Rutgers was founded in 1766 as Queens College, named after the queen consort (Charlotte, the daughter of a German duke)&nbsp;to King George III. During the initial period of the institution's history, the college actually housed the college itself, a grammar school (now Rutgers Preparatory), and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. Eventually, the grammar school and seminary moved elsewhere. The college's name was changed in 1825 after Revolutionary War hero and philanthropist Colonel Henry Rutgers who donated funds to the college.&nbsp;

The Old Queens building is the oldest structure on campus and houses administrative offices.

Website

Rutgers since 1945: A History of the State University of New Jersey

Book

Now serving as the main administration building, Old Queens is the oldest building on Rutgers' historic campus. Designed by architect John McComb in the Federal style, it was constructed between 1809-1823 (it could not be completed right away due to lack of funds). McComb was well known in New York City at the time, having designed New York City Hall, the Montauk Lighthouse, located on the eastern end of Long Island, and other landmarks.  Old Queens is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.

Old Queens Rutgers University

This tour includes stops at a variety of historical and cultural sites that demonstrate the diversity of this New Jersey community. The tour begins with the American Hungarian Foundation,  Raices Cultural Center, and Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple among other sites. The tour also includes structures on the National Register of Historic Places and concludes at museums and landmarks on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus.  

Diverse History of New Brunswick Tour

Admin

The American Hungarian Foundation (AHF)

The AHF was founded in 1955, with a
mission to collect, conserve, and celebrate Hungarian history, heritage, and
culture, and holds three signature events each year in New Brunswick: hosting
the café and music for the Hungarian Festival in June, the Carousel Ball, and
The Festival of Trees in December. The Hungarian Heritage Center, housing the
AHF library, archives, and museum, opened in 1989. The foundation holds lecture
series, crafts workshops, and educational programs at the facility. The AHF
Museum displays both permanent and temporary exhibits featuring Hungarian
immigrant life through fine art and folk art, as well as historic photographs.
The library holds a wide variety of materials including books, music, videos,
maps, periodicals, and historic documents, and is an affiliate of the Rutgers
University Library. Rare items in the archives include fifteenth-century books,
original manuscripts by Hungarian writers, and historic letters and
photographs.



Historical Context

For much of the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, Hungary (or Austro-Hungary, at times) experienced
significant upheaval. Both political and social complexities emerged as
literally dozens of ethnicities found themselves under the Hapsburg rule of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire in the early nineteenth century. Between 1820 and 1920,
around four or five million emigrants left the Empire for the United States,
including Czechs, Slavs, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Poles, Magyars (Hungarians), and
Austrians. After Hungary lost the 1848-1849 War of Independence, around four
thousand rebels moved to the U.S., and Hungarian Americans held the highest
percentage of any ethnic group to serve in the Civil War. Most served in the
Union Army, and ten percent became officers of high rank. A much larger second
wave of immigrants came to the U.S. between 1880 and 1914. Perhaps because of
the ethnically divided nature of their homeland, Hungarian American churches
have historically been largely ecumenical, welcoming Catholic, Protestant,
Greek Orthodox, and Jewish Hungarians to worship together.



Though many Hungarian immigrants
were farmers, they sought higher-paying industry jobs in America, often in
order to be able to return to Hungary with more capital. Others settled
permanently, particularly in industrial centers including New Brunswick. During
World War I, Hungary and America fought on opposite sides, halting immigration
for the duration of hostilities. Hungarian American communities, though
conflicted between loyalty to their homeland and to their nation of residence, put
on "loyalty parades" to show their allegiance to America, as well as
to prevent harassment by the population at large. Because Hungary was divided
into smaller states after the war, many temporary Hungarian American residents became
permanent residents or citizens. Until that time, boarding houses with nearly
unlivable conditions were common for the many immigrants who planned to return
to their homeland, but after 1917, "Little Hungarys" appeared as
permanent settlement led to home-buying and the establishment of businesses in
America, even as assimilation into American culture increased among Hungarian
Americans. World War II and its aftermath increased Hungarian immigration to
the U.S. as refugees fled the Nazis, Stalin's U.S.S.R., economic turmoil, and
the failure of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Rather than immigrant farmers,
many of these refugees were intellectuals of both the left and right wing,
Jewish Hungarians, military officers, members of the middle and upper classes,
and young people seeking educational opportunities.&nbsp;

New Brunswick: The "Most Hungarian City in the United
States"

New Brunswick offered ample
industrial employment for Hungarian Americans, with cigar box, button, and
wallpaper factories, as well as the factory of the Johnson &amp; Johnson
Company. Hungarian Americans, in fact, made up the majority of Johnson &amp;
Johnson's employees, and the company offered free English classes and other
benefits to new arrivals from Hungary. &nbsp;The Hungarian immigrants who settled in New
Brunswick permanently, and established businesses and institutions along French
and Somerset Streets. These included Hungarian American churches, an athletic
club, a bank, restaurants, and the largest Hungarian-language newspaper in the
U.S., the Magyar Hirnok (Magyar
Herald), which was established in 1909. By 1930, between one fifth and one
third of New Brunswick's population was Hungarian, and in the late twentieth
century, the 100 miles in and surrounding New Brunswick were home to around
forty percent of all Hungarian Americans. Somerset Street remains a
"Little Hungary," with several of the businesses and institutions
established in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries still present.
These have been joined by the AHF Hungarian Heritage Center, Museum, and
Library and Archives; as well as the Csurdöngölo Folk Dance Ensemble of
New Brunswick.

