First Company Governor’s Foot Guard Armory (1888)

Organized in October 1771, the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard is the oldest military organization in continuous existence in the United States. In 1780, the Foot Guard escorted Washington to his meeting with the Comte de Rochambeau in Hartford. Built in 1888, the Foot Guard Armory, on High Street in Hartford, was designed by architect John C. Mead. The building’s drill hall, advertised in the 1890s as the largest public hall between New York and Boston, was once one of Hartford’s major locations for public entertainment.