Before the walls came down and the Sheboygan Armory became just a memory, WSCS collaborated on a project to document its history. The Armory was one of the last “New Deal” Works Progress Administration buildings built with the labor of hundreds of area workers. From the beginning, it was more of a municipal auditorium. Right away it took over hosting one of the original NBA franchises, the Sheboygan Redskins. Over the years the Armory was the site for fierce North-South high school basketball games, political rallies, graduations, parties, national guard exercises, big name musical acts, and dances. Although the building was on the State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historical Places, it couldn’t be saved. The building was deemed beyond repair. Before it was permitted to be torn down, the State Historical Preservation Office required the city to produce a documentary about the building. The completed program is called The Sheboygan Armory: Part of the Community. It talks about its history and its demise.
The documentary premiered at the Stephanie Weill Center in downtown Sheboygan on January 26, 2023 and is now available to the public via the WSCS media center website. Scott Mealiff, Director of WSCS and the producer/director of the program said, “The response to the program has been very strong and overwhelmingly positive. It has quickly become one of our most viewed shows on YouTube.
