In October/November of 2009, the Hainerberg community gets a new teen center located behind the Army Community Service (the old dorm bldg on Mississippistrasse), near the cafeteria and chapel.

The new Teen Center is located next to the old cafeteria (which is on the left in the picture below). Not that any of us ever saw our cafeteria from this angle, but maybe it will help get your bearings...



The Teen Center or AYA has had several locations over the years, including a requisitioned estate in the 1950s and a brick building by the old gym in the 1960s and 1970s. This new facility replaces the previous one that resembled a spaceship, a structure built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1988, located near the entrance to the football field.



The new teen center is equipped with a computer center, dance floor, disco lights and has a ball court located directly behind it.



One of the services the teen center provides is a twice-per-month workshop called 'Show Me The College Money,' giving high school students the opportunity to learn about navigating the college application process and finding available funding to pay for it. The workship is open to students and parents.

The Hainerberg Chapel also gets thrown into Wiesbaden's renovation mix with a multi-project plan designed to upgrade and modernize.

The first phase of the project saw the installing of new pews, a new heating system and other enhancements completed in time for holiday services in December 2009.

One of the first projects undertaken at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield in preparation for big changes to come to this base, was the opening of a new ball field, a place where folks can go to blow off steam, exercise and have fun playing a recreational sport like baseball.

The new green diamond is located at the very northwest tip of WAAF (it's in the upper left corner of the picture above), bumping up against the outer perimeter, past the flight line in a wide open area, with plenty of room to throw a ball without hitting houses, planes or other non-playing humans!

A new child care center opens in Hainerberg, next to the chapel across the street from the school campus.

Funded as part of the Army Family Covenant Initiative, and featuring a streamlined, standardized design, the new CDC accommodates up to 105 children through age 10.

Not far from the new CDC, a 14,550-square-foot multipurpose room opens for middle schoolers and elementary students to share.



The $5.8 million facility features a large joint-use room equipped with a stage, full-service kitchen, a serving area, storage rooms and an entrance foyer.



This marks the first time students at the Wiesbaden elementary and middle schools have a cafeteria directly on their campus.

On the north end of Mississippi Strasse, several of the apartment buildings are knocked down to make room for new construction, including a 27,000-square-foot Entertainment Center that opens in May of 2010.

The $10 million 2-story venue is a one-stop, state-of-the-art amusement zone featuring a 16-lane bowling alley with giant drop-down screens above the lanes playing sports programs and music videos.



There's also a Java Cafe, an upstairs dining and bar area, a kiddie corner, a pool table and slot machine area, a large conference room that can be sub-divided into three individual rooms complete with projectors, screens, tables and chairs, an outdoor beer garden, a closed-in deck and a Teen Zone with computers and different gaming selections.



The center has wifi accessibility, league and tournament bowling, bowling balls, bags and accessories for sale, a couple of ball drillers on hand, and a dance area, complete with dance lessons.

The venue showcases alternating musical themes across Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays ranging from county to hip hop, and also hosts triva and karaoke sessions.

By 2010, word had gotten around the alumni community that the high school was slated for renovation and possible replacement. In June 2010, the official Alumni Association reunion took place in Wiesbaden and included a tour of the school.

Alumni witnessed first hand the demolition of the breezeway.



They learned that next to go would be the gym. A new gym would be built on the other side of the old smaller gym that was going to be renovated into a matching multipurpose room with a cafeteria. New lights were to be installed around the football field and other smaller structures would be replaced or renovated across the campus.

At this time, it wasn't known whether or not the school itself would be replaced, but it may simply have been the case that plans were already in motion, and only approval of the budget was needed before moving forward.



The Vice Principal at the time, Sharon O'Donnell, who was taking over as Principal the following school year, confirmed in a subsequent email that eventually, the entire school would be razed, making way for a new, state-of-the-art academic building.

She also mentioned they had had a change of heart regarding the old flagpole crest and had decided to keep it as an important historical artifact.

During the reunion, she had confirmed that it was going to be thrown out, so a few enterprising alumni, arm-in-arm (pipe-in-hand) raced into the construction site and liberated a few tiles as keepsakes.



The flagpole crest now lives at the far end of the Warrior football field and is in a dreadful state.
Oops.

Read more about the flagpole crest debacle in the 2010 Newsletter
(starts on page 10).

The new lodging facility that was replacing the American Arms and Amelia Earhart Hotel was supposed to have opened in late 2009, but an extraordinary run of misfortune delayed it's completion by more than a year.



