Diverse History of New Brunswick Tour

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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.

2. Historical Marker: Alexander Hamilton Horse Artillery Battery

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).

3. Old Queens Rutgers University

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.

4. Rutgers Geology Museum

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.

5. Saint Peter the Apostle Church

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.

6. New Brunswick Station

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.

7. Christ Episcopal Church

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).

8. First Reformed Church of New Brunswick

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.

9. New Brunswick Main Post Office

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.

10. Monument Square Park

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.

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

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.

12. William H Johnson House

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.

13. Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple

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.

14. Joyce Kilmer Park (Mercado Esperanza)

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.

15. Raíces Cultural Center

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.

16. American Hungarian Foundation

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.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Diverse History of New Brunswick Tour

Created by Clio Admin on April 26th 2020, 1:24:26 am.

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Description

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.

Entries on This Tour

Diverse History of New Brunswick Tour

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