The American Hungarian Foundation (AHF) is the only organization in the country promoting Hungarian history and culture. It was founded in 1955 and features a museum, a library, and archives. The museum, which opened in 1989, showcases fine and folk art—many times presented in photographic exhibitions—in permanent and temporary exhibits. The museum emphasizes artwork created by artists born in Hungary who have had careers in the United States. The library and archives house rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and video recordings, providing visitors and researchers with valuable information about Hungarian social, religious, and cultural life in America.

American Hungarian Foundation

Raíces means roots. Raíces Cultural Center has put down its roots in the Hub City of New Brunswick, creating a home for the cultural arts and sustainable ecology in Central NJ.Raíces Cultural Center is a non- profit organization in New Brunswick dedicated to the investigation, celebration, education, and preservation of Caribbean cultures in the northern New Jersey area.Raíces has many activities. It has an ecology and sustainable practices portion of its programming. This includes gardening and seeding workshops, a seed library, and seed co-op. They also have a Folkloric Music and Dance Ensemble that performs traditional Bomba and Plena and other Caribbean and South American dance traditions. Through dance, folkloric music, history, performances, and sustainable ecology, Raíces seeks to create a harmonious balance with nature while preserving the cultural heritage of Caribbean communities. Raíces also seeks to empower local communities through accessible, affordable cultural programming as well as through dissemination of Caribbean culture through art, history, and ecology. Raíces' Folkloric Ensemble embodies its sense of community, a connection to history and heritage. They perform the folkloric traditions like Rhumba, báta, bomba, plena, són, comparsa, seis, and aguinaldo. They also educate their audiences on the traditions and historical context behind the music. Often these narratives relate to the spiritual indigenous inheritances, the heritage of colonialism, the trans -Atlantic slave trade, and connections to African and Caribbean people in the diaspora.Raíces expresses love for its community through service, its performances, its sustainable ecology programming, passion for Puerto Rican, Cuban, and all Caribbean cultures.  Like Puerto Rican music, Puerto Rican spiritual traditions have a myriad of influences. In addition to Catholicism imported from Spain, the tradition of Santeria and a version of Afro -Christian Catholicism combine with Indigenous practices, and a variety of African belief systems. The Puerto Rican heritage, like many Caribbean peoples, is comprised of this array of multiple influences; from the indigenous Taíno people who occupied the island before the conquest by Europeans from Spain, to the Spanish population who devastated the indigenous Taíno, and also from enslaved persons who were brought from Africa. This cultural complexity is amplified when considering that Puerto Ricans are also American citizens, so when they emigrate, they experience cultural tensions from yet another perspective. Art and connection to traditional culture is a way to celebrate and preserve cultural heritage while creating new connections and community cohesion through shared values. “Music is a story of survival and determination” says musician Joe Bataán. In many ways, the Folkloric traditions celebrate shared values with a sense of community and in another way, they explain and recount a painful history of colonization and its subsequent political, social and economic unrest. This history is something that can not be forgotten. The history is able to be disseminated through the music.

Raíces means Roots

Raíces Cultural Center is a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation that works to preserve Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Caribbean cultures as reflected in music, art, dance, history and the natural arts. Raíces Cultural Center’s principal goal is the investigation, compilation, documentation, preservation, and dissemination of traditional Caribbean culture through art, history, and ecology.

Raíces Cultural Center

On October 27th of 2019, Joyce Kilmer park celebrated Mercado's second year anniversary. The Mercado brings much energy to the park. These events are mostly community-led projects that have been sponsored by Elijah’s Promise, New Brunswick Tomorrow, as well as coLAB Arts. Furthermore, multiple vendors who sell a myriad of culturally focused mexican products tend to provide an economic enclave for Latino communities. Moreover, there are multiple bands that fill up the park with the sound of hora de limpiar en los domingos (sound of cleaning during Sundays). Each of the vendors share a story on how each recipe came to be, as the people have migrated from all parts of the world so have their culinary practices making each vendor within El Mercado stand out in its own unique way. The food ranges from the Aztecan Mexican cuisine to the Mayan Hondurian and as well as Incan peruvian delicacies. All credits for this wonderful event can be given to the cosponsors of the event who wanted to have a day in which not only Latinx but all people can embrace the Latinx culture and practices, on a side note be sure to visit all the vendors for all the profits go to them !

Joyce Kilmer Park has a different cultural scene from other parks in the New Brunswick area. The park is easily accessible and is used for many recreational activities which include tables for family picnics, basketball courts, a baseball court, a softball field, a water park as well as a children's playground equipped with a jungle gym and many slides making this place an ideal location to bring the family as you would evidently see the ambient community atmosphere. Many cultural activities also take place here as well. 

Joyce Kilmer Park (Mercado Esperanza) 

Founded in October of 1859, Anshe Emeth was the fourth Jewish congregation
in the state of New Jersey and the first in Middlesex County. Around
twenty-five Bohemian and German Jews had settled in New Brunswick in the 1850s,
and five families comprised the original congregation, which met in a Peace
Street storefront. A month after its founding, the congregation wrote a number
of requests to European synagogues for a Torah, which they received in April of
1860 from Prague's Alte-Nue Synagogue.

By 1897, with Eastern European Jews arriving in the area, New Brunswick's
Jewish population had risen to 280, and the town's first synagogue was
constructed on Albany Street. Sources are conflicting regarding whether the
congregation began as Orthodox or Reform, but agree that by 1890, Anshe Emeth
was an American Reform temple. During the nineteenth century, Jews in New
Brunswick were primarily shopkeepers and salesmen, with a few professionals
such as public school teachers; after the turn of the century and around the
1930s, when the current temple was built, more worked as tradesmen and
artisans.

