{{Short description|Historic building at Queens Campus, State University of New Jersey}} {{good article}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2014}} {{Infobox NRHP |name = Geology Hall |nrhp_type = cp |image = Geology Hall, Rutgers University - looking northwest.jpg |alt = Geology Hall, photographed in 2020 |caption = Geology Hall in 2020 |locmapin = USA New Jersey New Brunswick#USA New Jersey Middlesex County#New Jersey#USA |coordinates = {{Coord|40|29|55|N|74|26|47.4|W|display=title,inline}} |location = Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey |partof = Queens Campus, Rutgers University |partof_refnum = 73001113 |designated_nrhp_type = July 2, 1973 |designated_other1_name = New Jersey Register of Historic Places |designated_other1_abbr = NJRHP |designated_other1_link = New Jersey Register of Historic Places |designated_other1_date = January 29, 1973 |designated_other1_number = 1881<ref name=njhrp/> |designated_other1_num_position = bottom |designated_other1_color = #ffc94b |website={{URL|http://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/}} |nocat=yes }}
'''Geology Hall''' (also '''Geological Hall''') is a historic building on the Queens Campus of Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was built from April 1871 to June 1872 to house various science classes and the '''Rutgers Geology Museum'''. The museum was established in 1872 by 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 (NRHP) with Old Queens, 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.
The hall was designed and built by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in stone in a style its NRHP nomination form describes as "straightforward and [employing] both Gothic elements and classical forms."{{sfn|National Park Service|1973|p=2}}
{{TOC limit|3}}
==Site and architecture== Geology Hall stands on the Queens Campus of Rutgers University between Van Nest Hall and Old Queens,{{sfn|McCormick|1966|p=101}} at 85 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, New Jersey.<ref>{{cite web|title=Parking and Directions|url=https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/visit-the-museum/parking-and-directions|work=Geology Museum|publisher=Rutgers University|access-date=July 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620033205/https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/visit-the-museum/parking-and-directions|archive-date=June 20, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref><!--Here will go the dimensions of the building, if ever they are obtained from a reliable source--> The building was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in a style its National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination form describes as "straightforward and [employing] both Gothic elements and classical forms."{{sfn|National Park Service|1973|p=2}} 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.{{sfn|National Park Service|1973|p=2}}{{Sfn|Demarest|1924|p=435}}
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.{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=223}}{{sfn|Demarest|1924|p=435}}<ref name=cookcollection/> In 1875, students from Princeton University stole 25 muskets from this armory in retaliation to the theft of a cannon from Princeton by Rutgers students.<ref>{{cite news|date=May 22, 1875|title=The Princeton and Rutgers Controversy|page=2|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|93425416}}|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=May 27, 1875|title=Princeton-Rutgers cannon war|page=2|work=The Monmouth Inquirer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106267160/princeton-steals-muskets-from-rutgers/|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|access-date=July 25, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725064221/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106267160/princeton-steals-muskets-from-rutgers/|archive-date=July 25, 2022}}</ref> The basement was renovated into additional educational space in 1912.<ref>{{cite news|date=September 13, 1912|title=Rutgers Gets New Building Without Erecting One|page=1|work=The Central New Jersey Home News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106269050/rutgers-gets-new-building-without/|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|access-date=July 25, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725094625/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106269050/rutgers-gets-new-building-without/|archive-date=July 25, 2022}}</ref>
==History== {{See also|History of Rutgers University}}
The origins of the Rutgers University Geology Museum are found in the 1830s, during the tenure of naturalist Lewis Caleb Beck.<ref name=museumhistory/> In his career as a chemist, physician, mineralogist, botanist, and educator,{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=220}}<ref name=beckcollection/> Beck acquired a collection of scientific samples that was displayed in Van Nest Hall.<ref name=beckcollection/>{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|pp=220–21}} When Beck died in 1853, the Rutgers board of trustees purchased the collection and replaced Beck as professor of natural sciences with geologist George Hammell Cook.{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|pp=220–21}} 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 under the Morrill Act of 1862.{{sfn|Rutgers University|2015|p=37}}{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=222}}
These grants were secured in 1864,{{sfn|McCormick|1966|p=88}} but the expansion of Rutgers' scientific curricula and low student enrollment caused the university financial strain.{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=223}}{{sfn|Rutgers University|2015|p=37}} 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.{{efn|Rutgers University was founded in 1766; 1870 was the centennial anniversary of the university's second charter.{{sfn|McCormick|1966|p=101}}}} A sum of $121,000 ({{Inflation|US|121,000|1870|fmt=eq}}) was raised,{{sfn|McCormick|1966|p=101}} of which the university allocated $63,000 ({{Inflation|US|73,000|1870|fmt=eq}}) for the construction of a building between Old Queens and Van Nest Hall to house much of the Scientific School's faculties.{{sfn|McCormick|1966|p=101}}{{sfn|National Park Service|1973|p=9}}
