Evening star., 1934-11-12
National Park Service to
Conduct Preliminary
Survey.
BEGIN EAST CAPITAL
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Public Recreation Center and
Guard Armory Will Be
Included.

the east end of East Capitol street
with a public recreation center, sta
dium and National Guard armory,
moved a step nearer realization today
when Public Works Administrator
Ickes allotted $4,000 to finance
studies for the project.
The funds will be made Immediately
available to the National Park Service,
which will undertake the preliminary
studies. These will include estimates
for grading, filling and stadium con-
struction.
Ickes made the allotment on recon-
mendation of the National Capital
Park and Planning Commission. which
had the project under consideration
for more than four years.
The proposed stadium site IS a 124-
acre undeveloped tract in the Ana
costa Park area, bordering on King
man Lake.
Col. Oehmann Elated.
Among the first to become elated
over Ickes' action was Col. John W.
Oehmann, commanding officer OF the
District Militia, who hopes the sur
vey will result in erection of a modern
armory for his organization
For many years now the militia,
due to the lack Of funds, has been
without an armory and proper train
ing quarters. 1t has been shifted
many times from one building to an
other. and at present the organization
Is cramped in the old National Hotel
Building at Sixth street and Pennsyl-
vania avenue, which the District pur-
chased when it acquired the four
square area for the municipal center.
Col. Oehmann pointed out that the
District Militia is the only unit in the
29th Division Of the National Guard
that is not properly housed. Pennsyl-
yania and Maryland, which have
units in the 29th Division, he said.
have provided modern armories ana
adequate training quarters for their
organizations.
Indoor Hall Lacking.
The old National Hotel Building,
however, Col. Oehmann explained, Is
totally unsuited to the needs OF the
militia. Lacking as it does an indoor
drill hall, he said all drills must be
conducted in the congested streets
since a request for permission to use
park area in the Mall in the vicinity
of Second and Third streets and
MARYLAND avenue was denied. In in
clement weather, he declared, training
must be restricted to group lectures
and demonstrations.
In the old hotel building, Col. Och
mann said, the militia also is handi-
capped through insufficient space for
| storage of equipment and clothing.
In some cases. he declared, clothing
has been damaged in the improved
storage rooms.
"In such accommodations as we
now have. it is utterly impossible to
develop the militia to its highest
point of efficiency" he said. 1T is
| impossible to assemble the whole
command indoors at the same time
These conditions alone are serious
handicaps to our training course"
President Commander.
Col. Oehmann declared it is diff
cult to understand why funds have
not been granted to provide the
militia with an armory in view OF
the fact that it is really a Federal
unit, the only National Guard organi-
zation in the country which has the
President of the United States as its
commander in chief.
| The President, he explained, signs
all commissions of the District militia
officers, and he is the only one who
can call the organization into active
service in times of an emergency
For that reason, Col. Oehmann said
the District militia should have ar
armory that would serve as mode
for other National Guard units
throughout the country.
The militia is composed of two
regiments, one artillery unit and an
engineering unit with an enlisted per-
sonnel of GAL. Not since 1923, when
it moved out of the old armory on I
street between Fourth and Fifth
streets, Col. Oehmann said, has the
organization had suitable quarters.
Efforts Made for Years.
Persistent efforts have been made
for many years, Col. Oehmann ex-
planned, to have Congress appropriate
funds for a modern armory. The
nearest approach to success, he said
came during the Taft administration
when a bill providing $2,500,000 for
the building passed Congress, but was
| vetoed by the President because ii
contained an Objectionable rider. A
similar amount was asked of Congress
several years ago by the late Maj. Gen
Anton Stephan, commanding officer
] of the militia, but 1t was never granted.