Salem Visitor Center

Exterior of building, from New Liberty Street looking across Armory Park

The Salem Visitor Center, located on New Liberty Street in downtown Salem, was originally the Salem Armory. It was the headquarters and training facility for the Second Corps of Cadets, which traces its history back to the Salem Militia of the seventeenth century. In 1982, the beautiful 1880s gothic revival building was nearly destroyed by fire, and the remaining drill shed was converted into the Visitor Center in 1994. The area between the drill shed and the corner of New Liberty and Essex Streets was turned into Armory Park, a park honoring the veterans of the Second Corps of Cadets.