More than half way into the project, a water valve on the top floor burst at the start of a weekend. The water flowed unchecked throughout the weekend, flooding the entire floor before finding its way to the rest of the floors below, pretty much flooding the whole building.

Next, an electrical fire ignited in one of the unfinished guestrooms; it was contained, but caused further damage and delay. And the continued delays led to issues with contracting, budgeting, worker salaries and schedules, all needing to be resolved as they tried to get the building back on track.



The 2-year $32 million project began in 2007. Its official opening didn't take place until March 2011 and the total price tag ended up being $36 million.

Once they got past all the problems, the new lodging facility finally opened featuring 164 modern guestrooms, including 92 family rooms, 64 standard rooms and 8 extended stay rooms.



The rooms feature kitchenettes, free Internet in every room, in-room flat-screen TVs (with AFN & German programming). There's a fitness room, free guest laundry facilities on each floor, and a dog walk for families arriving with pets.



The new Lodge was built at the very north end of Mississippistrasse (near the old back exit heading toward Crestview and Aukamm), with several of the housing units having been demolished to make room for it.


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In May 2011, Hainerberg gets a new School Age Children's Center (SAC), located between the Chapel and the Teen Center. The SAC quickly received its national accreditation just one month after opening, namely due to the new facility's features and programs offered.

The center is designed to provide care for children in grades 1 - 5 outside of normal school hours and during summer, and offers assistance with homework and a variety of activities including a photography club, gardening and sewing classes, sports and fitness, and weekly treks to various attractions in and around Wiesbaden.



The building is big enough to host up to 105 children; the previous location could only have up to 30 children. The new buiding features an air conditioning system, five student activity rooms, including a gym and a safety-conscious playground.

Wiesbaden Army Airfield, formerly called Wiesbaden Air Base, gets a new name in June 2012.

The base is offiically named Clay Kaserne after General Lucius D. Clay, the military governor of the U.S. occupation zone in Germany, and the orchestrator of the Berlin Airlift - the first-relief flights carrying food, coal, medicine and other supplies from Wiesbaden to west Berlin in 1948 in response to the Soviet blockade of the city (which he ordered prior to approval from his commander).



General Clay became a local hero to the people of Berlin, and Germany at large. At the start of General Clay's tenure in Germany, he quickly began advocating for the rebuilding and reinstating of Germany's political, economic and industrial systems, pivoting U.S. occupation policy away from the dismanteling, de-industrializing and, effectly, ending of Germany. General Clay believed Germany would become a dedicated and key partner in the deterence of the spread of Russian Communism in Europe. General Clay was instrumental in transitioning U.S. policy from the Morganthau plan, to the Marshall plan.

Another little known detail about General Clay is that he authorized the removal of German national treasures and works of art that had been gathered and protected by the group known as the 'Monuments Men,' to be shipped to the United States as 'borrowed and temporary exhibitions.' The first director of the Wiesbaden art collection point authored the 'Wiesbaden Manifesto,' stating in strong terms that the plundering of German art would be unforgiveable, and the plan was eventually scrapped.

After leaving his leadership role in Germany in 1949, General Clay, who had amassed considerable project management and organizing experience under FDR's New Deal in the early 1930s, served in several highly influential capacities under his former military comander, General Eisenhour, now President Eisenhour. In 1954, President Eisenhour (influenced by his time spent in Germany) tapped General Clay to plan a U.S. Highway System that would stretch across the contiguous United States (plus Hawaii and Alaska).


The 1955 plan for the U.S. Highway System.

That project, begun in the early 1950s, finally finished in 1992, and Lucius D. Clay was one of the chief architects behind it.



In 1963, fourteen years after his time in Germany, General Clay served as President John F. Kennedy's personal Ambassador to Berlin during his well-received trip to Germany.

General Clay was standing next to President Kennedy when he gave his famous 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech to the people of Berlin.



You can hear the crowd erupt the moment General Clay's name is mentioned at the beginning of that speech, and General Clay even makes an appearance, waiving to the crowd before shaking hands with President Kennedy (click here to watch).

The current-day leaders demonstrated solid insight in looking to our past to find, perhaps, the most deserving namesake for our new U.S. Army Headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany.

In March 2013, the final stage was completed on the new Mission Command Center. A comprehensive data network, extensive video teleconferencing capabilities, a digital media suite, more than 1,200 secure telephones and other features were installed, making the headquarters building ready for business.

