Harvard, Massachusetts

Harvard, Massachusetts
—  Town  —
Town Hall
Seal
Location in Worcester County in Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°30′00″N 71°35′00″W
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Worcester
Settled	1658
Incorporated	1732
Government
• Type	Open town meeting
• Town    Administrator	Timothy P. Bragan
• Board of    Selectmen	Peter Warren Marie Sobalvarro Bill Johnson Ronald V. Ricci Timothy A. Clark
Area
• Total	27.0 sq mi (69.9 km2)
• Land	26.4 sq mi (68.3 km2)
• Water	0.6 sq mi (1.6 km2)
Elevation	421 ft (128 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	6,520
• Density	241.5/sq mi (93.28/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code	01451
Area code(s)	351 / 978
FIPS code	25-28950
GNIS feature ID	0619482
Website	www.harvard.ma.us

This article is about the town of Harvard, Massachusetts. Harvard University is located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. A farming community settled in 1658 and incorporated in 1732, it has been home to several non-traditional communities, such as Harvard Shaker Village and the utopian Transcendentalist center Fruitlands. Today it is an affluent residential town noted for its excellent public schools, with its students consistently ranking in the state's top ten test results in English and math. The population was 6,520 at the 2010 census.

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.

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.

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 a residential town within reach, for example, of the technology companies outside of Boston. It has had a relatively quiet history, but has attracted several "non-traditional" communities that have given its history some flavor.

Harvard Shaker Village c.1905

Fruitlands Museum, 2008

The Shakers

The town was the site of Harvard Shaker Village, a utopian religious community established in 1791, one of 19 scattered between Maine and Kentucky, and as far west as Indiana. The sect, renowned for plain architecture and furniture, reached its peak membership in the 1840s. But greater employment opportunities introduced by the Industrial Revolution would entice away some potential and practicing Shaker members. Some became disaffected with the church's insistence on celibacy, self-abnegation, and communal ownership of property. Indeed, Mary Marshall Dyer, a onetime believer, became an outspoken Anti-Shaker. The flock dwindled, and like others, Harvard Shaker Village eventually closed. Today, only one church "society" remains open, run by the last Shakers at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine.

Fruitlands

Amos Bronson Alcott relocated his family, including his ten-year-old daughter, Louisa May Alcott, to Harvard in June 1843. He and Charles Lane attempted to establish a utopian transcendentalist socialist farm called Fruitlands on the slopes of Prospect Hill in Harvard. The experimental community only lasted 7 months, closing in January 1844. Fruitlands, so called "because the inhabitants hoped to live off the fruits of the land, purchasing nothing from the outside world," saw visits from the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Louisa May Alcott used her experience at Fruitlands as an inspiration for her novel Little Women.

Clara Endicott Sears, whose summer estate was also situated on Prospect Hill, restored Fruitlands and opened it as a museum in 1914. On the grounds of Fruitlands Museum there is also a Shaker house, that was relocated there from Harvard's Shaker Village, by Sears, in 1920. It is the first Shaker museum ever established in the United States. In addition, Sears opened a gallery on the property dedicated to Native American history. Sears became interested in Native Americans after Nipmuck arrowheads were found around her property on Prospect Hill, which the Nipmuck Indians had called Makamacheckamucks.

Originally, Sears' Fruitlands property spanned 458 acres (1.85 km²), but in 1939, 248 acres (1.00 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.

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.

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 is located in Still River, on the west side of Harvard.

St. Benedict Abbey

Main article: St. Benedict Abbey (Still River, MA)

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

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 27.0 square miles (70 km²), of which 26.4 square miles (68 km²) is land and 0.6 square miles (1.6 km²), 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.

Harvard is bordered by Ayer to the north, Littleton and Boxborough to the east, Stow to the southeast, Bolton to the south, Lancaster to the southwest, and Shirley to the northwest.