The 1930 Moorish Revival style synagogue on Livingston Avenue, designed by
local architect Alexander Merchant, was dedicated "in honor of the Jewish
dead of New Brunswick," and is known as the Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple. During
the Second World War, members rolled bandages for the wounded. The congregation
and the temple have both expanded since its construction; in the 1970s, Anshe
Emeth made a commitment to "participate in [New Brunswick's] growth and
renaissance," [1] making it the only one of New Jersey's seven oldest
Jewish congregations still in the city in which it was established. The Temple
is also home to the archives of the Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey
and a preschool-through-12th grade religious school, and participates in a
number of community and charitable activities including adult education, local school
reading programs, an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, and programs assisting
the homeless, hospital staff and cancer patients.

The Anshe Emeth congregation was founded as a group of five families meeting in a small New Brunswick shop front in October of 1859. It was the first Jewish congregation in Middlesex County and the fourth in New Jersey, and today is the only one of the state's first seven Jewish Congregations remaining in its founding city. The Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple, built in 1930, underwent a full restoration in 2006.

Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple

The 1874 William H. Johnson House is exemplary of the mid-nineteenth century High Victorian Italianate style. The home is adorned with elegant detailing that speaks to the prominent social status of the house's first owner, William H. Johnson, a master house painter who owned the property from 1872 until he died in 1904. Viewing the home offers a glimpse into the post-Civil-War era for New Brunswick. The town had transitioned into a manufacturing center, which allowed for a population, economic, and residential-housing boom. Many of the houses outside the urban center, river ports, and train hubs served as homes to non-laborers ranging from those with modest incomes to the wealthy. The early settlement of New Brunswick by English, Scottish, Scots-Irish, German, French, Dutch, and African slaves began near the Raritan River. New Brunswick benefited from its favorable position on the river between Philadelphia to its south and New York to its north. For much of the nineteenth century, New Brunswick served as a prominent river hub between the two major metropolises during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Construction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, along with the New Jersey Railroad, took place during the 1830s, further enhancing the town's economic vitality. By the late nineteenth century, as railroads overtook water traffic as the favored form of transportation and shipping, New Brunswick transitioned from a port city to a manufacturing town; many of the warehouses near the river turned into manufacturing plants. Consequently, the need for workers fostered a population increase and concurrent residential housing boom; the population rose from 11, 287 in 1860 to 15,052 in 1870. Typical of the Gilded Age, workers usually lived close to the factories, railway hubs, and ports, while wealthy owners moved away from the heart of the city. Though the Johson family did not attain tremendous wealth, they enjoyed a better-than-average income that allowed them to live in a house away from the city center. William H. Johnson, a painter, was born in 1829 in New Jersey and was the son of John Johnson, who also worked as a painter. In the 1860 census, John is listed as a "Master House Painter" who by then lived in New Brunswick and had $6,000 ($185,000 in 2020 values) in real estate value and $2,000 ($60,000 in 2020) in his personal estate. By the end of the Civil War, records show John and William working together as "John Johnson &amp; Son, painters." Their work mainly involved painting houses of those with means, with disposable income. On June 25, 1836, Abraham Suydam sold the property for which the William H. Johnson house sits to James Lorimer Graham as part of a large tract of farmland, serving as the earliest record of the property. Between 1836 and 1870, the property exchanged hands numerous times. Finally, in 1872, William H. Johnson purchased the property and built the historic home (sometime between 1872-1874). William H. Johnson died at the age of 74 on February 26, 1904, survived by his wife, Sarah, and his three grandsons (the sons of his deceased daughter, Adilade B. Kilpatrick. The house and estate remained in the Johnson family's hands until William's widow sold it in 1906.

The 1874 William H. Johnson House is exemplary of the mid-nineteenth century High Victorian Italianate style. The home is adorned with elegant detailing that speaks to the prominent social status of the house's first owner, William H. Johnson, a master house painter who owned the property from 1872 until he died in 1904. Viewing the home offers a glimpse into the post-Civil-War era for New Brunswick. The city had transitioned into a manufacturing center, which allowed for a population, economic, and residential-housing boom. 

William H Johnson House 

The presence of so many Hispanics in New Brunswick is accommodated in one regard by the culturally significant site, Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen. Located in a city which is primarily known for its being the site of Rutgers University, this church exists unassumingly and serves to 3,000 families of New Brunswick (<a href="http://www.olmtcarmelonline.com/descripcion.html" target="_blank">http://www.olmtcarmelonline.com/descripcion.html</a>). It is a small building, with not much more space than about basketball court inside the actual church. The church stands between a small business and the rear side of a parking deck. It definitely is of humble means, and in that sense is reflective of the type of the people who worship there. I find it valuable to note that the administration of the church is completely Hispanic, which is very unique because the large majority of catholic churches in the U.S. that do have Hispanic services are at best only partially run by Hispanics. The Catholic church and its traditions are of large cultural importance to many Hispanics in the United States. This church is likely one of its kind, because “its liturgy is completely in Spanish” (Rabinowitz). As religion is an important part of Hispanic culture, this site provides a place that makes many of its parishioners feel as if they were in their native countries. In addition to being a house of worship and prayer, Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen is a place where families gather, friends catch up, and kids meet and play with other kids from the community. It undoubtedly acts as a site of community gathering and community blossoming (Ospino). After mass, for example, there are often a couple of carrito vendors, selling churros and pan dulce mexicano. Even when the vendors are not selling much food, the passersby and mass-goers greet them and sometimes chat for a little bit. There's also someone from the church who helps direct traffic along Morris Street. The church's community gathering and blossoming often comes in the form of the country specific masses and celebrations that are held on particular Holy days or Feast days. I heard the priest make an announcement at the end of mass about there being a get together and mass for the patron saint of Nicaragua later today and a get together and special midnight mass next week for Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, a very important symbol of Mexican Catholics. Another notable aspect of the sense of community produced at and through Nuestra Señora is the choir. There is a kids choir, who does the music at the 9:15am mass. The contribution of these young people to the church creates a feeling of youthfulness among the the members of this community and frequently leaves them with smiles on their faces as they sing along to the songs. As it has arguably been for the past 40+ years, Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Church / Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen continues to be an important cultural site to many Hispanics in New Brunswick.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a Roman Catholic church on Morris St. in New Brunswick, right off of George Street. It’s located directly behind the 7-Eleven and the Rockoff Hall apartments. This congregation became a reality in 1977, and it has “always been known as a National Hispanic Parish.” (www.olmtcarmelonline.com/english.html) The parishioners are currently some of the most important people to this site, who are mostly Hispanic, with the primary ethnicities being Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Ecuadorians. The significance of Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen is the fact that it is a center of Hispanic culture that comes together at once a week for mass, and once every now and then for very big moments such as baptisms and weddings. This church is publicly accessible, but it’s definitely not the easiest of places to find. Mass is celebrated there 7 days a week, and completely in Spanish. (Rabinowitz)This site promotes community through its ministries and is visible in the group effort that is made by parishioners weekly in order to set up for and celebrate a Sunday mass. This church is run entirely by Hispanics, and its masses are celebrated solely in Spanish.


Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Church / Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen

The other monuments in the area include the Purple Heart Memorial which honors the veterans wounded in battle serving the country. The park also includes the College Hall marker which indicates that this location was the second location of Queens College, what is now Rutgers University. Visitors can als see the SSgt. Frank Z. Molnar monument which honors the American soldier who sacrificed his life to save his platoon in 1967. Sergeant Monar was awarded the Medal of Honor for his selfless act of courage.&nbsp;

Monument Square Park features four monuments and historical markers. The largest monument is located in the center of the memorial park and is dedicated to men who served the Union in the Civil War. This monument, erected in 1893, is dedicated to local New Jersey men who lost their lives in the Union army and Navy. The monument highlights the service of area men in several pivotal battles of the war such as Williamsburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Atlanta, Gettysburg, Winchester, and Appomattox. 

Monument Square Park

The New Brunswick Post Office exists as one of the first ten postal services in the American colonies with its history dating back to 1731. Consistent urban and regional population growth forced the post office to seek buildings capable of handling its workload. Each move or expansion by the post office reflected boarder histories attached to the city, from economic changes to wartime culture. The historic Main Post Office opened in 1934 during the heart of the Great Depression when federal-funded projects were prevalent. The Neo-Georgian building included murals in the lobby by George Biddle, an influential artist and one for which played a significant role in the establishment of the WPA Federal Arts Project during the Depression.In 1731, Postmaster General Alexander Spotswood chose New Brunswick as a point on the main postal route serving New York and Philadelphia, and its significance as a postal center reflected the town's population growth and commercial development throughout the eighteenth century. And, in 1883, when the John F. Babcock (the postmaster at the time) sought to move the postal office away from the river to the center of town near its business (and civic) center, it demonstrated the changing nature of the economy away from the city's once-booming river navigation and shipping industries to that of manufacturing and railroads. The new downtown facility proposed in 1883 finally came to fruition in 1903. During World War I, a military radio broadcasting installation operated from the post office. In the summer of 1925, the New Brunswick Post Office sorted the mail sent along on the nation's first regularly scheduled transcontinental night airmail service. The increasing significance of the facility again forced the postal service to consider financing the construction of a new building, and in 1934 the now-historic Main Post Office opened. Since the 1934 facility emerged, a large, regional office opened in nearby Edison. Thus, the 1934 building represents the last phase of the city's vast influence on the area's postal service. Nonetheless, the building remains functional today as a postal center and the only one serving the city of New Brunswick. The lauded George Biddle (1885-1973), painted the historical murals in the building's lobby. The paintings depict three Revolutionary War events: General Howe and Cornwallis entering the burning city of New Brunswick; George Washington and Alexander Hamilton leaving New Brunswick on December 1, 1775; and Washington with Simeon DeWitt, the Rutgers-educated cartographer of the Continental Army, mapping their route to Virginia, where the capture of Cornwallis took place. Biddle's works can be found in numerous museums, but he also became an integral figure in the development of the Federal Arts Project during the Great Depression. In 1933, he proposed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (a former classmate of Biddle) that the Federal Government should support mural painting as a means of embellishing public buildings and providing employment for artists. As a result, government-sponsored artists produced nearly 15,000 paintings in six months, and far more throughout the 1930s. In conclusion, from the postal office's move from the river to the central business district to the need for military radio during WWI and the murals painted during the Great Depression, a study of the post office offers a glimpse into the broader history of New Brunswick. Each expansion and move and chapter speaks volumes about the city at that particular period in time.

This historic post office building opened in 1934 and continues to serve as the city's only post office building. For many years, New Brunswick also served as a regional hub for mail service. The history of the town's postal service begins decades before the American Revolution with the first formal post office location along a river that made it accessible to New York and Philadelphia. This building was constructed during the Great Depression and includes government-commissioned artwork similar to what can be found in other public buildings of the ere. Today the building serves the community as it did when constructed and stands as a reminder of the Great Depression public works program and the importance of the mail service for this community for more than two centuries. 