Back in June 2012, on the same day as the renaming of the Wiesbaden Army Airfield to Clay Kaserne, and the opening of Newman Village housing area, Army Europe's new Mission Command Center was dedicated in a ceremony and named the General John Shalikashvili Mission Command Center, or The Shali Center.



In attendance to unveil the sign of the new command building are General Shalikashvili's widow and son, Joan and Brant. The General's desk and uniform are on display at the entrance to the center.

General Shalikashvili was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1936 and became the first naturalized American to be appointed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.



He was the first recipient of the Naval War College Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award and served in every level of unit command from platoon to division. One of his numerous military achievements was commanding the successful Operation Provide Comfort, the post-Gulf War peacekeeping and humanitarian effort involving intense and complex negotiations with the Turkish government, and the Iraqi military.

General Shali was one of the architects of the Joint Vision 2010 program, to transition the U.S. military into an effective digitized military force toward the concept of Network-centric warfare readiness. The U.S. Army Command Headquarters is the realization of those early efforts in recognizing the need for a robust computer networking of well informed geographically dispersed forces.



The Shali Center is the new home of 7th Army in Wiesbaden. The $119 million, four-level, 285,000 square-foot building houses more than 1,300 workstations and is home to most of the staff of U.S. Army Europe.

As part of a move to scale down and economize the number of troops in Europe, the consolidation of USAREUR headquaters has made possible the closing of more than 40 sites in Heidelberg, Mannheim and Darmstadt.

The Gray Information Processing Center, or IPC, is a 59,000 square-foot, $30.9 million facility completed in April 2014, and purposefully built down the street from The Shali Command building on Clay Kaserne. The Gray Center plays a vital role in delivering relevant and reliable information technology to the Army and joint forces in Europe



The IPC is the new home of the 5th Signal Command and allows for the consolidation and expansion of several key organizations within its fold, such as the Theater Network Operations and Security Center, the Intelligence Office, the USAREUR Information Assurance Program Management Office, and the Regional Computer Emergency Response Team Europe. The 66th MI Brigade, formerly based at the U.S. Army/NSA Dagger Complex in Darmstadt was also relocated to the Gray Center. The center includes space for 240 work stations and falls under the soon-to-be-open Consolidated Intelligence Center.

The Cyber Center is officially named The Gray Center in honor of Lt. General Robert E. Gray.



General Gray was the former Deputy Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe, who was a distinguished signal officer, leader and mentor, and also the first African-American to become Chief of Signal, and Commanding General of Fort Gordon, the Headquarters of the Army Signal Regiment.

General Gray's widow, Mrs. Annie Gray, and their two children were at the opening ceremony to dedicate the Center in her husband's name.



The Gold LEED Certified IPC building includes a host of environmental features aimed at reducing overall costs, such as low flow, water-saving plumbing fixtures designed to save up to 47% in water consumption over traditional buildings (more than 200,000 gallons annually), and a trigeneration plant which provides most of the building's power using waste heat.

What happens when several major installations consolidate into one? Consolidated traffic. Clay Kaserne faced two major traffic issues: 1) An ever-increasing population crowding the streets as more organizations relocate to Clay, and 2) the insane amount of construction in the area clogging those streets, creating bumper-to-bumper traffic akin to New York City rush hour.

The solution? A first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art automated entry system with reduced physical space, a reduced length-of-response zone where active vehicle barriers are secured to deter threats, and a $6.3 million price tag, which is less than half of what it would normally take to build it.

The Access Control Point, or ACP, at Clay is a large and complex system of duress alarms, barrier controls, instrusion detection, communication and camera-surveillance systems all working together to handle 1,600 vehicles per hour with three automobile lanes, a separate truck search lane, multiple guards at each lane to maximize flow, and separate areas for direct bicycle access and public bus loading and unloading.

March 15, 2015.
Hainerberg Housing, for the first time in its 60+ year history, has a security fence stretching around its entirety, and armed security guards posted at control points to ensure only authorized personnel access the area.



At this time, the main Access Control Point (ACP) is on Washingtonstrasse, below Commissary Hill. An additional, temporary exit-only ACP continues at the other end of Washingtonstrasse, leading out past Texasstrasse to the main road (B455) that heads toward Clay Kaserne. -click here for larger version.



