History of the Ad Astra House

 In 1865, Alexander Wilcox came to the newly chartered University of Kansas as a Professor of Greek, a position he held for 50 years, until his retirement in 1915. He founded the Wilcox Classical museum in 1896, originally housed in Old Fraser, currently housed in Lippincott hall on the KU campus.  In 1890, he built a three-story, 2,200 square foot home at 1309 Ohio, just blocks from campus.  Ownership of the house later passed to another KU professor, James Hunter.  As often happens with houses in the Oread neighborhood just east of campus, the home was eventually cut up into apartments.  On November 1st, 2000 the Kansas University Endowment Association purchased the house.  Three years later, the house was slated to be demolished to make room for new scholarship halls. 
      Meanwhile, the University of Kansas Student Housing Association (UKSHA) was managing two cooperatives, Sunflower House and Olive House, and was looking to open a third.  The old Wilcox-Hunter house was a prime candidate.  It had as a former home to noted KU professors, it had historic value, was a good size for a cooperative, and the price was right.  They purchased the house from the Endowment Association December 12, 2003 for one dollar.  With a second mortgage on Sunflower House and a $20,000 no-interest loan from the Lawrence Preservation alliance, UKSHA moved the house to 1033 Kentucky and began renovating what would become the Ad Astra student housing cooperative.


Posted by Beth (with assistance from Kenneth)

NEW BLOG!

Welcome to the Ad Astra Blog. Here we will be blogging about projects, our house, and the life of being an Ad Astran.