New Brunswick Main Post Office

Dutch settlers established The First Reformed Church in 1703, making it the oldest organized church in the city. From 1776-1777, British forces occupied the town, forcing the church to pause its services. Indeed, several events attached to the church history provide a window into the broader nature of American political and cultural histories. The church and Rutgers University also enjoy strong ties. The historic church building opened in 1812, the fourth building built by the congregation. A suspicious fire in 1971 severely damaged the church, but extensive repairs and renovations allowed it to re-open. Rev. Theodore Frelinghuysen worked as the church's first pastor after receiving his commission in 1720 from the Classis of Amsterdam to serve all the Dutch Reformed churches in Somerset and Middlesex counties. By the 1740s and 1750s, the Reformed Churches in America successfully gained their independence from the mother church in the Netherlands, but not without causing great divisiveness within the church. Two decades later, it was a different form of independence -- the American Revolution -- that affected the church. British forces occupied the town from 1776-1777 and forced the church to cease its services. The Second Great Awakening slowly emerged during the 1780s, and, although the Dutch Reformed Church did not prove as much of a factor as Methodists or Baptists, a few of its effects could be seen at the First Reformed Church in Brunswick. For instance, the church increasingly grew ties to nearby Rutgers University (referred to as Queens College at that time). Rev. Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh arrived in 1786 and dually served as the church pastor and president of the university, a trend that continued into the nineteenth century. He passed away only five years after his arrival, and he also proved to be the last pastor to preach in the Dutch language. Modifications to the church took place in 1828 and included the installation of a clock tower funded by the New Brunswick City Council. The government funding speaks to the close relationship between local governments and churches during that era and its significance in the overall culture of a community. The church's central location made a clock in its steeple a worthy investment as it served the city, its central business district, and the Hiram Market, which spread out to the north of the church. Renovations and updates to the church have repeatedly throughout its history, including adding gas lightning in 1850 and electricity in 1917. The church electrified the clock in 1950. A suspicious fire in 1971 severely burnt the building, forcing the congregation to rebuild much of the historic church. Thus, despite a few interruptions, the church has been a mainstay in Brunswick since well before the Revolutionary War. The graveyard located adjacent to the church demonstrates this as its tombstones mark people buried there for centuries. Some notable burials include people from Rutgers, the church, and many who served in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and World Wars.

Constructed in 1812, the First Reformed Church (A.K.A. Dutch Reformed Church) is home to a congregation that dates back to 1703. The oldest congregation in Brunswick, this church includes connections to events during the colonial period and American Revolution, including a period when the congregation could no longer hold services due to the British occupation of the town. Members of the congregation were also forced to suspend services following a 1971 fire that damaged this building. Members supported the restoration of the structure which is located next to a historic cemetery representative of other churchyards in some of New England's oldest houses of worship. 

First Reformed Church of New Brunswick 

From 1711 until 1742, Picastaway was
home to the only Anglican church in New Jersey. As settlements and the
membership of the Anglican denomination grew, so did the need for a mission
parish in New Brunswick. Construction of Christ Church began in 1742 on land leased
for 2000 years from Philip French for the price of one peppercorn per year. The
longitudinal (rather than meeting house) floor plan was considered a
progressive layout, the first of its kind in New Brunswick, built by local
craftsmen in a vernacular Georgian style. The Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) was responsible for organizing Christ Church
Parish, and like all American Episcopal churches, its rector was a missionary
appointed by the Church in England. One of the first rectors in the post (from
1754-1757) was Reverend Samuel Seabury Jr., an American-born preacher and
physician who had studied and been ordained in England. Later, he would become
the First Bishop in America. 



Not long after Christ Church royal charter
as an independent parish in 1761, Abraham Beach became rector, serving from
1767-1784. During his tenure, the church tower was built (1773) in a simplified
imitation of St. Martin-in-the-Fields of London. On July 8, 1776, at the foot
of the Christ Church tower, the Declaration of Independence was publicly read
for the third time. Reverend Beach found himself and his congregation caught up
in conflicting loyalties, with some parishioners fighting for the Patriots and
others for the Loyalists. Beach supported independence, but did not condone
violent rebellion, and was sworn to support and pray for the Crown as part of
his religious ordination. When he received death threats for offering prayers
for King George, he opted to close the church until the conclusion of the
Revolution, conducting services in the homes of moderates, where he often
omitted prayers for the King. After the Revolution, Beach became a leader in
the effort to create an Episcopal Church in America, independent of the Church
of England. Christ Church served as the meeting place for the first organized
discussion toward that end in the spring of 1784, and by the following year the
American Episcopal structure was established.&nbsp;

John Croes, who became New Jersey's
first Bishop in 1815, served as rector for Christ Church from 1801-1832. Croes had
fought as a sergeant major in Washington's army during the Revolution, and
helped Christ Church achieve financial stability in the upheaval that followed.
In fact, when lightning struck the church tower and burned it to the ground in
1803, the parish was able to rebuild it that same year, remodeled the entire
building the following decade, and by the middle of the nineteenth century even
tore down the original structure (except for the tower) and re-used the stones
for a new, enlarged building. The new Christ Church structure was designed by
the New York firm of Wills and Dudley, and was the first Gothic Revival style
building in New Brunswick.



Throughout the latter half of the
nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, Christ Church's rectors improved
the musical program, choir, and Sunday School, as well as the church complex (including
construction of the Parish House), and finances. Christ Church was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1989, and its first woman rector was
elected in 1993. Joan Fleming, (ironically) an Englishwoman, had been Interim Rector
for two years prior to her election, and used her tenure toward long-term
preservation of the historic church; building up outreach ministries such as an
English as a Second Language program; and making substantial efforts to welcome
people of color, particularly New Brunswick's growing African and Caribbean
population, to the church. The parish had included Black members even in its
first years, but these individuals were enslaved to white parishioners, including
rectors Beach and Croes. Until the 1920s, Black members were seated separately;
at that time the organ was moved into the section reserved for African American
members, and those displaced formed their own church, St. Alban's. Newcomers of
color even during the 1970s were received coldly by some of Christ Church's
parishioners, but former Peace Corps member Father Martin Gutwein worked toward
a more welcoming environment. In the 1990s, Joan Fleming's confrontation of
institutional racism in the parish involved an initiative called Unlearning
Racism, as well as establishing a Christ Church Black Heritage Committee and
programming celebrating diverse heritages through events such as Italian Night,
International Night, and the Celebration of Black Heritage. Her efforts have
resulted in a comfortably multicultural congregation, and today's Christ Church
takes pride in its welcoming diversity.

