1. History
    The Shakers  Fruitlands  Fiske Warren Tahanto Enclave  St. Benedict Center  St. Benedict Abbey 

2. Geography
    Surrounding towns 

3. Demographics

4. Government

5. Library

6. Notable people

7. Houses of worship

8. See also

9. References

10. External links

History

Europeans first settled in what later became Harvard in the 17th century, along a road connecting Lancaster with Groton that was formally laid out in 1658. There were few inhabitants until after King Philip's War, in which Groton and Lancaster were attacked and substantially destroyed. Over the next 50 years the population grew until it had reached a point adequate to support a church. A new town including parts of Lancaster, Groton, and Stow was incorporated in 1732, subject to the proviso that the inhabitants "Settle a learned and Orthodox Minister among them within the space of two years and also erect an House for the publick Worship of God." It is uncertain how the town obtained its name, though the Willard family, among the first settlers and the largest proprietors in the new town, had several connections to Harvard College.^[2] The first minister was Rev. John Seccombe, serving from 1733 to 1757.^[3]

In 1734, the town was considered to have five districts or villages. These were Oak Hill, Bare Hill, Still River, Old Mill and Shabikin, present day Devens.

One notable early enterprise based in Harvard was the Benjamin Ball Pencil Company^[4] which produced some of the first writing instruments made in the United States. They operated in the Old Mill district from 1830 to 1860. Despite this and other limited manufacturing, the town economy was primarily based on agriculture until the middle of the 20th century. This past is most prominently visible in the number of apple orchards. It is now mostly a residential "bedroom community" for workers at companies in Boston and its suburbs. Harvard has had a relatively quiet history, but has attracted several "non-traditional" communities that have given its history some flavor.

The Shakers

One part of town is the site of Harvard Shaker Village, where a utopian religious community was established. During a period of religious dissent, a number of Harvard residents abandoned the Protestant church in Harvard. They built in 1769 a house that later became known as the Square House. The Shaker Founder Mother Ann Lee met with this group in 1781 and the group joined her United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, or Shakers.^[5]

It was the first Shaker settlement in Massachusetts and the second settlement in the United States. The Harvard Shaker Village Historic District is located in the vicinity of Shaker Road, South Shaker Road, and Maple Lane. At its largest, the Shakers owned about 2,000 acres of land in Harvard. By 1890, the Harvard community had dwindled to less than 40, from a peak of about 200 in the 1850s. In 1917 the Harvard Shaker Village was closed and sold. Only one Shaker building is open to the public, at Fruitlands Museum; the remaining surviving buildings are in private ownership.^[5]

Nationally, 19 Shaker communities had been established in the 1700s and 1800s, mostly in northeastern United States. Community locations ranged from Maine to Kentucky and Indiana. The Shakers were renowned for plain architecture and furniture, and reached its national peak membership in the 1840s and 1850s. The Shaker community's practice of celibacy meant that to maintain its population, it was always necessary to have new outsiders join. The improving employment opportunities provided by the Industrial Revolution would over the middle decades of the 1800s diminish the attractions of joining the Shaker community. Today, only one church "society" remains open, run by the last Shakers at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine.

Fruitlands

Originally, Sears' Fruitlands property spanned {{convert|458|acre|km2}}, but in 1939, {{convert|248|acre|km2}} were seized by eminent domain for expansion of Fort Devens. As of 2010, that land is now part of the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge.^[6]

Fiske Warren Tahanto Enclave

Fiske Warren, a follower of Henry George, attempted to establish a single tax zone in Harvard in 1918. The enclave bought up land communally and attempted to manage the land according to George's principles. The enclave failed soon after Warren died in 1938. His house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

St. Benedict Center

Father Leonard Feeney was a Jesuit priest who held to a literal interpretation of the doctrine "Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus". His St Benedict Center at Harvard College in Cambridge made numerous converts in the 1940s, among them Avery Cardinal Dulles, the son of John Foster Dulles, secretary of state in the Eisenhower administration. Feeney was excommunicated in 1953. Cardinal Medeiros of Boston visited Feeney on his deathbed and apologized for the heavy-handed way he had been treated by the ecclesiastical authorities 30 years before. A branch of the Saint Benedict Center^[9] is located in Still River, on the west side of Harvard.

St. Benedict Abbey

In Still River there is an abbey of Benedictine monks which branched from the St. Benedict Center. There are six brothers and seven^[10] priests. They focus on reverently saying the both Novus Ordo and Tridentine Mass and chanting the Divine Office in Latin.^[11] Their current abbot is the Right Reverend Xavier Connelly, OSB, who was elected June 16, 2010.^[12]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of {{convert|27.0|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|26.4|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|0.6|sqmi}}, or 2.26%, is water.

The town is largely wooded with small rolling hills, fields and wetlands. In addition to the numerous streams and brooks throughout Harvard, Bare Hill Pond is a central, iconic locale.

