![Rutgers College Student Body Queens Campus New Brunswick NJ 14FEB1906](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Rutgers_College_Student_Body_Queens_Campus_New_Brunswick_NJ_14FEB1906.jpg)
The Queens Campus or Old Queens Campus is a historic section of the
College Avenue Campus
College Avenue is the oldest campus of Rutgers University – New Brunswick, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S. It includes the historic seat of the university, known as Old Queens and the campus of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Man ...
of
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
in
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[Raritan River
Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its Drainage basin, watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
History
Geologists assert that the lower Rar ...]
. In 1807, the heirs of John Parker of Perth Amboy led by James Parker, Jr., a prominent local merchant and political figure, donated a six-acre apple orchard to the trustees of Queen's College and its
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
. The college—which was renamed Rutgers College in 1825—built its first building,
Old Queens
Old Queens is the oldest extant building at Rutgers University and is the symbolic heart of the university's campus in New Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey in the United States. Rutgers, the eighth-oldest college in the United States, wa ...
, from 1809 to 1823. Old Queens was used for instruction, student chapel services, and housed members of the college's faculty. In the institution's early years, the building housed the college, its grammar school (until 1830), and the
New Brunswick Theological Seminary
New Brunswick Theological Seminary is a Reformed Christian seminary with its main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was founded in 1784 and is one of the oldest seminaries in the United States. It is a seminary of the Reformed Church in Ame ...
(until 1856).
By the end of the nineteenth century, the Queens Campus contained seven buildings designed by architects
John McComb, Jr., Nicholas Wyckoff, Williard Smith,
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper."
Life and career
Hardenbergh was born in ...
, and
Van Campen Taylor. These buildings were erected to accommodate the small but expanding
liberal arts college
A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capac ...
's classroom instruction, student activities, faculty offices, chapel, library, and housing into the middle of the twentieth century. Six buildings remain and are used to accommodate the university's core administrative offices, a
geological museum
The Geological Museum (originally the Museum of Economic Geology then the Museum of Practical Geology), started in 1835 as one of the oldest single science museums in the world and now part of the Natural History Museum in London. It transfe ...
, the
college chapel, and a former
astronomical observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
that is no longer used. The Queens Campus was included on the
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the New Jersey's state historic preservation office within ...
and
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1973. The oldest building,
Old Queens
Old Queens is the oldest extant building at Rutgers University and is the symbolic heart of the university's campus in New Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey in the United States. Rutgers, the eighth-oldest college in the United States, wa ...
, was designated as a national landmark in 1976.
History
![Retreat from long island](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Retreat_from_long_island.jpg)
The Queens Campus contains the historic core of the Rutgers University community and houses the offices of the university's president and key administrative posts. The campus is located on one city block adjacent to New Brunswick's commercial district. This block is bounded by Somerset Street, George Street, Hamilton Street, and College Avenue. The six building that occupy the campus are the university's oldest structures and represent a range of nineteenth-century architectural styles. Due to its architectural and historical significance, Queens Campus was included on the
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the New Jersey's state historic preservation office within ...
on January 29, 1973, and on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on July 2, 1973.
[Barr, Michael C. and Wilkens, Edward. (1973). Retrieved September 5, 2013.] Often evoked as a symbol of the university's heritage, Old Queens was listed as a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
on May 11, 1976.[
The hilltop on which Queens Campus was later erected was where ]Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795.
Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...
, then an artillery captain commanding sixty men of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery
During the American Revolutionary War, the New York Provincial Company of Artillery was created by the New York Provincial Congress in 1776 to defend New York City from British attack.
History
Revolution
The revolutionary government of the pro ...
, placed his cannons to cover the retreat of George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
's forces in late November 1776.[Fischer, David Hackett. ''Washington's Crossing''. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 109–125, 130–131; Chernow, Ron. ''Alexander Hamilton''. (New York: Penguin Books, 2004), 83–84.][Demarest, William Henry Steele. ''History of Rutgers College: 1776–1924''. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers College, 1924).] After disastrous defeats at Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, Harlem Heights, and Fort Washington, Washington surrendered New York City to the British. British forces commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...
under orders from Lieutenant General William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB PC (10 August 172912 July 1814) was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in the Colonies during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three brot ...
pursued Washington as far as New Brunswick, where he and his troops forded the Raritan River
Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its Drainage basin, watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
History
Geologists assert that the lower Rar ...
and passed through New Brunswick on their way south into Pennsylvania. Positioned on the hilltop above the Raritan, Hamilton's artillery slowed the British advance and afforded Washington sufficient time to escape. One American combatant, Captain Enoch Anderson, remarked that, "A severe cannonading took place on both sides, and several were killed and wounded on our side." The British forces occupied New Brunswick for the next seven months, and a battalion of Hessian troops were encamped on the site. A historic marker erected as a gift of the Class of 1899 is located next to the chapel marking the location of Hamilton's battery.
