FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – After more than ten years of partnership and cooperative work with consulting parties, Fort Huachuca signed a programmatic agreement in January 2023 for the rehabilitation of Building 66050. A viable plan to rehabilitate the building as a Range Operations Synchronization Center is moving forward and has been submitted for Army funding consideration.
In keeping with Fort Huachuca’s commitment to preserving historical resources, the rehabilitation plan also provides exhibit space for consulting parties to tell the story of the Black World War II military experience.
Building 66050 was constructed in 1942 as a Series 700 Service Club and was originally used as a Black officers’ club until the end of World War II when the 92nd and 93rd Divisions were stationed at the fort.
The building is covered by the 1991 Programmatic Agreement for World War II Temporary Buildings and was put on the demolition list in 1998. In 2006, the fort took the building off the demolition list due to a five-year lease with the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers. When the lease was not renewed in 2011, the fort determined that it had no mission use for the building and that no further resources would be spent on it.
In 2013, Fort Huachuca initiated formal Section 106 consultation with the State Historic Preservation Officer, the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, and those individuals and organizations who were approved as consulting parties. The Keeper of the National Register listed the building on the National Register in 2017 recognizing the historical significance of the building for its association with Army policies of segregation and the Black military experience during World War II.
Over the last 10 years, the fort has engaged with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and a coalition of consulting parties to determine disposition of Building 66050. Although several options were investigated none of these options produced a successful outcome.
In 2020, Fort Huachuca identified an Army use for Building 66050 as a Range Operations and Synchronization Center.
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Historical photos of Building 66050 are available online at https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5WToDA
Analysis of the Mountain View Officers’ Club done by the Construction Engineering Research Library in September 2012 (ERDC Knowledge Core: Analysis of the Mountain View Officers' Club: Fort Huachuca, Arizona (dren.mil)) provides a thoroughly researched background on Building 66050.
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