Demographics

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1850	1,630	—
1860	1,507	−7.5%
1870	1,341	−11.0%
1880	1,253	−6.6%
1890	1,095	−12.6%
1900	1,139	+4.0%
1910	1,034	−9.2%
1920	2,546	+146.2%
1930	987	−61.2%
1940	1,790	+81.4%
1950	3,983	+122.5%
1960	2,563	−35.7%
1970	12,494	+387.5%
1980	12,170	−2.6%
1990	12,329	+1.3%
2000	5,981	−51.5%
2001*	6,089	+1.8%
2002*	6,127	+0.6%
2003*	6,149	+0.4%
2004*	6,145	−0.1%
2005*	6,141	−0.1%
2006*	6,138	−0.0%
2007*	6,167	+0.5%
2008*	6,105	−1.0%
2009*	6,151	+0.8%
2010	6,520	+6.0%
* = population estimate. Source: United States Census records and Population Estimates Program data.

As of the census 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 $107,934, and the median income for a family was $119,352. Males had a median income of $90,937 versus $49,318 for females. The per capita income for the town was $40,867. 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.

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.

Old Stone Barn (c.1915), in Harvard Shaker Village

County government: Worcester County
Clerk of Courts:	Dennis P. McManus (D)
District Attorney:	Joseph D. Early, Jr. (D)
Register of Deeds:	Anthony J. Vigliotti (D)
Register of Probate:	Stephen Abraham (D)
County Sheriff:	Lew Evangelidis (R)
State government
State Representative(s):	Jennifer E. Benson (D)
State Senator(s):	James B. Eldridge (D)
Governor's Councilor(s):	Marilyn M. Petitto Devaney (D)
Federal government
U.S. Representative(s):	Niki Tsongas (D) (5th District)
U.S. Senators:	John Kerry (D), Scott Brown (R)

The town has resisted pressures to regionalize its school system and its K-12 school system ranks among the top 5% of schools in the state 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.

Harvard public library, 1891

Library

The public library of Harvard opened in 1856. In fiscal year 2008, the town of Harvard spent 2.41% ($487,470) of its budget on its public library—some $81 per person.

Notable past and current residents

• Amos Bronson Alcott – teacher, writer and Transcendentalist, Fruitlands founder           
• Louisa May Alcott – novelist, daughter of Amos Alcott
• Tabitha Babbitt – tool maker^{[citation needed]}
• Adam Dziewonski – geophysicist^{[citation needed]}
• Jonathan Edwards – musician^{[citation needed]}
• Fannie Farmer – cookbook author

• Lynn Jennings – Olympic runner
• Charles Lane – Transcendentalist, Fruitlands founder
• Ann Lee – Shaker founder
• Keir O'Donnell – Australian actor
• Clara Endicott Sears – founder of Fruitlands Museum
• Ted Sizer – educational reform leader^{[citation needed]}
• William Channing Whitney – architect^{[citation needed]}

Houses of worship

• Harvard UCC
• Harvard Unitarian Universalist
• St. Theresa's Church
• Seeds of Faith Church

See also

• Harvard Historical Society
• Harvard Center Historic District
• Frederick Fiske and Gretchen Osgood Warren House

References

Notes

Further reading

• Nourse, Henry S. (1894). History of the Town of Harvard, Massachusetts 1732-1893. Clinton, Massachusetts: Warren Hapgood. http://books.google.com/books?id=CpQvAAAAYAAJ. Retrieved 7 July 2011. 
• Anderson, Rober C. (1976). Directions of a town: a history of Harvard, Massachusetts. Harvard, Massachusetts: Harvard Common Press. 

External links

• Official town website
• Harvard Public Schools
• Harvard Public Library
• Fruitlands Museum
• The Harvard Hillside Newspaper
• The Harvard Press, the town's only locally-owned weekly newspaper
• The Harvard Post Newspaper
• Fannie Farmer House
• Shaker Historic Trail