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Wood Lawn (New Brunswick, NJ)
Wood Lawn is a building located on the Douglass Campus at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, in New Brunswick, New Jersey in the United States. Wood Lawn is set on a hill overlooking the Raritan River and New Brunswick. It is a three-story home with a mansard roof and a basement. It features a covered porch supported by neoclassical columns. The left wing of the building (looking at the front) is two stories. A Palladian window is found on the second floor and overlooks the balcony. The home is painted white and is accented with green decorative panels on either side of each window. The home also features large brick fireplaces and chimneys, which are located throughout the home, such as in the drawing room, and visible from the exterior of the home. The building stands on land purchased by Cornelius Van Langevelt from the Indians in 1680 and acquired in 1720 by Johannis Voorhees. Voorhees’s grandson, Col. James Neilson, constructed Wood Lawn in 1830. After his death in 1862, his son, James, and James’s wife, Mary, moved into the mansion in 1870. At James’s passing in 1937, the home and his other land holdings were donated to Rutgers College and the New Jersey College for Women, where it was used for a variety of purposes. Florence Peshine Eagleton, upon her death, "bequeathed nearly two million dollars to establish the Wells Phillips Eagleton and Florence Peshine Eagleton Foundation at Rutgers, stipulating that the funds be used to endow an institute to provide education in practical politics for ‘young men and women.’”   As a result, in 1956, the Eagleton Institute of Politics, based in Wood Lawn, was founded and “quickly established a reputation for excellence in the study of American politics.”   Since then, the Institute and the countless number of prominent politicians who have stepped through the doors of its historic home, have made it “well known across and beyond New Jersey as a place for celebrating politics and strengthening democracy.” The home has gone through alterations throughout its long history, the most notable being in 1904 when the house had a major alteration done “With the advice of an assistant architect to the great Stanford White,” of the esteemed firm of McKim, Mead, and White. Architecturally, while the exterior is an example of colonial revival architecture, the interior is a mix of Georgian, Empire, and Victorian elements. For example, the library is considered an illustration of the Empire style, while Mrs. Neilson’s room and the Dining Room are considered to be examples of the Victorian era.

James Nielson born in 1784 to the wealthy business man John Neilson and Catherine Neilson. James Neilson served his country as a Corneal during the war fo 1812. James was a successful business man in the city of New Brunswick. He later served on the Rutgers Board of Trustees and made major contributions, both financially and personally, to the Rutgers University. James Neilson married three times resulting in who children who survived to adulthood, Augusta Neilson and James Neilson. James Neilson died on February 21st 1862 at the age of 77.

James Neilson born in 1844. James Neilson, like his father, gave back to his community and contributed to Rutgers University, as well. He also greatly contributed to New Brunswick’s cultural life at the time. James was involved with ash assisted the agricultural community within New Brunswick. James Neilson served on the Rutgers Board of Trustees for nearly 50 years and from its earliest days, he was a member of the governing board of the New Jersey College for Women. At the time, he gave massive amounts of time, money, and energy to the University and to the community. A businessman by profession but a philanthropist at heart, in his will, he donated large sums of land, including Wood Lawn, and money to the school, including fifty thousand dollars to the College for Women. This land was used for such things as new buildings on campus and the Agricultural College and Experiment Station. Neilson’s philanthropy helped academia and Rutgers by allowing the school to continue to grow its curriculum and provided greater resources for a research institution, where the growing field of natural sciences could flourish. It also provided critical support to the ability for women to gain college educations and provided a boon to both civic education and the school’s national standing

The Neilson Family owned slaves during the first decade of Woodlawns Existence in New Brunswick.

Today, it remains a building of cultural significance, currently housing the Eagleton Institute of Politics, that was established thanks to the generosity of Florence Peshine Eagleton.