QuickTime VR: Rutgers Square

Rutgers Square QuickTime VR Movie

Named for an early landowner, Rutgers Square was the center of political activity in the immigrant Jewish community. It was renamed in 1931 in honor of philanthropist Nathan Straus. After the deaths of Isidor and his wife Ida aboard the S.S. Titanic in 1912, Nathan retired from business (R.H. Macy, Abraham and Straus) and devoted himself to family, charity, and public service. He and his wife Lina Gutherz Straus had six children, two of whom died at an early age. Nathan’s concern for all children inspired him to promote milk pasteurization in the United States. He established a pasteurization laboratory in 1892 and inaugurated milk distribution programs throughout the country. As a philanthropist, Nathan gave generously to support health, disaster relief, and charity, and he championed the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. In public life, he served as a member of the board of commissioners of the Department of Public Parks in New York City from 1890 to 1894, chairman of the New York State Forest Commission, and president of the city’s Board of Health in 1898. He was president of the American Jewish Congress from 1918 to 1920. Nathan Straus died in New York City on January 11, 1931.