This isn't Hainerberg's first step toward enclosure. After 9/11, bases went on high alert. A security fence was erected around the school, including a locked, barbed-wire gate at the footbridge. The exchange and Taunus theater were enclosed and a manned checkpoint installed at its entrance.
-click here for larger version



The move toward increased security was two-fold. First, the geopolitical landscape pretty much demanded it, with developments from a recently unified Germany (that weren't all positive), and post-9/11 escalating tension on the world stage, so to speak. Secondly, foreign armed forces in NATO-governed countries (including Germany) had an agreement to abide by as early as 1959, with updates in 1971, 1981, 1993 and 1998.



These are commonly called SOFAs, or Status of Forces Agreements. They dictate the terms of operation, juristiction in criminal cases, visas, drivers licenes, all kinds of stuff. They also state that only authorized personnel can use the on-base facilities, including the commissary and exchange, both of which have tax-exempt status in their host country.



Ever since these SOFAs have existed, our installation commanders have been tasked with making sure only authorized personnel get access to these facilities. 'Back in the day' (during the Cold War), the quick flash of an ID to a cashier did the trick. Not so anymore. The more sophisticated the landscape, the more thorough its governing.



Once Wiesbaden began to ready itself to be the new Army Europe Headquarters, consolidation and efficiency became key thrusts in determining what that would look like going forward.

Staffing and paying for multiple separate security checkpoints around the 40+ U.S. military sites in and around Wiesbaden had to be reined in. The new lodge at Hainerberg eliminated the need to control access to the old American Arms Hotel. Enclosing Hainerberg removed the need to secure separate access to the schools and the exchange.



The moment plans were hatched to build a new exchange in Hainerberg, controlled access was part of those plans. By March 15, 2015, the fencing was in place, and with just one month left before the grand opening, Hainerberg's first ACP went into effect.

The path of the security fence resulted in the loss of Hainerberg's first child care center that had been in operation since at least the 1980s. Located on Washingtonstrasse just past the Floridastrasse turnoff, it was one of the first buildings we all saw as we drove into the housing area.

The location of the flood-prone CDC building presented a problem logistically. It sat before the German-owned Telekom building, which required continued access, so the decision was made for the security fence to cut in front of both buildings, making it necessary for the city of Wiesbaden to extend Abrahamlincolnstrasse down and around to reach both buildings, and also making it necessary for the Army to give the CDC building back to the host nation.


Click here to see bigger image - the security fence cuts right down the length of Washingtonstrasse, between the two streets.

It's easy for the 'old timers' to bellyache about all the change, how unrecognizable so many things are... Without these changes, Wiesbaden probably would have faced the same fate that so many other communities did. Frankfurt... Heidelberg...You know where this is going...


Hainerberg... 1971 vs. 2018 -click here to expand.
Change happens. Some of it we like, some of it we don't. With a little planning, we can still visit our old stomping grounds. If you're traveling to Wiesbaden and want visitor access to Hainerberg, contact us and we'll see if we can help.

Now... let's go see what all the hoopla is about. Next stop, the new Exchange!

A brand new Exchange opens in Hainerberg. The $43.8 million, 155,000 square-foot shopping center is located at the east end of Texasstrasse at Washingtonstrasse and combines the products and services from the old Exchange, as well as the retail outlets that were located at Mainz-Kastel.



As has been the case with many projects at Hainerberg, the new Exchange build started with a teardown of several of the apartment buildings located at the end of Texasstrasse...


The image below shows where on Texasstrasse the new Exchange was built. The street running in front of the Exchange is Texasstrasse and the street on the right running longways is Washingtonstrasse. The small, chapel-shaped building to the left of the Exchange may also help place its location in the housing area.


(Click here to see larger version)

The mall was built with environmentally friendly initiatives, such as a green roof covering 41% of the building to decrease energy consumption, eight thousand square feet of skylights to reduce the need for additional lighting while supplying an open and welcoming natural view of the facility, and a future-ready reinforced roof that will allow for the expansion of solar panels, or updates to its fully automated HVAC system.



Check out the playful Sneak Peek video released in anticipation of the new Exchange.



Some of the departments, vendors and retailers in the Exchange include Toyland, a bakery, Petals and Blooms Floral Shop, TKS Mobile & Internet, an optical shop, an Enterprise car rental center, Josef Seibel Shoe Store, Outdoor Store, a furniture store, a barber shop, a Spa and Stylique Salon, Harley Davidson, Military Auto Source, and a Kickz Shoe Store.



