Is it Soup Yet?

1937

The administration proclaims that newly opened Thayer Hall will provide students with "well-served meals in pleasant surroundings."

The student press says little about the new facility except to ask why beer isn't served in the room named Rathskeller.

1945

The navy commandeers College Hall commons. The freshmen temporarily dine in Thayer.

1951

The freshmen get their own dining room in Thayer. This tradition is maintained until 1966.

1957

Thayer Hall's sanitation system is profiled in Institutional Feeding Magazine.

1963

Thayer introduces "family style" dining.

1966

A College committee reports that Dartmouth's student-to-seat dining ratio is 3:1.

1968

To save money on waiters, Thayer abandons family style dining.

1969

The director of the dining hall speculates that student preoccupation with the Vietnam War is the reason there are few complaints about the food.

1972

Thayer serves on average about 12,000 pounds of red meat per week.

1973

An army vet eating at Thayer observes that the dining hall compares favorably with the modern volunteer army. "The Army still lacks soft ice cream," he notes. "But then Thayer doesn't have cold beer dispensers."

1981

The state health inspector flunks Thayer.

1987

Thayer receives a bomb scare. Four hundred meals are refrigerated before kitchen workers leave their posts.

1994

Thieves break into Thayer. Hanover police say the crime is a class B felony and send videotapes to the FBI lab for picture enhancement. The items stolen: Snapple, Orangina, and Pringles.