On May 28, Buchtel Memorial Tower will be rededicated in honor of military veterans who now are part of the DU student body. Photo: Wayne Armstrong
After years of disuse, the University of Denver’s Buchtel Memorial Tower has a new purpose — one that’s closely tied to the original mission of the building to which the structure was once attached.
Buchtel Memorial Tower — located on the south side of campus, east of the Anderson Academic Commons — is all that remains of Buchtel Chapel, which was destroyed by fire in 1983. Originally completed in 1917, the building was first called the Memorial Chapel in honor of DU students who died serving their country during World War I.
On May 28, the tower will be rededicated in honor of military veterans who now are part of the DU student body.
“DU has approximately 500 student veterans, ranging from undergrad to PhD,” says Damon Vine, the University’s new veterans services coordinator. “When I came to campus for my [job] interview, I was shown the tower, and my first couple of weeks here I learned about all the efforts that went into it from various campus entities — facilities, UTS, the chancellor’s office, the Office of Graduate Studies and the Anderson Academic Commons. It was really touching to see all these entities come together to provide this space dedicated to veterans and actually put it to use.”
University Architect Mark Rodgers says the tower renovation has been in the works since 2011, when construction started on the Holocaust Memorial Social Action Site next to Buchtel Tower.
“One of the reasons we put the memorial in that location is that, in a way, the tower is a symbol of a faith that had come under great stress and yet persevered and was still standing,” Rodgers says.
As the Holocaust memorial project was coming to a close, Rodgers and his team turned their attention to the tower, which needed a great deal of work — including removal of the last of the debris from the 1983 fire — to be transformed into a small conference room. The space will host meetings devoted to veterans’ issues, as well as various high-level campus gatherings.
“There are eight chairs; three have the DU seal, and the other five have the seals of the major branches of the military: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard,” Rodgers says.
Rodgers and his team also added a black-and-white picture of the original chapel to the new room, as well as the original dedication plaque from 1917. It will join a new plaque that will commemorate the tower’s rededication in 2015 — and the significance of returning the structure to its original purpose.
“It’s a nice way to not lose the past,” Vine says. “It puts a comma in the storyline, not a period.”
The Buchtel Memorial Tower rededication ceremony begins at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 28. The ceremony will be followed by a reception in the adjoining Estlow Gardens. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony and reception will be moved to the Special Events Room in the Anderson Academic Commons, AAC 290.