On February 22, 1834, the General Assembly approved "an act authorizing the building of an Arsenal for the security and preservation of the public Arms." The building was to be located "on the northeast corner of the public square in the town of Frankfort" of sufficient size to hold all the state's store of public arms. Two thousand dollars was the maximum sum allowed for the project. The existing "gun-house situated on the public square" would be pulled down and its materials applied "as far as can be, to the erection of the arsenal."
The arsenal authorized in 1834 was destroyed by fire in 1836. As there was no state of war at that time, the state did not move quickly to replace it. In 1850, construction of the building known now as the Old State Arsenal was authorized. The facility is operated by the Kentucky Historical Society as the Kentucky Military History Museum. Photograph by H.A. Gretter, Kentucky Historical Society Collections.
