Toggle sidebar

1952 pic of field where RU Princeton played first ever CFB game?

R

RUbot

All-Conference
Feb 2, 2002
1,318
1,394
113
Was looking at some Arial photos of Piscataway and stumbled on this 1952 color photo of the college ave gym before the paved parking lot was installed behind it. And I assume from historical accounts, the dirt/ grass field behind the gym in the lower left of the photo is where the first ever College football game against Princeton was played. College ave was quite different then. Houses were directly across the street from the gym, and no Browers Commons yet. Looks like there may be 3 outdoor bball courts to the west of the gym... but tough to make that out for sure.
See Link:

http://oldnewbrunswick.rutgers.edu/JEB/CACgym_4_54.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: NickyNewark51, RU848789, silent willie and 7 others
newell138

newell138

Heisman
Aug 1, 2001
35,547
45,002
112
wow, not a lot going on as far as buildings and its really not that long ago. Thanks for posting, its a great picture
 
B

BeantownKnight

All-Conference
Feb 14, 2008
4,674
2,023
0
And there's my old dorm: Demarest! Bishop Beach certainly looked different. And, there is the absence of a few dorms (Brett, for one).

..

Ok - so, what you're telling me is that we can't fit an 80,000 seat stadium into the space occupied by those old fields (now parking lots)? ;) Tear down the student center, etc. I'm sure none of the neighboring homes would mind.
 
e5fdny

e5fdny

Heisman
Nov 11, 2002
113,677
52,301
102
I think that pic/view should make some kind of appearance on TV tomorrow night, no?
 
S

Source

All-American
Aug 1, 2001
11,228
6,261
0
Nice photo.
Notice there is also no Gym Annex or Rutgers Student Center built yet.

Regarding the first intercollegiate game played at this spot. The area is 460 feet by 500 feet enclosed within College Avenue, Senior Street, Sicard Street and Morell Street. The playing field on November 6, 1869 was 360 feet by 225 feet wide with goal posts pointing toward Senior Street and Morell Street. The playing fields in that photo run College Avenue to Sicard Street (or turned 90 degrees from its 1869 counterpart). The 360 feet fit neatly into the 460 foot long border giving you about 100 feet to play with if you center both goal posts evenly from the street. But the width of the field is 225 feet within a width of 500 feet overall. No one knows if a sideline was right up against College Avenue or pushed much further in. One thing that was stated when Rutgers built the College Avenue Gymnasium in 1931 -- at least two of the four corners would have touched the original playing field.
 
  • Like
Reactions: T2Kplus10, RC71 and redking
M

mullerpesq

Junior
Dec 15, 2006
1,205
233
0
Years from now, whenever the college ave gym/student center is refurbished or knocked down they have to pull up the parking lot and re-create the first football field. It's sacred ground. re-do it just like it was for the game. This is a must.
 
  • Like
Reactions: T2Kplus10, RC71, Ruthinking and 6 others
DJ Spanky

DJ Spanky

Heisman
Jul 25, 2001
46,290
56,167
113
So I downloaded that shot, threw it on my photobucket account, then went to maps and tried to get an equivalent shot for comparison. Here ya go:

1952:



Now:

 
  • Like
Reactions: NickyNewark51, scarletcrew, rubigtimenow and 4 others
S

Source

All-American
Aug 1, 2001
11,228
6,261
0
imbazza said:
One thing all these shots show is no one planted any grass on the old field:cry:
Click to expand...

Apparently that was the way its always been. Here's a poem recalled about Rutgers 6-2 victory over Columbia in 1870 -- intercollegiate football's second season and just its third game ever played:

“And thus they battled all that day
On Jersey’s sticky, red-hued clay
And many an undershirt was torn
And many an awful swear was sworn
But when the gods displayed our fate
And so, alas, by set of sun
The victory was, by Rutgers, won.”
 
  • Like
Reactions: redking
R

rutger80

All-Conference
Oct 14, 2013
2,478
1,762
0
Would be cool if there was a picture out there that showed both the barn and the stadium, from the 50's. (or even today)
 
S

Source

All-American
Aug 1, 2001
11,228
6,261
0
That last black and white photo is Neilson Field (pronounced nel-son) that was the sports field from 1891-1938. That was taken from a window in Leupp Hall in the 1930s.

There is no known photo of College Field from the 19th century... the earliest taken was around 1912.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: BLewis1968
R

rujheyl1

Freshman
Jan 30, 2006
293
71
28
Anyone know if the game was considered the first football game ever or "only" the first COLLEGE football game ever?
 
K

keywestRU

Sophomore
May 18, 2008
429
142
0
We drilled on that dirt field in compulsory ROTC in '56 (and also played intramural football there).
 
S

Source

All-American
Aug 1, 2001
11,228
6,261
0
rujheyl said:
Anyone know if the game was considered the first football game ever or "only" the first COLLEGE football game ever?
Click to expand...

Football, in some form or another, goes back to the ancient Greeks. In America, the game was played on college campuses since the mid-19th century. Very few rules and basically an excuse for the upper class to haze the incoming freshman class. Princeton at Rutgers on November 6, 1869 not only represents the first time two American colleges engaged in a football game, but also became the keystone game that opened the gates to the development and structure of America Football. So it's meaning goes much further than "only" some colleges having a game.

In fact, over in England where the game developed in different forms in their secondary schools, the colleges didn't play their first football game until 1872.
 
S

Scarlet Jerry

All-Conference
Jul 30, 2001
4,208
2,456
0
Doing some RU history research. I think that the first game was played on a site near the Raritan. I may be able to produce a map that proves my point.

