World War II was coming to a close and the Cold War was just beginning. Televisions were starting to emerge in American households and the U.S. population was on the cusp of a major cultural revolution. The 1940s and '50s were the final two decades that are viewed as pure and traditional before the tumultuous '60s ushered in a new way of life.

These decades also represented a transitional period for the UW, as the student population expanded and the campus underwent several physical transformations.

The first half of the 1940s was a different experience for UW students. World War II was underway and a large percentage of the male population was drafted into the war. Present-day Board of Regents member William H. Gates, Sr. was a student at the UW in 1943 and recalls a predominantly female student body. He joined the Army after a year and returned in 1946, when the ratio of men to women had begun to equalize.

Former Washington Gov. Daniel J. Evans had a similarly fragmented college experience. After completing his first quarter in the spring of '43, he was accepted to a naval officer training program and was stationed at a UW fraternity house.

"The Navy had taken over almost all of the fraternity houses because there were no men to speak of anymore," Evans said. "They were all in the service."

He was transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, after eight months and didn't come back to the UW until 1946. He was one of many returning veterans, like Gates, who were seeking an education under the GI Bill, which provided free tuition for those who had served in the war.

"It was a pretty mature student body," Gates said, referencing the veterans who were, on average, in their late 20s. "The things that were happening were not the sort of things that would have been happening with a normal student body of people just out of high school."

The influx after the war caused temporary housing to be erected on campus, and Gates lived in one of the "simple, inexpensive wooden structures" near Frosh Pond for a couple years while pursuing his law degree, which he received in 1950.

Meanwhile, Evans was focused on completing his degree in civil engineering, which he achieved in 1948, and then he received his master's degree a year later.

"The returning veterans were trying to make up for lost time," Evans said, referring to himself as well. "They'd had a chunk of three, four, even five years cut out of their lives and they wanted to catch up."

By the time Ann Rule, a New York Times best-selling true-crime writer, arrived at the UW in the mid-1950s, the rush of men returning from war had subsided. However, she does recall seeing some veterans on campus and thinking that they seemed old, as most were over the age of 30 by this point.

Life on campus in the 1950s was a different experience than what students have today, especially for those living in the dorms. Rule remembers the strict rules on curfews and boys in the residence halls. If a female student had a man in the building, regardless of whether it was a father or a boyfriend, she had to announce on each floor that there was a male in the building.

"In the lounges there were little booths off [to the side], but the rule was if you were entertaining a boyfriend, you had to keep all four feet on the floor," Rule said. "It was kind of boring and puritanical."

When leaving the dorm, she had to sign out with where she was going and she had to be back by curfew — 10 p.m. on weeknights and 1 a.m. on weekends.

One of the more exciting things were the panty raids, where men would sneak into the dorms or sororities and grab panties from drawers.

"The big deal was how many panties they could get away with," Rule explained. "This was way before Britney Spears stopped wearing panties."

In 1956, Rule graduated with a bachelor's degree in creative writing. Years later she became well known for her book, The Stranger Beside Me, a true-crime novel about her experience working with fellow UW graduate, serial killer Ted Bundy, in 1980.

During the last 50 to 60 years, the UW has undergone an extensive physical transformation. In 1950, the Art and Music buildings were finished, but the most significant change was the completion of the UW Medical School, which opened in 1946.

In the decades since, much of the campus has been developed. There were a lot more grassy areas and woods on campus at the time, including Red Square, Evans and Rule recalled.

The reputation of the UW as a major university has grown immensely in the past half century, as well.

"I watched the university grow since I first arrived more than 60 years ago," Evans said. "It's grown from what it was then — a good university but not very well known or respected nationally — into a university now that is not only widely respected internationally but I think far better known outside the state than inside."

The memories that highlight the 1940s and '50s, including the cherry blossoms in the spring and strolling along the Ave., have not changed through the generations. Evans, Gates and Rule all recalled pleasant memories from their time at the UW and the education they received.

"Everyone told me [the UW] would be too big and I'd get lost," Rule said. "I had gone to Willamette University and Oregon State University, and I really felt like I'd come home when I went to the UW."

Reach reporter Abby Walker at abbywalker@thedaily.washington.edu.