The New International Encyclopædia/Rutgers College

RUTGERS COLLEGE. An institution of higher learning, at New Brunswick, N. J., originally planned by Theodore James Frelinghuysen and Hendrik Fisher, in 1738, but not begun till 1755, when Theodore Frelinghuysen, the son of Theodore James, urged the formation of a college to be nurtured by the Dutch Church, and went to Holland to solicit aid. He died on his return voyage, and it was not until 1766 that the institution was chartered as Queen's College, in honor of Queen Charlotte. The present site of the college was secured in 1808, and the present Middle building, now known as Queen's College, was erected in 1809. In 1825 a gift from Colonel Henry Rutgers, of New York, gave new life to the institution, and the present name was given to the college. A grammar school was established at the same time as the college; medical degrees were conferred upon the students of an affiliated medical faculty in New York as early as 1792; and in 1864 the scientific school was designated by the Legislature as the State College for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, to which the act of 1887 added an agricultural experiment station. The classical and the scientific departments of the college are very closely related. In the Classical School the courses lead to the degree of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Letters; in the Scientific School to that of Bachelor of Science. Graduate work leads to the degrees of M. A., Ph. D., and Sc. D. The degree of Civil Engineer is conferred for three years' satisfactory practice and study of engineering. Graduates of the Theological Seminary of New Brunswick may receive the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. The college has successfully developed a system of student self-government. In 1903 there were 62 classical and 161 scientific students, with a faculty of 30. The library contained 45,655 volumes. The endowment was $1,200,000, with an income of about $60,000. The fifteen buildings, including the Ceramics Building and the Ralph Voorhees Library, erected in 1902-03, were valued, with the grounds, at $1,000,000.