As It Stands Today

The Cranston Armory today stands vacated and is wasting away with time. Because it does not have a tenant the building is not being maintained. In addition, broken windows invite the homeless and vandals inside. Furthermore, there are many structural problems in the building. However, the West End residents want to preserve this landmark in their community and have been working with the state to save it. It has been listed on the 10 Most Endangered list in 1996-7, 1998, 1999. In addition it was on the 11 Most Endangered List in the nation by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1997. The fact that the walls of the armory are three feet thick is a sign that the armory was meant to last.

Many fear that if the Armory is left vacant and continues to erode, then the surrounding neighborhood will also reach a demise. In the past fifteen years the Revolving Fund has been involved in improving the West End community by attempting to restore this historical neighborhood. If the armory is left abandoned, then the whole neighborhood would lose the advancement it has seen in the past years.