Since 2004 a non-profit organization called the Armory Arts and Music Center has been working to rehabilitate the building as a cultural venue.

It was nominated for its role as the home base of a critical port's peacekeeping and disaster response forces, and for being Duluth's largest cultural event venue until 1966.

[6] The Drill Hall served as a venue for expositions, trade shows, musical groups, and recreational and sporting events.

[11] In September 1913, the city of Duluth announced that it would deed property for a new armory, to be located at the end East 13th Avenue along the waterfront.

The proposed location was opposed by some residents; the property was in Lake Shore Park, which had been donated to the city by the Saint Paul and Duluth Railroad under the condition than it remain parkland in perpetuity.

An article in the Duluth News Tribune, published a few days later, showed a site plan and argued that the new armory would "only occupy a corner of the park.

By November 1914, the planned building site had moved across London Road, apparently heeding earlier protests; the new location had previously been purchased by the city for $16,000.

They organized relief efforts when a tornado hit the city of Tyler and after a wildfire tore through the northeastern part of the state.

Plans drafted by architect Phillip C. Bettenburg in November 1940 featured an expanded stage, classrooms, a kitchen, and restrooms.

[14] The addition was a brick, multi-story structure along the northern side of the armory, designed with a flat roof to accommodate a fly loft for the stage.

[15] As the country's farthest inland port, Duluth prepared the armory for possible attack during World War II with blackout screens and lightproof paint.

[16] While military activity was the initial concern of the Duluth Armory, the building has hosted social and cultural events since it opened.

Johnny Cash, Liberace, Louis Armstrong, Sonny & Cher, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and the Beach Boys all entertained Duluth from the armory's stage.

A young Bob Dylan attended the performance, which he cited as an inspiration at the 1998 Grammy Awards when he received Album of the Year for Time Out of Mind.

The creek breached its culvert, creating a "significant sized hole" in the basement allowing water to enter, which damaged electrical systems, disturbed asbestos, and led to an accumulation of debris and sediment within the building.

[21] In April 2013, heavy snow damaged a parapet on the Drill Hall, causing a number of bricks to fall to the ground.