Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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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-

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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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22 HARVARD NINETEEN THIRTY-FIVE CLASS ALBUM vard its first chapel. This was Holden. It faced west and the pediment over the door displayed-and still displaysain all its glory the armorial device of Mrs. Holden. The building was opened in 1744, but it was used for a chapel for only a few years. For a century and a half after its founding, Harvard Col- lege looked westward, and it persisted in turning its back upon what we consider to be Uthe old parti' of the Yard until Hollis Hall, which was built in 1763, looked both ways. Hollis faced west, to be sure, but it had an east front as well,- or at any rate a side which might easily become a front. Thomas Hollis was a benevolent English Baptist with an un- accountable interest in Harvard College. Although he never saw Harvard, and though his religious beliefs differed from those adhered to by the College, he showered the institution with good things. He endowed two professorships and con- tributed many valuable books and instruments. These bene- factions occurred between 1719 and I 731. Hollis did not give the dormitory which preserves his memory in the Yard, but his interest and generosity were still fresh in menls minds in 1764. When a new building was completed in that year the governor of the province christened it Hollis Hall. The great catastrophe in the history of the College in the eighteenth century was the burning of Harvard Hall. About midnight on January 24, 1764, scarcely a fortnight after the dedication of Hollis, fire broke out in Harvard Hall. The night was intensely cold, a high wind was blowing, and the air was filled with snow. To make matters worse it happened to be the time of the mid-year recess. The students were away and there were only three persons in all the college buildings. Harvard Hall, which contained the library and the com- mons, was entirely destroyed. During the conflagration Massachusetts, old Stoughton, and brand new Hollis caught fire and blazed up several times, but only Harvard was con- sumed. Only Harvard, but that building housed the library bequeathed to the College by John Harvard. That night it was turned into ashes. As far as we know only one of his books survived, presumably because itl had been borrowed by a tutor or a student before the fire. This book-Downame's Chrislian Warfare-is now preserved in the Treasure Room of the Widener Library. The present Harvard Hall was built upon the old site. It was completed in June, 1766, and was a good-looking build- ing until additions were made to it. The first addition was a rectangular projection from the middle of the front. This was constructed about 1840. The result may have been useful but it was hardly pleasing to the eye. In the 187038 the building was enlarged to its present size, and its appearance was much improved. During the turbulent years immediately preceding the Revolution the Massachusetts General Court held more than one session in the College buildings. The liberty-loving legislators objected to meeting in Boston while the British troops were in the town. The royal governor, instead of re- moving the troops, adjourned the Court in Cambridge where it had met in 1764 during a smallpox epidemic. For three years, 1768-1771, the General Court was obliged to hold its sessions at Harvard College, an arrangement which seems to have been as distasteful to the legislators as to the College authorities. In 1775 the colonies broke into open rebellion and Boston was besieged by the American army. The siege lasted almost a year. During that time Harvard College removed itself to Concord, and its buildings were used as barracks for the rustic soldiery. Old Stoughton, Massachusetts, Hollis and even Holden sheltered an unbelievable number of men. Harvard Hall seems to have been used for storage and for commissary purposes while Wadsworth House achieved the unique dis- tinction of being the ,fmt headquarters of General Washing- ton. For many years it has been the fashion to point out the subtle differences between Hollis and its neighbor Stoughton, and to dwell upon the inferiority of Stoughton. The diHier- ences exist, there is no doubt. The inferiority also. But why not congratulate ourselves that it is as good-looking as it is, and agree that it has grown old gracefully? The original Stoughton, which with Massachusetts and Harvard formed three sides of an open quadrangle, was torn down about 1780. The present Stoughton was begun in 1804 and com- pleted in 1805. Thus it is at least forty years younger than Hollis. The necessary funds for building it came in part from the College and in part from a lottery held for that purpose. Stoughton faced both west and east, and there can be little doubt that in 1804 Harvard College began to visualize the present Yard. Eight years later the placing of Holworthy made it clear that a new quadrangle was in prospect. The euphonious name of the new dormitory was in honor of Sir Matthew Holworthy, a seventeenth-century benefactor. Sir Matthew was an English merchant, and like Thomas Hollis he had an extraordinary interest in Harvard College. He bequeathed to it 31000, but the money actually expended upon the construction of Holworthy Hall came from a lottery. When Holworthy was built, in 1812, it was expected that in the course of time it would form the northern wall of a ffnearly equilateralw quadrangle with Hollis and Stoughton for its western side. Nevertheless when the next building was added it was happily not constructed as another wall of the proposed quadrangle. Instead it was given an isolated and commanding position. This was University Hall, which was built primarily to house the kitchen, the commons, and the chapel. University was designed by Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the State House and other admired buildings in Boston. The material was white Chelmsford granite, and the construction was completed in 1815. Today few would think of criticizing the pleasing proportions and classic simplicity of University Hall, but not so the critics of one hundred years ago. One of them writing in the North American Review ended his description: We doubt whether the world con- tains any other architectural abortion to be compared to thisf' In extenuation of this remark it should be said that originally the building had a covered piazza or portico along the west front, connecting the two flights of steps. Probably the appearance of University was much improved when the piazza was abolished. From the War of 1812 until the Civil War the aspect of the Yard was not greatly changed. Southeastward of University Hall the library building known as Gore Hall arose about 1840. In 1857 appeared its neighbor, Boylston, originally an inoifensive two-storied building. Then towards the north east Appleton Chapel was constructed in 1858. But the striking effect of a large quadrangle was not developed until the sixties. In 1863 Grays Hall was built at the southern end of the Yard to balance Holworthy. Its name commemorated three members of the Gray family, all benefactors of the Col- lege. After the Civil War, Thayer, Matthews, and Weld were built in rapid succession and the present appearance of the quadrangle was established. When College opened in the fall of 1926 residents of the Yard and its vicinity discovered that a new bell on Harvard Hall had taken the place of the one which they were accus- tomed to hear and obey. To some the change was not wholly pleasing, for they assumed that the old bell had announced