Aylesworth Hall, 1958
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 – James M. Hunter and Associates, Helen Boggs of the Physical Plant Department
Builder - R.F. Ball Construction Company, Incorporated of San Antonio, Texas
1100 Meridian Avenue
Designed by James M. Hunter, construction by the R. F. Ball Construction Company began in 1956 and the residence hall was opened for the fall quarter of 1957. The building was named to honor Barton O. Aylesworth, Colorado Agricultural College’s president from 1899 to 1909. This structure was originally built as a men’s dormitory. In September 1961, it became the first dormitory on campus to house both men and women because of the large number of women enrolling that year. This pioneered the way for the entire residence hall system to become mixed-gender housing over the next dozen years.
From September 1969 to June 1970, Aylesworth Hall was used to house 95 graduate students in single rooms. The cafeteria and kitchen were not used, and the residents dined at the Braiden Hall Dining Center.
In June 1970, the Departments of Visual Art and Consumer Sciences began using the kitchen and cafeteria space for classrooms and a cooking laboratory to replace some of the facilities they had just lost in the fire at Old Main on May 8, 1970. From September 1970 until June 1971, 200 male students lived, two per room in two wings of the building. This ended Aylesworth Hall’s use as a residence hall.
Using a renovation design of Helen Boggs of the Physical Plant Department, the entire building was converted into office and classroom space during the summer of 1971. In September 1972 the State Board of Agriculture officially reassigned the building to be an office and academic building.
In the decades following, Aylesworth Hall became the home of a wide variety of campus offices. The University Relations Department, International Programs, Peace Corps, State 4-H, and the Purchasing Department were just a few of the offices that once called Aylesworth home. The Department of Creative Services, the Department of Design and Merchandising, the Department of Ethnic Studies, the Public Lands History Center, the Center for Literary Publishing and Colorado Review, and the CSU Health Network’s Counseling Services and Health, Education and Prevention Services had offices in Aylesworth Hall during its final years of use. As new buildings were opened, the old building began to be vacated.
Aylesworth Hall’s exterior and much of its interior always appeared as they were since opening in 1957. This made the building a very unique feature of the CSU campus during its final decade. The master plan had Aylesworth and Newsom being replaced by a new Housing and Dining Service’s residence hall complex starting in the summer of 2019. This was able to happen after the Health and Medical Center and Nancy Richardson Design Center were completed. The Department of Design & Merchandising along with other offices using Aylesworth moved out and into other buildings during the final months of 2018. In March 2019, structural demolition of Aylesworth Hall began to allow space to build Phase 1 of Meridian Village and was completed by the start of the 2019 fall semester.
Sources by Gordon A. Hazard
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 12, 1954, page 6, vol. LXIII, number 23.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, July 19-20, 1955, page 534.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, August 19, 1955, page 535.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 23, 1955, page 554.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, December 14, 1955, pages 575 and 576.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 20, 1956, pages 1 and 11, vol. LXV, number 15.
Colorado A&M News, February 1956, page 1, vol. 10, number 8.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, February 25, 1956, page 589.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 30, 1956, page 3, vol. LXV, number 23.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, April 12, 1956, pages 627-630.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, April 17, 1956, page 1 vol. LXV, number 28.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, May 8, 1956, pages 12-24.
Colorado A&M News, May 1956, page 7, vol. 10, number 11.
The Colorado Aggie Alumnus, September – October 1956, page 2, vol. 33, number 2.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 28, 1956, page 83.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 30, 1956, page 6, vol. LXV, number 12.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, April 10, 1957, page 141.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, July 19, 1957, page 220.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, October 4, 1957, page 248.
Colorado State University News, November 1957, page 4, vol. 12, number 5.
Colorado State University Collegian, September 22, 1961, page 1, vol. LXX, number 1.
Colorado State University Collegian, March 8, 1962 page 1, vol. LXX, number 78.
Colorado State University Collegian, September 20, 1963, page 1, col. 4-5, vol. LXXII, number 1.
Colorado State University Collegian, October 2, 1963, page 1, col. 4-5, vol. LXXII, number 7.
Colorado State University Collegian, October 9, 1963, page 1, vol. LXXII, number 11.
Colorado State University Collegian, October 24, 1963, page 5, vol. LXXII, number 20.
The CSU Alumnus, November – December 1963, page 7, vol. 38, number 5.
Colorado State University Collegian, December 6, 1963, page 4, vol. LXXII, number 42.
Colorado State University Collegian, April 10, 1964, page 1, vol. LXXII, number 90.
Colorado State University Collegian, May 12, 1964, page 1, vol. LXXII, number 106.
Colorado State University Collegian, November 20, 1964, page 1, vol. LXXIII, number 36.
Colorado State University Collegian, December 2, 1964, page 1, vol. LXXIII, number 38.
