Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center Celebration

Posted June 6, 2003

The late United States Senator Philip Hart (D, Michigan) was wounded during the June 6, 1944, D-Day assault. Senators Bob Dole (R, Kansas) and Daniel Inouye (D, Hawaii) received their WWII wounds in Italy. In a special centennial celebration, the building in which they met and recuperated was renamed for these three men who exemplify service to others.

The renaming of the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center was commemorated during a ceremony on Saturday, May 31, at 3 p.m. – exactly 100 years to the minute from the building’s original dedication ceremony. Senator Carl Levin (D, Michigan) led the Michigan congressional delegation that asked GSA’s Administrator Stephen A. Perry to rename the building.

The building has a varied history. A landmark in Battle Creek, Michigan since 1903, the Battle Creek Sanitarium hosted captains of industry and even President William Howard Taft.

In 1942, the United States Army purchased the building. It became the Percy Jones Army Hospital, where thousands of veterans of WWII and the Korean War recuperated.

After GSA took over the facility in 1954, it housed several federal agencies and activities. The federal center currently houses a GSA property management office, the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS), the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS), and the Defense Logistics Agency Systems Integration Office (DSIO-J), among others. The Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center is one of the largest facilities in GSA’s Great Lakes Region.

Photo credit: David Hlatka