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. An eclectic mix of architectural styles, Voorhees Mall is lined by many historic academic buildings. The block is bound by Hamilton Street (to the east), George Street (north), College Avenue (south) and Seminary Place (west). At the mall's western end, across Seminary Place, is the campus of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, whose history is intertwined with the early history of Rutgers University. Across Hamilton Street is the block called Old Queens, the seat of the university.
The mall bisecting the block was formed when Bleecker Place, a city street, was closed. After several generous donations to Rutgers, including the first building dedicated to housing the institution's library (now known as Voorhees Hall), the grassy mall was named for Ralph and Elizabeth Rodman Voorhees.
Voorhees Mall was once the site of annual commencement exercises for Rutgers College.
Selected Buildings
Riverstede (1868)
Professor
New Jersey Hall (1889)
New Jersey Hall was built from funds authorized by the New Jersey state legislature to construct an "Agricultural Hall" to house the State Experiment Station (now part of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, formerly
Recent efforts have been made to rename New Jersey Hall in honor of Nobel laureate
Ballantine Gymnasium (1894–1931)
Ballantine Hall was mostly destroyed by fire in the 1930s. The rear of the building remained standing, and when the
Voorhees Hall (1903)
Originally built to house the
Murray Hall (1909)
Originally built to house the College of Engineering, Murray Hall was designed by alumnus Douwe D. Williamson (Rutgers College Class of 1870) and Frederick P. Hill (Rutgers College Class of 1883). Built partly with a gift from steel magnate and industrialist
Milledoler Hall (1910)
Originally called the Chemistry Building, Milledoler Hall is named for Reverend
Graduate School of Education
The Graduate School of Education was originally part of the Graduate School-New Brunswick, founded in 1876 and one of the oldest graduate schools in the country. The GSE separated from the Graduate School in 1923 and its present building was constructed in 1961. Supported by stilts at its southern end, the Graduate School of Education is built in the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Cantilever style of architecture.
Academic Buildings
The Academic Buildings were constructed at the eastern end of Voorhees Mall in the mid-2010s, replacing a portion of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary campus. The land for the building was acquired as part of a deal between Rutgers and the Seminary, in which Rutgers took over most of Holy Hill (upon which the former Seminary campus was built) in exchange for constructing a new Seminary campus. Each building contains classrooms, lecture halls, and study spaces, with the northern building housing some Rutgers academic departments.
Honors College
The Honors College was constructed in the mid-2010s alongside the Academic Buildings. The building, a mixture of seminar-style classrooms, lounges, and four floors of traditional student dorm rooms, opened in Fall 2015 alongside the launch of the Honors College program.
School of Social Work
The
Van Dyck Hall (1928)
Van Dyck Hall was built in 1928 and named after the first dean of Rutgers College, Francis C Van Dyck. Originally, it was part of the Rutgers Scientific School and housed the Physics department. Today, Van Dyck Hall houses classrooms and the university's Department of History.
Ford Hall
Ford Hall was the second dormitory on campus, built in 1915. Underneath the dorm is an old tunnel, dug in the 18th century to mine copper. The tunnel stretches from Mine Street, a few blocks down College Avenue and supposedly was used to help runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad and to smuggle alcohol during Prohibition [
Scott Hall
Named for Austin Scott (1848–1922), the tenth President of Rutgers University and a history and political science professor, Scott Hall is a modern structure built in 1963. It is used as one of the campus's major classroom buildings, along with Murray Hall, Hardenbergh Hall, Frelinghuysen Hall, and Campbell Hall. The building's large auditorium classrooms are often used for movies, plays, and other gatherings as well as classes.
William the Silent
Fenton B. Turck, a New York physician and biologist, with the assistance of railroad magnate, and longtime Rutgers alumnus and trustee,
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Paths to Historic Rutgers: A Self-Guided Tour". Rutgers University. Retrieved 2006-09-10.
- ^ "Weird RU: Campus Legends Rise from the Dead"[permanent dead link] from The Daily Targum October 31, 2003. Accessed December 24, 2006.
- ^ Chodroff, Michael. The Rutgers Students Unofficial Guide to College: A Book of Bests and Worsts of Rutgers Students' Life at College (East Brunswick, New Jersey: Arm Publishing, 1998).