A few years after receiving its charter in 1766, Queen's College began holding classes in a local tavern and students boarded at houses in the city.[Demarest, William Henry Steele. ''A History of Rutgers College, 1766–1924''. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1924).][McCormick, Richard Patrick. ''Rutgers: A Bicentennial History'' (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1966).] The Rev. Ira Condict
Ira Condict (February 21, 1764 – June 1, 1811) was an American Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed minister who served as the third president of Queen's College (now Rutgers University) in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
A 1784 graduate of the Colleg ...
became the school's third president in 1795, but financial constraints forced the college to close for several years. Condict focused on operating the college's grammar school until sufficient funds were raised to support the college's reopening.[Rutgers College and Raven, John Howard (Rev.) (compiler). ]
Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College (originally Queen's College) in New Brunswick, N.J., 1766–1916
'. (Trenton, New Jersey: State Gazette Publishing Company, 1916).
In 1807, Perth Amboy
Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, th ...
merchant John Parker bequeathed a six-acre apple orchard on a hill in New Brunswick to the trustees of Queen's College. Condict had been raising funds to reopen the school with the assistance of Andrew Kirkpatrick, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, a trustee who taught at the grammar school in 1782. With a successful fundraising effort, obtaining the support of the Reformed Church's Synod of New York, and with Parker's donation of the six-acre apple orchard tract, Queen's College was reopened.[
Demarest, David D. ]
Centennial of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America, formerly the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, 1784–1884
'. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in America, 1885) The trustees decided to build a large building to house the college's instruction, and provide housing for the faculty, to house the grammar school. The building would also house a theological seminary, run by the Rev. John Henry Livingston
John Henry Livingston (May 30, 1746January 25, 1825) was an American Dutch Reformed minister and member of the Livingston family, who served as the fourth President of Queen's College (now Rutgers University), from 1810 until his death in 182 ...
, that the Synod decided to move from New York to New Brunswick. Condict laid the cornerstone of Old Queens in 1809. The following year, he resigned as president despite requests that he accept the post in full capacity. Condict elected to return to teaching and toward ministering to his congregation at the city's First Reformed Church, and he was succeeded by Livingston.
The college, grammar school, and theological seminary shared Old Queens for several years, although Queen's College would close again for a few years later after continued financial troubles in the wake of the War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
. In 1825, after an effort by Livingston to raise funds and a generous donation by Colonel Henry Rutgers
Henry Rutgers (October 7, 1745 – February 17, 1830) was a United States Revolutionary War hero and philanthropist from New York City. Rutgers University was named after him, and he donated a bond which placed the college on sound financial f ...
, the college reopened. The trustees renamed it Rutgers College in honor of Rutgers' gift. In 1830, the grammar school moved to a building across College Avenue, built by Nicholas Wyckoff, now known as Alexander Johnston Hall
Alexander Johnston Hall is a historic building located on the corner of Somerset Street and College Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey, New Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey and is the second oldest building on ...
.[ (1975). Retrieved September 27, 2013.] After student bodies of both the college and theological seminary expanded in the 1850s, the New Brunswick Theological Seminary
New Brunswick Theological Seminary is a Reformed Christian seminary with its main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was founded in 1784 and is one of the oldest seminaries in the United States. It is a seminary of the Reformed Church in Ame ...
built their own building, Hertzog Hall, on a hill one half-mile away in 1856.[Lewis, Joseph Volney. ]
Rutgers College: The Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of Its Founding as Queen's College, 1766–1916
'. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers College, 1917) The grammar school would remain associated with the University until 1957. With the university fully transitioning from a private institution into a state university, the university and the school, now called Rutgers Preparatory School
Rutgers Preparatory School (also known as Rutgers Prep or RPS) is a private, coeducational, college preparatory day school established in 1766. The school educates students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located on a campus along ...
severed their ties. The preparatory school relocated to a new campus in Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
.