There's a spacious food court with a Taco Bell, Burger King, Popeyes, Manchu Wok, Pizza Hut, a restaurant called Charley's. Nearby, the Community Bank, Andrews Federal Credit Union, a USO office, an Army Recruiters Office, PowerZone and Starbucks.



In the main part of the Exchange are shopping sections that feature Michael Kors, Ellen Tracy, The North Face and Under Armour. The expanded cosmetics section carries top-of-the-line brands like Smashbox and Too Faced. The PowerZone incoorporates all the major brand concept shops including Bose, Sony, Apple, Samsung and Kindle, and an in-store Siga mobile center.



The new Wiesbaden Exchange is... (wait for it...) 94% BIGGER than the old Exchange and continues to partner with vendors to add selections, making it one of the most popular military-run destinations for active duty and their families. The highly anticipated grand opening attracted a lot of people from the Wiesbaden community.



All profits from the Exchange go directly back to the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Fund, and 90% of the staff are military spouses in the community. The new Exchange represents a significant quality-of-life improvement for the entire community.

The outside looks the same, but inside, the Taunus Theater has had some noticable enhancements! When the Theater closed in January 2015 for renovations, a temporary make-shift theater over at Clay proved unpopular with movie goers, who instead preferred to make the trip all the way to Ramstein or wait for off-base theaters to get English versions of movies in order to continue their theater experiences.



But a year later, the Taunus Theater is back in business and open in time for the release of the highly anticipated Star Wars movie 'The Force Awakens' with a special midnight screening occurring on the night of December 17th.

The 780-seat theater was completely remodeled with new air conditioning, new bathrooms, updated lighting, more legroom and better seats.



Check out those plush seats! Right there in our little ol' Taunus Theater!


And for the first time, the Taunus Theater is 100% digital. Gone are the days of projectors, now replaced with modern, computerized projection and sound equipment. The theater also has a new digital marquee mounted on the roof, lighting up the titles of the movies currently playing.



The reopening of the Taunus was an exciting moment for folks in Wiesbaden.

The first customer to cross the threshold of the updated theater stood in line for 10 hours to make sure he got the best seats for himself and his family as he handed down his family's tradition of watching Star Wars movies to the next generation.

Construction continues on campus as students enter their second year of attending school in a temporary structure erected next to the site of the new building.


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The temporary structure consists of stacked containers joined to form larger spaces that function as classrooms and common areas.


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In the image above, the facade of the new school is visible between the temporary structures.

Principal Greg Hatch, who is tasked with helping the students cope with the situation and ensure the quality of their education, shares a brief look at how it's going in a segment aired on AFN.


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Despite going to school next to a massive construction site, student life continues as normal, as acadmics, athletics and socializing all progress - it's just another awesome year at Wiesbaden High. Because it has never been about the building.

The new Fitness Center at Clay Kaserne was one of the first projects covered at the start of this exposé on the transformation of the Wiesbaden Community into the headquarters for Army Europe.

In 2016, the Fitness Center is now ten years old and even though construction is still in full swing all around it, the Fitness Center itself has made it back on the docket of things to invest additional funds in. In fall of 2015, the building experienced significant flooding, causing extensive damage to the facility.



The situation presented an opportunity to improve the facility. Another $700,000 was put toward repairing new flooring, a remodeled cardio space, improved Wi-Fi and enhanced ventilation systems.

There's also a host of new cardio and strength equipment, plus management reduced the fees for group fitness classes as an added bonus. And at the grand re-opening, they gave away a free trip for two to Croatia!

These days, when you drive down the B455 to turn onto Washingtonstrasse and head into the back of Hainerberg, you're really heading into the front. And that entrance is the only one to get into Hainerberg housing.

Washingtonstrasse no longer heads straight in either. You have just enough time to swivel your head to the right, to gawk at the massive Exchange that now sits there, before the road suddenly veers left and you're face-to-face with a multi-lane checkpoint.



In May 2017, the Access Control Point below Commissary Hill is closed and the new ACP becomes the only gate for vehicle access to Hainerberg.

If you're still not sure where this gate is, check out the pictures below, one before the ACP (with planned pathway outlined) and the other after.


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Yep. They took out six of the apartment buildings on Washingtonstrasse to make room for the control point.

Construction of the ACP took thirteen months, cost $3.5 million and features the same new technology as that of the Clay Kaserne gate opened two years before.

The gate is designed for 1,870 vehicles per day, equally apportioned to in-bound and out-bound traffic. There are two inbound lanes for cars and one for trucks, along with a search area. The outbound traffic has a dedicated lane as well that leads out to the B455 road, where a traffic light has been installed to bring safety to what used to be a dangerous intersection.

