University History - 1997 Flood

Theater and Music Suffer Heavy Losses

Published July 2007

The CSU theater program housed in Johnson Hall lost thousands of costumes and props accumulated over many decades.

Flood water on the CSU Oval

Flood water outside the Music Building on the Oval.

"It isn’t just Colorado State that will be affected," said Laura Jones of the Music, Theater and Dance Department. "We had a system of checking out costumes to groups all over the region—churches, schools, community theater groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts. History professors who wanted to spice up a lecture and would borrow period costumes."

It would take years to rebuild this collection, but the department was determined to have new costumes ready for a production of Stage Door scheduled for the last week in October.

Heavy damage to Music Building

Also sustaining heavy damage was the Music Building, where ruined instruments, sheet music and marching band uniforms reflected the destruction. Formerly the college library, this structure had experienced the impact of devastating floods twice before, in 1938 and 1951.

More about the flood

Historical accounts in this series of articles, were compiled and edited from Democracy's University - A History of Colorado State University 1970-2003, written by James E. Hansen II (University Press of Colorado, 2007).

To order a book, call (970) 491-6198, e-mail Resource.Center@ucm.colostate.edu or visit 115 General Services Building on Colorado State’s main campus. Cost is $27, not including tax or shipping. The books are also available at the CSU Bookstore in the Lory Student Center.