James Neilson (Rutgers College
1866), an attorney and landowner who was active in city affairs, owned most of
the land on which the mall sits. Neilson served as a Rutgers
trustee for 51 years and was among the founders of what would become the New
Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. His family had roots in the city of New Brunswick as far back as the 1730s. Neilson’s father
watched George Washington travel through New Brunswick
on the way to his 1789 inauguration as president in New York City.
Neilson donated the land in
the area of the mall, as well as land that later became home to Douglass College
and the School of
Environmental and
Biological Sciences, and also Wood Lawn, the former family residence that
houses the Eagleton Institute of Politics. As the Old Queen’s campus expanded
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, additional parcels were acquired
from other landowners, and the campus, then called Neilson Campus, took shape.
The name was changed to
Voorhees Campus in July 1974 to honor Tracy S. Voorhees (Rutgers College
1911), longtime trustee and member of the Rutgers Board of Governors from 1957
to 1965. During the 1930s and early 1940s, Voorhees served as an adviser to
federal agencies on issues ranging from refugee aid to food relief in occupied
areas following World War II. He also was a surgeon general and judge advocate
general. Voorhees played a key role in helping to relocate more than 32,000
Hungarian refugees to Camp
Kilmer (a World War II
military facility that later became the Livingston Campus) for resettlement
from 1956 to 1957.
Noteworthy buildings on the
mall include Voorhees Hall, site of an early Rutgers
library and named for benefactor Ralph Voorhees, and New Jersey Hall, which
opened in 1889 and once housed the state Agricultural Experiment Station and
also the chemistry and biology departments.
Milledoler Hall, built in
1910, was originally the Chemistry
Building. It is named for
the Rev. Philip Milledoler, professor of didactic theology in the New Jersey Theological
Seminary, trustee of Queen’s College and president of Rutgers
from 1825 to 1840. When Milledoler became president, the name of the college
was changed from Queen’s College to Rutgers
College in honor of Col. Henry Rutgers
of New York City,
a Revolutionary War hero.
Murray Hall, the
former home of the College
of Engineering, opened in
1909 at the time of the centennial of Old Queen’s. The building is named for
David Murray, professor of mathematics and astronomy at Rutgers College,
1863 to 1876, and college trustee, 1892
to 1905. Later additions around the mall include Van Dyck Hall, opened in 1928 and
named for Rutgers College Dean Francis Cuyler Van Dyck; the Graduate School of
Education and the Language Lab, both opened in 1961; and Scott Hall, opened in
1963, which carries the name of a former Rutgers president, Austin Scott, who
served from 1891 to 1906.
A bronze statue of William
the Silent stands near Seminary
Place. Known as “Silent Willie,” the statue of the
Count of Nassau, Prince of Orange and national hero of the Netherlands (1533 to
1584) was unveiled in 1928, a gift to the college from Fenton B. Turck and
Lenor F. Loree.
Rutgers alumni killed or
declared missing during the war in Southeast Asia
are honored with a monument near Scott Hall, off College Avenue. Mason Gross, Rutgers’ 16th
president, is remembered with a monument facing College Avenue near Milledoler Hall.
Original stones from the Sign of the Red Lion, a tavern where the earliest
classes of what was then Queen’s College were taught, are incorporated into a
bench near the center of the mall.
The mall is also home to 55 mature American elms. Regular maintenance has spared the trees from the ravages of Dutch elm disease, a fungus infection that decimated the American elm tree population starting in the 1930s. Another seven disease-resistant varieties have been planted as replacement trees.
Media Contact: Steve Manas
732-932-7084 ext. 612
E-mail: smanas@ur.rutgers.edu