From the 1937 Sel-Ala, the yearbook of the original Selma High School (then housed on Tremont Street):

One of Selma’s most progressive steps in recent years has been the building of the new armory on Washington Street. It is a handsome, well-built building of brick, steel, and concrete, and finished in red brick. The total value of the property and building when completed will be $30,000. It has a frontage of one hundred forty-four feet and a depth of one hundred sixty feet. The front wing consists of three floors, including the basement, which is use d only for the administration and supplies of the company. The drill hall, which can be used as an auditorium, composes the rear wing. Here public gatherings and entertainments may be held when it is not in use by the guardsmen and at the discretion of the company commander. It is the largest hall in Selma to be used for such purposes.

In the basement are found the showers and rest-rooms for the men, the boiler room, coal storage room, and a supply storage room. An indoor target range for members of the company is also found here.

The first floor contains offices for the National Guard officers, locker room, shower, lounging room and library to be used by the company, a ladies’ dressing room, hat-check room, lobby, and an arms and munition vault.

The second floor is given over almost entirely to a lounging room for enlisted men. It also has a kitchen and pantry so that banquets may be cooked and served there.

The form is named in honor of William W. Quarles, father of Captain George P. Quarles, commander of Company C, The Governor’s Guards, the A.N.G. Colonel W.W. Quarrels was in command of the Third Alabama Regiment, now the 167th Infantry of which Company C is a unit, and his name was selected out of several presented to the Company to choose from.

Company C, for which the armory was built, has a history which dates back to the Confederacy in the Water Between the States. It consists of sixty-two enlisted men, and three officers. The company requires men of high moral principles, intelligence, and a willingness to serve. It has helped during strikes, floods, tornadoes, and in bringing criminals to justice. Fort W.W. Quarles and Company C are two things of which Selma may well be proud. – JEAN REYNOLDS