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Hunt Armory was built in 1916 to house the First Battalion
of the 107th Field Artillery regiment of the Pennsylvania Army
National Guard. It was named in honor of Captain Alfred Epher
Hunt, who commanded the regiment's historic Battery B in Puerto
Rico during the Spanish-American War (1898). Battery B was the
first to offer its services to the United States in the Spanish-American
War. Hunt, an accomplished metallurgist and one of the founders
of Alcoa, brought the Battery home intact, but died the following
year of complications from malaria contracted during that tour
of duty. Hunt Armory served the Pennsylvania National Guard
during both world wars and remains the regiment's home.
The Armory borders the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Shadyside
and East Liberty; its generous dimensions (56,000 square feet)
and classical revival architecture dominate a full block between
Emerson Street and South Highland Avenue. Until the Civic
Arena was built in 1961, it was easily the largest auditorium
in Pittsburgh and was in demand for concerts and political
events, many of historical significance.
President Harry S. Truman addressed the Democratic Party
from the Hunt Armory while running for re-election in 1948.
Eisenhower's presidential campaign appearance and motorcade
culminated there in 1952. During that same year the Armory
held the Reverend Billy Graham's first Pittsburgh crusade.
English rock band Led Zeppelin performed at the Armory in
1969 as "The New Yardbirds." In addition to concerts
and political events, Hunt Armory has housed movie sets and
sound stages, rodeos, and polo matches and--shortly after
its paving in 1940--the Pittsburgh Auto Show.
Though the Armory's use as a showplace peaked in the 1950s,
events like the Pittsburgh Opera Theatre's "Duke Bluebeard's
Castle" and the Shriner's circus keep it alive as a public
venue. As Sgt. First Class Jerry Sunday told Tribune-Review
reporter Richard Robbins, the Hunt Armory has another hundred
years of hard use left in it.
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