The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-03-15
Work on Building at Yale Field to Begin When
 Weather Permits
Especial to The Farmer.0

l New Haven, March 15-In the build
 ing of Q Yale armory the university l takes a step in the direction of college
 military training which is ahead of
 any other university in the country. 1 When the proposition of a battalion
 was broached at Yale, the question of l expense immediately arose, but this i was soon overcome in the liberal re- i sponse by graduates, one of whom l gave $30, ,0GO for the erection of an ar nory. I The subscriptions came in fast after 1 that start was made and up to date, Eenough funds are on hand to warrant the starting of the arn1Ory, a plan of
 which is given herewith.
 | As soon as the talk of building an armory was started the location was 1 the vital thing of interest and spe- | ciaI committee was appointed to look 1 into thet question of a, site. Land near 1 the center of the city was looked over and it might be added that the sur Ivey of the committee was quiet one.
 The committee had in mind the jump in real estate which would be likely to follow the announcement that the
 university intended to build it's ar mory near the campus and conse-
 quently the work was done without flourish.
 l The quest of the committee for a suitable piece of property was fruit l less, however, and finally the commit
 tee took the question up with the uni | versity direct. The result was that a part of the new Yale field has been set aside for armory purposes and l the work of digging the cellar will 1 be started just as soon as the weather permits.
 Several universities in the country
 have military training as a. part of
 their curriculum and of course there are a great many semi-I1ilitary col Ieges and schools. At Yale the for nation of a Yale battalion comprising four batteries has been the means of 1 insulting a great deal of military in terest in the university. The battalion I is a part of the Connecticut National 1 Guard and is under the leadership of Major Danford. The batteries have their regular drill nights, the men
 must report or they will be fined and the routine is similar to that of any
 National Guard company. An ayia- ! tion squad has been formed and at 1 least 10 men will be taken to Toby hanna, Pa, in the early summer for instruction nj military training in the
 air. The Connecticut Aircraft com pany, has given the use of one of it's
 mammoth dirigib1es for practice pur- poses in the state armory at Hart ford and on February 22, Lieut.. Paul
 Slocum began the work of instructing l work in the making and handling of
 dirigib1es was a part of the instruction
 and everything except the actual flying
 of the machine was gone into- Thirty men reported in Hartford and all have
 pledged themselves for work for four
 months.
 I The buildings in the armory group l,are two in number. The largest will consist of a drill hall, 100 by l210 feet, and several smaller rooms on each i side, storage rooms for each battery,
 gunroonls, lockers and a lecture room.
 The other, smaller building will be
 used as the stable. The committee has made a careful l study of various armories in New
 York state and Connecticut and the
 Yale armory will be a combination of
 the best features that have been found.
 The leading military experts have been
 consulted and their advice carefully l followed. The main drill hall is simpler and more practical than any l other hall of it's kind in the country.
 The idea of it's construction was ob- tained from a riding hall built by I Mrs. Herbert Wordsworth at Ashan-
 tee, N. Y., in the Genessee Valley. Ma l jor- General Leonard Wood knew of
 this riding hall and first suggested that i the Yale drill hall should be built on
 a similar plan.
 The committee members are acting | fvu1ge their names.
 Duane S. Lyman, 1908, of the firm I of Lyman, BIey and Lyman, the ar
 chitects of the armory has taken
 charge of the plans, giving his services
 free of charge.
 i The group of two buildings is to be
 severely plain in appearance and will 1 efnbody no real architectural charac- 1 ter or style of any kind, the idea of | the architects being to design and construct armory which is abso- 1utely utilitarian and on which no
 money is expended in architectural 1 adornment, thereby securing the max EimuIn capacity with the minimum ex- l penditure.
 The buildings will be construc cted as
 nearly freproof possible, always | considering the cost, with exterior | walls of hollow tile, plastered, on the l outside, and left perfectly plain in side.
 The drill hall with accompanying
 locker rooms, storage rooms, &c., and the stable, separated by a freproof
 wall and freproof doors. The group is so planned that the addition of a 1 future stable is possible at any time,
 on the opposite corner from the pres ] ent one which. will double the stable
 capacity and consequently provide for
 the training at one time of double the
 number of men.
 The main building, which includes
 the drill hall, which has clear span ! of 100 feet and is 210 feet long has | on side the gun storage rooms,
 separated from the drill hall by roll l ing steel doors. In one of these gun
 storage rooms will be stored the field
 pieces in daily use, in the other the
 extra material, guns, etc, furnished | by the war department. The first of 1 these compartments is so arranged as
 to allow the guns to be run into the l drill hall or outside for outdoor prac- tice.
 1 As the war department furnishes to 1 an artillery battalion the complete l equipment for use in case of war, it
 is necessary to have an exceedingly 1 large amount of storage space for this
 mat teria1, and while this space is only