Colorado Springs and El Paso County Relocation ... - Keep Trees

History
The Air Force Academy is the youngest of the U.S.
service academies. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed
a Congressional Bill establishing the Air Force Academy
on April 1, 1954. With his signature, he initiated a chain of
events that, over the years, has produced one of the leading
military and academic institutions in the country.
The site selection committee, appointed by Secretary
of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott, addressed the question
of a suitable location for the Academy. Members of the
committee bore in mind the advice of West Point and
Annapolis representatives who suggested the Academy
have an area large enough to accommodate cadet training
and future expansions. Other criteria for the site included
natural beauty, a variety of local educational, religious,
cultural and recreational facilities as well as proximity to
large cities.
After traveling 21,000 miles and considering 580
proposed sites in 45 states, the committee recommended
three locations. They included Colorado Springs, Colo.;
Lake Geneva, Wis.; and Alton, Ill. The three suggested sites
were submitted to Secretary Talbott for fi nal selection.
He chose the present site June 14, 1954. On the
same day, he named a corner of Lowry AFB, Colo., as the
temporary site for the Academy while the permanent site
The most visited man-made structure
in Colorado, the Cadet Chapel.
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