Designed by noted California architect W. G. Hind, the historic First Armory building was commissioned by the Salinas City Council in 1895 as the training center for the newly formed 100-member Troop “C” of the California National Guard. In its military capacity, the members of Company “C” served in rescue efforts in San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake, in France with allied expeditionary forces, and at the outbreak of WWII, Company “C” fought heroically in the defense of the Philippines’, including enduring the brutal Bataan Death March.