In late 2017, several of the former housing apartments in Hainerberg were being used to offset demand for child care services. With a steady need for hourly child care, and the Wiesbaden CDCs all wait-listed, it was time to come up with a new plan.

Enrollment at the Hainerberg School Age Center was down by 50% due to a significant number of PCS moves. The decision was made to repurpose a portion of the SAC into a child development area.



The SAC art room was combined with another activity room, with modifications to the program to ensure all services were still available to the SAC kids.



Because the facility already had security cameras installed (and came with additional personnel on the SAC side), toddler-sized sinks, bathrooms and a diaper changing area were added quickly.

Within two weeks, it was ready to roll out, providing continuity of care to all the children who had been receiving pre-school and part-day care in the child development homes.
 

Clay Kaserne gets its first dog park. The off-leash area is located toward the south end, near the entrance of the Newman Village. The grassy area is completely fenced in and features a double-gate entrance to provide a safe and open area for dogs to run and play.



The park includes some paved areas, permanent park benches, tables and trash receptacles. This is the second dog park to be added to the Wiesbaden community, the first being located on Commissary Hill in Hainerberg.

When construction ramped up at Clay Kaserne, several steps were taken to relieve traffic congestion and to improve the base's 'walkability' by building several parking garages along the perimeter of the installation and creating a kind of ring road that helped cars get around the base instead of through it - all with the aim toward making the interior of Clay Kaserne more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly.


That's Joe Harris, Class of '88, Director of Outdoor Recreation at MWR, leading the way on bike-to-work day.
In 2017, the Directorate of Public Works added and/or improved upon six bicycle racks and shelters at various locations around Clay. Upgrades to existing bike racks and the addition of bike shelters made it easier for cyclists to leave their communter bikes, safe from the weather.



The locations of the sheltered racks were chosen based on where most people already parked their bikes. The new racks and shelters accommodate between 10 and 20 bikes each, and existing racks were upgraded to accommodate additional bikes. All portable bike racks were replaced with inverted U-style, in-ground mount commercial bike racks, as well as safety glass shelters.

After more than six years of gradual building phases to keep from interupting school activity, the new High School at Hainerberg opened to much fanfare.



The new High School opened its doors in August 2017, becoming the first military school in Europe to meet the design specifications of a 21st-Century educational facility.


The view toward the football field... click here to expand
The $52 million environmentally-friendly structure comes with sustainable features, including a green roof, more than 100,000 square feet and supports a target student population of 655.



Some of the 21st-Century design aspects include classrooms and learning spaces that are flexible and adaptable, facilitating multiple modes of learning and providing varying scales of learning environments.



The school features a new performance theater, and a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) wing. The wing includes three computer labs, as well as engineering and physics labs.



The WHS Principal at the time, Sandra Whitaker, described the school's three stories as being centered around a commons area from which six 'neighborhoods' branch. Instruction occurs within four studios in these neighborhoods, with glass walls that open to accommodate larger groups.



The flexibility of the design allows for different types of projects and groupings of students. Each neighborhood includes its own common area, as well as smaller instructional spaces and areas where teachers can collaborate and share a common space for their desks.


Students open their new lockers on the first day of school in 2017.

In case you were wondering... the iconic HH Arnold crest is proudly displayed in the new school, in a position of honor, with a plaque above it, acknowleding the school's proud past forever linked to General H. H. Arnold.



The High School on top of Hainerberg Hill still looks proudly out across the entire city of Wiesbaden, much as it has since 1955. And it looks like it's here to stay for quite some time to come...



More details about construction of the new school can be found in the school history section.

In June of 2018, two exhibits were unveiled as a new memorial at Clay Kaserne to honor a proud aspect of Wiesbaden's American military history. The memorial was the brainchild of the Garrison commander at the time, Col. Todd Fish.



Just inside the main gate is a stunning mural featuring 3D elements created by a retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant with help from a local German artist.



The mural depicts the Berlin Airlift. In attendance at the ceremony were the daughters of retired U.S. Air Force Col. Gail Halverson, known as 'The Candy Bomber' during the airlift operation.



The mural itself is made up of repurposed items, like old bicycles, chains, tupperware lids, hub caps, suitcases and a host of other things that prove one man's trash is another man's treasure.



