Re: Building 26

On Mon, 12 Mar 2007, David Hamer wrote :
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> I though that this recent AP release might be of interest to
> BP-List readers...
> Associated Press - Posted on Sat, Mar. 10, 2007
> School to bulldoze historic World War II laboratory
> DAYTON - A building used as a top-secret code-breaking
> laboratory during World War II will be demolished, the
> University of Dayton announced. The university, which


from THE NEW YORK TIMES :


War Over a Building That Helped Win One
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By BOB DRIEHAUS

Published: April 1, 2007

DAYTON, Ohio : Plans to demolish an Art Deco building where a top-secret 
program broke Nazi codes have prompted a battle between preservationists 
and the University of Dayton, which owns the building and intends to have 
it razed to make way for a 50-acre campus expansion.

The university agrees that what went on in the building more than half a 
century ago is the stuff of legend. Its officials would create a memorial 
nearby to honor that feat. The demolition’s opponents say any memorial 
would be a poor substitute.

In 1942, the National Cash Register Company, working with naval engineers, 
was commissioned to produce an advanced version of the British 
code-breaking machines that unscrambled the German Enigma codes but that 
became obsolete after German technological advances.

Working quietly behind the building's glass-block windows, a team led by 
Joseph Desch, an NCR engineer, succeeded in making the new code-breakers 
by early 1943, enabling American forces to decode messages nearly as fast 
as the Germans who received them and to reroute ships imperiled by German 
submarines. Then, after D-Day, the machines helped track German troop 
movements.

Mr. Desch, a University of Dayton graduate, took his secrets to the grave 
in 1987, several years before the code-breaking project was finally 
declassified. In 2005, the building where he had made such silent history 
was bought by the university from NCR..../snip/


....But there may yet be hope for the preservationists' cause. At the 
March 21 meeting called by Mr. Hauer, Michael R. Turner, the local 
congressman, threatened to withhold support for federal dollars that would 
subsidize the development. After that, the university promised a public 
hearing on the issue. In addition, the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, 
a part of the Ohio Historical Society, will review the ASC study.

Should the public hearing or the review uncover additional historic value 
in the building, the university will reconsider its decision, Dr. Curran 
said..../snip/


see :
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/us/01ohio.html?th&emc=th
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/04/01/us/600-ohio.jpg