With fireplaces and maid service, the ARMs made for luxurious dorm living.
Phillips Bradford ’62 remembered being completely bowled over when he got his first introduction to the Hopkins dorm where he’d spend the next four years.
“We had a suite with a fireplace in it, and there was a man who would bring firewood up for us to use. We had maid service. And food was never far away; there was a dining hall in the central entrance to our dorms,” said Bradford. “I just thought the facilities were magnificent!”
Bradford lived in Wilson Hall (named for the country’s 28th president), one of the 14 “houses” that made up the Alumni Memorial Residences (AMRs). He and his buddies referred to their hall as the “old” dorms (established in 1923); while their classmates lived nearby in the “new” dorms, AMR II, which had just opened in 1953.
This was the era when Hopkins men were expected to don jacket and tie before heading down the hall to dinner. (“There was a huge portrait of Johns Hopkins looking down on us while we ate, making sure we were well-behaved,” recalled Bradford.) Most everyone had a phonograph in their room (Rock ’n’ roll’s arrival made Elvis Presley a particular favorite), but Bradford was the only one with a TV set. He recalled one particular World Series that drew everyone into his room to huddle around his grainy, 8-inch black-and-white model.
While many upperclassmen looked for off-campus housing, Bradford stayed put in Wilson Hall and assumed the role of dorm president. “One of the advantages of being president was that I got to make the phone call to the Goucher dorms to invite the girls to come have a party with us on Friday nights,” he recalled with a chuckle. “I met some nice young ladies that way.”
It was also Bradford’s job to make sure the 40 or so young men under his watch stayed on the straight and narrow. They did, mostly. “Some students broke the rules,” he conceded. “There were girls who overstayed the official visiting periods. And there were plans to organize a panty raid among the young nurses at Union Memorial. But that never came off because the hospital was too secure.”
Bradford and his fellow dorm presidents met monthly with G. Wilson Shaffer, the popular dean of students, at his office in the historic Homewood House. “We discussed any problems, students who were acting up. But I didn’t have a lot to report,” said Bradford. “Everybody was studying too hard.”
Perhaps Bradford’s fondest memories of dorm living were the regular visits made by Hopkins University President Milton S. Eisenhower. “He would come and sit and chat with us and have bull sessions for two hours at a time. That was a very important touch for us, particularly since his brother was the president of the United States.”