Motor Vehicle Storage Building

None.

Armory Building:

Architect: Harold J. Riddle
Contractor: Dargan Construction Company
Cost: $137,210.00
Completition Date: January 9, 1963
Notes:

The Myrtle Beach armory was constructed using plans that were essentially identical to those for Pacolet Mills and adapted to the Myrtle Beach location. It was classified as a “Type B” Armory at that time.¹

SCARNG first established a Guard presence at Myrtle Beach in March 1955, when it organized Company D, 263d Tank Battalion, 51st Infantry Division. As with the rest of the Guard, the Myrtle Beach unit went through Pentomic Concept reorganization in April 1959 and emerged as Company D, 1st Medium Tank Battalion (Patton), 263d Combat Arms Regiment.² Between 1955 and 1963, the Myrtle Beach Guard unit leased space at an unknown location in the Myrtle Beach vicinity.³ A year later, the Myrtle Beach contingent was again renamed as Company D, 1st Medium Tank Battalion (Patton), 263d Armory. The present armory building was constructed in 1963, and the unit assigned to Myrtle Beach went through another reorganization a year later, this time becoming Company A, 1st Battalion, 263d Armor.⁴ As of 2005, the Myrtle Beach armory was home to Company C, 111th Signal Battalion.⁵ At the time of the site visit for this report, 1178th Forward Support and the 108th Chemical called the Myrtle Beach armory its home.⁶

Units assigned to Myrtle Beach have served from time to time in assistance to state and local communities for various peacekeeping and disaster assistance issues. Most notable among these was service in April 1968 to help quell civil disturbances in Myrtle Beach and in September 1979 to help state authorities following Hurricane David.⁷ Local organizations occasionally rent the Myrtle Beach facility for wedding receptions and other parties, and it has served in the past as a meeting place for the local Civil Air Patrol.⁸ No blueprints, site plans, or historical file could be located during the site visit for this report. Local personnel report, however, that the building was dramatically altered/renovated following severe damage from Hurricane Hugo in 1989.⁹

As of 2010, the Myrtle Beach SCARNG facility consisted of three buildings on approximately nine and a half acres of land located about a mile and a half from the center of Myrtle Beach and about two blocks from the main strip, including a small oil shed, a very large vehicle maintenance building, and the 1963 armory.