Even as two of the four buildings that comprise the Towers Residence Association are scheduled to be torn down, rumors persist about their original construction and designated use.

It has been rumored for years that the Towers were built as temporary housing in the 1960s.

While they were never meant to serve as temporary housing, they were built to meet an increased demand for housing as the baby boomer generation began school in the late 1960s and early 1970s, said Department of Residence Director Randy Alexander.

“It was boom time all over the country,” Alexander said. “There was more demand than housing.”

Alexander said TRA was built around the same time as Maple-Willow-Larch, which were constructed from 1967 to 1971, he said. Storms Hall was built in 1965, Knapp Hall in 1966, Wallace Hall in 1967 and Wilson Hall in 1969.

Alexander said six buildings were in the original plans.

While the Department of Residence has been hard-pressed to find enough students to fill Knapp and Storms Halls in recent years, for the first 25 years of Knapp’s existence, it was filled to capacity every semester, said Charles Frederiksen, retired director of the Department of Residence.

“There were several years when all the Towers were full,” Frederiksen said.

Frederiksen said for the first few weeks of each fall semester, the Department of Residence converted double rooms into triple rooms and had to house six students in dens. The basements of each residence hall were even used as additional temporary housing, he said.

Although built as permanent housing at the same time as Maple-Willow-Larch, the four buildings that make up Towers have not weathered the decades as well. Alexander said Knapp and Storms are no longer considered to be in good condition because they were not properly maintained and repaired.

Wallace and Wilson were repaired in the summers of 1990 and 1991, but Knapp and Storms were not because there was not enough money in the budget to cover the $500,000 expense per building, he said.

TRA used to have the lowest room and board rates in the former Big 8 Conference — now the Big 12, Alexander said.

“[The Department of Residence] collected money to pay the expenses, but the maintenance work needed got pushed off to the point where you can’t fix it anymore,” he said.

Storms closed at the end of the Spring 2003 semester and is scheduled to be demolished during the summer of 2004.

Knapp is scheduled to close at the end of the Fall 2003 semester and to be demolished during the summer of 2005.

Even though TRA is preparing to close its doors, myths about its origins continue.

Anne Brion, junior in elementary education and resident of Wallace, transferred to Iowa State this semester and said she heard from a friend — who worked as a housing tour guide — that the Towers were built as temporary housing. Brion said she thought the buildings were used to house the overflow of students and that they would live in Towers only for their first semester.

Eric Gapstur, junior in art and design and Knapp resident, said he heard by word of mouth and through newspaper articles that TRA was built as temporary student housing.

Catherine Hellman, sophomore in animal science and resident of Knapp, said she heard from people in Storms last year that TRA was built to be used as temporary housing for 15 years.

As Knapp Hall prepares to close its doors, the DOR seeks to clear up myths about its origins.