In November 2016, Rutgers University turns 250 years old, so it's obvious there are a lot of secrets around campus. But do you know them all? Which sorority house was in a 90s movie? Have you seen what the College Avenue gym looked like in the 1900s? Do you know about the Hall-Mills murder? Most people don't realize how much history Rutgers actually has.
Here is everything you didn't know about this ridiculously old school:
1. The Fraternity on Senior Street
The Phi chapter of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at Rutgers used to be housed on the corner of Senior Street parallel to the College Avenue Gym, where the Chabad House is currently. In 1988, the fraternity was removed from campus after a hazing death.
2. The Rutgers Bus That Crashed into a Dormitory
Daily Targum: Photo by Vikram V. Tank
In 2001, five days before 9/11, a Rutgers "H" bus crashed into a Busch Dormitory and according to a Daily Targum article, "[it] lost control and jumped a curve, sending the refurbished Academy articulated bus into a collision with [a] suite."
3. The Sorority House That's in a Movie
"Pledge Night", directed by Paul Ziller in 1990, was filmed in the Phi Sigma Sigma house on 21 Union Street. The movie was available on YouTube up until recently, but the trailer still reveals multiple scenes from inside and outside the house.
4. The Fraternity Member That Fell to his Death
Daily Targum: Photo Courtesy of Theta Chi
Up until 2001, the Theta Chi fraternity previously lived on 4 Mine Street until they were evicted for fire code violations. But in 1998, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer article, a member who came home after drinking at Olde Queens Tavern, fell down their basement stairs and never regained consciousness.
5. Mine Street: An Actual Mine
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Public information on the State of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection website shows the copper mine plan for New Brunswick in 1850. The tunnel runs through seven streets including Easton and College Avenue, parallel to Hamilton and Mine Street.
6. The Hall-Mills Murder
New York Daily News
The old Douglass College dean's house on 23 Nichol Avenue, was home to a murderer in 1922. According to a New York Daily News article, Frances Stevens Hall was suspected of killing her cheating husband and his mistress Eleanor Reinhardt Mills and burying them off of a road in Franklin Township.
7. The Bowling Alley on Douglass Campus
Muckgers.com
An old, pretty much unusable bowling alley lies in the basement of the Loree classroom building on Douglass Campus. According to an article on Muckgers.com, the south doors could be open on a random day, however they aren't open normally. More pictures, and stories, can be seen on their website.
The following photos were recovered from Kenlew.
The website doesn't include a specific year or address, but the pictures look around 100 - 150 years old.
At least the gym looked the same.
There was an armory. And Princeton stole our guns.
According to history (and Wikipedia) in 1875, Rutgers students set out for Princeton in the middle of the night to steal their Revolutionary War cannons. So, Princeton retaliated by stealing muskets from our armory. Eventually, everything was returned, and now there's a cannon placed in front of Old Queens by the class of 1877 to commemorate the event.
The Old Queens building...not just a bar.
Aerial view of the football stadium on Busch
This fraternity house looks familiar, doesn't it? Zeta Psi...?
Pike's old house
Is this 66 College Avenue? Delta Upsilon
Kappa Sig. Who knows where this could be.
Is this the same place DKE is now on College Avenue?
Brett & Tinsley Halls: I can't imagine how many kids jumped in here after a night out.
There you have it, and there's plenty more legends, ghost stories and information about Rutgers' history online if you look hard enough.
