Armory Hall No. 2

348 N. Burdick

Situated at 348 N. Burdick Street today, the second version of Kalamazoo’s Armory Hall was originally constructed to headquarter the Smith and Woodard (sometimes spelled Woodward) Company in 1881. Kirk A. Smith and John E. Woodard’s company manufactured the Eureka Windmill and agricultural implements in their two-story, brick building. The building’s symmetrical, tri-panel façade is visually striking for its architectural details, including its stylized masonry, bracketed cornice, and tall sash windows. Smith’s obituary on 9 July 1903 lists masonry as one of his skills, and so it’s possible that Smith played a role in the elegant design of the brickwork.

Smith & Woodard Company, organized by Kirk A. Smith, formerly of Williams, Smith & Co., and John E. Woodard by 1881. In 1889, Woodard retired from the company and Willis Pomeroy, an agent of the company, bought him out to become a partner of the newly named Smith and Pomeroy Windmill Company. Along with the name change, the company became incorporated that year. From its beginning, the company’s top selling windmill was the Eureka. The Eureka windmill was made from galvanized steel and sold as a windmill to last a lifetime.

“Smith & Woodward will be into their new factory building in about two weeks, which will give them the increased facilities long needed in their extensive manufacturing enterprise. The new building is 40 x 130 feet with two wings, one 20 feet square, the other 20 x50, with room of same dimensions above, for paint shop. The firm have about a dozen hands employed in putting together mills, and forty agents on the road. So far this month they have sold ten more mills than last season — notwithstanding the inconvenience they are working under in the way of facilities. They are in receipt of orders from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Illinois for their barn floor horse power.”

Kalamazoo Gazette, 29 April 1881

By 1887, the second floor of the building also became home to the Armory Hall, a place for social gatherings, balls, speakers, sporting contests, and exhibitions of various kinds. The Armory had previously been located within the Humphrey Block, before moving to the N. Burdick building.

Both of these occupants would depart during the first decade of the 20th century. A new Armory Building was built in 1911 on E. Water Street to accommodate the spatial needs for a larger training facility for the two companies (Companies C and M) stationed in Kalamazoo. And as the windmill industry waned nationwide, so too did the local industry.

Over the course of the next hundred years, occupants of the building have included a grocer, restaurant, gospel tabernacle, meat market, furniture store (Goldberg Furniture and Uptown Furniture Exchange), Volunteer Services of Greater Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Friends of the Ballet, and the Kalamazoo Visiting Nurses Association.

Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, January 2026.