1834: The New Refectory
View in 1862
Princeton University. Property of the Trustees of Princeton University.
Source: Princeton University Archives, Mudd Library, Grounds & Buildings, Box 54
View with Bulletin Elm in foreground (photo before 1861)
Princeton University. Property of the Trustees of Princeton University.
Source: Princeton University Archives, Mudd Library, Grounds & Buildings, Box 54
In 1834, the Trustees commissioned the erection of a utilitarian refectory on the corner of William Street and College Lane, an out-of-the-way spot across from the College garden. It was an L-shaped, two-story clapboard building with a 76-foot-long dining wing fronting William Street. A map of the campus drawn in 1851 shows the New Refectory at the intersection of William Street and College Lane, approximately where Firestone Plaza stands today.
The students called it the "Poor House," because those of limited means ate there. The more affluent undergraduates continued to eat in the refectory in Philosophical Hall.