50 years later, they’re gone

A mechanized claw takes a swipe at one of the last “temporary” buildings on the engineering campus. The buildings housed researchers who produced everything from tokamaks to the Engine Research Center. T-27, home to the student automotive projects, will be the last to come down. Photo: Stephanie Judge

After a half-century, the “temporary” buildings on the west end of campus have crumbled under the claw of an excavator, making way for something more permanent – the Engineering Centers Building.

T-21, T-22, T-23, T-24 and T-27 were the last of an array of military surplus buildings brought to campus from Wisconsin military posts at the end of World War II. Space was in demand on campus as 12,000 veterans swelled university enrollment in 1946 and the “temporary” buildings supplied an important part of the relief.

Over the years, the T buildings housed classrooms, offices, a cafeteria and research labs. Construction of the new building will begin this summer.