1301 Ellsworth St
Ellsworth AFB, SD 57706, USA

Ellsworth Air Force Base, Mess Hall & Administration Building, 1301 Ellsworth St Blackhawk, Meade County, SD

The Mess Hall and Administration Building (Building No. 1211) is one of at least four men`s mess halls constructed at the base during the early 1950s; all are of a similar configuration, and are probably of standard Strategic Air Command design. The buildings were constructed simultaneously with and adjacent to groups of SAC-type airmen dormitories. All were remodeled for new functions as central replacement dining facilities were constructed. This is one of two such buildings constructed in 1951-52 by the H&B Construction Company, a joint venture of two Rapid City construction firms. The mess halls were built next to a block of seventeen dormitory-style airmen`s barracks (1951), together providing the base with modern housing to supplement its World War II era barracks. It represents Ellsworth`s significant growth in both size and function during the Cold War era. Ellsworth, one of the Air Force`s major bomber bases at that time, served as a repository of a larger portion of the nation`s nuclear weapons arsenal, and became home to a nuclear missile wing.