page_title: New Brunswick Theological Seminary
section_title: Campus on "Holy Hill" (1856–2012)
hierarchical_section_title: New Brunswick Theological Seminary / History / Campus on "Holy Hill" (1856–2012)
caption_attribution_description: English: 1904 photograph of the faculty of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, including (left to right) John Preston Searle, John Howard Raven, Samuel Merrill Woodbridge, William Henry Steele Demarest, John Hamilton Gillespie, Ferdinand Schureman Schenck.
context_page_description: New Brunswick Theological Seminary is a Reformed Christian seminary with its main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was founded in 1784 and is the oldest independent Protestant seminary extant in the United States. It is one of two operated by the Reformed Church in America, a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States that follows the theological tradition and Christian practice of John Calvin. First established in New York City under the leadership of the Rev. John Henry Livingston, who instructed aspiring ministers in his home, the seminary established its presence in New Brunswick in 1810. Although a separate institution, the seminary's early development in New Brunswick was closely connected with that of Rutgers University before establishing its own campus in the city in 1856. Since 1986, the seminary has also offered classes at a satellite campus on the grounds of St. John's University in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York.
  New Brunswick Theological Seminary offers professional and graduate degree programs to candidates for ministry and to those pursuing careers in academia or non-theological fields.
context_section_description: In the 1850s, the student bodies of Rutgers College and the Seminary began to expand, overcrowding the space provided at the Queens Campus. The seminary professors realized that students renting rooms at boarding houses in the city were paying more for their housing than students at other seminaries—over double the costs of housing at New York City's Union Theological Seminary or at nearby Princeton Theological Seminary. The professors surmised that it would be cheaper to build a seminary building that provided both student housing and instruction space.
  When the seminary's leaders proposed the idea, the Synod of New York removed financial support from both Rutgers and the seminary. Colonel James Nielson, David Bishop, and Charles Dayton—prominent citizens in New Brunswick—donated plots of land totaling almost 8 acres (32,000 m²) consisting of part of a hill extending from George Street to College Avenue. At the same time, Ann Hertzog of Philadelphia donated $30,000 for the construction of a building to be named "Peter Hertzog Theological Hall" in memory of her husband.  Hertzog Hall (built 1855–1856) became a dominant feature on the hill, which became known locally as "Holy Hill". In November 1776, during the American Revolution, the hill was the site of a British artillery redoubt during the occupation of New Brunswick.
  Throughout the nineteenth century, the institution became known because of the efforts of missionaries serving throughout the world. In the 1870s, the campus was expanded with the construction of two buildings—one housing a gymnasium and additional lecture space; the second, a library. The seminary desired to build a library first, citing the need to house its expanding collection of books. However, local businessman and seminary benefactor James Suydam donated funds to build the gymnasium, to be named Suydam Hall, because he was extremely concerned with student health. Suydam Hall was built in 1873 and was designed by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. Hardenbergh had finished completing the design for Kirkpatrick Chapel and Geology Hall on the Rutgers campus and later would become known for buildings in New York City, including the Plaza Hotel and Dakota Apartments. After receiving a donation from Gardner A. Sage earmarked for the construction of a library, the trustees commissioned Hardenbergh's former teacher, German-American architect Detlef Lienau, to design it. The Sage Library was completed in 1875.  Lienau designed the library to complement Hardenbergh's (style) design for Suydam Hall. In the 1960s, Suydam Hall and Hertzog Hall were deemed to be inadequate for the administrative and instructional needs of the seminary. The trustees voted in 1966 to demolish both buildings and replace it with a modern one-story all-purpose building, Zwemer Hall, containing the seminary's chapel, faculty offices, and classroom facilities.
  In the late 1970s, during the tenure of seminary president Howard Hageman, the seminary revised its academic programs to focus on serving the needs of second career and bi-vocational students.  This was intended to make theological education more accessible as the seminary transitioned from the 1980s to 2010s from "a predominantly residential school to one that is more than 90 percent commuter based." This transition meant that the seminary would serve an increasing number of second-career pastors who would study part-time.  Another result of this transition was that the seminary's student body became the "most richly diverse" seminary in North America. Today, the New Brunswick Theological Seminary offers classes through two campuses, the first in New Brunswick, New Jersey and since 1986 on the campus of St. John's University in Jamaica, New York.
  Today, the seminary focuses on providing a comprehensive Christian education as "an inter-cultural, ecumenical school of Christian faith, learning, and scholarship committed to its metro-urban and global contexts" and preparing its graduates to "inspire missions in a post-colonial world where the gospel is taking deep root, especiall
caption: The seminary's faculty in 1904, included (left to right) John Preston Searle, John Howard Raven, Samuel Merrill Woodbridge, William Henry Steele Demarest, John Hamilton Gillespie, and Ferdinand Schureman Schenck.
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