Many active duty volunteers across post helped dismantel the collected pieces that would be included in the finished work. A celebrated local graffiti artist lent his talents to bring a layer of color to the mural. It was, fittingly a group effort with cooperation between Germans and Americans that brought this work of art to life.



Just around the corner from the mural, in the center of the roundabout that leads into Newman Village Housing Area, is the Berlin Airlift Aircrew Monument, a small brick structure with a pointed slate-tile roof and an ornate, green and aged weather vane. Col. Fish noticed the weather vane while he was in Crestview Housing area and found out that it was sitting on top of one of several buildings that housed the pilots of the Berlin Airlift.



The Monument showcases the names of the 31 U.S. Air Force members who lost their lives providing the city of Berlin with essential goods during the Berlin Blockade. And this goes down as another instance of Army leadership acknowledging and paying respect to the Air Force heroes of Clay Kaserne's important history.

After plans were announced for a new high school campus, news quickly followed that the middle school and elementary school in Hainerberg would follow suit.

In 2016, the ground breaking began for the middle school, which started as so many of these projects do, with the demolition of some of the apartment buildings across from the old middle school on Texasstrasse. By this point, all the old stairwells on Texasstrasse are gone and the street itself has been carved up until all that's left is a small stretch of road that runs in front of the chapel, designed for school bus parking, and drop-off and pick-up access for the schools.



The small stretch of Texasstrasse hooks a left and deadends into the area where the new middle school is built. In the picture above, you can see the old middle school as a construction site and the new middle school is above it.



With an expected student body of about 540 students, the grand opening took place in September 2018. Like the high school, it features an open, modern layout designed with flexibility and multi-purpose functional space, as well as an eye toward LEED certification, and room to expand for up to 700 students.



The school now features a recording studio with cutting edge technology, a light-flooded concert hall with a glass facade that opens to the outside for outdoor concerts, and because the doors integrated in the glass facade are 13 meters wide, grand pianos and other large scale instruments can be moved in and out with ease.



The assembly hall has an unusual architectural detail with its 14 meter high coffered ceiling.

They even have their own crest embedded within the floor of the foyer.





As the students get used to their new school's neighborhood concept with moveable walls, open spaces and small-group areas, the teachers are also discovering that the new environment enables them to be more innovative and have more choices in creating an ideal educational setting.

With the new middle school open for business, the path is cleared for the next school construction project to begin: A brand new state-of-the-art Elementary School. The new school will be located on the site of the old middle school, and will extend across the grounds of the current elementary school. The school is being built in stages so as not to disrupt the academic calendar.

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The new build will connect to the $5.8 Million multi-purpose room that opened in 2009 and serves both the middle and elementary school population, providing a kitchen/cafeteria space, and large group funtionality. Plans include renovation of the multi-purpose room, in addition to creating an art room, music room and high-tech computer labs.

The elementary school is the latest to get the 21st Century treatment, transforming traditional school environments into a global classroom concept with learning studios encompassing several class areas called learning hubs that have moveable walls that create flexible and adaptable spaces.



The 2-story, 112,000 square foot campus can accommodate up to 700 students, carries a $58 million pricetage and is currently reported as running over budget -good thing the middle school came under budget. The project is expected to be completed in 2021.



The plans bring energy conservation efforts to the campus, such as efficient interior and exterior lighting systems, pumps, and fans, and will save almost 50% annual energy cost when compared to standard design. Low-flow plumbing will result in an estimated savings of more than 300,000 gallons of water per year.



During the ground breaking ceremony, the elementary students got to participate in the sealing of a time capsule placed in the foundation of the new elementary school. The kids currently attending the Hainerberg Elementary school seem to be excited about getting a new school. The latest spirit wear features the beloved long-time mascot, East the Dachshund, wearing a construction helmet.
 

While searching for updates in the Wiesbaden Community, we came across a military budgeting document that outlined funds for future construction to begin in 2019. One of those projects was the replacement of Aukamm Elementary School.



Here is the wording from the document (DD Form 1391 FY2019 Military Construction Projects):

'The existing Aukamm facility is located in an area that does not have a controlled perimeter fence which representes a security risk. This area cannot be converted into a controlled perimeter because a city of Wiesbaden municipal street bisects the installation area. Higher security requirements cannot be met on the current campus, compelling a relocation of the replacement facility.