thumb|left|alt=Interior of the hall|Interior of the hall, looking over the museum
The architect selected to design and construct that building was Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, a direct descendant of Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, Rutgers' first president.{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=223}} Construction of Geology Hall began with its groundbreaking in late April 1871;<ref>{{cite news|date=May 4, 1871|title=Geological Hall groundbreaking|page=2|work=Monmouth Democrat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106265212/geology-hall-groundbreaking-late-april/|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|access-date=July 25, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725051823/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106265212/geology-hall-groundbreaking-late-april/|archive-date=July 25, 2022}}</ref> its cornerstone was laid by Theodore Fitz Randolph, then Governor of New Jersey, in a ceremony held on June 20, 1871.<ref>{{Cite news|date=June 29, 1871|title=New Brunswick — Commencement Week|page=2|work=Monmouth Democrat|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106264280/new-brunswick-commencement-week/|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|access-date=July 25, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725044930/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106264280/new-brunswick-commencement-week/|archive-date=July 25, 2022}}</ref> Included in the cornerstone was a time capsule containing issues of local newspapers and a history of Rutgers University.<ref>{{cite news|date=June 21, 1871|title=Rutgers College: Commencement Week — Centennial Celebration — Addresses Before the Alumni — Baccalaureate Sermon — Junior Exhibition|page=1|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|93169833}}|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The building was finished in June 1872,{{sfn|Demarest|1924|p=435}} and was dedicated on June 18, 1872.<ref>{{cite news|date=June 19, 1872|title=Rutgers College: One Hundred and First Commencement of the College — The Exercises|page=1|work=The New York Times|id={{ProQuest|93261868}}|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
The upper floors of Geology Hall were occupied by the Geology Museum,{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|pp=223–24}} founded in 1872.<ref name=museumhistory/> The museum received its first curator in 1892 with the appointment of Albert Huntington Chester.<ref name=chestercollection/>{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=226}} 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.{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|pp=226–27}}<ref name=valiant/> Writing to ''Science'' in 1896, Valiant described a collection of almost 20,000 items, including a mastodon skeleton;{{sfn|Valiant|1896|pp=573–74}} by 1903, the collection numbered 30,000 items.<ref name=valiant/> In 1926, Rutgers' Physics Department left the Geology Hall, allowing the museum to expand into the rest of building.{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=228–29}} 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.<ref name=rowecollection/>{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=229}}
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.<ref name=njhrp>{{cite web|title=MIDDLESEX County|url=https://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists/MIDDLESEX.pdf|work=New Jersey Register of Historic Places|date=March 23, 2022|publisher=New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection|access-date=July 11, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603093826/https://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists/MIDDLESEX.pdf|archive-date=June 3, 2022}}</ref> This was followed by inclusion on the NRHP on July 2, 1973.{{sfn|National Park Service|1973|p=4}} 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.{{sfn|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018|p=229}}
In 2013, rumors suggested that the university administration was planning to place the museum's exhibits in permanent storage and close the museum.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kratovil|first=Charlie|title=Rutgers Geology Museum May Close After 141 Years: Rumor Has it Museum Will Be Converted to Auditorium|url=https://newbrunswicktoday.com/2013/02/01/rutgers-geology-museum-may-close-after-141-years/|work=New Brunswick Today|date=February 1, 2013|access-date=July 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130110127/https://newbrunswicktoday.com/2013/02/01/rutgers-geology-museum-may-close-after-141-years/|archive-date=January 30, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> A letter-writing campaign from alumni and the general public persuaded the university to retain and invest in the museum.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Szteinbaum|first=Sabrina|title=Rutgers Geology Museum to remain fixture on campus|url=http://www.dailytargum.com/article/2013/09/rutgers-geology-museum-to-remain-fixture-on-campus|work=The Daily Targum|date=September 4, 2013|access-date=September 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130110128/https://dailytargum.com/article/2013/09/rutgers-geology-museum-to-remain-fixture-on-campus|archive-date=January 30, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Pineda|first=Chelsea|title=U. to enhance museum's mission: Rutgers Geology Museum to face changes specifically in dealing with outreach to K through 12 students|url=https://dailytargum.com/article/2013/02/u-to-enhance-museums-mission|work=The Daily Targum|date=February 13, 2013|access-date=September 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218063354/http://www.dailytargum.com/news/u-to-enhance-museum-s-mission/article_4727803c-75a3-11e2-b50e-0019bb30f31a.html|archive-date=February 18, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