Christ Church, established in 1742, has a rich history, from its Colonial beginnings through the Revolutionary War, to twentieth-century desegregation and community building. Architecturally, the complex of buildings that make up the Church reflect these eras of its history, with a Colonial vernacular Georgian steeple tower (which burned down once in 1803 and again in 1927), Gothic Revival church building with Neoclassical elements, and Italianate sexton house. Other buildings on the complex include the choir house (built in 1874) and the parish house (built in 1897).

Christ Episcopal Church

New Brunswick Station opened in 1903, but train service began in Brunswick began in 1838 with the arrival of the New Jersey Railroad line, and its existence as a transportation hub goes back even further as those with means deemed the city's geographic location worthy of investment. New Brunswick lies north of Trenton and Philadelphia, south of New York, and alongside the Raritan River -- the city first worked as a "river city." The Pennsylvania Railroad replaced the New Jersey line and eventually built the New Brunswick Station in 1903. Although the nature of travel and the names on the trains changed throughout the years, New Brunswick Station continues to operate as a railway station in the twenty-first century. The nearby Raritan provided the people of New Brunswick a selling point that appealed mightily to those looking to invest in the shipping industry. By 1830, the New Brunswick shipyards moved almost one million bushels of grain through the city, which ended up in parts of the U.S. and abroad. Thus, as railways grew in popularity, railroad companies found New Brunswick to be an attractive location. But, the trains also spelled trouble for the town as other cities with train access competed with New Brunswick. After the Civil War, the city again found success, but instead of shipping, the city benefited from the manufacturing industry. And although the city never attained the prominence it once enjoyed during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, The Colonial Revival New Brunswick Station arguably proved to be one of the more impressive stations among the lines serving Philadelphia, New York, and vicinity. Typical of most train stations, its glory days faded during the twentieth century as air travel and the automobile grew increasingly dominant. From the 1950s through the 1970s, a series of updates helped keep the station up and running while serving commuter trains to the sizable eastern coast cities. But, a fire in 1980 nearly wiped out that station. Ironically, the near-disaster helped inspire officials to renovate the building in such a way that all the problems attached to the patchwork repairs and lack of updates during the previous decades were finally solved. Indeed, the building enjoyed a rebirth after the fire and transitioned into a commuter hub that served more than 3,000 people daily. Today, the station remains busy, aided in part by nearby Rutgers University and the town's proximity to numerous metropolitan areas in the region. In 2019, approval was attained to renovate and modernize the building and railway platforms for a cost of $21 million, which speaks to its viability.Just as New Brunswick transitioned from a river city to a rail city, and from shipping to manufacturing as its leading economic driver during the nineteenth century, the New Brunswick Station has remained functional by adapting. The station emerged at a time when railway transportation dominated the nation's social and economic climate, moving goods and people with great abundance. As the country moved to the automobile and air travel, many train stations and hubs across the country disappeared. But, New Brunswick Station found life primarily in commuter trains that served nearby cities, notably New York and Philadelphia, and Rutgers University, located in New Brunswick. As a result, in 2011, the United States Department of Transportation included the New Brunswick Station and the associated rail lines as part of its Next Generation High-Speed project that will allow for trains moving at 185 mph to serve the area.

The New Brunswick Station opened in 1903, but the city's history as a transportation hub dates back to the eighteenth century, first as a river navigation port and then as a railroad center. The New Brunswick Station arose after decades of railroad travel dominating the American way of life, both in terms of moving passengers and goods. As the automobile eroded railway dominance, many rail stations suffered. While New Brunswick Station endured tough times in the mid-twentieth century, the station again found life as a commuter hub connecting people, and Rutgers University students and faculty to such cities as New York and Philadelphia, to name a few. And soon, the station will function as a stop along a high-speed railway demonstrating that the town continues to exist as a transportation hub in the twenty-first century. 

New Brunswick Station

Early Catholics in New Jersey New Jersey's Catholic population in
the eighteenth century consisted of only 200 French, German, and Irish
immigrants. Under both British rule and the state constitution, Catholics were
denied religious freedom and the right to hold political office. Anti-immigrant
and anti-Catholic sentiments went hand-in-hand not only officially, but in the
social sphere, as well. Nonetheless, a few Catholic churches were established
in New Jersey beginning in 1814, as more Irish immigrants arrived. The first
Catholic service held in New Brunswick was conducted in 1825 by Father John
Powers of New York City's St. Peter's Parish. Afterwards, Father Powers offered
monthly Mass in New Brunswick for about fifty Catholics, initially in a private
home, then in a shop on George Street. On the instructions of John Dubois,
Bishop of New York, Father Joseph Schneller took over these monthly services in
1829, and New Brunswick's first Catholic church, the simple brick structure of
Saints Peter and Paul, was erected in 1831. Two years later, New Brunswick
acquired its first resident priest, Father Bernard McArdle. Unfortunately, the
church was severely damaged by a tornado in 1835, and the impoverished Irish
immigrants it served could only afford to board up the destroyed areas of the
building. To make matters worse, the growing congregation was left without a resident
pastor for six years after Schneller was reassigned in 1839.&nbsp;

New Brunswick began the nineteenth
century primarily as a shipbuilding town and a seaport for agricultural goods,
but transitioned into industry as the Delaware and Raritan Canal and New Jersey
Railroad, along with paper and cotton factories and sawmills, were constructed
in the 1820s-1840s. The labor required for building the canal (1830-1834) and
railroad (1835-1837) came largely from Irish Catholic immigrants recruited both
locally and from New York City, and factory jobs provided more permanent
employment to those who settled in New Brunswick. Though New Brunswick did not
experience outright anti-Catholic riots as did New York, Newark, Jersey City, and
other cities, Nativist (anti-immigrant) sentiment was certainly present, and poverty
was rampant among the Irish Catholic population.



