Rutgers Then and Now Explores Transformation of Historic College Avenue Campus Over the Centuries  

The book hitting shelves soon after the university’s charter day is the work of three longtime distinguished faculty

Richard L. Edwards remembers 2013 as a monumental year in the evolution of Rutgers-New Brunswick’s College Avenue campus.

That’s when construction started on massive $330 million project to makeover large swaths of College Avenue by adding the Honors College, Academic Building, The Yard and Sojourner Truth Apartments.

As Rutgers-New Brunswick’s first chancellor, Edwards attended multiple groundbreakings, which sparked the idea for a book to document centuries of change at the university through photos.

The project was developed through conversations with James W. Hughes, then dean of Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and David Listokin, professor at Bloustein’s  Center for Urban Policy Research, and an expert in historic preservation. Chats about their shared interests in history, community development and Rutgers, inspired the trio to channel their knowledge into a book that charts the architectural trajectory of College Avenue Campus from its Old Queens origins in 1808 to the present.

The result, Rutgers Then and Now. Two Centuries of Campus Development: A Historic and Photographic Odyssey, hits shelves Nov. 15, 2024 – just after Rutgers University’s Charter Day (Nov. 10). Published by Rutgers University Press, the book also includes a foreword from President Jonathan Holloway.

With 120 collective years at Rutgers, Hughes, Edwards and Listokin, provide readers with a unique perspective on the 10 developmental phases of the campus’ expansion. Edwards, a photographer by hobby, also contributed many images to the photo heavy book that juxtaposes locations over decades to illustrate significant physical transformations.

Rutgers Today spoke with all three authors of Rutgers Then and Now to learn more about College Avenue’s history.

What challenges did an evolving College Avenue campus face given its location?

Edwards: The main thing about College Avenue is that you can’t expand much more without tearing down trees and chewing up grass. There’s land in front of Winants Hall and Old Queens where you could fit in more buildings, but it wouldn’t be the right thing to do.

We are constrained. Lots of universities have some constraints with the town next to them. They will build buildings and tear them down. Rutgers has done that a bit. We have lost some historic buildings, and added modern amenities that do not match the original Queens College. For example, the parking lot next to beautiful Kirpatrick Chapel. It replaced the original President’s House, which was a sad loss, but you need parking.

However, we do have the benefit of land across the river where buildings could go up. Because of that, and our ability to expand into downtown New Brunswick, College Avenue will stay fairly much like it is now.

Listokin: Some universities in the United States were built, at least initially, far from the settlement of their host communities and according to an overall unified master plan. That model is personified by Thomas Jefferson’s “academical village”plan for the University of Virginia. In contrast, Rutgers physical development was constrained by New Brunswick’s burgeoning growth at its doorstep, and Rutgers growth was episodic and incremental rather than master planned. Rutgers campus planning also had to answer to multiple constituencies. While broad-based input is laudable, multiparty involvement often leads to a cacophony of conflicting campus and building perspectives

What additions or subtractions from the College Avenue landscape make you particularly nostalgic?

Hughes:  College Avenue Student Center: It once had a beautiful sunken outdoor plaza that became the site of the food court, which itself was positive, but it was also the cheapest solution for an addition.

Robert Wood Johnson's Victorian mansion or "Gray Terrace": I watched the demolition of the magnificent mansion on the corner of College Avenue and Hamilton Street. It was knocked down for a parking lot, where the Grease Trucks eventually parked, and was reborn as The Yard.

Voorhees Mall: This was once the Neilson Campus. James Neilson, who owned the property originally wanted to subdivide it into residential lots. He built a street called Bleecker Place to maximize the number of accessible lots. He eventually gave most of the land to Rutgers. The roadways were removed, and a mall was developed via a WPA Depression Era grant.

Listokin:The Rutgers and New Brunswick Theological Seminary have  seen the loss of many iconic properties, as is common in American society. Some examples of the departed include Ballantine Gymnasium, the original Rutgers President’s house, Hertzog Hall and Suydam Hall.

The book details a garden outside the original Alexander Library in the shape of New Jersey. What became of it?

Hughes: The New Jersey Garden was originally part of Alexander Library. It was a 60-foot-long brick patio in the shape of NJ. It had a flowing water feature to replicate the Delaware River and was surrounded by plants that were native to NJ in 1954. It was lost when the front addition was built.  

The original structure (1954) was essentially a small college library – very attractive.  By the 1990s, it was totally inadequate. During Fran Lawrence’s administration, there was some discussion of building a university-sized library on the Busch Campus, but there was resistance to not having it on the College Avenue Campus. So, the expedient solution was putting an addition on Alexander Library.

What do you consider the most changed vista on College Avenue?

Hughes: The view from Frelinghuysen Hall residence building. I came to Rutgers in 1961 as a student and was assigned room 431 in Frelinghuysen Hall overlooking the Delaware and Raritan Canal/Raritan River (pre-Route 18 extension). My view of the Delaware and Raritan Canal/Raritan River looking south was unfortunately obliterated by the Route 18 (1969-1970) extension.

Tell us something most people don’t know about the construction of the original campus?

Edwards: The University ran out of money when they were building Old Queens in the 1810s. The stones on the back of the building do not match what was used in the front of the building.

Listokin: Before Old Queens, Rutgers (then Queen’s College) had a peripatetic building trek. It first met at the Sign of the Red Lion Tavern. Then, during the Revolutionary War, decamped to churches and homes in nearby communities (as the British occupied New Brunswick, and finally returned to College Hall (by today’s George Street and Livingston Avenue).  Few may also know that Neilson Campus was originally the site of an extensive copper mine started in the mid-eighteenth century.

What is the most interesting takeaway and contribution from your research on this book?

Listokin: The American author, Robert Heinlein famously said “A generation that ignores history has no past—and no future.” The Rutgers College Avenue campus is steeped in history and has a bright future—if it remembers its history. Hopefully, our book will prompt a better understanding of the complex and intertwined physical and social history of this special campus, now more than two and one-half centuries old.