By ALICIA FEYERHERM
Tiger Media Network
While the physical structures that make up Fort Hays State University’s campus may not be the most interesting part of Fort Hays and its history, each building has a unique story to tell. Throughout a three-part series, the history of some of FHSU’s most iconic buildings will be explored.
Campus Chronicles Part Two: Martin Allen Hall.
The Gymnasium
In the first fall of Fort Hays (known at the time as the western branch of the Kansas State Normal School), basketball was played outside on an earthen court, with men and women sharing court time.
Realizing an indoor recreation area was needed for year-round programs, the State Legislature appropriated $15,000 for a new gymnasium in 1905. The building was opened in April 19061.
The Library
For two years (1916-1918), the building housed the school’s library 1.
Social Hall
As the student population grew, a new gymnasium was needed. Sheridan Coliseum opened in 1917 and the original gymnasium became the Social Hall1.
Primarily used by female students, the building was often referred to as the “Women’s Building.” The hall housed a recreation room, kitchen and a sewing and ironing room.
When Alumni Gary Hulett was at Fort Hays between 1954 and 1958, the building was used more for recreational purposes.
The building had a refreshment bar with pop and candy, ping pong tables and card tables.
“People used to play cards a lot,” FHSU retired teacher and alum Gary Hulett said. “They’d play pitch and pinochle, that sort of thing.”
During certain times of the year, they would clear out the tables and would host dances in the building.
“It was a popular place,” Hulett said.
Martin Allen
In 1960, the Social Hall was renamed Martin Allen Hall.
Martin Allen, originally from Ohio, had a vision for Hays City and Western Kansas.
According to James L. Forsythe, Allen helped transform the town from a “boisterous, hard-drinking, vice-filled town” to a place of community 2.
During his time in Hays, he served as an agent for Big Creek Land Company and later as an agent for Union Pacific, selling railroad lands. It is recorded that he sold more land and located more settlers in Ellis County than any other man. He also started the Hays Daily Times with his land company partner, George N. Jones.
Allen was elected to the State Legislature in 1880 and persisted with his idea for an agricultural school and experiment station using the abandoned fort lands. The proposal was dubbed “Allen’s Hobby” and “Allen’s Folly.”
Allen died in April 1898. Federal and State Legislation to open the western branch of the Kansas State Normal School did not pass ‘till 1900, so Allen was not around to see the fulfillment of his dream 3.
“Martin Allen Hall”
In addition to renaming the building, the Social Hall was converted to a two-story office facility and received new electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems. The new building housed faculty offices, the print shop, student publications and news services 1.
Computing Center
In 1986, the computing center was relocated to Martin Allen as part of the Sheridan Coliseum renovations 4.
Director of Facilities Planning Dana Cunningham was in private practice at the time and helped with those renovations.
This decision to move the computing center to Martin Allen drew some controversy 5.
Faculty Adviser for The Leader (the university’s newspaper) Harold Peterson did not agree with the move because, as a result, The Leader would lose much of its space. He also worried that once the computing center was in Martin Allen, the Leader could lose even more space if the center needed to expand.
“I think it is a case of the camel getting its nose under the tent,” Peterson said.
While the remodeling would help the hall cosmetically, he believed that adequate space for the Leader was more important.
The yearbook (the Reveille) was also impacted by the change, but the faculty adviser for the Reveille, Cyndi Danner, was not opposed to the move.
“The space will be planned space – not hodgepodge space, as we now have,” Danner said. “My only concern is what is going to happen in five or six years when the Computing Center grows.”
This concern was shared by the Director of the Computing Center, Keith Faulkner. The move gave the center about 75% more space, but he said he was unsure if that would be enough as the University continued to grow.
Along with the relocation of the computing center, the FHS print shop was moved from the first floor of Martin Allen to the Brooks Building. The Kansas Legislature appropriated $60,0000 to remodel and move the print shop.
Print Shop Director Bob May was concerned that the move could impact the shop’s business.
“The biggest problem with the move would be the accessibility of our services to the departments, administration and faculty on campus,” May said. “Now we are centrally located and get a lot of ‘walk-in’ business. We do the majority of campus printing. A lot of things that office personnel bring in here to copy might be done on office copiers, etc., after we move.”
Director of Physical Plant and Planning Brien Murray disagreed.
“I think the move will give the print shop more room to work and a better layout,” Murray said. “I don’t see it as having a negative impact at all.”
Relocation of The Center
The concerns about the computing center outgrowing the Martin Allen space rang true shortly after the move and were addressed in a 1989 paper titled “A Physical Sciences Building For The 21st Century: Harnessing the Telecommunications Revolution for Instruction and Research” 6.
The paper was put together by the Physical Sciences Building Committee as justification for what would become Tomanek Hall.
As part of the proposal, the computing center would be moved to Tomanek.
“The Center currently occupies Martin Allen Hall, which is inadequate for the demands placed upon it,” the committee said. “It is designed for a curriculum and technology which is years out of date. The space is limited, outmoded and because of inferior electrical design, incapable of handling increased demands.”
The committee emphasized the importance of the computing center.
“The Center is the focal point of the communicative process at Fort Hays State University,” the committee said. “It houses and administrates the instruction, research and service efforts of academic users as well as the management information system utilized by the campus community.”
In 1995, after the completion of Tomanek, The Center was relocated and Martin Allen was vacated.
Empty and in Disrepair
Once the computing center was removed, Martin Allen sat “empty in disrepair,” awaiting state funding 7.
In 1996, the State of Kansas passed a bond measure called “Crumbling Classrooms” to renovate and modernize aging campus buildings throughout the Regents area. Martin Allen Hall received funding through that program.
Department of Psychology
The “Crumbling Classroom” repairs were completed in December 1998. The renovations included complete replacements of mechanical, electrical, plumbing systems and interior elevators.
Cunningham had joined Facilities Planning at Fort Hays by this renovation.
“I’ve actually been a part of two of those major renovations (of Martin Allen Hall),” Cunningham said.
At that point, Martin Allen Hall became the home for the Department of Psychology which was previously housed in the Weist Hall Annex 1.
According to an undated postcard, Martin Allen Hall also had an animal colony at one point 8.
Today
Since the renovations in the late 1990s, the building has remained mostly unchanged. It still houses the Department of Psychology 9.
From gymnasium and library to social hall and computing center, the building has served many purposes throughout the years and continues to be an asset for students and the university.
- Fort Hays Kansas State College, “Rededication of Martin Allen Hall and Picken Hall” (1999). Buildings & Facilities. 612. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/612
- Fort Hays State University, “75th Anniversary Celebration Program” (1977). Buildings & Facilities. 1242. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/1242
- Fort Hays Kansas State College, “Speech for Rededication on Martin Allen Hall” (1999). Buildings & Facilities. 613.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/613
- Newcomer, Eric, “Sheridan Project Requires Move” (1986). Buildings & Facilities. 1423. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/1423
- Fort Hays State University, “Building Renovations to Begin Soon” (2022). Buildings & Facilities. 1419.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/1419
- Fort Hays State University, “Physical Science Building for the 21st Century” (1989). Buildings & Facilities. 1555.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/1555
- Fort Hays Kansas State College, “Outstanding Buildings: Martin Allen Hall” (1999). Buildings & Facilities.608. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/608
- Fort Hays Kansas State College, “”Psychology at FHSU” Martin Allen Hall Postcard” (2022). Buildings & Facilities. 616. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/buildings/616
- Martin Allen Hall – Fort Hays State University (FHSU)
Photos from Lyman Dwight Wooster Photograph Collection and University Archives Photographs Collection.
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