Thankfully, St. Peter's congregation
received a new permanent priest capable of managing the poor parish finances
with the arrival of a fellow immigrant, Father John Rogers, in 1845. The church
itself had been foreclosed in 1844, but Rogers managed to buy it back only a
year after his arrival. Under his leadership, the parish repaired the damage
from the 1835 tornado and expanded the building, adding a parish school. As New
Brunswick's Irish Catholic population jumped from 500 to 2,000 over the next
fifteen years, Father Rogers also visited nearby towns, making St. Peter's the
"mother church" of Central Jersey, even as the need for a larger
church grew within his own parish.



History of St. Peter
the Apostle ChurchDuring Father Rogers's tenure, the present St. Peter's Church&nbsp; was constructed (1854-1865) across from Rutgers College on Somerset Street. The
key financial contributor to the effort was Irish-American physician Clifford
Morrough, who, despite being Catholic and an immigrant, had achieved status and
a high-paying practice in New Brunswick since his arrival in 1847. The first
Bishop of Newark, James Roosevelt Bayley, hired Irish-American church architect
Patrick Charles Keely (1816-1896) to design St. Peter the Apostle. Keely had
built a reputation for producing substantial, elegant churches to accommodate
and inspire expanding congregations, and doing so on the tight budgets
available from immigrant parishes with little capital. Many parishioners of St.
Peter's, with their construction and labor experience from New Brunswick civic
projects such as the canal, volunteered to excavate the basement for the
church, where services began even before the upper stories were built.
Additionally, fundraising efforts by the parish resulted in contributions from
both Catholics and Protestants, indicating that not all New Brunswick residents
resented the Irish Catholic presence.



The original Bayard Street church became a
schoolhouse, and was torn down in the 1870s. Meanwhile, another Irish immigrant
architect, Jeremiah O'Rourke (1833-1915) designed the stained glass for the
upper level of the new St. Peter's, and probably oversaw the completion of the
major construction of the church, along with local architect John B. Hall. The church continued
fundraising efforts as the parish worked to finish the basement, paint
frescoes, install the windows, and purchase furnishings such as confessionals,
a pulpit, an organ, and a chime of bells. The Gothic Revival convent, occupied
first by seven nuns of the Sisters of Charity, was constructed beside today's
St. Peter the Apostle Church in 1868. The Sisters had charge of the parish
school, and as the congregation expanded and rose in prominence within the
community, additions to the convent eventually accommodated thirty-five nuns.
The rectory, a Greek Revival home which may date to as early as 1829, was
also purchased by the church in 1868, and is one of only two existing residences of
its style in New Brunswick with a temple front. Like the convent, the rectory
was expanded during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as St.
Peter's grew. By 1900, there were seven priests serving the parish. The lyceum
building was added in 1920 to serve various functions for the congregation.

A state historical landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this Gothic Revival church was completed in 1865. It was designed by Irish immigrant Patrick Charles Keely (1816-1896), a prominent architect known for his designs of monumental yet affordable Catholic churches. The grounds also include a cemetery, historical archives, a Gothic Revival style convent, and a Greek Revival rectory. Today, the convent building is home to the campus ministry center for Rutgers University students, and the rectory houses the Oratory of St. Philip Neri community of priests.

Saint Peter the Apostle Church

The basis for the museum's
collection began to grow in 1836 under the direction of New Yorker Lewis C.
Beck (1798-1853), who was Rutgers' first geology professor from 1830-1853. Though
he was trained as a physician, he was hired as a professor of chemistry and
natural science, and was an accomplished botanist, entomologist, chemist, and
geologist, and worked as head mineralogist for the New York Geological Survey
beginning in 1836. Beck conducted the United States' first chemical examination
of food at the request of Congress, and simultaneously taught at Rutgers and at
Albany Medical College until his death.. His wide range of interests is
reflected in the variety of specimens and cultural artifacts that Beck
collected, many of which are native to New Jersey. The first exhibit Beck
presented were the fossilized dinosaur tracks he discovered. Beck's collections
were stored at Old Queen's and Van Nest Halls, and later became the core
collection of Rutgers' Scientific School and the Geology Museum. New Jersey native Dr. George H. Cook
(1818-1889) succeeded Beck at the age of 35, teaching courses in chemistry and
natural philosophy at Rutgers University in 1853, and was named State Geologist
and Vice President of the university in 1864. Cook's own degree was in Civil Engineering,
and he had previously taught mathematics and natural science at Albany Academy.
Another man of wide-ranging interests, he helped establish the Rutgers as New
Jersey's State College and land-grant school, founded the Rutgers Scientific
School, directed the New Jersey Geological Survey (NJGS) from 1864-1889, and
improved the efficiency of the state's mining process. Following a major
fundraiser for the college in 1870 which led to the construction of Geology
Hall, Cook established the museum in 1872 in order to display specimens
collected through the NJGS. During the 1880s, Cook also convinced the state and
the United States Congress to establish agricultural experimental stations.

