Biography

Born in 1745, Henry Rutgers was the son of Hendrick Rutgers and Catharine DePeyster. He graduated from King's College (now Columbia University) in 1766 and 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.

In 1784, Colonel Rutgers was elected to the New York Legislature, where he served several terms. He also served on the New York Board of Education Regents from 1802 to 1826.

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 (especially in the vicinity of Chatham Square), 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. Located at that corner is the Rutgers Presbyterian Churchhttp://www.rutgerschurch.com/about_us.html (formerly the Collegiate Presbyterian Church) which was also named for Colonel Rutgers who donated the parcel of land on which it was built in 1798.

Colonel Rutgers' most lasting legacy however, is his donations to Queen's College in New Brunswick, New Jersey which at the time was suffering considerable financial difficulties and temporarily closed. Rutgers donated a bond valued at $5,000 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, the trustees of the institution renamed itself Rutgers College on 5 December 1825 (modified in 1924 to become Rutgers University).

Rutgers died in New York in 1830, and was long believed to have been buried in a Dutch Reformed Church yard in Belleville, New Jersey. One road running alongside the graveyard is now called Rutgers Street (signed as, but not technically part of, Route 7). However, it is now believed that he was reinterred in an unmarked grave which is part of the Dutch Reformed Church plot at The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York after his remains were transferred from cemeteries in Manhattan that were redeveloped during the 1830s and 1840s.

External links

• Rutgers University
• Rutgers Presbyterian Church in New York City.

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