The first collegiate game of American football was played on the site on November 6, 1869, with Rutgers beating Princeton University, 6–4 (roughly 42–28 under today's scoring).

Most of the seating is in the form of a balcony on three sides, upstairs from the court level, giving the gym one of the most intimate settings in Eastern college basketball while it was RU's main venue for the sport.

There is also a room with multiple Olympic weightlifting platforms complete bumper plates, which are in kilograms, for both beginners and advanced lifters.

Home games at The Barn became festive affairs, with the crowd yelling so loudly that paint chips fell from the ceiling.

Besides volleyball, their most recent tenant was the Rutgers Wrestling team for a practice location, as well as their home arena, but moved over to the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center in September of 2019.