Old Queens - History

History

The Old Queens campus is rife with history dating several years before the construction of the Old Queens building. During the American Revolution, Alexander Hamilton commanded a battery of artillery which fired upon British positions under the command of William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe to provide time for General George Washington to escape south through New Brunswick in early December 1776 following the fall of New York City.

The heirs of John Parker, a merchant and prominent individual from Perth Amboy donated a 5-acre (2.0 ha) apple orchard to Queen's College in 1808. This tract of land would become the Old Queens campus.

Old Queens was designed by John McComb, Jr. (1763–1853) a noted architect who designed the Hamilton Grange (1802) in Harlem for Alexander Hamilton, Castle Clinton (1808) on Lower Manhattan's Battery Park (1808), and the New York City Hall (1803).

Named after Queen's College, the original name of Rutgers College, the cornerstone for Old Queens was laid on 27 April 1809 by Reverend Ira Condict, the college's third president. The Queen for whom Queen's College was named, was Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744–1818), the Queen-consort of King George III who was on the throne of the United Kingdom when Queen's College was founded in 1766. Due to the young college's financial difficulties, the building was not completed until 1825. 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 New Brunswick Theological Seminary moved in 1856 to a new 7 acres (2.8 ha) campus less than one-half mile away, as a result of overcrowding. The Grammar School had moved across the street several years earlier in 1830.

In 1825, Colonel Henry Rutgers, an American Revolutionary War Hero and philanthropist from New York City gave the fledgling Queens College a $5,000 bond and a bell. The Trustees renamed the institution in honor of Colonel Rutgers. The bell, known as the Old Queens Bell, was hung in the cupola of Old Queens to chime the passing of classes. It remains there today, and is rung on special occasions, such as at Commencement exercise in May and in recognition of athletic teams who have won national conferences. The cupola was donated by Stephen Van Rensellaer in 1825.

Initially, the first floor of Old Queens served as classrooms where recitation was held, and the second floor housed the college's chapel and library. The wings on each side of the structure served as living quarters for the faculty of the College. At the time, with no dormitories (until 1890), students at Rutgers found housing within rooming houses and other off-campus locations throughout New Brunswick.

Today, Old Queens houses the offices of the university president and other top administration.

The gate outside Old Queens is the subject of a Rutgers legend. It is said that a Rutgers student should only walk through the gate on two days: convocation and graduation. One who passes through the gate on any other day during his/her undergraduate studies is said to be doomed to stay for an extra year.