The “Old Chapel” (1847-1896)
As the College grew, commencement was becoming too large a ceremony for the prayer
room at Nassau Hall, and the College donated land to build the First Presbyterian Church
(now Nassau Presbyterian Church) in 1764, granted its space could be used for graduation
exercises. Following the lengthy and dynamic presidency of Rev. John Witherspoon
(1768-1794), the College then went into decline. Student/faculty tensions led to
the “great rebellion” riots of 1807. Enrollment decreased, and seeing that so many
pulpits in the expanding West were going vacant, the College seemed out of place
with its original purpose to train ministers. To compensate for this failure,
the nearby Princeton Theological Seminary was founded in 1812.
But the religious influence on the College of New Jersey certainly did not expire
with the creation of a separate Seminary. As enrollment rebounded, the need of the
College’s very own chapel was finally met in 1847, but not without great controversy.
In defiance of Presbyterian sensibilities, the building was shaped like a
cross. “Cruciform architecture is so identified with popery that it becomes us to
beware of adopting its insignia,” declared a concerned committee’s report. But
two-thirds of the walls were up, and “frugality overcame piety,”7 allowing the
building to be completed. Years of worship however warmed many to the building,
which after its destruction, became known as the “Old Chapel.” Alas, when the Chapel
was destroyed in 1896 to make room for the new library (now East Pyne), grieving
alumni dubbed the demolition job “the crime of ‘Ninety-Six.”8