In the 1860s, Rutgers began expanding with the addition of science, engineering, military, and agricultural education as New Jersey's sole land grant college, and with substantial financial support and donations. In the last four decades of the 19th century, Rutgers built its first astronomical observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
, a geological hall, a chapel and library, and its first dormitory on the Queens Campus tract, erecting a building to house the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station
The New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (or NJAES) is an entity currently operated by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in conjunction with the State of New Jersey in the university's role as the state's sole land-grant universit ...
(1889) across Hamilton Street from the campus, and by expanding its college farm to the east of the city.[Murray, David. ''Hand-Book of the Grounds and Buildings and the Memorials, Portraits and Busts of Rutgers College''. Rutgers College Publication No. 11. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers College, 1904), passim.]
In the first two decades of the twentieth century, Rutgers expanded its student body, and built a larger campus in New Brunswick—starting with library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
(1903), gymanisum, and additional classroom buildings on the Voorhees Mall
Voorhees Mall is a large grassy area with stately shade trees on a block (sometimes known as "Voorhees Campus") of about 28 acres (0.11 km²) located on the College Avenue Campus of Rutgers University near downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. ...
. The university would continue to expand in New Brunswick, Piscataway Piscataway may refer to:
*Piscataway people, a Native American ethnic group native to the southern Mid-Atlantic States
*Piscataway language
*Piscataway, Maryland, an unincorporated community
*Piscataway, New Jersey, a township
*Piscataway Creek, Ma ...
, and surrounding communities with the addition of land that is now the College Avenue, Busch, Livingston, Cook, Douglass campuses. It has grown from a small liberal arts college offering instruction to a student body of a few hundred students to a major state university bestowing over 14,000 degrees a year.[Rutgers University Foundation]
Our Supporters
Retrieved October 29, 2013. As of 2013, 65,000 undergraduate and graduate students study at Rutgers, instructed by more than 9,000 full-time and part-time faculty and supported by more than 15,000 full-time and part-time staff members.[Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey]
"Numbers, Statistics and Stories to Tell: Facts & Figures
Retrieved October 29, 2013. In Rutgers' 247 years, over 450,000 alumni from all 50 U.S. states and more than 120 foreign countries have attended and received degrees from the university. Today, the buildings on the Queens Campus house the administrative offices for one of America's largest state university systems with four major campuses in three cities and programs statewide, the college chapel, an active geological museum, and a preserved nineteenth-century astronomical observatory.
Buildings and grounds
Old Queens (1809–23)
After a successful effort to raise funds to reopen Queen's College, the trustees hired New York architect John McComb, Jr. (1763–1853) to design and oversee the construction of a building to house the college. McComb was known for several landmarks in New York City and the surrounding region, including several lighthouses, Gracie Mansion
Archibald Gracie Mansion (commonly called Gracie Mansion) is the official residence of the Mayor of New York City. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, at East End Avenue and 88th Street in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan. T ...
(1799), Hamilton Grange
Hamilton Grange National Memorial, also known as The Grange or the Hamilton Grange Mansion, is a National Park Service site in St. Nicholas Park, Manhattan, New York City, that preserves the relocated home of U.S. Founding Father Alexander Hamil ...
(1802), New York City Hall
New York City Hall is the Government of New York City, seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center, Manhattan, Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, Park R ...
(1803), and St. John's Chapel (1803, demolished 1918). McComb designed a three-story Federal-style
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...
edifice built from New Jersey brownstone.
The cornerstone for Old Queens was laid on April 27, 1809 by Queen's College's president, the Rev. Ira Condict, who did so "with his left hand, in consequence of suffering a temporary lameness in his right." Classes began within the completed portions of the building as early as 1811 for Queen's College (now Rutgers University), Queen's College Grammar School (now Rutgers Preparatory School), and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. The college was forced to close temporarily, not reopening until 1825. Henry Rutgers donated funds to reopen the school in the form of a $5,000 bond, and gave a bell that was placed in the cupola of Old Queens. The bell is rung on important events, including convocations, commencements, and key athletic victories. Today, Old Queens houses the offices of the university president and upper administrative staff.
President's House (1841–42)
The board of trustees appropriated $8,000 to build a residence for the college's president that was completed in 1842.[David Murray (compiler). ''A Memorial of Rev. William Henry Campbell, D.D., LL.D. Late President of Rutgers College''. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Trustees of Rutgers College, 1894).] The college's sixth president, Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck
Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck (November 29, 1791 – February 23, 1879) was a United States Congressman from New York and the sixth President of Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) serving from 1840 to 1850. He was a slaveholder.
Biography
He wa ...
