City and state officials along with service members of the Michigan National Guard at the Ishpeming Armory break ground with golden shovels for a $6.28 million construction project on Wednesday. The project will modernize the facility and include both men’s and women’s facilities along with a lactation room for expecting and new mothers. (Journal photo by Dreyma Beronja)

ISHPEMING — The Ishpeming Armory is working toward modernization at its facility.

Michigan National Guard officials were joined by city and state officials for a groundbreaking ceremony at the armory on Wednesday.

“It’s great to see us modernizing a facility and making it fit with today’s modern National Guard and Army,” state Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, said. “I know women make up a significant portion of our volunteer army in this country and our facilities need to reflect that.”

The ceremony highlighted work being done to modernize the facility built in 1962 to better serve Michigan’s women soldiers. This includes the addition of new shower and toilet facilities and a lactation room for expectant and new mothers.

The total investment for this project is $6.28 million, according to the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Funding is split with $3.75 million from the federal level and $2.53 million coming from the state.

Ishpeming Armory Manager Chelsea Anderson has been at the armory for almost 15 years. She said before the construction project, there was only one shower, which became “really overcrowded.”

“Now we are going to five showers. We’ll be able to get ready faster and then get ready after physical training faster and then start our day,” Anderson said. “And then as far as the lactation room, I already had kids, so if I had this option then it would have been really beneficial.”

McBroom said it has been “tough and painful” over the last decade with several armories in the Upper Peninsula closing.

“Many of the facilities are getting old and decrepit in various places,” McBroom said. “So I was very involved over the last 10 years with various tours and advocating for a number of facilities to stay open and keep them, such as this one.”

According to a news release from the DMVA, the Ishpeming Armory is one of 33 facilities in Michigan that is working toward modernization. Other facilities in the U.P. include the Marquette Armory, Gladstone Armory and Kingsford Armory.

City Manager Craig Cugini said modernizing the Ishpeming facility is great for current and future servicemen and servicewomen.

“Having an updated facility to do your work on a daily basis is life changing for a soldier,” Cugini said.

He said when he was in the service, he was training out of World War II barracks with one bathroom for both men and women. Cugini said while some of the younger soldiers might not notice a difference, “because this is how it should be,” the older soldiers will.

“The older soldiers that have been around that never thought this would actually happen, to see it happening, is like, ‘Wow, I’m glad I was a part of this’ because you’re changing the next 60, 100 years,” Cugini said.

For more information, visit miarmyguard.com.

Dreyma Beronja can be reached at 906-228-2500 ext. 548. Their email address is dberonj@miningjournal.net.