Every year, on the last Saturday of April, New Brunswick celebrates Rutgers Day. While most of the festivities take place on campus at Rutgers, we at Elmwood Cemetery are also celebrating by hosting our walking tour Rutgers on the Rise: Exploring the University’s History at Elmwood. And now, after a very busy month, Rutgers Day is finally upon us. This Saturday, at 2:00 pm, I hope to see you at the cemetery for what I can promise will be an informative tour. As an added bonus, it looks like this Saturday will have the best weather of any tour we have held so far this year. Anyway, in honor of this weekend’s tour, I thought I would highlight one of the individuals on this tour, William H. Campbell.
William Henry Campbell was born on September 14, 1808, in Baltimore, Maryland. He began to attend Dickinson College at the age of 16, graduating in 1828. He would then attend Princeton Theological Seminary, finally coming to New Jersey. After his time in Princeton his life would be split into two different paths. The first path was his work as a Reverend, which did mean a lot to him as a spiritual person. The second path, and the one that would most impact his legacy, was his work in education.
In 1848, Campbell would be made the Principal of the Albany Academy. It was here that he would make several professional connections that would later follow him to Rutgers; notably, he hired George Hammell Cook, who would later replace him as principal at the Albany Academy. He would later extend an invitation to Cook to join Rutgers, which he accepted. Cook hired his replacement, David Murray, and later on Cook would lobby Campbell successfully to have Murray join Rutgers as well. Ultimately, Cook and Murray would become two of the most influential Rutgers professors of the era.



In 1851, Dr. Campbell finally came to New Brunswick, which would be his home for the rest of his days. He would be hired as a professor of oriental languages at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. During his time in that role he would become the professor of belles lettres at Rutgers. In 1862, upon the death of the sitting president of Rutgers, Theodore Frelinghuysen, Campbell was offered the position of the presidency of Rutgers. Although initially reluctant, he eventually acquiesced and accepted an appointment to be the President of Rutgers College.
President Campbell would oversee perhaps the largest period of change and growth in the history of Rutgers. Roughly coinciding with his appointment as college president, multiple vacancies opened up required the hiring of new professors. Consequently, President Campbell hired new younger professors to teach at Rutgers College, such as Professor Murray and Professor Doolittle, among others. With these additions came a new, updated curriculum. In 1862, Dr. Cook would help to found the Rutgers Scientific School, and Rutgers would begin to expand its educational offerings away from a traditional liberal arts education.
This initiative of Dr. Cook’s was part of a larger plan.Earlier that year President Lincoln had signed into law the Morrill Act; this bill stipulated that each state would be allotted 30,000 acres of land for each member of Congress they had as of 1860 in order to establish colleges that taught a practical curriculum of agricultural and mechanical sciences in addition to a general liberal education. Dr. Cook and newly hired professor David Murray argued to President Campbell the benefits of becoming the state land grant school and, although cautious about growing the school too fast, Campbell acquiesced to their point of view.
Campbell would dispatch the two professors to Trenton to lobby for Rutgers before the state legislature. Ultimately, their lobbying efforts triumphed over Princeton and the Normal School, which today is TCNJ, for Rutgers to receive that distinction. Consequently, James McCosh, President of Princeton, would go on to rally against land grant schools in the years that followed, even as he had lobbied to be one years earlier. This was despite the fact that McCosh personally invited Cook to speak at Princeton multiple times. In 1864 Rutgers was officially designated the land grant school for the state of New Jersey. Following this success, Campbell would task the two professors with developing the first scientific curriculum at Rutgers.
Also in 1864, the Dutch Reformed Church gave Rutgers more independence and autonomy from the Church, just one of many ways that the college would slowly start to look like the university it is today. During Campbell’s term as president the Rutgers Glee Club was established and the song “On the Banks” was composed. In 1869, the first college football game was played against Princeton and Rutgers players wore scarlet, the first use of the school’s official colors. The Daily Targum Newspaper was also started during Dr. Campbell’s time as president. Through work with the trustees Dr. Campbell helped to raise $137,000.00 that went towards the College and Rutgers would construct the Geological Hall and Kirkpatrick Chapel.
Rutgers certainly grew during this time, with a new more academically diverse faculty and student base, although the school still had small enrollments; that wouldn’t begin to change until the beginning of the 20th century. Still, Dr. Campbell led Rutgers for two of its most important decades and is remembered as one of the great Rutgers presidents. He would resign from Rutgers when his vision began to fail, and for the last years of his life would organize the Suydam Street Reformed Church, serving as its pastor. William H. Campbell would pass away on December 7, 1890 at the age of 82 after a lifetime of achievements. It is fair to say that few other individuals associated with Rutgers are as accomplished as him, and his legacy is certainly worth remembering.
Sources:
Frusciano, Thomas J. “William Henry Campbell.” Rutgers University. Accessed Apr. 21, 2025. https://ucmweb.rutgers.edu/pastpresidents/about/history/past-presidents/william-henry-campbell.htm.
McCormick, Richard Patrick. Rutgers: A Bicentennial History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1984.
A Memorial of Rev. William Henry Campbell, D.D., LL.D., Late President of Rutgers College. New Brunswick, NJ: Order of Trustees, 1894.
Sidar, Jean Wilson. George Hammell Cook: A Life in Agriculture and Geology. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1976.
“Suydam Street Reformed Church.” New Brunswick Free Public Library. http://www.nbfplarchive.org/nbrevitalization/files/nb_images/churches_public_art_schools/churches/suydam_street_reformed_church.jpg.