Honoring Prominent Figures in Campus History: Goldstein Hall

Every WAC student has had a class, lecture, or visit to the Writing Center in Goldstein Hall.

Goldstein Hall replaced Ferguson Hall, a small single-story building that replaced the G.I. housing to accommodate the growing computer programs on campus. At the dedication in late 2000, Goldstein Hall was called “a shrine of public service” in honor of Louis Goldstein, who had passed two years before in 1998. While current students associate Goldstein with classrooms, many of our Alumni instead remember the man with a charismatic smile who, if they had met and spoken, knew their name and asked about their progress at Washington College. Louis L. Goldstein was a member of the class of 1935, a future State Comptroller, and a Board of Visitors and Governors member who once threw an after-hours co-ed fraternity party that got several students suspended. After graduating, he earned his law degree at the University of Maryland and immediately ran for office, becoming a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates. When World War II broke out, Goldstein joined the Marines Corp, served in the South Pacific, and later investigated Japanese war crimes for Gen. MacArthur.  When he returned to Maryland, he ran for office and won a seat in the Maryland Senate in 1946 for the first of three terms before serving ten terms as Comptroller of Maryland.

Louis Goldstein loved Washington College, and every former WAC community member lucky enough to know him felt that way. Many tributes to him are ingrained throughout the College, and one of the longest-lasting is Goldstein Hall.

“God bless y’all real good”