, was the first to take up residence in the house. His predecessor, Philip Milledoler
Philip Milledoler (September 22, 1775 – September 22, 1852) was an American Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed minister and the fifth President of Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) serving from 1825 until 1840.
Biography
Philip Milledol ...
lived in Old Queens and John Henry Livingston owned a home on an avenue that was renamed Livingston Avenue in his honor.
With the appointment of John Charles Van Dyke
John Charles Van Dyke (1856–1932) was an American art historian, critic, and nature writer. He was born at New Brunswick, New Jersey, studied at Columbia, and for many years in Europe. He was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in 1 ...
as art history professor in 1891, the "President's House" was used for classes and studio space for the college's Department of Fine Arts.[Rutgers College Chartered 1766 as Queen's College and the State University of New Jersey. Catalog for 1917–1918. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers College, 1917), 198.] During this period, it housed the college's art collections, including the Thomas L. Janeway Memorial Collection. Janeway, an 1863 alumnus of the college, provided a collection of casts, marble, lithographs, and photographs with a focus on classical archaeology that illustrated "the topography, art, life, and literature of Ancient Greece and Rome."[''Twenty-Eighth Report of Rutgers Scientific School, The State College for the benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, New Brunswick, N.J. for the Year 1892''. (Trenton, New Jersey: John L. Murphy Publishing Company, 1893), 76–78.] In 1917, the Rutgers Club of New Brunswick renovated the building for the "social uses of the alumni and faculty." The building was razed after sustaining considerable damage during the Great Atlantic hurricane which made landfall in the New York City area in September 1944. The demolition took place from February to March 1954. Presently, The location of the former President's House is "Lot 1", a parking lot on the Queens Campus.
Van Nest Hall (1845)
In 1845, Rutgers College hired local builder and architect Nicholas Wyckoff to build a two-story brick building in the southwest corner of the college's small campus. The trustees named the new building after Abraham Van Nest (1777–1864), a New York City merchant and president of the Greenwich Savings Bank
The Greenwich Savings Bank was an American savings bank based in New York City that operated from 1833 to 1981. At the time of its closure in 1981, it was the 16th largest bank in the U.S. by total deposits.
History
The Greenwich Savings Bank wa ...
, who served as a trustee for over forty years, "in recognition of his services and gifts." The building featured two large rooms on its first floor which were used by the school's two literary societies, Peithessophian and Philoclean which were significant in campus life in the nineteenth century. The second floor contained the chemical laboratory of Professor Lewis Caleb Beck
Lewis Caleb Beck (4 October 1798 Schenectady – 20 April 1853 Albany, New York) was an American physician, botanist, chemist, and mineralogist.
Biography
He graduated from Union College in 1815 with a Master of Arts. He then studied medicine, ...
(1798–1853) who taught at Rutgers for 23 years.
In 1893, supported by donation from Van Nest's daughter, Ann Van Nest Bussing, the trustees expanded the building by adding a third floor and adding "an appropriate stone porch." The first floor at this time had been renovated to house the college's history faculty and a chapter of the Young Men's Christian Association
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
(YMCA). In 1893, the new third floor boasted a "large and well-lighted room for the uses of classes in draughting" and the second floor for work in graphics, while housing collections of the Engineering school. In 1917, Van Nest's second and third floors were occupied by the English and education department.
Daniel S. Schanck Observatory (1865)
The Daniel S. Schanck Observatory was designed by architect Willard Smith as a copy of the Tower of the Winds
The Tower of the Winds or the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes is an octagonal Pentelic marble clocktower in the Roman Agora in Athens that functioned as a ''horologion'' or "timepiece". It is considered the world's first meteorological stati ...
in Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
.[Robbins, Allen B. ]
History of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1771–2000
'. (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 2001). The two-story Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
octagonal brick astronomical observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
was built in 1865 soon after Rutgers College was selected as New Jersey's sole land grant college
A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890.
Signed by Abraha ...
. Rutgers named the building after New York City businessman, Daniel S. Schanck, who donated a large portion of the funds to construct and equip the observatory. The cost of cost of construction and equipment amounted to US$6,166 (2013: US$86,845.07), of which US$2,400 (2013: US$33,802.82) was donated by Schanck (1812–1872). Rutgers equipped the observatory with "a 6.5-inch equatorial Equatorial may refer to something related to:
*Earth's equator
**the tropics, the Earth's equatorial region
**tropical climate
*the Celestial equator
** equatorial orbit
**equatorial coordinate system
** equatorial mount, of telescopes
* equatorial ...
refracting telescope
A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope d ...