Colorado State University Collegian, December 4, 1964, page 1, vol. LXXIII, number 40.
Colorado State University Collegian, December 6, 1965, page 1, col. 1-3, vol. LXXIV, number 57.
Colorado State University Collegian, April 7, 1966, page 1, col. 4-5, vol. LXXIV, number 112.
CSU Collegian, December 1, 1966, page 4, vol. LXXV, number 39a.
CSU Collegian, May 22, 1967, page 1, vol. LXXV, number 110.
CSU Collegian, September 25, 1967, pages 1 and 5, vol. LXXVI, number 3.
CSU Collegian, October 13, 1967, page 1, vol. LXXVI, number 14.
CSU Collegian, October 20, 1967, page 7, vol. LXXVI, number 18.
CSU Collegian, September 22, 1969, page 27, vol. LXXVIII, number 1.
CSU Collegian, January 26, 1970, page 1, vol. LXXVIII, number 62.
CSU Collegian, February 6, 1970, page 7, col. 2, vol. LXXVIII, number 71.
CSU Collegian, March 6, 1970, pages 1 and 4, vol. LXXVIII, number 91.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, June 28, 1970, pages 362-363.
CSU Collegian, July 1, 1970, page 1, vol. LXXVIII, number 146.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 25, 1970, pages 416-418.
CSU Collegian, September 30, 1970, page 7, vol. LXXIX, number 7.
CSU Collegian, November 2, 1970, page 1, vol. LXXIX, number 29.
CSU Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 5, 1970, pages 1 and 4, vol. LXXIX, number 32.
CSU Collegian, November 6, 1970, pages 1, 6, and 7, vol. LXXIX, number 33.
CSU Collegian, November 9, 1970, page 4, vol. LXXIX, number 34.
CSU Collegian, November 10, 1970, page 1, vol. LXXIX, number 35.
CSU Collegian, November 12, 1970, pages 1, 5, vol. LXXIX, number 37.
CSU Collegian, January 7, 1971, page 3, vol. LXXIX, number 52.
CSU Comments, January 15, 1971, page 2, vol. 1, number 1.
CSU Collegian, January 15, 1971, page 1, vol. LXXIX, number 58.
CSU Collegian, February 12, 1971, pages 10 and 11, vol. LXXIX, number 78.
CSU Comments, February 12, 1971, pages 1 and 4, vol. 1, number 5.
CSU Collegian, March 1, 1971, page 4, vol. LXXIX, number 89.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 20, 1971, page 1, vol. LXXIX, number 153.
CSU Comments, September 23, 1971, page 3, vol. 2, number 2.
CSU Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 28, 1971, page 4, vol. LXXX, number 5.
CSU Collegian, October 13, 1971, page 8, vol. LXXX, number 16.
CSU Collegian, February 3, 1972, pages 3 and 5, vol. LXXX, number 68.
CSU Collegian, March 28, 1972, page 5, vol. LXXX, number 95.
State Board of Agriculture Minutes, September 22, 1972, pages 208-209.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 6, 1972, page 14, vol. LXXXI, number 39.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 13, 1974, page 1, vol. LXXXII, number 81.
“A History of Colorado State University 1870 – 1974”, by James E. Hansen II, 1974.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, January 14, 1975, page 7, vol. LXXXIII, number 60.
CSU Comments, April 3, 1975, page 4, vol. 5, number 28.
CSU Comments, February 12, 1976, page 1, vol. 6, number 23.
CSU Comments, June 17, 1976, page 1, vol. 6, number 37.
Fort Collins Journal, October 12, 1976, pages 1 and 3, vol. LXXXV.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 10, 1990, pages 1 and 6, vol. 99, issue 42.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 21, 1991, pages 1 and 3, vol. 100, issue 50.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, June 15, 1992, page 5, vol. 100, issue 149.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, March 8, 1995, page 1, vol. 103, issue 127.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, April 18, 1996, page 3, vol. 104, issue 141.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 14, 2000, pages 1 and 7, vol. 109, number 19.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 22, 2000, page 2, vol. 109, number 25.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, November 14, 2001, page 5, vol. 110, number 61.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, August 27, 2002, page 5, vol. 111, number 12.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, September 4, 2003, page 5, vol. 112, number 7.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, October 14, 2003, page 5, vol. 112, number 37.
“Visionary Leadership, the Memoirs of William E. Morgan”, page 94, by Connie Pheiffenberger, 2005.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, February 17, 2016, page 4, vol. 125, number 17.
Rocky Mountain Collegian, April 14, 2016, page 8, vol. 125, number 47.
Source, March 4, 2019, by Dell Rae Ciaravola, Accessed March 5, 2019.
Connect with library staff via chat, email, phone or text.
