51st Annex Still Stands

The 51st Annex, located at 425 N 51st Street in Fort Smith, has remained empty since the Summer of 2024. The building was the Fort Smith Nursing Center before the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith came into possession of it. When in use by the university, it housed the University Police Department, the Career Clothing Closet run by the Babb Center for Career Services, and served as a storage facility for the Office of Campus and Community Engagement and several Registered Student Organizations.

At the beginning of 2024, the Annex was closed temporarily due to safety concerns regarding mold in some spaces in the building. The University Police Department was relocated to 1114 N 52nd Street. Staff and faculty were assured that the safety concerns would be dealt with and operations would return to normal as soon as possible.

In July, it became apparent that, due to the spread of black mold and asbestos in the building, the Annex was no longer safe for use. The space was treated and gutted, and staff were allowed inside with protective gear to salvage any items they could clean and disinfect. The building was cleared out and locked, looking for all purposes to be haunted by the ghosts of mold spores past.

University services settled into a new normal without the use of the Annex, but it still looms behind the RAWC, empty and abandoned. It haunts the internet too, still listed as the location for the University Police Department on both the Offices and Resources and Campus Resources pages of the official UAFS website. The university has made no moves to demolish the building, and it isn’t suitable for reuse or renovation. So it remains, gutted and glorious, to decay on the corner of campus.