in Anchorage, Kentucky, in March of 1925. There is no known armory, or other building that served as an armory, located in Anchorage. The 149th was part of the 38th Division. On April 9, 1931, the unit's location changed to St. Matthews. In 1942, the St. Matthews armory was completed, but not before the Headquarters Company was activated for World War II. The unit was inducted into Federal service on January 17, 1941, at St, Matthews, and was inactivated November 9, 1945, at Camp Anza, California. Upon return, the unit was reorganized at St. Matthews in 1946 and became the Headquarters Company and Service Company of the 240th Tank Battalion.
In addition to batteries of the 138th Field Artillery and 149th Infantry Brigade, other companies have been in Louisville over the years, including the 113th Ordnance Company, a medical detachment, the Sixty-Third Field Artillery, and a Searchlight and Target Battery.
Currently, the Louisville Armory is home to the Headquarters of the 149th Infantry Brigade, Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 149th Infantry, Company C of the 103rd Forward Support Battalion, Detachment 2 of the 2123rd Transportation Company, Service Battery of the 2/138th Field Artillery, and Detachment 1 of Battery B, 2/138th Field Artillery. In addition, a DES office is located at the armory, and the Family Support Coordinator is stationed there as well. The Louisville National Guard units are the largest in the state, and total between 2000 to 2500 men and women.
Companies from Louisville have served in the largest number of conflicts. Men from Louisville have fought in every major overseas conflict, beginning with the Mexican War and including Korea, the Berlin Crisis, Vietnam, and Desert Storm, when the 2123rd Transportation Company was activated. The military in Louisville has a long-standing and proud tradition of service as part of the famed "Louisville Legion." Besides this impressive military record, the National Guard participates in several community activities in Louisville, including work at the Kentucky Derby providing crowd control, security, communications, and escorting VIP's. The Guard also helps with the Thunder Over Louisville celebration every year, participates in parades and color guards, and helps out with local snow and contingency plans for prisons. The drill hall at the armory is rented for basketball games, dances, charity events, and wedding receptions.
The Louisville National Guard has helped with many state active duties, including the 1937 flood in Louisville, race riots in Louisville's West End in 1968, the 1974 truckers strike, Bullitt County tornadoes in 1974 and 1996, the blizzard of 1995, and the flood of 1997, when every unit at the armory was activated. People stayed in the drill hall during the flood, and a mess hall was set up to feed the people there. The National Guard continues to be a vital force in the Louisville community today.
Due to its construction date (less than fifty years old), the Louisville Armory is not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The old Louisville Armory, built in 1905, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 24, 1980.
The old armory, now Louisville Gardens, is a large three-story brick, stone, and steel building on a raised basement. It was designed by Louisville architect Brinton B. Davis, and built by the Louisville firm of Caldwell & Drake. The building was designed in the Beaux Arts style, and featured eagles perched atop the facade, cannons along the cornice line, and an arched entranceway. The raised basement/foundation was built of rough-cut stone. The building cost a total of $440,000 to build, and it was largely finished and dedicated on December 31, 1905. An estimated 10,000 people attended the dedication ceremony. Although its main function was that of a military installation and arsenal for the famed Louisville Legion, later part of the Kentucky National Guard, the building was also intended as a community center for the City of Louisville, which did not have a large meeting/ recreational facility at the turn of the century.
"The beginnings of the armory actually began in 1893, when the state legislators passed a law which required every city of 1st or 2nd class to provide an armory with a drill hall and ammunition repository for the local branch of the state militia." However, it was not until 1904 that city leaders moved to find a site suitable for an armory. A large plot of land was purchased in April of 1904 at the corner of Walnut Street (now Muhammad Ali Boulevard), and Sixth Street from O.S. Basye and Company for $89, 750. When the armory was finished in 1905, it contained offices, a swimming pool and a rifle range in the basement, a large drill hall with 53, 055 square feet of floor space and offices on the main floor, a gym, bathrooms, a band room on the second floor, and locker rooms on the third floor.
From the beginning, the armory served as a popular recreational and community gathering place. Sports activities such as basketball, tennis, badminton, roller skating, and ice hockey (a large sheet of ice was placed on the drill hall floor for a time) all took place there. Roller derbies and rodeos were other popular events which occurred at the armory. In addition, the Kentucky Horse Show Society held events there, and after 1945, the armory was home to the University of Louisville basketball team. In 1945, the Southeastern Conference was held there.
Community gatherings took place at the armory, including a large gathering of mourners who assembled at the armory to comfort and console each other after learning of the sinking of the Titanic. A more joyful occasion occurred at the armory when Elvis performed there for two nights in November of 1956. In 1956, U of L's men's basketball team moved out of the old armory and into the new Freedom Hall.
The National Guard used the building until 1946, when it moved into facilities closer to Standiford Field and elsewhere in the county. Over the years, community, sporting, and recreational events had eclipsed the building's main function as the home of the National Guard. The sheer number of activities which were held at the armory forced the Guard to find another location to drill on Sixth Street.
In 1963, a large-scale renovation of the Armory took place, and the Louisville firm of Wagner & Potts redesigned the interior. The Armory needed to be revamped and modernized because of its age, and to attract more events. The renovation cost $1,950,000, and included the addition of air-conditioning, the conversion of the drill hall into a 5,000 seat arena with a stage at one end, and a considerable change to the front facade of the building. The original arched entry was removed, and a marquee was added on the main floor. The gym that had been located on the 2nd floor was converted into a small arena. All of these changes were made in order to attract new businesses and organizations to Louisville to use the facility and to generate a higher income for the county. In order to facilitate this, the building was renamed the Louisville Convention Center. The facility continued to serve as a home for concerts, business meetings, and other large-scale functions until 1975, when construction of a new, larger convention center was completed in the heart of downtown Louisville, closer to major hotels. At this time, the building was renamed Louisville Gardens.
In addition to the 1905 Armory, another armory was built in St. Matthews in 1942. The armory was one of eight Works Progress Administration (WPA) armories constructed between 1941-1942. The St. Matthews Armory is located at 113 Sherrin Avenue in the fourth-class city of St. Matthews within Jefferson County. This two-story poured concrete building was designed by Louisville architect Edd R. Gregg, who designed a total of seven armories in the state between 1941-1951.
The armory was completed in July of 1942, after the Headquarters Company of the 149th Infantry had departed for service in World War II. Upon return, the 240th Tank Company joined the 149th Infantry. In 1957, a new armory was completed in suburban Buechel for the expanding National Guard units in Louisville. In the early 1960s, another new armory was built at the Fairgrounds. By 1970, the St. Matthews Armory was outdated, because there was no land around it on which to expand or add a motor pool. Despite the addition of another garage bay, the building was simply not large enough to accommodate all of the National Guard unit's vehicles and equipment. The Guard left the building in the late 1960s, and in 1970 the armory was sold to the City of St. Matthews.
In the mid-1980s, the armory was sold again - this time to Trinity High School, an all-boys Catholic high school. The building sat empty after the city bought it, so when Trinity acquired the building it needed quite a bit of renovation.