For the first time in more than two decades, a flag flies proudly over Lane Hall, home to the Department of Religion and Culture and the Department of Science and Technology in Society, both in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

Lane Hall, constructed in 1888, was Barracks No. 1, the first home to members of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. Until the early 1990s, cadets raised and lowered the American flag atop Lane Hall daily. Today, they use a larger flagpole that is surrounded by the Rock — a memorial to Virginia Tech alumni killed in France in World War I — and other monuments.

Over the years, the Lane Hall cupola fell into disrepair. Renovations to the building, which was added to the National Historic Register in 2015, mean the flagpole can once again be used.

Earlier this month, a crew from the university’s facilities department arrived with the equipment to add the final pieces of hardware needed to hoist the Corps of Cadets flag onto the pole. The American flag will continue to fly from the larger flagpole facing Alumni Mall.

Adapted from a story by Shay Barnhart

 

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The crew from the Virginia Tech Physical Plant uses a Genie lift to reach the flagpole more than 100 feet in the air.
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A member of the crew, Stephen Davis, attaches the cleat for the halyard line to the bottom of the flagpole.
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Crew members Stephen Davis and Benjamin Brown spin the decorative top to the flagpole.
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Davis and Brown clip the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets flag to the halyard.
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Brown secures the halyard to the cleat.