The demolition process of Brennan Hall III, the last legacy dormitory on Wichita State’s campus, has begun across the street from the 17th Apartment complex.
Brennan Hall has been part of WSU’s campus since 1953 and started as a single building, originally built as a men’s dorm to house an influx of students post-World War II. In 1962, it expanded into a coed dormitory — the Brennan Residence Hall.
In 1977, a female student was murdered in the dorms. The murder went unsolved for seven years, then the killer was found and sentenced to life in 1985. Coincidentally, he was already serving a life sentence for a different murder in a Colorado prison.
By the late 1970s, the hall showed signs of decay, with mold, flooding and other issues. Some space was converted to a laboratory, offices and was of non-residential use by the early 1980s.
In the 1990s, Brennan I and II closed down completely, but re-opened in 1996 due to a $14 million bond issue to renovate Brennan, Wheatshocker Apartments and Fairmount Towers…