Old Barracks Museum (Trenton, New Jersey)

 museum, American Revolutionary War 1775-1783, barracks

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101 Barrack Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
(609) 396-1776
(609) 777-3599 weekends
www.barracks.org/

In 1758, the Barracks was the biggest building in Trenton. About 300 British and Irish soldiers were the first to live here. The building was made of stone and had dark red woodwork. There were about 20 soldiers' rooms, each with two windows, a door and a fireplace.

When the Revolutionary War started, the Barracks was used by American troops. British prisoners of war from St. John and Chambly, Canada, were imprisoned in the Officers House while four companies of the Second New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Line were raised here. In December, 1776, British and Hessian troops occupied Trenton. Some of them stayed in the Barracks. Colonists loyal to the English king also arrived so that they could be protected by the soldiers. During the First Battle of Trenton on Dec. 26, in a miraculously successful morning raid, General Washington captured many of the Hessians. The Americans returned to Trenton and used the Barracks. In 1777, the Barracks became an army hospital under Dr. Bodo Otto. Many soldiers and supplies passed through Trenton until the end of the war. The last soldiers in the Barracks may have been sick and wounded soldiers from the siege of Yorktown in 1781.

After the Revolution, the Barracks was sold and divided into private homes. When Trenton was named the State capital in 1790, and a site was chosen for the State House in 1791, the middle section of the building was torn down so that Front Street could run through to the State House. New owners decorated the buildings and gave the place the fashionable name of "Whitehall."

In the early part of the 20th century, Trenton was a thriving industrial center, and its residents were proud of their growing, prosperous city. An organization of wealthy patriotic women, mostly from the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, wanted to save and restore the forgotten, tumble-down buildings that once were the Barracks. In 1902, they formed the Old Barracks Association and bought the south section of the building. In 1914 the State of New Jersey bought the north section and agreed to start a museum. The building was restored as some thought it must have looked in 1758, with a rebuilt middle section and new corridors, balconies, windows and landscaping.
The building was recreated for the New Jersey exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City.