Scarlet Jerry
 
B

BOGDANOVICH

All-American
Nov 11, 2005
3,334
6,124
0
One of the things that is striking is that Records Hall was already in the 1952 photo. Records Hall was the ugliest building at Rutgers, and the story was that it was built as a temporary structure. Yet Records Hall is still there in 2015, ugly as ever, a warehouse looking building that is nothing but an eyesore.
 
S

Source

All-American
Aug 1, 2001
11,228
6,261
0
BOGDANOVICH said:
One of the things that is striking is that Records Hall was already in the 1952 photo. Records Hall was the ugliest building at Rutgers, and the story was that it was built as a temporary structure. Yet Records Hall is still there in 2015, ugly as ever, a warehouse looking building that is nothing but an eyesore.
Click to expand...

Records Hall was destined for Russia as a lend-lease airplane hangar in World War II. It was constructed in Trenton. When the War ended, Rutgers got the building on the cheap as both a cafeteria and a field house.

Its original hangar look was covered up with a brick front.
 
Last edited:
K

KevH

All-Conference
Jul 25, 2001
3,293
2,009
113
mullerpesq said:
Years from now, whenever the college ave gym/student center is refurbished or knocked down they have to pull up the parking lot and re-create the first football field. It's sacred ground. re-do it just like it was for the game. This is a must.
Click to expand...

Joni Mitchell never lied...

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
 
  • Like
Reactions: Piscataway_rivals
R

RU'70

Junior
Dec 12, 2008
910
244
0
Those pictures bring back a lot of memories. I had 2 uncles that rented townhouses on Morrel St back then. Also, I see Olive Branch in current photo, I used to go there in the 1960's when it was Patti's--best bar pies anywhere.
 
F

Finster Baby

Senior
Jan 7, 2007
1,217
839
0
Can anyone use their photography skills to show the actual borders of the original field on one of those photos. I know, I'm being a goofball. Would still be cool.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ruthinking
newell138

newell138

Heisman
Aug 1, 2001
35,547
45,002
112
RU'70 said:
Those pictures bring back a lot of memories. I had 2 uncles that rented townhouses on Morrel St back then. Also, I see Olive Branch in current photo, I used to go there in the 1960's when it was Patti's--best bar pies anywhere.
Click to expand...

I loved Patti's so much I married the owners daughter! When my mother in law sold the place we took a few of the neon lights and a few other things. They used to server the bar pies on a little aluminum pizza tray, I still have some of them and use them all the time when we make homemade pizzas!
 
  • Like
Reactions: rubigtimenow and RU848789
R

RU848789

Heisman
Jul 27, 2001
64,356
43,465
113
newell138 said:
I loved Patti's so much I married the owners daughter! When my mother in law sold the place we took a few of the neon lights and a few other things. They used to server the bar pies on a little aluminum pizza tray, I still have some of them and use them all the time when we make homemade pizzas!
Click to expand...
Nice! You never mentioned this in all those emails? [winking] Lived on Ray Street the summers after my soph and jr years and ate quite a few meals and drank quite a few beers at Patti's. Patti's was awesome, as is its successor, the Olive Branch - when was the last time you were there? One of these days we need to get you and Jim/Mike and me together there...:pizza:
 
R

RUFtlauderdale

Redshirt
Sep 1, 2003
780
8
0
for the life of me.i don't know why rutgers does'nt turn that site in to a tourist attraction.there should be a museum and football games...build it and they will come.it is the ONE thing that RUTGERS has that no team can match.a reenactment game every friday before a saturday game .or at least once a year for the anniversary! we are the birthplace!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ruthinking and rubigtimenow
R

RU'70

Junior
Dec 12, 2008
910
244
0
newell138 said:
I loved Patti's so much I married the owners daughter! When my mother in law sold the place we took a few of the neon lights and a few other things. They used to server the bar pies on a little aluminum pizza tray, I still have some of them and use them all the time when we make homemade pizzas!
Click to expand...
Talk about a small world! My ex wife worked with Vi Patti at Triangle Cable in New Brunswick in the mid 60's. Is that your M-I-L?
 
newell138

newell138

Heisman
Aug 1, 2001
35,547
45,002
112
RU'70 said:
Talk about a small world! My ex wife worked with Vi Patti at Triangle Cable in New Brunswick in the mid 60's. Is that your M-I-L?
Click to expand...

No, my in laws bought the place from Joe Patti. My wife started waitressing there for her parents when she was 11 or 12, so that was around 1976/77. Anyone who frequented Patti's in the 80's knows my father in law John, he gave up the place when they got divorced in the early 90's and my mother in law Mary took over and she eventually sold it to the current owners.

RU848789 said:
Nice! You never mentioned this in all those emails? [winking] Lived on Ray Street the summers after my soph and jr years and ate quite a few meals and drank quite a few beers at Patti's. Patti's was awesome, as is its successor, the Olive Branch - when was the last time you were there? One of these days we need to get you and Jim/Mike and me together there...:pizza:
Click to expand...

I have not been back since the day they sold it, too sad. After I graduated I owned a house on Guilden St for a few years and was at Pattis every Friday and Saturday night. Once I started dating my now wife, I was working nights so I would stop there on my way to work, eat dinner and she would pack me up some food to take to work, so its no surprise why I married her. I'm sure my wife served you most of those meals and beers! She has told me since most of the other employees were college kids, they used to bring her out to all the bars like Old Queens when she was 16! Probably why my 17 year old daughter has the earliest curfew in town.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RU848789
A

ag67

Senior
Jul 25, 2001
8,299
688
0
I doubt there is a Rutgers any RU alum from the 60's who does not have fond memories of "Patti's".
 
S

Source

All-American
Aug 1, 2001
11,228
6,261
0
Patti's goes back to the early 1960s. Before that it was an Elks Club.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom