If people today are concerned about what a new seven-story structure at 12th and Indiana streets might do to the local skyline, imagine what the thinking was 40 years ago when a 26-story Kansas University building was temporarily on the drawing board.

KU and its supporters were thinking big, and promoters were having a field day. Then reality set in.

Extensive soil tests were about to be started for a 26-story humanities building. The site for what was due to be the tallest building in the state was where old Haworth Hall and Robinson Gymnasium once stood. University and state officials had not settled on final plans for the “skyscraper,” which had received tentative approval from several sources. They noted that the height and the facilities would depend a great deal on how much money was available.

With good reason, there was skepticism, not so much because of what such a looming presence might to do the KU skyline but that there would be nowhere close to enough funding to make it happen.

There wasn’t sufficient money, and never would be, for the structure, at the spot where controversial Wescoe Hall now resides on Mount Oread. At first, promoters said the 26 stories might have to be cut to 15, then eight, then six. Finally the result was the Wescoe Hall layout, which many consider more unattractive than a 26-story monolith might have been.

Now a local group is seeking to develop a seven-story Eldridge on the Hill, a reference to the historic downtown Eldridge Hotel. It would be at the site of The Crossing (bar), a former Yello Sub restaurant, Beat the Bookstore and Big 12 Burritos. It would be a private locale but right on the rim of the campus.

Environmentalists were not as quick to respond to building proposals in 1967. The money crunch became so prominent so quickly in the 26-story project that there never was a flood of protests about “the skyline.”

Truth be known, a well-appointed seven-story hotel building in the KU environs could be a valuable addition to the community and a big improvement over the structures there now. But with so much concern today about ecology, the environment and “the views,” it would seem the Eldridge on the Hill will have to jump through a lot of hoops before it can emerge – even if there is enough money to build the seven-story structure now, unlike the 26-level tower in ’67.