, a meridian circle
The meridian circle is an instrument for timing of the passage of stars across the local meridian, an event known as a culmination, while at the same time measuring their angular distance from the nadir. These are special purpose telescopes moun ...
with four-inch object glass for transit observations, a sidereal clock
Sidereal time (as a unit also sidereal day or sidereal rotation period) (sidereal ) is a timekeeping system that astronomers use to locate celestial objects. Using sidereal time, it is possible to easily point a telescope to the proper coord ...
, a mean solar clock...chronograph
A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand and a minute sub-dial; it can be started, stopped, and returned to zero by successive ...
, repeating circle
Developed from the reflecting circle, the repeating circle is an instrument for geodetic surveying, invented by Etienne Lenoir in 1784, while an assistant of Jean-Charles de Borda, who later improved the instrument. It was notable as being the ...
, and other instruments."
The Schanck Observatory served as the university's first astronomical facility and was used to provide instruction to its students through the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It is no longer in use.
Geology Hall (1872)
Geology Hall, formerly Geological Hall, was built in 1872 with funds raised by the college's president, William Henry Campbell for the purpose of facilitating the expansion of science and agriculture education. Rutgers expanded these programs after being named New Jersey's only land grant college
A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890.
Signed by Abraha ...
. The design was the second of three projects for Rutgers College prepared by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper."
Life and career
Hardenbergh was born in ...
. Hardenbergh's design called initially for a Gothic Revival style
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
brick building, although it was revised to use brownstone, a cheaper alternative.
The building's first floor provided rooms for laboratory and lecture instruction for the college's physics, military science, and geology departments, as well as house the college's armory. The second floor was designed to accommodate a geological museum.
At present, the building houses administrative offices and the university's geological museum. The museum, which is among the oldest collegiate geology collections in the United States, was founded by state geologist and Rutgers professor George Hammell Cook
George Hammell Cook (January 5, 1818 – September 22, 1889) was the state geologist of New Jersey and vice president of Rutgers College. His geological survey of New Jersey became the predecessor for the U.S. Geological Survey.
Biography
He w ...
in 1872.[Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – Rutgers Geology Museum]
"About the Museum"
. Retrieved September 27, 2013. It features exhibits on geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
, paleontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
, and anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
, with an emphasis on the natural history of New Jersey, that include fluorescent zinc minerals from Franklin
Franklin may refer to:
People
* Franklin (given name)
* Franklin (surname)
* Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class
Places Australia
* Franklin, Tasmania, a township
* Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
and Ogdensburg, a dinosaur trackway discovered in Towaco, a mastodon from Salem County
Salem County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its western boundary is formed by the Delaware River and its eastern terminus is the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which connects the county with New Castle, Delaware. Its cou ...
, and a Ptolemaic era Egyptian mummy
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...
.[Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – Rutgers Geology Museum]
"Exhibit Highlights"
. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
Kirkpatrick Chapel (1873)
When Sophia Astley Kirkpatrick died in 1871, she left named Rutgers College as the residuary legatee
A legatee, in the law of wills, is any individual or organization bequeathed any portion of a testator
A testator () is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of their death. It is any "person ...
of her estate.[Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – Kirkpatrick Chapel]
"History"
. Retrieved September 3, 2013. The college's trustees decided to appropriate most of the bequest to fund the construction of a chapel. The chapel was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper."
Life and career
Hardenbergh was born in ...
at the beginning his career, and in the third of three projects for the college.[Glovin, Bill. "Castles in the Air" in ''Rutgers Magazine'' (Spring 2006), 35–41.] Hardenbergh employed the High Victorian
High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right.
Promo ...
Gothic Revival style
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
—and in particular features common to fourteenth-century German and English Gothic churches—popular at the middle of the nineteenth century.
The exterior of Kirkpatrick Chapel was built from New Jersey brownstone,[Hawes, George W., et al. for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Census Office. "Report on Building stones of the United States and Statistics of the Quarry Industry for 1880" from ''Final Report on the Tenth Census'', Volume 10. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1884), 310.] and has been described as "similar to an English country church." One author described the interior of the chapel as "exceedingly beautiful, having a roof of open timber, finished in black walnut and stained pine, resting for its center support on slender iron columns painted to correspond with the delicately tinted walls."[Doolittle, T. S. "Rutgers College" in Richardson, Charles Francis; and Clark, Henry Alden (editors). ''The College Book''. (Boston: Houghton, Osgood and Company; Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1878), 164.] According to the New Jersey Historic Trust
The New Jersey Historic Trust was created by the State of New Jersey in 1967 to preserve New Jersey's historic resources. The Historic Trust's executive director is Dorothy P. Guzzo.
