Varnum Memorial Armory was erected by the Varnum Continentals in 1914 on the second site of the Rhode Island Central Bank, the first bank in East Greenwich from 1840 to 1857. It honors James Mitchell Varnum of East Greenwich, who served as Brig. Gen. in the Continental Army from 1777 to 1779, Maj. Gen. of the Rhode Island Militia from 1779 to 1788, a member of the Continental Congress from 1780 to 1782 and from 1786 to 1787, and a U.S. judge of the Supreme Court of the North West Territory from 1788 to 1789. He was born in Dracutt, Mass., on Dec. 17, 1748, and died in Marietta, Ohio, on Jan. 10, 1789.