Colonial Club
Encyclopedia
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Founded in 1891, it is the fifth oldest of the clubs. It is located on 40 Prospect Avenue.
The club occupies a large mansion on the north side of Prospect Avenue in Princeton, NJ. The building is easily recognizable by its four large white columns fashioned in Colonial style, and it was meant to compete in size with Cottage Club. After originally occupying several locations farther away from campus, the current house was built during a time of strong rivalry between eating clubs, across the street from rival clubs Ivy and Cottage. F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
referred to it as "flamboyant Colonial" in This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University...
, and defined it as being one of the "top five" clubs - along with Ivy
The Ivy Club
The Ivy Club is the oldest eating club at Princeton University. It was founded in 1879 with Arthur Hawley Scribner as its first head. The members of each class are selected through the bicker process, a series of ten screening interviews, which are followed by discussions amongst the members as...
, Cottage
University Cottage Club
The University Cottage Club is one of ten current eating clubs at Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It is also one of the five bicker clubs, along with The Ivy Club, Tiger Inn, Cap and Gown Club, and Tower Club.-History:...
, Cap & Gown
Cap and Gown Club
Cap and Gown Club, founded in 1890, is an eating club at Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Colloquially known as "Cap", the club is one of the "Big Four" eating clubs at Princeton . Members are selected through a selective process called bicker...
, and Tiger Inn
Tiger Inn
The Tiger Inn is one of the ten active eating clubs at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. Tiger Inn was founded in 1890 and is one of the "Big Four" eating clubs at Princeton .. Tiger Inn is the third oldest Eating Club...
.
Among the Princetonians who were involved in the World War II code-breaking at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
,
most were from Colonial Club according to an article entitled "Princetonians in the Ultra Service" in the 5-27-1975 issue (pp. 10–13) of the Princeton Alumni Weekly.
Formerly a "bicker
Bicker
Bicker may refer to*Bicker, Lincolnshire*Bicker, a practice in the eating clubs at Princeton University and Mount Olive College*Bicker , a Dutch Golden Age family, headed by Andries Bicker...
" club (as all eating clubs were) the club went non-selective in 1969 and also opened the door for women to join the club. In very recent years, Colonial's closest rival has been the Princeton Tower Club
Princeton Tower Club
Princeton Tower Club is one of the ten eating clubs at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, and one of five clubs to choose its members through a selective process called bicker...
and Charter Club. Currently, Colonial is one of five non-selective, or "sign-in," clubs. The other five clubs retain the bicker process for selecting new members. Colonial is known among current students for its openness in both membership and in admission to festivities and events. The club usually refuses to go "on pass" (a method of restricting admission to an event to only members and holders of colored cards obtained from club members) and instead opens its doors to all Princeton undergraduate students.
Colonial provides many novel events such as bonfires and a zipline on their front lawn, and pudding wrestling.
Interest in the club reached a low point in 1999 when only 26 members of the class of 2001 signed in to Colonial. Aggressive event planning by the classes of 2000 and 2001, along with generous alumni support and an enthusiastic and dedicated class of 2002, brought the club back from the brink. This was at least the third time the club had been rescued from near-oblivion; 1982 and 1988 also had very low sign-in numbers. In 2010, however, Colonial managed to recruit only 13 members in the first round of sign-ins; this was a massive drop from the 87 first round sign-ins from the previous year. The club was still able to attract a substantial number of new members during the second round of sign-ins that same year. In 2011, however, a huge turnaround occurred when over 130 sophomores signed-in to the club, which was the largest number of sophomores to join any of the eating clubs.
Pete Conrad
Pete Conrad
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. was an American naval officer, astronaut and engineer, and the third person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission. He set an eight-day space endurance record along with command pilot Gordon Cooper on the Gemini 5 mission, and commanded the Gemini 11 mission...
'53, the third man to walk on the moon, was a Colonial member. Conrad carried five Princeton flags to the moon; he later gave one to the club. Unfortunately, this memento was destroyed in a fire while it was being framed for display.
Other famous Colonial alumni include the late former Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
senator Claiborne Pell
Claiborne Pell
Claiborne de Borda Pell was a United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997, and was best known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial aid funding to U.S. college students. A Democrat, he was that state's longest serving senator.-Early years:Pell...
'40, famous for creation of Pell grant
Pell Grant
A Pell Grant is money the federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree or who are not enrolled in certain post-baccalaureate programs, through participating...
s in 1973; Norman Thomas
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
1905, the chief Socialist in the United States and perennial Socialist candidate in every presidential election from 1928 to 1948; noted Princeton illustrator William B. Pell 1898; Eric E. Schmidt
Eric E. Schmidt
Eric Emerson Schmidt is an American software engineer and the current executive chairman of Google. From 2001 to 2011, he served as the chief executive officer of Google....
'76, CEO of Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
; and Wentworth Miller
Wentworth Miller
Wentworth Earl Miller III is an English-born American actor; model and screenwriter who rose to stardom following his role as Michael Scofield in the Fox Network television series Prison Break.-Early life:...
'95, star of the popular TV series Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
. Edward F. Cox
Edward F. Cox
Edward Ridley Finch Cox , is the chairman of the New York Republican State Committee and the son-in-law of the late President Richard M. Nixon. Cox is a lawyer in the Manhattan law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP where he has served as the Chairman of the Corporate Department and a...
'68 married Tricia Nixon in the Rose Garden at the White House on 6-12-1971.