Harvard and the surrounding area are renowned for apple orchards and riding stables.

Surrounding towns

Harvard is located in MetroWest, surrounded by several towns:

Demographics

As of the census^[13] of 2000, there were 5,981 people, 1,809 households, and 1,494 families residing in the town. The population density was 226.9 people per square mile (87.6/km²). There were 2,225 housing units at an average density of 84.4 per square mile (32.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 91.69% White, 4.50% African American, 0.17% Native American, 1.97% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races, and 1.12% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.09% of the population.

There were 1,809 households out of which 44.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.4% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.4% were non-families. 14.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.18.

In the town the population was spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 32.3% from 45 to 64, and 7.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 124.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 133.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $117,934, and the median income for a family was $139,352. Males had a median income of $90,937 versus $49,318 for females. The per capita income for the town was $50,867. About 0.5% of families and 2.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.7% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

The decline in the population of the town of Harvard from the 1990 census to the 2000 U.S. census is attributable to the 1996 closure of Fort Devens, a U.S. military installation and the departure of military personnel and families residing at Fort Devens, which in large part is within the territory of the town of Harvard. The Fort Devens property has in large part been converted to civilian use, under the direction of MassDevelopment, a development authority of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Government

The town elects five members to the Board of Selectmen to run the town day-to-day and has an annual Town Meeting to pass/amend the town bylaws and approve the town budget.

When the town constructed the current building housing the Bromfield School middle and high school, the town successfully resisted the Massachusetts School Building Authority efforts to regionalize its school system with other towns; the School Building Authority partially funds new school buildings and renovations. Harvard's Kindergarten through grade twelve school system ranks among the top 5% of schools in the state according to some authorities, and more than 97% of its graduates go on to college. The public high school, the Bromfield School, and the Hildreth Elementary School are both located in the center of town on Massachusetts Avenue Bromfield has its ranks in nationwide tests in the top 20 and HES has them for MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) in the top 5. {{Citation needed|reason=Source Needed|date=January 2019}}

Library

The public library of Harvard opened in 1856.^[14][15] In fiscal year 2008, the town of Harvard spent 2.41% ($487,470) of its budget on its public library—some $81 per person and since then the library has undergone multiple renovations. ^[16]

Notable people

• Amos Bronson Alcott – teacher, writer and Transcendentalist, Fruitlands founder {{nb10}}
• Louisa May Alcott – novelist, daughter of Amos Alcott
• Tabitha Babbitt – tool maker
• T. A. Barron – author of fantasy novels
• Del Cameron, Hall of Fame harness racing driver and trainer.^[17]
• Adam Dziewonski – geophysicist {{citation needed|date=June 2011}}
• Jonathan Edwards – musician ^[18]
• William Emerson – minister and father of Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Fannie Farmer – cookbook author
• Donald Featherstone – created the pink flamingo lawn ornament
• Leonard Feeney – controversial Jesuit priest
• Shadrack Ireland – religious leader

• Lynn Jennings – Olympic runner
• Charles Lane – Transcendentalist, Fruitlands founder
• Joseph Palmer – Transcendentalist; known for his beard
• Ann Lee – Shaker founder
• Keir O'Donnell – Australian-born actor, Bromfield Class of 1996
• Willard Van Orman Quine – American philosopher and logician^[19]
• Clara Endicott Sears – founder of Fruitlands Museum
• Ted Sizer – educational reform leader {{citation needed|date=June 2011}}
• Maurice K. Smith– architect
• Fiske Warren – supporter of the single tax system
• William Channing Whitney – architect {{citation needed|date=December 2011}}
• Gary K. Wolf – creator of Roger Rabbit

Houses of worship

• Harvard Unitarian Universalist (Unitarian)
• Harvard United Church of Christ (Congregational)
• Saint Benedict Center
• Saint Theresa, the Little Flower Church (Roman Catholic)
• Seeds of Faith Church

See also

• Harvard Ambulance Service
• Harvard Historical Society
• Harvard Center Historic District
• Frederick Fiske and Gretchen Osgood Warren House
• Harvard Shaker Village Historic District

References

Notes

Further reading

• {{cite book |title=History of the Town of Harvard, Massachusetts 1732-1893|last=Nourse |first=Henry S.|year=1894 |publisher=Warren Hapgood|location=Clinton, Massachusetts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CpQvAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=7 July 2011}}
• {{cite book |title=Directions of a town: a history of Harvard, Massachusetts|last=Anderson|first=Rober C.|year=1976|publisher=Harvard Common Press|location=Harvard, Massachusetts}}

External links

• Official town website
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130503001620/http://hhcommission.wordpress.com/ Harvard Historical Commission]
• Harvard Public Schools
• Harvard Public Library
• Fruitlands Museum
• The Harvard Hillside Newspaper
• The Harvard Press
• The Harvard Post Newspaper
• Fannie Farmer House
• Shaker Historic Trail

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