Kansas University officials announced early Monday afternoon that demolition has begun on four homes and two apartment buildings in the 1300 block of Ohio Street to make way for two new scholarship halls.

The four houses are expected to be demolished by the end of the day, KU officials said. The two apartments are expected to be torn down by the end of the week.

Controversy has surrounded KU’s plans to tear the homes down since the unversity announced it would demolish them to make way for scholarship halls.

But the university had been prevented from doing so because of a March ruling by the state preservation officer that the demolition of three of the homes would harm the historic environs of nearby Usher House, 1425 Tenn.

That house, now occupied by Beta Theta Pi fraternity, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Opponents said the demolition would reduce the neighborhood’s historic value and hasten university encroachment.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway in June appealed the ruling to Gov. Bill Graves. On Sept. 4, Graves ruled there was no alternative tearing down the homes. The governor’s ruling allowed the university to tear down the houses within six days. However, KU officials delayed demolition to allow some individual to try to move the houses from the lots.

KU officials said they were told last week the effort to move the houses had been dropped because of the cost.

For more on this story, tune in at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday to the 6News report on Sunflower Broadband’s cable Channel 6. You can also read more in Tuesday’s Lawrence Journal-World.