The existing Aukamm facility was built in 1961 with a two classroom kindergarten annex building added in 2004. The facilites are in poor condition: Electrical secondary feeds and branch circuits, general and emergency lighting systems, Fire alarm main panels and fire protection systems, heating and ventilation systems, most plumbing fixtures and piping, interior doors and fire doors and hardware, interior cabinetry and millwork, roof membranes, flashings, gutters/downspouts, exterior doors and hardware, and exterior finishes and joint sealants are all in expired or failing condition.'

The report goes on to outline the features and functionality of the new facility and makes clear that it will be in keeping with the other recently built schools, as a 21st Century-designed education space with all the bells and whistles. Sadly, the document also makes clear that the $56 million project also includes the cost of demolishing the current facilities. Aukamm Elementary School is indeed going to come down.



It was difficult to find updates on this project that was supposed to be completed by 2022 because it hasn't started yet. The new Clay Kaserne Elementary School was one of the projects that got shelved due to the appropriation of $3.6 billion of military construction funds to cover some of the cost of the U.S. southern border. According to military representatives, it is expected that the funding for this and other projects will be identified and reserved for these projects within the next year or so.



Whenever the new Clay Kaseerne Elementary School does get built, hopefully, they'll put together a program for young students in the Wiesbaden area that's as good as the current one. In 2019, Aukamm Elementary was voted the best U.S. Elementary school in the world.


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There are so many smaller updates and improvements that have taken place, and there are more in the works. But the majoity of them, including the larger and more significant changes, have been captured in this spot to give you a sense of what has happened in the Wiesbaden American Community over the last two decades.

As we close out this update, there are a few honorable mentions worth bringing to this spot...

The north edge of the flight line at Clay Kaserne has seen a lot of activity of late. One of the first things done in anticipation of Wiesbaden becoming the new consolidated Headquarters for Army Europe was to build a ball field back in 2008 where folks could blow off some steam, play ball, get outdoors and exercise.



Since that time, quite a few other things have come to this area, including an Automotive shop that features bays rented by the hour for people wanting to work on their own cars, a car wash, an oil change and full-service mechanic shop, a drop-off point for vehicle disposal, and they run a used vehicle lot that happens to be located near the high school on Mississippistrasse, right next to the old cafeteria that so many of us remember.


Yes, that's a Pizza Hut sign you're seeing in the photo above. Right next door to the Automotive Center, the 525th Military Working Dog Detachment moved in, formerly at Mainz-Kastel. With the removal of some of the old storage bunkers out there, there is plenty of wide open space for training courses and military manuevers.



And also next door is the location of the brand new Outdoor Recreation Center that was completed in March 2020 and scheduled for a grand opening at the end of April, before the virus forced postponment of the big event.



This place looks amazing!



Our own alumnus, Joe Harris, Class of 1988 is the manager of the Outdoor Rec Center. Some of the things available at the Rec Center during normal operating hours include a variety of tours, equipment rental, a Biking Program, Hiking Club, Paintball, hunting and fishing opportunities, as well as an indoor shooting range. Nice gig, Joe!



A new eating option opened up in that same area near the flight line, the German Kantine. Keeping up with the eating options alone would have been a significant undertaking, given there have been so many that have moved in, moved out, changed hands, and rebranded themselves. There are fast food places, restaurants, social clubs and bars available at Clay Kaserne and at Hainerberg as well, often incorporated into the new facilities outlined in these updates.
 

At the old BX/PX Exchange area near the Taunus theater, the old bank near the main entrance has been converted into a new business. The Vault Club & Casino opened there a couple of years ago, along side the Bamboo Asian Restaurant. The Vault Club replaced a place called Cappucino, that had opened there in 1995. MWR spent $600,000 remodeling the space and it now offers a range of services including conference space, live and DJ entertainment, dance parties, games, food and drink specials, and the Asian food specialities include dine-in, take-out and delivery service.


 

The Wiesbaden Community Spouses' Club (WCSC) moved their Thrift Store location from the Mainz-Kastel installation to the old Exchange in Hainerberg. The thrift store is seeing a lot more traffic now that it's more centrally located to where people do most of their shopping these days. With the increased visibility, space and closer proximity, donations are up and so is the total amount of merchandise that people can choose from. The Thrif Store is run by vounteers in the WCSC and the greater community.



The WCSC lends a hand with community activities, gives to educational and charitable projects, and awards scholarships to graduating WHS Seniors in the name of HH Arnold Graduate Captain Jacob Dixon III, Class of 1974, who died in a civilian plane crash in 1982. Hats off to this dedicated organization that is doing good things in and for the Wiesbaden Community!