Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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HARVARD NINETEEN THIRTY-FIVE CLASS ALBUM PAUL REVERE VIEW OF HARVARD IN 1775 CRICKET IN FRONT OF HARVARD AND MASSACHUSETTS HALLS

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HARVARD NINETEEN THIRTY-FIVE CLASS ALBUM QI The Yard 1635-1935 BY LAWRENCE SHAW Mixvo NE is apt to assume that the enclosure we know as the College Yard has been the property of Har- vard since the founding of the College in 1636. Actually the Yard began with only two or three acres and expanded for almost two centuries before attaining its present size and configuration. The first territorial grant was two and two-thirds acres given to the College by the town of Cambridge in 1638. just where the original acres were located no one is able to state positively, but the usual assumption has been that they occupied the northern end of the old quadrangle and would be bounded in a general way by Hollis, Stoughton, Holworthy, a line drawn from Hol- worthy to University, and a line from University to the south wall of Hollis. From this modest foothold the Yard began to expand almost from the beginning. The first advance carried it southward to Braintree Street, now Massachusetts Avenue. This occurred about 1640. In the next twenty-five or thirty years it pushed towards the west, annexing the land from Phillips Brooks House to the Counting House. But the corner of land directly on Harvard Square was not so easily ob- tained. That was occupied by the meeting-house and did not become the property of the College till 1833. Meanwhile land to the eastward became available. This land, including the site of University Hall, was originally the ox pasture for the town. Later it was divided and came into the possession ofthe Wigglesworths, the Appletons, and the Sewalls. From them the title passed to the College at various times between the Revolution and the War of 1812. Finally, in 1835, the land fronting on Quincy Street became College property and the territory ofthe Yard was completed. Where the Hrst building was erected is as uncertain as where the original acres were. There is a tendency to place it in the vicinity of W'adsworth House or Grays, but all we know is that it stood 'fnot far fromw the present Harvard Hall. Built in 1637, it was, according to a contemporary description, fair and comely within and without, having in it a spacious hallf, Indeed it was thought by some to be too gorgeous for a wilderness? However that may have been, it seems to have been a useful combination of dormitory, library, chapel, recitation hall, and dining hall. It was a wooden structure, and in spite ofits alleged gorgeousness, it was chronically in need of repair. Nearby was the house of President Dunster which contained not only the family ofthe first president but also the first printing press in the land. The press had been the property of Mrs. Dunster's first husband, but he had died, she had married again, and now the press was under the direction of the President ofthe Col- lege. Another building, erected in 1665 by the Society for Propagating the Gospel, was an Indian dormitory,vfor there were Indian students mixed in with the young Puritans in the early days of the institution. But the pursuit of knowledge meant an indoor life, and an indoor life did not agree with the American Indians. Their numbers dwindled, only one was graduated, and in the course of time their dormitory was made to serve other purposes. The first Harvard College building stood for about forty years and then was superseded by Harvard Hall, 'fa fair pile of brick building covered with tilesf' which was erected 'fnot far from the place where the former stoodf' At Com- mencement in 1677 it was so nearly completed that the exer- cises of tl1e day were held there. This was the old Harvard Hall, a pseudo-Dutch structure which appears in the early engraving of the College. It stood on the site of tl1e present Harvard Hall and f.ced south. Between 1698 and 17oo another building appeared in the Yard. This was the gift of William Stoughton of the Class of 1650 who was both Lieutenant-Governor and Chiefjustice of the province. Whatever one may think of Stoughton and the part he played in the witchcraft delusion of 1692, none can deny that he was a generous benefactor of his college. The building which he gave cost one thousand pounds in Massachusetts currency, and he bequeathed a substantial amount of' real estate besides. Stoughton Hall was built southeast of Harvard Hall and at right angles to it. There it stood for eighty years more or less. Then it proved to be an unsubstantial piece of masonryw and was demolished. Meanwhile Massachusetts Hall, the oldest building now standing in the Yard, came into being. The funds for Massa- chusetts came from no single individual but from the province whose name it bears. It was built to house Ha considerable number of students who had been 'fobliged to take lodgings in the town of Cambridge for want of accommodations in the Collegef, The original plan for Massachusetts would have given the College a building only fifty feet long and three stories high. Very fortunately the President and Fellows were able to persuade the General Court to increase the length to one-hundred and fifty feet and the height to its present meas- urement. The building was completed in 1720, and for a century and a halfit served its original purpose. After another half-century it became a dormitory again. Somewhat apart from the Collegesw as our ancestors called the three halls, the Presidentis house was built in 1 726. This we know as Wadsworth House. When Massachusetts Avenue was a narrow country road, the President's house had a dignified and attractive setting. Today its position is cramped and prosaic, but VVadsworth House possesses a serenity of line and a wealth of architectural detail which will always give it distinction. President Wadsworth was its first occupant. After his time it continued to be the Presi- dent's house until 1849, almost one hundred and twenty-five years. In the early I7.40,S the College began its expansion towards the north by erecting Holden Chapel fifty yards or so north of Harvard Hall. Samuel Holden was a member of Parlia- ment, Governor ofthe Bank of England, and a conspicuous dissenter from the Established Church. He died in 1740. In the following year his widow and his daughters gave to Har-