THE DICKINSON COUNTY National Guard Armory and Civic Center at 401 S. Carpenter Ave. in Kingsford was dedicated in May 1958 after voters countywide approved a millage for the project two years earlier. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

Editor’s note: More than 5,000 people visited the new Dickinson County National Guard Armory and Civic Center in Kingsford during an open house and formal dedication on May 17, 1958. The facility, still in use today, was made possible by a countywide vote Aug. 7, 1956, that approved a $120,000 millage (about $1.3 million in today’s dollars) to support the $500,000 project. The vote was 4,289 yes to 2,113 no. In advance of the vote, the Iron Mountain News reported July 20, 1956, on a committee that would help plan the project and promote the millage.

Committee to Study Project for Combined Armory and Civic Center in Kingsford

Committeemen widely representative of business, industry, labor, and other departments throughout Dickinson County have been named to conduct a thorough study of the civic features which will be incorporated into the proposed new National Guard Armory in Kingsford. The civic features, it is emphasized, will be in addition to the requirements of the National Guard for training purposes.

The proposed Armory, to house the Headquarters Battery, 300 AAA Gun Battalion, Michigan National Guard, will be situated in Kingsford on property donated by the city of Kingsford, east of Carpenter Avenue and south of Kingsford’s city building. Jack Gingrass, member of the Iron Mountain Lions Club and associated with his father in Standard Printing Co., has been named general chairman of the study group, and Ben Pitcher, Chamber of Commerce secretary, will serve as the secretary of the committee.

Other members of the study committee are James J. Cummings, Kingsford city manager; David Fornetti, Iron Mountain city engineer; Howard Vielmetti, attorney for the cities of Norway and Kingsford; Bruce Guild and A.T. Allen, superintendents of the Iron Mountain and Breitung Township school systems; Reuben H. Anderson, vice president of the Iron Mountain-Kingsford Chamber of Commerce, representing the businessman of the community; Marshall Robinette, supervisor of Breen Township, and Capt. Harold Luxmore of the National Guard.

Others may be named if the situation warrants, Chairman Gingrass said. In addition, Gingrass has appointed Edward Johnson, business manager for the Iron Mountain building and construction trades council, local 219, as coordinator of all union participation in the planning and discussions. As coordinator, Johnson will first call in representatives of all unions in the county for a preliminary discussion of the Armory project.

Members of the overall planning committee will meet regularly, at the call of the chairman, to discuss the Armory project and will report back periodically to the organization they represent on the progress of the discussions.

Another function of the overall planning committee is to assist in the preparation of the balloting, in the primary election Aug. 7, on the proposal for a special 1-mill assessment, over a period of three years, to raise an estimated $120,000 as the county’s contribution to the Armory project. The money would be used exclusively to provide such community features as a spacious auditorium, stage, bleachers, washrooms, and other facilities in the Armory, for civic use.

State and federal money only, which has already been pledged and available, would be used for that part of the Armory designed for National Guard training purposes.

The proposed 1-mill assessment, it is estimated, would apply within each tax unit of the county on the basis of the county equalized valuation. Meanwhile, the Armory committee has asked Fritz Guldswog, director of the Dickinson County tax department in the courthouse, to prepare a detailed report on the manner in which a 1-mill assessment will apply within each tax unit of the county. This report will be published, in full, in the near future.

At its first meeting, also, the Armory committee decided to organize the wives of Lions, Kiwanians and Rotarians in Iron Mountain, and other women groups in the county, into teams of a county-wide telephone campaign, urging all persons to turn out for the August primary. The campaign will have a twofold objective to bring out a large delegation of voters as the patriotic obligation, to vote on all candidates and issues, and to support the millage referendum for the Armory.

As a further step in the promotion, the Armory committee is asking the assistance of all organizations throughout the county — civic, fraternal, veterans, etc. to adopt resolutions supporting the Armory millage.