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CSU Archives and Special Collections

CSU Buildings and Grounds History

A history of CSU's building and grounds from 1870 to the present.

Athletic Storage Building/Athletic Field Storeroom/Athletic Club House, 1912-1962

The exterior of the Athletic Club House. It is a rectangular building with two doors at each end and windows high up between them. There are dormers on the roof and a window on the second floor exterior.

Athletic Club House, 1917

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.

Designer – Harry Walker Hughes

Builder – College staff led by Farm Superintendent William “Billy” O’Brien

The Athletic Club House was the locker room building that was constructed in 1912 when Colorado Field was first opened.  This 30’ x 60’ building had 12 showers with hot and cold running water.  The building had two large locker rooms.  Visiting teams were given the use of one of the locker rooms while here to play the Aggies.  There were specially built facilities for players to get rubdowns.  The two “rubbing tables” were made of concrete with pipes running inside them that carried hot water to keep the surface warm and comfortable.  Traditionally, freshmen boys were assigned by the upperclassmen to give rubdowns to the football players.  Missing one’s rubdown duty assignment usually meant an icy dunking in the old Lily Pond or water trough behind the South College Gym.

The building’s walls were said to have been made from the wood of the old fence that surrounded Durkee Field from 1901 to 1911. The exterior was then covered in a stucco concrete finish.  In September 1915, Harry Hughes had a 16’ x 16’ addition built to accommodate his office as well as providing some extra storage room for sports equipment.

Following the construction of the South College Gym in 1926 with its upgraded locker, storage and office spaces, the old building became little more than a general storage facility for the campus.  In the spring of 1950, athletes who were members of the “A” Club got permission to convert the now abandoned storage facility into a lounge and recreation facility for their members.

Located in the northwest corner of Colorado Field next to the railroad tracks and across the street from the Vocational Education Building, the building was razed in 1962 based on aerial and yearbook photos.  The site is now the location of the University Station of the city’s MAX Transit system and where cars access the parking lot just north of the Jack Christiansen Track.

 

Sources by Gordon A. Hazard

Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 14, 1912, page 2, vol. 22, number 1.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 20, 1912, page 1, vol. 22, number 2.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 14, 1913, page 1, vol. XXIII, number 6.

“Colorado Agricultural College Prospectus for 1913 – 1914”, page 108, Series VIII, number 1.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 23, 1915, page 4, vol. XXV, number 3.

“Silver Spruce – 1917”, page 19, vol. 12.

State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, April 5, 1916, page 369.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, December 4, 1919, page 6, vol. XXIX, number 13.

State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, February 20, 1927, pages 419-420.

State Board of Agriculture Executive Committee Minutes, July 15, 1938, page 307.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 9, 1944, page 3, vol. LIII, number 26.

“Colorado A & M College 33rd Annual Summer Session 1945”.

Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 3, 1950, page 3, vol. LIX, number 20.

“Long Range Development Program”, Report to the Colorado State Planning Commission, March 1952, page 10.

“A History of Colorado State University 1870 – 1974”, by James E. Hansen II, 1974.

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