Henry Rutgers was a United States Revolutionary War hero and philanthropist from New York City. Rutgers University was named after him, and he donated a bond which placed the college on sound financial footing. He also gave a bell that is still in use today.
Following his graduation, he promptly became an advocate for independence of the American colonies from Great Britain. He went on to serve as a captain of American forces at the Battle of White Plains, and later as a colonel for the New York militia. His home served as a barracks during the British occupation of New York in 1776. Colonel Rutgers would continue to play a role in the defense of the young nation after the Revolution, presiding over a meeting held June 24, 1812 to organize American forces in New York in anticipation of a British attack in the ensuing War of 1812.
Politics and public life
In 1783, Colonel Rutgers was elected to the New York State Assembly, where he served in the 7th New York State Legislature. He also served on the New York Board of Education Regents from 1802 to 1826. He was a Presidential Elector, chosen by the legislature, in 1808, 1816, and 1820. In his later years, Rutgers, a bachelor, devoted much of his fortune to philanthropy. As a landowner with considerable holdings on the island of Manhattan, he donated land for the use of schools, churches, and charities in the area. Both Henry Street and Rutgers Street in lower Manhattan are named for him, as well as the Rutgers Presbyterian Church which was also named for Colonel Rutgers who donated the parcel of land at the corner of Henry Street and Rutgers Street on which the original church was built in 1798. Colonel Rutgers' most lasting legacy however, is due to his donations to Queen's College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which at the time was suffering considerable financial difficulties and temporarily closed. The college had been founded as a seminary for the Reformed Church in America and appealed to Colonel Rutgers, a devout member of the church with a reputation for philanthropy, for aid. Rutgers donated a bond valued at $5000 to reopen the faltering school, and subsequently donated a bronze bell that was hung in the cupola of the Old Queens building which housed the college. In gratitude, and hoping the college would be remembered in the Colonel's will, the trustees renamed it Rutgers College on December 5, 1825. The institution later became "Rutgers University," then "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey".
Death and legacy
Henry Rutgers died in New York City, at the age of 84. Rutgers was initially buried in the Reformed Church on Nassau Street. However, as cemeteries in Manhattan were redeveloped during the mid-1800s, the Colonel’s body was re-interred several times. For many years, no one remembered where his body had been finally laid to rest, although it was long believed that he was buried in a Dutch Reformed churchyard in Belleville, New Jersey. One road running alongside this New Jersey graveyard is now called Rutgers Street. Misplaced by history for over 140 years, Henry Rutgers' final "final resting place" was rediscovered in October 2007 by Civil War research volunteers sifting through burial records of the historical Green-Wood Cemetery. In 1865, Rutgers' body had been finally laid to rest in an unmarked grave within the Dutch Reformed Church's plot at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. The Green-Wood Historic Fund and members of the Rutgers Community honored the Colonel’s memory on Flag Day, June 14, 2008 by unveiling a bronze marker at his . Elsewhere in Green-Wood Cemetery lies the grave of Mabel Smith Douglass, founder and first dean of the New Jersey College for Women, the former women’s college associated with Rutgers University.
