The National Guard at Russellville was organized in April of 1902 as Company "M"of the Third Kentucky Infantry." The company was demobilized in 1905, and then revived in May of 1916.
"Company 'M' entered the Federal service for duty on the Mexican border in July, 1916, but Captain Stevenson, Commanding Officer, failed to pass the physical examination and Lieutenant Felts became Captain, Lieutenant Logan First Lieutenant and Sgt. Dorris Hanes became Second Lieutenant. The Company did guard detail work at Camp Owen Bierney and other points along the Mexican border until February 2, 1917, when it was ordered home."
The company also saw service in France during World War I, and served under the title of Company B, 113th Engineers. After the war, the unit was demobilized in June of 1919. "On June 14, 1922, Company M, 149th Infantry was federally recognized in Russellville. Company M used an old one-story concrete block building for an armory until 1933, when work on construction of the new armory, completed in 1934, began."
Company M had a relatively uneventful existence until 1941, when the unit left for Camp Shelby, Mississippi for annual training. The men expected to be gone for a year, but while they were at camp they received word of the bombing at Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. Most of the men from the unit saw active duty in the United States, in places like Texas, and at Camp Carabelle in Florida and Camp Livingston, Louisiana.
"In December of 1943 they left from New Orleans on a 26-day trip through the Panama Canal to Hawaii. Six months were spent on the islands before leaving for New Guinea, where they stayed until November. Then came the invasion of Leyte in the Phillippines. In January, 1945, four years after they had left Russellville for what they thought was a 12-month tour of duty, Company M went to Bataan, four years after a man who was to become a Logan Countian, Warren Dockins, went through the Death March ordeal."
"Members of Company M were in Manila when the war ended in August, 1945.In all, 15 of the men and 8 of the officers who had been sent off to a glorious farewell at the Russellville train station were discharged together. Some of them had been killed, some injured, and some assigned to other units." (From Logan County/Russellville newspaper).
After World War II, the unit was again called to active duty for the Bay of Pigs/Cuban missile crisis in 1961. Following the crisis, the unit was reorganized as the Medium Tank Battalion, 3/123rd Armor. At a later time, the company was reorganized again as Company C, 2/123rd Armor. Presently, the unit in Russellville is Detachment 1 of the 307th Maintenance Company with headquarters in Central City. The 307th has been stationed there since May, 1995.
The National Guard unit in Russellville supports the tobacco festival during the first weekend of October every year. In addition, the unit has been called for state active duty for floods, blizzards, and other emergencies.
The National Guard vacated the old armory in 1976, when the new one was completed. The former armory is now used as a community center, and it still retains much of its integrity. The old Russellville Armory was built in 1934 and named for Thomas S. Rhea. The armory is a two-story brick building with attached one-and-a-half story tall drill hall. The red brick building is on a concrete slab foundation and has limestone facing around the first-story doors and windows. The other windows have stone sills and lintels. The armory originally had double wooden doors leading into the building, but those have been replaced by glass doors. The building is topped by a flat roof.
Today the old armory is owned by the City of Russellville, and it serves as a community center. The interior of the armory itself has been renovated, but the drill hall is still relatively intact. The original hardwood floor is still there, but it has been stripped. The original wood and metal truss roof supporting the barrel-vaulted ceiling is still in good condition. Many of the original 20-pane metal casement windows are still intact in the drill hall. The windows in the armory building have been replaced. This armory and the old one at Ravenna are carbon copies of each other, but this one is in its original condition and retains many of its original features, whereas the one at Ravenna has been changed quite a bit.
Old Russellville Armory This armory was constructed in 1976, replacing the old armory, which was built in 1934. The current armory at Russellville is unusual in that it has rounded corners, unlike other armories in the state, which have squared corners.
Photos and information courtesy Kentucky Heritage Council -- Report No. 25" Inventory and Evaluation of National Guard Armories in the State of Kentucky" - 1999 by Kate Carothers.