Interred German prisoners were believed to be shuttled there from a location near where T.J. Davis stands today, said Doug Miller, director of operations and school facilities for the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District.

By the middle of the 1980s, the building, identical in structure to the high school, was released to the school system, which used it as an auxiliary gym and many vocational classes, including a photography class.

Then that stopped.

“Code officials asked us not to have large student functions in here,” Miller said today. “It came to a head two years ago. Last year we didn’t use the gym at all.”

The building, Miller said, has always been an asset to the school system and three years ago the school system began studying ways to preserve it. “That’s when we came up with education as a use.”

To begin the effort to make the armory a place for classes such as the Junior ROTC program and some limited capacity public functions, safety measures had to be put in place. “We had a lot of fire load,” Miller said.

For the meantime, access to the second floor will be restricted. New exits will be put in, one that leads to the side nearest the Catholic church.

The improvements to the building also a represent a cost savings to the school system of about $500,000 as the school system’s maintenance department used metal poles from the building to reinforce joists so the armory would meet code.

Miller said it was important for the school system to tackle the armory project. “It’s in the historic district and architecturally it’s similar to the gothic high school.”

Installing new restrooms.

The ROTC program was taking up vocational space at the high school, Miller said, and will be moved there when the project is completed, most likely in September.

With its original maple floor intact, the armory will continue to serve as an auxiliary gym and can be used for public functions as long as the capacity doesn’t exceed 182 people.

The boost the school system got to complete the project came Monday when Halifax County commissioners approved $245,000 in state lottery funds for the project. “That was huge,” Miller said. “Otherwise we couldn’t move forward. This got us in the building. It’s not going to let us use the upstairs.”

To use the entire building would mean adding sprinklers and making the upstairs portion child friendly. “Making the building safe, that’s our main mission.”

Expanding the uses of the building is not out of the question if funds become available. “It’s been a part of the community a long time and with this project we want to ensure it stays a part of the community,” Miller said.