In December, the trustees rename the college in honor of Colonel Henry Rutgers, a Revolutionary War hero and member of President Philip Milledoler's parish. Rutgers was honored, said the trustees, because he epitomized Christian values. It also may have helped that he was a wealthy bachelor known for his philanthropy.

1826

Rutgers College gets a donation from its namesake--a $200 bell that is hung from the cupola of the Old Queen's building. Later in the year, the colonel donates the interest on a $5,000 bond.

1830

Colonel Rutgers dies, leaving a third of his estate to charity. Not one penny is earmarked for Rutgers College.

1831

The Alumni Association of Rutgers College is formed.

1835

Dually smitten by the charms of Dot Degran, the daughter of their landlady, students Reynolds and Van Vranken challenge one another to a duel. When Van Vranken falls to the ground, bloodied and covered with gunpowder, Reynolds flees to Spotswood. Assured by letter that Van Vranken will recover, Reynolds returns to campus and is greeted by a healthy and gloating Van Vranken. With the duplicity of the seconds, Van Vranken had removed the balls from the pistols and staged his shooting. Reynolds, however, gets the last laugh: He is merely suspended; Van Vranken is given the boot.

1845

The first Greek letter fraternity at Rutgers, Delta Phi, is founded. Both Delta Phi and Zeta Psi, Rutgers' second fraternity, are labeled subversive by the faculty and are outlawed. The fraternities go underground and become secret societies.

1859

Blaming declining enrollment, inadequate funding, and student and public apathy on an unruly faculty, President Theodore Frelinghuysen fires every faculty member except George H. Cook.

1863

The impact of the Civil War is felt as enrollment at the college drops to 64. Of the 25 students and 58 alumni who will fight in the war, 16 are killed.

1864

The state legislature picks the Rutgers Scientific School over Princeton University to be the state land-grant college, a feat almost wholly attributable to George H. Cook, who lobbied ferociously. The Dutch Reformed Church also severs its last ties with Rutgers. Both events pave the way for Rutgers' eventual role as the state university.

1866

On May 2, in the first intercollegiate athletic event in Rutgers history, the Rutgers baseball team is humiliated by the Princeton team, 40-2.

1868

The faculty enlists the help of local boarding-house owner Justice James S. Nevius to uncover the culprits who "exploded" the campus latrine. Nevius comes up empty-handed.

1869

In a banner year for student activities, Phi Beta Kappa and The Scarlet Letter are founded; the school paper is launched under the name Targum, which is period slang for cheat sheet; and scarlet is adopted as the school color because no flags of orange--the first choice--can be found.

On November 6, Rutgers defeats Princeton, six "runs" to four, in the first intercollegiate football game ever played. Instead of wearing uniforms, the players stripped off their hats, coats, and vests and bound their suspenders around the waistbands of their trousers. For headgear, the Rutgers team wound their scarlet scarves into turbans atop their heads. The rules, based more on English rugby than American football, included limiting each team to 25 men on the field at once and banning throwing or running with the ball.

1871

An article in Targum complained, "Many of the men who do not live on the campus or even near it are forced to drink directly from the faucets in Van Nest, the gymnasium, or Engineering building. Visitors to the campus, unless they carry their own drinking cups, must do the same or go without drink."

1873

Howard N. Fullerton '74 writes "On the Banks," the college song. Kirkpatrick Chapel, which will also serve as a library and classroom space for many years, is dedicated.

1874

A right whale is stranded on the banks of the Raritan River. Later, the skeleton is hung from the ceiling of the geological hall.

1875

Under cover of darkness, nine men of the Class of 1877 set out to steal back the Revolutionary War-era cannon Princeton had purportedly stolen from Rutgers some years before. It takes the men two hours to drag the 1,088-pound cannon 200 yards to their horse-drawn wagon and seven hours to cart it from back to New Brunswick, where it is triumphantly unloaded in front of Old Queen's. Their heroism is short-lived: They nabbed the wrong cannon.

1876

An alumnus picks a president: In the disputed election of 1876, Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Bradley (RC 1836), casts the deciding vote that makes Rutherford B. Hayes rather than Samuel J. Tilden president.

Rutgers begins instruction at the graduate level.

1879

Mark Twain accepts an honorary membership into Rutgers' Philoclean Society, but fails to make the customary monetary contribution.

1880

The New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station is founded.

1890

Students move into the campus' first dormitory, Winants Hall.

According to the Scarlet Letter, Rutgers' official yell is: "Rah! Rah! Rah! Bow-wow-wow! Rutgers!"

1892

A Rutgers legend is created when the Princeton football team breaks the leg of Rutgers' biggest player, Frank "Pop" Grant. While being carried from the field, Pop is claimed to have mumbled, "I'd die for dear old Rutgers." The saying, spread across the country when it was satirized in the play "High Button Shoes," became a slogan for school spirit and the old college try. Many alumni have since offered their own versions, including the alumnus who swears Pop really said, "I'll die if somebody doesn't give me a cigarette."

The College of Pharmacy is founded.

James Dickson Carr, son of a Presbyterian minister from Elizabeth, becomes the first black to graduate from Rutgers. Carr will go on to law school and become an assistant district attorney for New York City.

1898

Accused by his grandfather of "pay(ing) too close attention to some young girls whose acquaintance he could not afford to cultivate intimately" and unable to convince his family of his innocence, 21-year-old student Henry Janeway Weston shoots himself dead in his room. Kirkpatrick Chapel's most beautiful stained-glass window is created by the Tiffany Studios in his memory.

1899

The alumnus who was almost president: Garret A. Hobart (RC 1863), Vice President of the United States, dies in office. President William McKinley replaces him with Theodore Roosevelt, who assumes the presidency upon McKinley's assassination.