Geology Hall (also Geological Hall) is a historic building on the Queens Campus of

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.George Hammell Cook, Rutgers' then professor of geology, with a collection of specimens whose assembly began in the 1830s under Cook's predecessor, Lewis Caleb Beck. As classes and offices moved out of the hall, the museum expanded until it occupied the entire hall by the mid-20th century. In 1973, the hall was added to the New Jersey and

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(NRHP) with

Old Queens Old Queens is the oldest extant building at Rutgers University and is the symbolic heart of the university's campus in New Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey in the United States. Rutgers, the eighth-oldest college in the United States, w ...

, President's House, Van Nest Hall, Daniel S. Schanck Observatory, the Kirkpatrick Chapel, and Winants Hall as part of the Old Queens Campus

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

. The hall was designed and built by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in stone in a style its NRHP nomination form describes as "straightforward and mployingboth Gothic elements and classical forms."

Site and architecture

Geology Hall stands on the Queens Campus of

between Van Nest Hall and

, at 85 Somerset Street,

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in a style its

(NRHP) nomination form describes as "straightforward and mployingboth Gothic elements and classical forms." Hardenbergh had intended for it to be built of brick, but late in the planning phase it was decided to build Geology Hall of stone. As completed in 1872, Geology Hall contained laboratories on the first floor, the geological museum on the upper floors, an armory in the basement for the college's military school. In 1875, students from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

stole 25 muskets from this armory in retaliation to the theft of a cannon from Princeton by Rutgers students. The basement was renovated into additional educational space in 1912.

History

The origins of the Rutgers University Geology Museum are found in the 1830s, during the

tenure Tenure is a type of academic appointment that protects its holder from being fired or laid off except for cause, or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Academic tenure originated in the United ...

of naturalist Lewis Caleb Beck. In his career as a chemist, physician, mineralogist, botanist, and educator, Beck acquired a collection of scientific samples that was displayed in Van Nest Hall. When Beck died in 1853, the Rutgers

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

purchased the collection and replaced Beck as professor of natural sciences with geologist George Hammell Cook. In the early 1860s, Cook convinced the board of trustees to establish its Scientific School and apply to become New Jersey's

land-grant university A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, Morrill Acts of 1862 and ...

under the Morrill Act of 1862. These grants were secured in 1864, but the expansion of Rutgers' scientific curricula and low student enrollment caused the university financial strain. In 1870, Rutgers' president, William Henry Campbell, and the board of trustees began a fundraising campaign to support the Scientific School, and celebrate Rutgers'

centennial A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

. A sum of $121,000 () was raised, of which the university allocated $63,000 () for the construction of a building between Old Queens and Van Nest Hall to house much of the Scientific School's faculties. Rutgers-geology-interior_01

The architect selected to design and construct that building was Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, a direct descendant of Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, Rutgers' first president. Construction of Geology Hall began with its

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

in late April 1871; its

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid by Theodore Fitz Randolph, then

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

, in a ceremony held on June 20, 1871. Included in the cornerstone was a

time capsule A time capsule is a historic treasure trove, cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy ...

containing issues of local newspapers and a history of Rutgers University. The building was finished in June 1872, and was dedicated on June 18, 1872. The upper floors of Geology Hall were occupied by the Geology Museum, founded in 1872. The museum received its first curator in 1892 with the appointment of Albert Huntington Chester. Finding the museum in disarray, Chester hired naturalist William S. Valiant in 1893 to organize the collection. Valiant gradually took over Chester's duties as curator until 1903 when, following Chester's death, Valiant was made curator. Writing to ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' in 1896, Valiant described a collection of almost 20,000 items, including a

mastodon A mastodon, from Ancient Greek μαστός (''mastós''), meaning "breast", and ὀδούς (''odoús'') "tooth", is a member of the genus ''Mammut'' (German for 'mammoth'), which was endemic to North America and lived from the late Miocene to ...

skeleton; by 1903, the collection numbered 30,000 items. In 1926, Rutgers' Physics Department left the Geology Hall, allowing the museum to expand into the rest of building. The museum's inventory was further enlarged in 1940 with the acquisition of the mineralogical collection of George Rowe, who had been director of the New Jersey Zinc Company mine at Franklin, New Jersey from 1906 to 1934. On January 29, 1973, Geology Hall and the other the 19th century Queens Campus buildings were added to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places. This was followed by inclusion on the NRHP on July 2, 1973. Beginning in 1976, the museum changed its focus from research to outreach and education, and in 1977, the Geology Department moved into new offices on Rutgers' Busch Campus, leaving the Geology Museum the sole occupant of Geology Hall. In 2013, rumors suggested that the university administration was planning to place the museum's exhibits in permanent storage and close the museum. A letter-writing campaign from alumni and the general public persuaded the University to retain and invest in the museum.

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

Rutgers Geology Museum
(official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Geology Hall Rutgers University buildings Henry Janeway Hardenbergh buildings Gothic Revival architecture in New Jersey Museums in Middlesex County, New Jersey University museums in New Jersey Buildings and structures in New Brunswick, New Jersey Sandstone buildings in the United States School buildings completed in 1872 Queens Campus, Rutgers University Natural history museums in New Jersey Geology museums in the United States Tourist attractions in New Brunswick, New Jersey 1872 establishments in New Jersey