A little older and a lot wiser, the Class of 1931 will return this weekend to enjoy their 70th reunion and help the '01s celebrate their graduation.
Asked what notable characteristics marked his class, William Walsh '31 \responded, "I suppose those of us who are left are unique because we are still alive." In their younger days, however, then-Director of Admissions Gordon Bill called them the smartest Dartmouth class ever.
"For many months I have felt that the material from which the Class of 1931 was chosen was much superior scholastically to that of any previous year," he wrote in The Dartmouth after their freshman fall. He also praised the group of young men for earning the highest class grade point average ever during its first semester.
When asked how Dartmouth has changed since the '31s dignified the Green with their presence, Edward Brummer '31 quickly answered, "What do you think? Take one guess. Women!"
Dartmouth men regularly trekked to surrounding New England women's colleges such as Smith and Mt. Holyoke, he said, but because few students had automobiles, social life consisted mostly of "poker games and bull sessions."
Despite the old Dartmouth reputation for around the clock revelry, Brummer said, "our drinking parties were confined pretty much to the weekends."
Walsh, however, noted major changes not only in the size of the student body and the mix of genders in the classrooms, but also in its cultural and socioeconomic background.
"Dartmouth has matured a lot since those days, but so has all higher education for that matter. The world has just grown up," he said.
The '31s who spoke with The Dartmouth all had only fond memories of their time in Hanover.
Brummer credited the College for "everything. My job, my business, my friends, everything," and Ralph Maynard '31 enthusiastically asserted, "Dartmouth gave me an introduction to the entire world. It was a real door opener. Everybody knows Dartmouth."
Maynard stressed, though, that the adventures of the 20th century only began at Commencement for many members of the Class of 1931.
He singled out Robert Baumrucker '31 as "a hero" who held back the Japanese at the "Crossing of the T" at the Battle of the Suragawa Strait after they began an offensive from Leyte Gulf in 1944.
In between scholarship the likes of which the College had never seen, though, the Class of 1931 did find time to make its mark, battling one of the worst natural disasters in New England history while still "pea green" freshmen.
On November 3, 1927, a devastating flood hit the Upper Valley area when torrential rains and melting snow caused the Connecticut River to swell 30 feet above its normal level.
Walsh said the College managed to avoid the worst damage, but that approximately 1,000 Dartmouth students joined the Red Cross in a relief party to assist area residents through the crisis. Students worked all night to remove furniture from homes thought to be in danger of dropping into the river.
The Dartmouth editorial board wrote that the heroic reaction to the catastrophe dispelled a common stereotype of Dartmouth students as "sophisticated idlers."
Despite their valiant efforts, the flood killed more than 135 people. Millions of dollars worth of property were destroyed in an event that would mark Dartmouth memories of the Class of 1931 for the rest of their lives.
The next disaster to strike during the Class of 1931's tenure at Dartmouth was not a natural one and originated much farther away, but still hit Dartmouth students close to home.
When the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday in 1929, the crisis affected Dartmouth students on a much larger scale and in different ways than had the Connecticut River flood.
"The Depression really hit hardest about the last year we were there. It was creeping up the last two years," Walsh said, recalling that many of his classmates had to leave the College because of financial problems. But Walsh also told The Dartmouth that "the College and various other organizations worked very hard with students to keep us at school."
The prohibition of alcohol by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution also changed life at Dartmouth. A survey conducted by The Dartmouth, though, indicated that 64 percent of students at the College found ways to get alcohol despite the ban.
Brummer said that prohibition increased, rather than decreased, Dartmouth boozing. "To put it simply, because it was forbidden, it was the big thing to do," he said.
Dartmouth students relied on bootleggers to satisfy their thirst. Walsh told The Dartmouth that a bootlegger named Joe Pulver kept Dartmouth students stocked, and that students also frequented a speakeasy across the river in Norwich, Vermont.
"In my fraternity house we made our own beer, and we could also get hard cider in the wintertime," Maynard reminisced.
But although many current Dartmouth students may identify with the desires of the Class of 1931 to "stay wet," Walsh said that the College has "matured" in many ways since his days in Hanover.
Baker Library as we know it, finished in 1928, was brand new when the Class of 1931 was on campus. They also saw the Board of Trustees allocate $2 million for the construction of Carpenter Hall, Sanborn Hall and the Occom Pond field house.
