From CSU's Sense of Place: A Campus History of Colorado's Land-Grant University, by James E. Hansen, Gordon A. Hazard, and Linda M. Meyer. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University, 2018.
Architect and Builder – Students and Colorado A & M College staff
750 Meridian Avenue
Housing was scarce for all of the WWII military veterans enrolling at the College. In 1947, a group of married veterans worked with college housing administrators and organized an on-campus trailer court for married veteran students owning their own trailer. Two Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) surplus buildings were brought in to be used as a washhouse and community building. Spaces rented for $12 per month that included water, natural gas and electricity when the first residents moved in during April 1947.
The rules set up by the residents only permitted married veterans to live in the trailer park. Single veterans were not allowed. The original 72 trailer site was called “Vahalla” which was where Green Hall was eventually constructed. The name was a Scandinavian word meaning “warriors are back home.” Many trailers were damaged during a wind storm that hit the campus on December 20, 1948. A major blizzard followed two weeks later adding to their discomfort.
Knowing they would have to move the trailer court, surveying of the new College-owned site located at 850 West Lake Street began in 1952. The site was completely vacated in the spring of 1953 and work to build Green Hall started shortly thereafter.
Sources by Gordon A. Hazard
Fort Collins Coloradoan, November 29, 1946, page 5.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 6, 1946, page 1, col. 5, vol. LVI, number 9.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 31, 1947, page 1, vol. LVI, number 14.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 28, 1947, page 4, col. 2, vol. LVI, number 18.
Colorado A&M News, March 1947, page 8, vol. 1, number 9.
Fort Collins Coloradoan, April 9, 1947, page 7, col. 6.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, April 11, 1947, page 1, col. 5, vol. LVI, number 22.
Fort Collins Coloradoan, April 28, 1947, page 2, col. 2.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, May 2, 1947, page 6, vol. LVI, number 25.
1947-48 Directory of Students, Faculty and Employees.
Colorado A&M News, June 1948, page 4, vol. 2, number 12.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 7, 1949, page 1, vol. LVIII, number 12.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 6, 1950, page 1, vol. LIX, number 6.
“1950 Silver Spruce”, pages 140 and 141, vol. 45.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 9, 1951, page 6, vol. LXI, number 8.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 30, 1951, page 6, col. 3, vol. LXI, number 10.
“Long Range Development Program”, Report to the Colorado State Planning Commission, March 1952, page 10 and campus maps, LD1145.8, A452, 1952, Archive.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, October 10, 1952, pages 131 and 132.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 17, 1952, page 1, col. 4, vol. LXII, number 6.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 14, 1952, page 2, col. 2, vol. LXII, number 10.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 21, 1952, page 2, col. 2, vol. LXII, number 11.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, December 10, 1952, page 143.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 30, 1953, page 1, vol. LXII, number 16.
CSU Collegian, October 11, 1967, page 12, vol. LXXVI, number 12.
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