Fort Hays State University Webcam – Watch Stroup Hall Grow

The Fort Hays State University Webcam watches the Stroup Hall addition take shape on the campus in Hays, Kansas. The two-story building fills the middle of the frame, its buff stone piers broken by tall bays of dark glass under a dark metal band at the roofline. In front of it runs a campus street with a striped crosswalk and a parking lot, and on working days the scene fills with hard hats, a compact track loader and the slow work of finishing a site. The camera holds one fixed view, so it works as a running record of the build. Since early August, scissor lifts, a concrete silo and stacked pallets have given way to poured sidewalks, graded topsoil and a new fascia along the roof.

About Fort Hays State University and Stroup Hall

Stroup Hall opened in 1981 and has been the center of nursing education at Fort Hays State University ever since. The expansion in front of the camera is paid for with $15.4 million from the Kansas Legislature and adds about 2,800 square meters (30,000 square feet). It doubles the space available to the Department of Nursing and gives the Department of Allied Health a new home, with advanced simulation labs, modern classrooms and rooms built to work like real clinical settings. FHSU expects enrollment in nursing to grow by more than 65 percent and in medical diagnostic imaging by more than 40 percent once the building is in use. Construction was launched with a celebration at Stroup Hall on August 21, 2025, and completion is expected around the start of 2027.

The university is older than its new wing suggests. It was founded in 1902 as the Western Branch of the Kansas State Normal School, on land that had belonged to Fort Hays, the Army post that closed in 1889. The fort was named for Brigadier General Alexander Hays, a Civil War officer, and the town founded beside it in 1867 took the same name. Hays now has 21,116 residents (2020 census) and sits at 615 meters (2,018 feet) in Ellis County.

Away from the new wing, the frame takes in a lower tan campus building on the left, a line of mature trees, and a Wiens and Company site trailer next to a row of portable toilets. A street lamp on the left of the shot carries a black Tiger Nation banner with the university’s tiger logo, a reminder that this is home to the FHSU Tigers. Cars come and go from the lot in the foreground through the day, and crews move between the fenced site and the new sidewalks.

Weather and Climate in Hays, Kansas

Winters on this part of the plains are cold. January afternoons average 5.8 C (42 F) and nights drop to about -8.5 C (17 F), and Hays collects around 40 centimeters (15.8 inches) of snow in a typical year. After a storm the lawns and the parking lot in front of the camera can turn white, and the bare trees on the left open up more of the campus behind the building. Spring warms quickly, with April afternoons averaging about 19 C (67 F) and the trees leafing out around the site.

Summer is hot. July highs average 33.7 C (93 F) with nights near 19.1 C (66 F), and the August frames show a hazy sky over trees in full leaf. October afternoons are back to around 20 C (69 F), and the trees beside the older building start to turn. The town averages 621 millimeters (24.4 inches) of precipitation a year, and the wide sky above the roofline is the best weather guide on the Fort Hays State University Webcam: clear plains blue, a flat gray overcast, or clouds stacking up before a storm.

Things to Do Near Fort Hays State University

The Sternberg Museum of Natural History is the natural first stop for a visitor to Hays, with fossil collections and exhibits on the Cretaceous period. The Fort Hays State Historic Site keeps four original structures from the post that gave both the town and the university their names, and Boot Hill Cemetery marks the town’s earliest graveyard.

Downtown, the Chestnut Street District is the historic heart of Hays, with shops and self-guided tours. The Ellis County Historical Society Museum covers Old West artifacts and the German settler heritage of the county. Frontier Park has an 18-hole disc golf course and an American bison herd that the city has kept since 1953.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

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• Wichita State University Webcam
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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Fort Hays State University located?

Fort Hays State University is in Hays, Ellis County, Kansas, USA, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) northwest of Wichita in a straight line. Stroup Hall stands on the campus, and the camera looks at its new addition from across a campus street and parking lot.

What can you see on the Fort Hays State University Webcam?

The camera shows the new two-story addition to Stroup Hall, with its stone piers and tall dark windows, plus the street, crosswalk and parking lot in front of it. Construction crews, a track loader, the contractor’s trailer and a Tiger Nation banner are often in shot, along with a wide stretch of Kansas sky.

What is being built at Stroup Hall?

An addition of about 2,800 square meters (30,000 square feet) that doubles the space for the Department of Nursing and creates a new home for the Department of Allied Health. It includes advanced simulation labs, modern classrooms and realistic clinical training spaces, funded by $15.4 million from the Kansas Legislature.

When will the Stroup Hall addition be finished?

Work began after a kick-off celebration on August 21, 2025, and completion is expected around the start of 2027. By mid-October 2026 the Fort Hays State University Webcam showed the outside of the building finished, and work had moved on to sidewalks, grading and the ground around it.

What is the weather like in Hays, Kansas?

Hays has cold winters and hot summers. January averages a high of 5.8 C (42 F) and a low of -8.5 C (17 F), while July averages 33.7 C (93 F) by day and 19.1 C (66 F) at night. Annual precipitation is about 621 millimeters (24.4 inches), including roughly 40 centimeters (15.8 inches) of snow.

When was Fort Hays State University founded?

In 1902, as the Western Branch of the Kansas State Normal School. It was built on land from the former Fort Hays military post, which closed in 1889, and Stroup Hall followed in 1981.

What is there to do in Hays, Kansas?

The Sternberg Museum of Natural History, the Fort Hays State Historic Site, Boot Hill Cemetery, the Ellis County Historical Society Museum and the shops of the Chestnut Street District are all in town. Frontier Park adds disc golf and a bison herd kept by the city since 1953.

Source: Fort Hays State University