The cannonball was said to have come from a gun in the artillery company commanded by Alexander Hamilton, who had been rejected by Princeton when he first came to the colonies. Another cannonball flew through a window in the Faculty Room and "decapitated" King George's portrait. One glanced off the south side of the building the damage can still be seen today. Three cannonballs were fired, but only two made contact. The British Redcoats seized control of Nassau Hall in 1776, and American soldiers were forced to fire upon their own building in the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. The New Jersey Legislature met for the first time in Nassau Hall on August 27, 1776. Department of the Interior designated Nassau Hall a National Historic Landmark in 1960, "signifying its importance in the Revolutionary War and in the history of the United States." Old Nassau refers affectionately to the building and serves as a metonym for the university as a whole.
According to Princeton University, "Here Congress congratulated George Washington on his successful termination of the war, received the news of the signing of the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, and welcomed the first foreign minister-from the Netherlands-accredited to the United States." Īt present, Nassau Hall houses Princeton University's administrative offices, including that of the university's president. The Congress of the Confederation met in the building's library on the second floor. From July to October 1783, Princeton was the capital of the early United States and Nassau Hall hosted the entire American government. It housed the university's first Department of Psychology, for example.ĭuring the events of the American Revolutionary War, Nassau Hall was possessed by both British and American forces and suffered considerable damage, especially during the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. In the early years of Princeton University, Nassau Hall accommodated classrooms, a library, a chapel, and residential space for students and faculty. Designed originally by Robert Smith, the building was subsequently remodeled by notable American architects Benjamin Latrobe and John Notman. The University, then known as the College of New Jersey, held classes for one year in Elizabeth and nine years in Newark before the Hall was completed in 1756. At the time it was built in 1756, Nassau Hall was the largest building in colonial New Jersey and the largest academic building in all the American colonies. Nassau Hall (or Old Nassau) is the oldest building at Princeton University in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Robert Smith (1756), Benjamin Latrobe (1804), John Notman (1855) Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 668: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.