Rutgers Today recounts the historic Rutgers vs. Princeton contest in New Brunswick, 1869, the first-ever collegiate football game, introducing what would become an American cultural ritual and creating the notion of school spirit.
Rutgers History
Older than the United States itself, Rutgers has evolved alongside the nation it helped shape and continues to make lasting contributions today. From its colonial beginnings to its role as a major public university, Rutgers continues to meet the challenges of each new generation.
Shaping the Future Since the Start
Rutgers University was founded during the American Revolution and continues to lead in service to New Jersey and the world. These are but a few of the key turning points from Rutgers’ storied past.
1771
The very first class is held for a handful of students at a converted tavern in New Brunswick.
1869
The first-ever intercollegiate football game is played. Rutgers beats Princeton, 6-4.
1918
The New Jersey College for Women is founded.
1989
Rutgers joins the prestigious Association of American Universities.
A University Built for Each Era
Colonial America to Post-American Revolution (1766-1825)
1766 Rutgers was chartered as Queen's College a decade before the American Revolution. The founders, teachers, and students fought Revolutionary War battles and risked their lives by speaking out against British tyranny.
1825 Queen's College became Rutgers College in honor of philanthropist Henry Rutgers, a Revolutionary War colonel, setting a precedent in modern educational philanthropy while also moving away from “royal” roots.
Photo: Portrait of Colonel Henry Rutgers (1745-1830), which currently hangs in the Old Queens Building at Rutgers. Portrait by Henry Inman. Source: Special Collections and University Archives.
Industrial Revolution (1826-1909)
1864 As the Industrial Revolution transformed the nation in the 1800s, Rutgers responded by establishing the Rutgers Scientific School, which earned designation as New Jersey's land-grant college.
Geology Hall was built to house a science museum and laboratories for the physical sciences. New courses in the practical arts and sciences, agriculture, and engineering prepared students for a rapidly industrializing nation. At the same time, social life and athletics became a larger part of the Rutgers experience.
Photo: Geology Hall. Source: Special Collections and University Archives.
Two World Wars and Beyond (1910-1952)
Through the two world wars of the 20th century, Rutgers University–New Brunswick helped prepare military personnel through wartime training and specialized instruction.
1918 Founded in the final year of World War I, the New Jersey College for Women—later Douglass Residential College—made a university degree attainable for female students for the first time, reflecting the growing influence of American women.
1946 Following World War II, the influx of veterans on the G.I. Bill transformed the newly designated State University of New Jersey into a comprehensive research institution, fueling the nation’s postwar economic boom and meeting a critical demand for a highly skilled, multidisciplined workforce.
1952 Microbiology professor and alumnus Selman Waksman wins the Nobel Prize in physiology/medicine for discovering streptomycin, the first effective cure for tuberculosis.
Photo: Wartime Living, a New Jersey College for Women student stands across from an enlistment poster, 1944 Quair. Source: Special Collections and University Archives.
A University in Transition (1953-1989)
The social changes of the 1960s and 1970s brought heightened awareness of educational needs long unmet.
1969 Livingston College was founded, opening the university’s doors to a far more diverse student body while pioneering early academic programs in computer science and community development that anticipated the needs of a changing world.
1972 Rutgers College became coeducational, dismantling a centuries-old barrier to public higher education and ensuring that future leaders were drawn from the entirety of New Jersey’s talent pool.
1989 Rutgers was invited to join the Association of American Universities, validating the university’s role as a destination for top-tier intellect and amplifying the institutional clout needed to attract global leaders.
Photo: Mattresses being delivered to the first Livingston quad before the opening of the college. ( l to r) Assistant Dean Phillip Garcia, Dr. Ernest Lynton, dean of Livingston College, and students Judy Byrnes and Timothy Harris. Source: Special Collections and University Archives.
A New Millennium (1990-Present)
1990 Securing multimillion-dollar federal grants to launch major research institutes, while planting New Jersey’s first genetically modified crops, Rutgers moved laboratory breakthroughs into the field to drive solutions for the public good.
2000 Rutgers embraced the Information Age with a massive $100 million networking project that wired the university into the future, creating a high-speed digital pipeline that shattered campus walls to connect Rutgers with the global community.
2004 Through the Transforming Undergraduate Education initiative, Rutgers reinvigorated the undergraduate experience with the creation of the School of Arts and Sciences as well as the Douglass Residential College, ensuring students graduated with versatile, cross-disciplinary skills needed to lead in the modern workforce.
2013 The historic integration of New Jersey’s public medical and dental schools formed the academic health powerhouse Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences—now Rutgers Health—strengthening ties between health care, research, and education across the university to reshape the training of tomorrow’s healthcare workforce.
2013 Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference and Academic Alliance, anchoring itself within an elite network of universities that pools billions in research funding, shares massive resources, and expands the university’s global academic footprint.
2015 On Charter Day, November 10, Rutgers officially kicked off a yearlong celebration of the university's 250th anniversary, marking a rare milestone as one of the nation’s original colonial colleges, honoring two-and-a-half centuries of public service, discovery, and impact on the evolution of higher education.
2016 President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address and received an honorary doctor of laws degree, declaring, "America converges here," and praising Rutgers "as one of the finest research institutions in America."
2017 Several landmark spaces were formally renamed to permanently honor foundational African Americans who shaped Rutgers, ensuring the university reflects the full truth of its history.
2018 Rutgers and RWJBarnabas Health launched a healthcare partnership, building the state’s premier academic health system and paving the way for New Jersey’s first standalone cancer hospital.
2023 Francine Conway, PhD was named Chancellor of Rutgers–New Brunswick, becoming the first woman and the first African American to hold this position and forever transforming the leadership of the university's flagship campus. Dr. Conway launched a visionary Academic Master Plan that accelerated student graduation rates, championed comprehensive campuswide wellness, and propelled Rutgers–New Brunswick to its historic ranking among the nation’s top 20 public research universities.
Photo: Chancellor Francine Conway, PhD.
Landmarks Across Rutgers: A Visual Tour
Old Queens
Originally known as the Queen's College building, which was designed in 1808-09, it is considered one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in the United States.
William the Silent
The 2,000-pound bronze statue of the Count of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and national hero of the Netherlands was unveiled in 1928 and has since been nicknamed "Willie the Silent" and "Still Bill."
Class of 1882 Gates
This austere structure is located at the corner of Somerset Street and College Avenue and was presented during the Class of 1882's 25-year reunion.
Bishop House
Bishop House is a 42-room Italianate mansion built in 1852 and acquired by Rutgers University in 1925.
Sage Library (New Brunswick Theological Seminary)
Designed in the Romanesque basilica style popular in Central Europe during the mid-19th century, the library was constructed in 1873.
542 George Street
Built in the 1860s, this Victorian brownstone reflects the residential architecture that once lined much of George Street.
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum
Located on the Voorhees Mall, the Zimmerli houses more than 60,000 works spanning ancient to contemporary art.
Impacting the World Beyond Campus
Throughout its history, Rutgers has helped meet the challenges of its time and define what comes next. Today, that work continues through groundbreaking research, influential voices, and a commitment to advancing knowledge, improving lives, and examining the forces that shape our world.
Fueling a multibillion-dollar industry, Rutgers’ pioneering agricultural research produced the iconic "Rutgers" tomato in 1934, which would dominate the country’s commercial tomato crop. This legacy of food-science innovation continues today through patented breakthroughs like the "Rutgers Scarlet" strawberry and disease-resistant herbs.
Confronting its past with rigorous scholarship, Rutgers launched the multiyear Scarlet and Black Project, a seminal initiative that uncovered the university's early ties to slavery and the dispossession of Native American lands. This landmark history set a precedent for academic transparency, sparked vital dialogue, and created a model for universities to honestly confront their roots.
Meeting the crest of the pandemic with unprecedented innovation, Rutgers’ RUCDR Infinite Biologics and its collaborators developed the first-of-its-kind saliva-based coronavirus test—and later, the first at-home collection kit—a revolution that preserved critical protective equipment and reduced infection risk for frontline healthcare workers.
From redefining American arts and culture to leading critical public health frontiers, Rutgers graduates have consistently broken barriers and reshaped the world around them.