Geology Hall itself may have been
the first complete work by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, a Rutger's
graduate and descendent of the first university president. Aside from geology
lecture rooms and the museum, Geology Hall held classrooms for chemistry and natural
science, as well as a military science department armory in the basement. It is
the oldest continuously used department building in America. Objects collected personally
by Cook for the museum include over 4,000 mineral and fossil specimens, a right
whale skeleton, and the mastodon still displayed in the museum today (which he
purchased from a farmer in 1870).

Mining engineer and metallurgist Albert
Huntington Chester (1843-1903) of New York became the museum's first curator in
1892, teaching mineralogy courses from 1893 until his death. He acquired
mineral collections from around the world, and was assisted and succeeded by
William S. Valiant, also from New York. Valiant is credited with organizing and
cataloguing the collections, improving the building, and adding a research
laboratory and equipment. He emphasized the educational value of the museum,
and was rarely absent during his 25-year career as its curator.



In 1940, the museum acquired its
2,400-specimen collection of rare fluorescent minerals from the English-born George
Rowe of the New Jersey Zinc Company, with an additional donation of such
minerals in 2002 by Anne and Milton Hershhorn.

Founded in 1872 by professor and state geologist George H. Cook, the Rutgers Geology Museum features geological, anthropological and paleontological specimens, mostly from New Jersey. It is one of the oldest collegiate geology museums in the country. Highlights include New Jersey minerals—many of which are fluorescent—a nearly complete skeleton of a mastodon, fossilized dinosaur tracks, Native American artifacts, and a Ptolemaic era Egyptian mummy. The museum offers education programs for people of all ages, including an annual open house and field trips. Geology Hall is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Rutgers Geology Museum

Washington was very impressed with Hamilton's leadership and was surprised to learn that he (Hamilton) was only 21 years old. The battery helped preserve Washington's army, enabling him to make the fateful decision to make the now famous surprise attack on December 25, 1776 against Hessian (German) forces allied with the British. This attack is memorialized in the painting by Emanuel Leutze, which depicts Washington astride in a boat crossing the river.

This marker indicates the location where, in early December 1776, a young Alexander Hamilton  commanded a battery overlooking the Raritan River, protecting the retreating Continental Army led by George Washington from pursuing British forces. Around 4,000 British soldiers were encamped across the river and attempted to cross it at bridge constructed nearby. The guns fired at the encroaching British, allowing the Continental forces to retreat (as well to protect those soldiers who were pulling up the bridges planks). 

Historical Marker: Alexander Hamilton Horse Artillery Battery

After its establishment in 1966, the permanent collection of
the Rutgers Art Gallery grew, necessitating a more substantial museum space by
1983. Ralph and Alan Voorhees donated substantially toward the expansion of the
addition, named the Zimmerli Art Museum in their mother's honor, which holds
60,000 objects in its collections today.

The Zimmerli presents two large, theme-based annual
exhibitions, often highlighting women artists; a series of cameo exhibitions
from its permanent collections; and focused presentations such as Japanese art,
American children's book illustrations, ancient Greek and Roman art. The museum
also hosts drawing classes, lectures, family activities, summer art camps,
teacher training programs, and concerts.



The Zimmerli collection of American art ranges from eighteenth-century
paintings to contemporary sociopolitical artworks, with a focus on women artists
in honor of Rutgers' "pioneering role in women's studies" [1]. Many
of the early portraits depict Revolutionary figures, notable residents of New
Jersey, and figures associated with Rutgers history. Nineteenth-century
landscapes, American surrealism, and modern abstract paintings are also
featured, as well as figurative and abstract sculpture, engravings and
woodcuts, prints, illustrations, and photographs. American decorative art in
the collection includes art nouveau Tiffany lamps and a 1903 Frank Lloyd Wright
window.&nbsp;

European
art in the Zimmerli collection dates from the Renaissance to the present, and
is particularly strong in French nineteenth-century prints and rare books. The
Zimmerli holds Italian Renaissance paintings, Dutch and Italian paintings of
the seventeenth century, and English and French nineteenth and twentieth-century
paintings including Monet's portrait of his father. Also included are
Japonisme, created by European artists of the nineteenth century who were inspired
by Japanese aesthetics, as well as Japanese woodcuts and Meiji-era photographs.
European sculpture includes the only complete set in America of terra cotta busts,
Honoré Daumier’s Celebrities of the Juste Milieu; as well as a small
collection of ancient Greek and Roman art. One of the best collections in the
United States of nineteenth-century color lithographic posters can be found at
the Zimmerli, along with vintage European photographs, Parisian rare books and
journals, and art nouveau decorative objects in glass, ceramic, and metal.



The
museum's holdings of 22,000 Russian and Soviet artworks include the largest
collection in the world of Soviet nonconformist art. From fourteenth-century Russian
Orthodox icons to modern-day works, the collection includes eighteenth and nineteenth-century
portraits and lubki (folk prints), expressionist
and abstract art, bronze sculpture, stage sets and costumes designs, movie and
propaganda posters, nonconformist art ranging from a diverse array of media
including video and photography, artist-designed books and book covers, and
decorative objects such as hand-painted ceramics.

Located on the campus of Rutgers University, the Zimmerli Art Museum is one of the largest and most well-respected university museums in the United States. It features a collection of over 60,000 pieces ranging from ancient times to today. The collection is particularly strong in 19th century French art, Russian and Soviet Nonconformist art (the largest such collection in the world), and American and European works on paper (these include prints, photographs, drawings, and rare books). The museum was founded in 1966 as the Rutgers University Art Gallery in celebration of the school's bicentennial. In 1983 the museum expanded and given its current name thanks to a gift by Ralph and Allan Voorhees in honor of their mother, Jane Zimmerli.

Diverse History of New Brunswick Tour

Old Queens Rutgers University

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information