Military Science Building, 1932
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.
Architects - Eugene G. Groves, E. G. Whitehead
Builder – C. E. Walker Construction Company of Denver
251 University Avenue
Just before Thanksgiving of 1928, United States Army Brigadier General Albert Jesse Bowley, the newly appointed temporary commander of the XIII Corps Area, participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Military Science Building. On Monday, December 10, 1928, excavation work began to prepare for pouring the footings and foundation of the new building. The new “white brick” building would block the view of the two long metal gun sheds from the President’s House across the street.
On January 30, 1929, the cornerstone was laid for this new building. Built at a cost of $17,000, this brick fire-proof building was opened for use in late September 1929. Built to replace the wooden military buildings destroyed several months earlier by a raging fire, it was originally called the “R.O.T.C. Headquarters and Classroom Building”. Designed by Eugene G. Groves, its construction created the main building of a collection of military support structures like storage sheds, the Pistol Range, stables, and garages, which over the years were built south of University Avenue and north of West Pitkin Street. Building Superintendent E.G. Whitehead was credited with some of the design work of this building, classed as 20th Century Commercial architecture.
From 1929 until 1940, the building had one floor. A noted feature of the original building design was two rooms with large sliding doors that allowed equipment such as a Howitzer to be moved in and out of the west end of building. A second-story addition featuring offices and a large auditorium classroom was started in late 1940 with occupancy taking place on April 29, 1941. Rooms on the first floor were remodeled and a stairway was added near the south entrance. A window on the east end of the building was removed at this time.
On December 13, 1950, the State Board of Agriculture approved the renaming of the building to be “Lucas Military Hall” in honor of the late United States Army Major General John P. Lucas. For unknown reasons, this name never has been used in any College publication regarding the building. This building has always been used by the Military Department/Division of Armed Forces Sciences.
In May 1967, a formal dedication took place of a small granite monument that holds a bronze plaque containing the names of the first six Colorado State University ROTC graduates who had lost their lives fighting in the Vietnam War. Now surrounded by juniper shrubs, it still stands outside the north entrance of the building. More CSU men would go on to give their lives as the war stretched on for eight more years. During the 1980s, doors were added to the north and south sides of the building to give additional access to rooms 112 and 115. Room 200 was subdivided and a door with an external stairway also added to the south side of the building.
In 1993, a tree was planted, and a memorial plaque installed to honor a freshman Army ROTC cadet who had been killed by a drunk driver. It too can be seen near the north entrance to the building. Today, the Department of Military Science and the Department of Aerospace Studies continue to use the Military Science Building to train future officers for the Armed Forces of the United States.
Sources by Gordon A. Hazard
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