===References=== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=museumhistory>{{Cite web|title=History|url=https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/history|work=Geology Museum|publisher=Rutgers University|access-date=July 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620033207/https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/history|archive-date=June 20, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name=valiant>{{cite web|title=William S. Valiant|url=https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/history/william-s-valiant|work=Geology Museum|publisher=Rutgers University|access-date=July 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620033202/https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/history/william-s-valiant|archive-date=June 20, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name=beckcollection>{{Cite web|title=Beck Collection|url=https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/collections/beck-collection|work=Geology Museum|publisher=Rutgers University|access-date=July 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620033203/https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/collections/beck-collection|archive-date=June 20, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name=cookcollection>{{cite web|title=Cook Collection|url=https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/collections/cook-collection|work=Geology Museum|publisher=Rutgers University|access-date=July 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620033226/https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/collections/cook-collection|archive-date=June 20, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name=chestercollection>{{cite web|title=Chester Collection|url=https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/collections/chester-collection|work=Geology Museum|publisher=Rutgers University|access-date=July 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620033234/https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/collections/chester-collection|archive-date=June 20, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name=rowecollection>{{cite web|title=Rowe Collection|url=https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/collections/rowe-collection|work=Geology Museum|publisher=Rutgers University|access-date=July 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620033209/https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/about-us-geology-museum/collections/rowe-collection|archive-date=June 20, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> }}
===Sources=== * {{cite web|last=Barr|first=Michael C.|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/54d9b4ad-b59d-4111-a247-d526804714ef|title=Queen's Campus, Rutgers University (National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination)|format=pdf|date=July 2, 1973|publisher=National Park Service|ref={{sfnref|National Park Service|1973}}}} * {{cite book|last=Demarest|first=William Henry Steele|authorlink=William Henry Steele Demarest|title=A History of Rutgers College, 1766–1924|year=1924|publisher=Rutgers University|oclc=785305|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X-Y7AAAAIAAJ}} * {{cite book|last=McCormick|first=Richard P.|authorlink=Richard P. McCormick|title=Rutgers: A Bicentennial History|year=1966|publisher=Rutgers University Press|oclc=10208404|url=https://archive.org/details/rutgersbicentenn0000mcco}} * {{cite book|last1=Neitzke-Adamo|first1=Lauren|last2=Blandford|first2=A.J.|last3=Criscione|first3=Julia|last4=Olsson|first4=Richard K.|last5=Gorder|first5=Erika|chapter=The Rutgers Geology Museum: America's first geology museum and the past 200 years of geoscience education|editor1-last=Rosenberg|editor1-first=Gary D.|editor2-last=Clary|editor2-first=Renee M.|title=Museums at the Forefront of the History and Philosophy of Geology: History Made, History in the Making|chapter-url=https://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/images/geology_museum/events/Open_House/2022/Neitzke-Adamo_et_al_2018_History_of_Geology_Museum_Paper.pdf|date=November 27, 2018|publisher=Geological Society of America|volume=535|isbn=9780813795355|doi=10.1130/2018.2535(14)|pages=217–36|ref={{sfnref|Neitzke-Adamo et al.|2018}}}} * {{cite book|author=Rutgers University|title=Rutgers: A 250th Anniversary Portrait|year=2015|publisher=Third Millennium Publishing|isbn=9781908990068|url=https://archive.org/details/rutgers250thanni0000unse}} * {{Cite journal|last=Valiant|first=William S.|title=Rutgers College Museum|journal=Science|date=October 16, 1896|number=94|volume=4|pages=573–74|doi=10.1126/science.4.94.573.b |jstor=1623127|pmid=17744833 |s2cid=239506945 |issn=0036-8075}}
==External links== {{commons category|Geology Hall (Rutgers)}} * [http://geologymuseum.rutgers.edu/ Rutgers Geology Museum] (official website)
{{Rutgers|New Brunswick|state=collapsed}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geology Hall}} Category:Rutgers University buildings and structures Category:Henry Janeway Hardenbergh buildings Category:Gothic Revival architecture in New Jersey Category:Museums in Middlesex County, New Jersey Category:University museums in New Jersey Category:Buildings and structures in New Brunswick, New Jersey Category:Sandstone buildings in the United States Category:School buildings completed in 1872 Category:Queens Campus, Rutgers University Category:Natural history museums in New Jersey Category:Geology museums in the United States Category:Tourist attractions in New Brunswick, New Jersey Category:1872 establishments in New Jersey