A memory of Phillips Hall
Upon my arrival to Maryville as an 18-year-old freshman from New Jersey in September of 1968, Wilson Hall was my first home. At that time the two air-conditioned high rise dorms, Phillips and Franken, were reserved for upperclassmen and women. Freshmen were banished to the lesser non air-conditioned ones. Girls occupied Hudson, Perrin, and Roberta Halls. Boys were housed in Wilson, Richardson, Cook, Tower, Douglas, Cooper, and Colbert Halls. There were also four other individual buildings called the Quads.
To contact a date in Roberta Hall, which was not strictly a sorority hall at that time, I remember saying to the desk attendant “103 one buzz” and a buzzer would sound in the room. My date responded to one buzz, her roommate responded to two. It was primitive, but that’s the way it was back then. The girls had to be returned to the front door by 10:30 p.m. on weekdays and 1:00 a.m. on weekends. This mass gathering at the door was called “Mush Rush.”
My second year was on 7th floor Phillips and my third was on 2nd, 7th floor was a problem when the elevator was down. I remember watching baseball games from the common room at the elevator on 7th floor overlooking the parking lot and ball field. The bathroom was a large common room with gang showers and urinals. Privacy was non-existent at that time. One Sunday a year in the spring the male dorms were open to female friends and visitors, but the door was to remain open. No hanky-panky was allowed on campus.
Since opening in 1966, Phillips had a nice long run. The dorms of old are being modernized or torn down. Every week for the last 3 months on my way back from Lions Club at the community building, I took a picture of the demolition. My former home is now gone. Time marches on.
Sincerely,
Jim Hazen
Maryville
