The main entrance to the Campus from Nassau Street was erected in 1905, from the design of McKim, Mead and White, in fulfillment of a bequest from Augustus van Winkle, of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in memory of his ancestor, Nathaniel FitzRandolph, who gave the land on which Nassau Hall was built.

  FitzRandolph was the son of one of the original seventeenth-century Quaker settlers of Princeton. More than any other citizen of Princeton, he was responsible for raising for the College the money and land the trustees required of the citizens of the place where it was to be located -- $1000 New Jersey money, ten acres of cleared land for the campus, and 200 acres of woodland for fuel -- and thus enabled Princeton to win from its chief competitor, New Brunswick, the honor and benefits of providing the site of the college.

  Besides riding among his neighbors to solicit donations, FitzRandolph himself gave twenty pounds and 4Ç acres, described in the trustee minutes as ``a certain tract of land four hundred feet front and thirty poles [rods] depth, in line at right angles with the broad street where it is proposed that the college shall be built.''

  FitzRandolph took great interest in the building of the college and recorded its progress in his journal: July 29, 1754, ``Jos. Morrow set a man first to dig the college cellar.'' September 17, 1754, ``the first cornerstone . . . was laid in the northwesterly corner of the cellar by . . . Mr. William Worth, the mason that built the stone and brick work, myself, and many others.'' November 1755, ``the roof . . . was raised by Robert Smith, the carpenter that built the timber work.'' November 13, 1756, ``Aaron Burr, President, preached the first sermon and began the school in Princeton College.''

  FitzRandolph was buried in the family burial ground, which was located where Holder Hall now stands. Workmen excavating for the foundations of that dormitory in 1909 discovered thirty-two old, unmarked graves there. At President Wilson's direction the contents of the graves were preserved in separate boxes and reinterred under the eastern arch of Holder Hall and a memorial tablet placed in the arch. President Wilson wrote the English and Dean West the Latin for the inscription:

  According to long University tradition, these gates were closed except on a few very special ceremonial such as the processional which marked the 200th Anniversary of the founding of the college.

  At other times, they were opened only at Reunions, for the Twenty-Fifth Reunion Class, which would return to the campus through the gates, and take their place at the head of the P-rade.

  At the request of the Class of 1970, these gates were opened permanently in May of that year, as a "symbol of the University's openness to the local and worldwide community." Following the 223rd Commencement exercises on June 9, Class members marched out of the gates, pausing to sing "Old Nassau." On the east pillar of the gateway (campus side), the class inscribed a motto, "Together For Community" along with a design that incorporates their class numerals and a peace sign.

  The gates were to be fixed open by mans of rings set in concrete footings, and in one of these footings, was to be a small zinc box containing the names of the members of the Class of 1970 [N.B. There is no record of this actually occurring.]

  In the years since 1970, for reasons that have hitherto escaped understanding, an undergraduate "myth" has evolved that suggests that any undergraduate who uses this portal to exit from campus prior to commencement will jeopardize his/her chances of graduating on time. This legend is given only modest credence by students, helped along by the annual mention in the Daily Princetonian Freshman Issue and countless Orange Key Tour Guides. Suffice it to say that this legend did not exist prior to 1970, but as some undergraduates will say, "But I'd rather not tempt fate."

This is adapted fromAlexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).