UNH Today

When construction plans for Stoke Hall were announced in the Feb. 6, 1964, edition of the student newspaper, it was called UNH’s “first high-rise; the tallest building on campus.” And that’s true: When it was done, the eight-floor, 83-foot high residence hall towered over the others.

The New Hamsphire also noted the new dorm didn’t look like the rest of the buildings at UNH, and that’s true, too. It’s shaped like a Y and it doesn’t have any New England charm — dormered windows or a stately entrance. But if you ask the people who’ve lived there, they’d tell you it’s not the aesthetics that matter. It’s the memories.

Designed by Manchester architect Leo Provost, Stoke Hall was built in two stages on Garrison Avenue where Ballard Hall once stood. The first phase housed 350 students. Freshmen started arriving Sept. 15, 1965, before it was completely finished. Not all of the beds had arrived. For the first few nights, some of the men slept on mattresses on the floor.   

In 1969, Stoke became UNH’s first coed dormitory. Strict regulations were put in place to prevent fraternization: Women were assigned to one wing, men to the other. The doors between them were kept closed and locked except during designated visiting hours.    

And that is where some of the memories began.

Karen Nixon '73

I lived on the third floor of Stoke from fall '69 to spring '73 and then, a few years after I graduated, was head resident assistant (RA) in '75-76.  

In 1969, when I was a freshman, women were not given keys to the dorm since we were not supposed to be out after 11 p.m. Men were in one side of the short wings, women in the other. There were locked doors between but we were not to be deterred. We used credit cards to open those doors. There were hours when men could visit women and vice versa. They were called "parietals.”         

Diane Hober Weskalnies '71  

I was the women's RA on the sixth floor of Stoke Hall during 1970-71, the second year that the hall was coed. The long wing housed the women, and the short wings housed the men, with a locked door separating them.  [Diane Hober]

Late one Saturday night around Halloween, the men conducted a very well planned and executed raid. They removed the locked door, and armed with large jars of Vaseline, proceeded to Vaseline the toilets and sinks in the bathroom and the hallway phones. As soon as I heard the initial commotion, I threw on my robe and headed to the closest phone to call the head RA. While on the phone, I was treated to a huge glob of Vaseline in my hair. 

The men had to come back to clean up the mess. The men's RA explained how the guys just wanted to meet the women, so we hosted a party for them one evening. One of the men, not knowing who I was, told me how the RA deserved the Vaseline in her hair. 

Adrienne Schlesinger Aldermeshian '82: 

My roommate, Stacy Thaler Martin '82 and I were not loving those Stoke Hall payphones and were shocked when we found out that we could not get a phone in our room. Stacy was from Ithaca, New York, and I was from Highland Park, New Jersey. I'd had my own phone in my room since I was 13. 

The worst part of the payphone was that nobody wanted to answer it and either find the person who the call was for or take a message.  So, we spoke to our RA and to the residence hall director. That got the ball rolling.

I remember the day when the phone company, probably New England Bell, came along and began wiring the building. Shortly afterwards we had our own phone. Eventually other students joined in and got phones installed.

Rick Groleau '80

Stoke was a terrific place to begin your career as a student at UNH. I lived in Stoke my freshman and sophomore years, '75-76, '76-77, fourth floor and third floor respectively, and again in '79-80 as an RA on the eighth floor. The first years were fun and I lived with my best friend from home who I had known since I was 6 years old. 

Just as a sidebar, my father worked for Davidson Construction (the company that built Stoke Hall). Who would know that I would end up there 10 years later, and still be around when it turns 50!  Happy Birthday to Stoke.The RA year was tough. I was a Sigma Nu living with seven Pike (Pi Kappa Alpha) brothers on the floor. But we made it work. 

Sarah Bassett '08

I remember coming for orientation and meeting in the lobby of Stoke Hall to get my very first UNH photo ID. Stoke Hall was so wonderful to me, because it really fostered a sense of community. My freshman year assignment was living in a built-up triple on the eighth floor (8-long). 

I remember arriving on move-in day — I was so excited that I must have done five or six trips by myself all the way up the stairs to the eighth floor. I loved how many people lived in the building, it reminded me of an apartment complex of friends. Always something going on, whether it be down in the lobby or in one of the lounges, Stoke Hall was so perfect for any freshman trying to integrate. 

I met so many wonderful friends who were dorm neighbors freshman year who I still keep in touch with and even met my husband there. We met on my birthday and it turned out he lived on the 8th floor (8-short) and I lived on 8-long. I loved Stoke Hall so much that I stuck around my sophomore year and took a single on the eighth floor. 

Jeff Palmer '75 

I started UNH in February 1972 and graduated in December 1975. Most of that time I lived at the end of the hall in Stoke 707 with Scott Reilly.

One day my roommate got hold of an M-80 (firecracker) from a dorm mate, lit it and tossed it into a friend’s room, then ran toward the fire doors and the elevators. A few long seconds passed before the intended target bounded out of the room, hands over his ears.  As the fire doors closed behind him, smoke poured out of the room. Fortunately, the M-80 had only been a smoke bomb.

From our room, my roommate tossed what was left of his soft-serve ice cream cone toward a guy with a PKA fraternity windbreaker walking by the dorm. It landed right in front of him. He and his friends pointed toward our window and stormed into the dorm, and we escaped down the far stairwell before they could find us.

The first snow one November prompted a snowball fight between the guys in Stoke and Sawyer Hall. Many dorm windows were broken, and Sawyer damages were paid by Stoke guys, while Stoke damages were paid by Sawyer guys. As there were a lot more of us living in Stoke than Sawyer, the per capital damages paid by a Sawyer guy was much higher.

The only time I got in trouble in four years at Stoke was with Lloyd Porter. We never saw the head resident on our floor when guys were shooting off the fire extinguisher or playing street hockey or tossing a Frisbee up and down the hall. But the one time Lloyd and I had a basketball and spontaneously got down on our hands and feet to play crab soccer, the head resident strolled down the hall. I think we were put on probation for a year.  Our crab soccer days were over.

Tonya Angwin '89:

 I lived in Stoke for two years, 1981-1983. The second year I lived on a flex floor. Flex floors were experimental.  Some of the short wings had men and women living side by side.  At one point it was reported that 75 percent of those living on flex floors were on academic probation.

Quiet study on the first floor was a great place to meet normal fraternity brothers. They came to Stoke when they needed to get work done.

My freshman year Doug Flutie was visiting a friend at Stoke. I gathered with a bunch of other girls waiting for a glimpse of him.  One of the smarter sophomores said, "Forget this.  I'm just going to sit on his car."

There was the time we had a fire alarm go off. They always went off in the middle of the night and their frequency doubled during finals.  We evacuated. Almost as soon as we had returned, it went off again. Only it wasn't the real alarm, it was a guy with a big boom box who had recorded the alarm.

There was always something to do. Just by hanging around with your door open, invitations occurred. That's how I got on broomball teams and water polo teams. It became a goal of mine to win in the finals. Winners got their picture in the following year's calendar. My picture never appeared.

Rachel Ripperger '08

 I didn't live in Stoke but during my orientation that's where I met one of my best friends, Jenna Lewis, who did live there. Had it not been for a chance meeting outside of Stoke, I would have never met her. We always talk about how one day we will get a bench outside to represent our friendship.

Do you have memories of Stoke Hall? Please share them here.