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File:U.S.O. Recreation Center, First Avenue between Lacey and Cushman Streets, Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK HABS AK,6-FAIBA,2- (sheet 3 of 3).tif

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HABS AK,6-FAIBA,2- (sheet 3 of 3) - U.S.O. Recreation Center, First Avenue between Lacey and Cushman Streets, Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK
Title
HABS AK,6-FAIBA,2- (sheet 3 of 3) - U.S.O. Recreation Center, First Avenue between Lacey and Cushman Streets, Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK
Date Documentation compiled after 1933
Medium 24 x 36 in. (D size)
Current location
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Accession number
HABS AK,6-FAIBA,2- (sheet 3 of 3)
Place of creation Alaska; Fairbanks North Star Borough; Fairbanks
Credit line
This file comes from the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) or Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). These are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consist of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written reports.

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Notes
  • Significance: The United Services Organization or USO as it is better known began operation of a recreation center in Fairbanks, Alaska in May 1942. The Army Corps of Engineers in Alaska was in competition with other areas to see which could finish the first federally owned building for a USO club. A victory in this race for Alaska engineers would require construction during the sub-arctic winter. Resident engineer Edward Tracey developed a plan to accomplish this; pouring heated concrete and then keeping the forms heated another 48 to 72 hours. Once the concrete foundation was ready the wood frame one story building could be erected. An extremely cold January 1942 forced cancellation of concrete work. A USO club in Fayetteville, North Carolina (Ft. Bragg) would be finished in April ahead of the Fairbanks center. The need for a recreation center for off duty military from Ladd Field was recognized even before the attack on Pearl Harbor. A well known Alaskan entrepreneur Austin "Cap" Lathrop in November 1941, purchased a riverfront lot on 1st Avenue near Noble Street for a military recreation site. Lathrop resold the lot at half price to the city for transfer to the military. The property was formally deeded to the military on January 12, 1942 and construction began immediately. Following the weather delays the building which comprised a main unit, 28' x 97' and a 25' x 35' wing of wood frame construction on a concrete foundation with a partial basement to house a canteen was ready for use in May 1942. The official dedication was held over the Memorial Day weekend. In the main hall was a dance room and reception area and in the wing were rooms for reading, writing and meetings. A second identical wing was built in 1945. Additional space for dances and social activities was provided by the second wing. The Fairbanks USO functioned like other USOs with the exception of special programs and use because of the sub-arctic weather. It was a convenient spot to retreat from the cold and to purchase in the canteen a less expensive snack. This USO club unlike many others did not close after World War II or more recent wars. The center changed with the changing military environment serving financially and socially stressed dependents in the Cold War era and responding to the needs of single servicemen coming to Fairbanks from remote Nike sites. Over the years there were very few modifications to the USO building. The basement was completed to serve as a dormitory for men from remote sites. A stone face was added to the front in 1963. The canteen was moved from the basement to the 1945 constructed wing. Otherwise the building was nearly the same in 1980 as it was in 1945. The USO when it closed in 1983 to make room for a riverfront project was a well preserved World War II center.
  • Survey number: HABS AK-49
  • Building/structure dates: 1942 Initial Construction
  • Building/structure dates: 1945 Subsequent Work
  • Building/structure dates: 1963 Subsequent Work
Source/Photographer https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ak0214.sheet.00003a
Permission
(Reusing this file)
Public domain This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. See the NPS website and NPS copyright policy for more information.
Other versions
Camera location64° 50′ 16.01″ N, 147° 42′ 59″ W Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

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current06:31, 25 June 2014Thumbnail for version as of 06:31, 25 June 201414,444 × 9,600 (966 KB)Fæ (talk | contribs)GWToolset: Creating mediafile for Fæ. HABS batch uploads start 24 June 2014

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