Building 107 is History

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col James Freese
  • 132 FW PAO
Des Moines, Iowa --  Building 107, one of the oldest buildings on the Des Moines ANG Base, is history. It was demolished during the week of 7 September 10. The area will be used for much needed parking.  It was initially built for the flight simulator. Originally it was a 3,917 square foot building, built in June 1959, at a cost of $138,953.52.

In April, 1979 there was a change-in-use following an alteration for the Recruiting Office. The alteration to add the Comptroller was completed in September, 1979. This project increased the square footage to 5,967 square feet at a cost of $99,848. In November, 1986 once again the building was altered to add a Computer Room, at a cost of $77,706.

Building 107 has been home to the flight simulator, Recruiting, RMS (Resource Management Squadron) Commander, Base Contracting, Data Processing Center, HRO, Legal, Credit Union, Communications Flight, computer training classroom, CE classroom, Honor Guard, Family Readiness Group, Mission Support Group Commander, and Finance.

Retired Chief Master Sgt. Anita Miller: "We were supposed to be there for about two years and Finance was there past my retirement! Finance remodeled three times during my career. The first remodel was a self-help project and everybody chipped in. Since the workers in Finance did not have repair skills CE and Motor Pool helped. That's when we got our first module furniture... we may have been the first ones on base to have module furniture. I can remember them getting rid of the big safe in Terry Freed's office. And it was a cold building... I froze all year around and didn't hesitate to call CE. I couldn't look out the windows because I was too short and the windows were too high! Customer service was always the focus of each remodel project."

Since Recruiting, and subsequently Finance, moved into the building, it's safe to say that everyone on base has been in building 107, at one time or another in their career. A building that is now history.