Funding programs available through the New Jersey Historic Tru ...
, the chapel's stained glass window
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
s feature "some of the first opalescent and multicolored sheet glass manufactured in America." Four of the chapels windows were created by the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...
.[Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey – Kirkpatrick Chapel]
"Stained Glass Windows"
. Retrieved September 2, 2013.[DiIonno, Mark]
in ''The Star-Ledger'' (August 8, 2012). Retrieved September 2, 2013.
For its first 30 years, the chapel was used as a college library and for 50 years for daily student body chapel services. As the college's student body increased in size, student body chapel services became less frequent until Rutgers transitioned to become New Jersey's state university beginning in 1945. The chapel is available to students, alumni, and faculty of all faiths and a variety of services are held throughout the academic term. It is also used for university events including convocation, concerts, alumni and faculty weddings, funerals, and often as the site of lectures by prominent intellectuals and world leaders. Since 1876, graduating classes would have a stone on the exterior of the chapel carved with their class year.
Winants Hall (1890)
During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, students rented rooms from local boarding houses as the college did not offer dormitories or other student housing. In 1890, Garret E. Winants, a college trustee and wealthy philanthropist from Bayonne
Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...
presented to the trustees a sketch of a proposed dormitory and a donation of $75,000 to build it. The building was designed by architect Van Campen Taylor, an 1867 graduate of Rutgers College, and Winants Hall was erected in 1890. Winants would serve as Rutgers College's sole dormitory until 1915 when Ford Hall was built on the Voorhees Mall along College Avenue. After World War II, Winants was converted to offices for faculty and academic departments, and for administrative staff.
In 1990, a century after its construction, Winants Hall underwent a $9.4 million restoration. The building currently houses the university's alumni relations and legal counsel offices, and the university's fundraising arm, the Rutgers University Foundation.
Grounds
The Queens Campus is a six-acre tract. During his ten-year tenure as Rutgers College's sixth president during the 1840s, Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck
Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck (November 29, 1791 – February 23, 1879) was a United States Congressman from New York and the sixth President of Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) serving from 1840 to 1850. He was a slaveholder.
Biography
He wa ...
(1791–1879) began planting and caring for "many of the noble trees that now adorn the campus."
There are four gates on providing entrance to the campus:
* The ''Class of 1883 Memorial Gateway'' (erected in 1904) is located at the northeast corner of George Street and Somerset Streets and is the main entrance for vehicle and foot traffic to the Queens Campus.
* The ''Henry Rutgers Baldwin Gateway'' (erected 1901) located on the south side of the campus on College Avenue roughly half of the distance between Somerset and Hamilton Streets. It was named for Henry Rutgers Baldwin, an alumnus from the Rutgers College class of 1849. It provides an exit for vehicular traffic.
* The ''Class of 1882 Gateway'' (erected 1907) at the southeast corner of Somerset Street and College Avenue.
* The ''Class of 1902 Memorial Gateway'' (erected in 1904) is located on the western side of the campus on Hamilton Street half the distance between George Street and College Avenue. It features a wrought iron and brownstone entrance portal and brownstone stairway and provides access to foot traffic between the Queens Campus and Voorhees Mall sections of the College Avenue Campus. It is through this last gate that graduating seniors have walked in procession during Commencement exercises held in May in years past.
The campus contains several memorials, including trees planted in honour of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and other persons connected to the university. Located in front of Old Queens, the ''Class of 1877 Cannon'' commemorates both the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War and several alumni who have served in the United States military. As a tradition during commencement, those graduating break clay pipes over the cannon as a symbol of breaking ties with their "pipe dreams" of youth and embarking into adulthood. In front of the cannon is a plaque given in 1949 by the Rutgers College class of 1924 in memory of three military servicemen who died in World War II.[The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)]
Class of 1924 Memorial
Retrieved January 20, 2014.
Gallery
References
Notes
Citations
External links
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
(official website)
{{NRHP in Middlesex County, New Jersey
Rutgers University buildings
Federal architecture in New Jersey
Greek Revival architecture in New Jersey
Gothic Revival architecture in New Jersey
Rutgers University Queens Campus
Queens Campus, Rutgers University
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
Buildings and structures in New Brunswick, New Jersey
Tourist attractions in New Brunswick, New Jersey
Neighborhoods in New Brunswick, New Jersey