Graymont Armory

Graymont Armory in 1949

The Graymont Armory was an Alabama National Guard armory located at 210 Graymont Avenue in McLendon Park near Legion Field in Birmingham's Graymont neighborhood.

The armory was constructed in the 1930s with funding from the Works Progress Administration. The building often hosted public meetings, dances, and concerts.

The armory was used as a polling place, and hosted the predominantly black "Legion Field boxes" (Precinct 9, Box 1) which represented the bulk of African American voting power for decades before the 1965 Voting Rights Act removed barriers to registration and white flight left larger areas of the city with a black majority.

The eminent integration of Birmingham City Schools provoked segregationist groups to hold public meetings and rallies at the Armory. A meeting sponsored by the Committee for White Schools on August 31, 1963 featured George Fisher, Sr making a public proposal for a new, all-white school system for Birmingham. A "public speaking" held at the armory by the United Klans of America three days later drew an audience of about 900 to hear Bobby Shelton and others rail against integration.

As tensions in the city increased, especially in the wake of the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, the armory filled with hundreds of guardsmen activated by Governor George Wallace to keep the peace.

The armory has since been demolished.