Harvard dates to 1658, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns · #98 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Fruitlands, a National Historic Landmark, and five historic districts with 217 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1811.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Harvard’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harvard is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #98 of 283 in Massachusetts. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Harvard’s overall grade.
Massachusetts towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Massachusetts town has 46.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Harvard’s 319 sits above most of its state (85% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 221 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1658.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.5 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Harvard’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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. They settled on land purchased from Nashaway sachems Sholan and his nephew George Tahanto. 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 sev…
Passages that mention Harvard, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The military annals of Lancaster, Massachusetts. 1740-1865. Including lists of soldiers serving in the colonial and revolutionary wars, for the Lancastrian towns1889 · page 234Read the page →
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[Massachusetts Archives, CLXXXII, 72.] In the adjoining town of Harvard were rusticated two gentlemanly Britons, Captain Edward Barron of the King's Own, and Surgeon Walter Cullen of the Seventy-second Foot or Royal Fencibles. They also got into temporary disagreement with their custodians by once wandering beyond the limits assigned them, and were remanded to jail ; but petitioning to return to the purer air of their country
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The military annals of Lancaster, Massachusetts. 1740-1865. Including lists of soldiers serving in the colonial and revolutionary wars, for the Lancastrian towns1889 · page 134Read the page →
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The Lancaster regiment of militia, now called the Second Worcester County Regiment, was re-organized in March, Josiah Whitney of Harvard being chosen colonel, Ephraim Sawyer of Lancaster, lieutenant-colonel, Silas Bailey of Bolton, first-major, and Ebenezer Jones, secondmajor. The line officers were commissioned as follows, the third and eighth companies being of Harvard, the fourth and seventh of Bolton, and the other six of Lan-
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Biographical sketches of graduates of Harvard university, in Cambridge, Massachusetts1873 · page 326Read the page →
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time. If this absence was in consequence of ill health, he may have died early. That his death occurred before the close of the century appears from Mather's Magnalia and the Catalogue of Harvard Graduates issued in 1700; but it must not be confounded with that of a child of the same name, who, according to the town records of ' The meaning of "discontinument required during non-attendance," which was commonly five ance, as in modern times a portion
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Biographical sketches of graduates of Harvard university, in Cambridge, Massachusetts1873 · page 120Read the page →
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1. The Library of Harvard College contains manuscript notes of a sermon preached by him at Cambridge, in the forenoon of August 3, 165 1, on I Pet. i. i, 2. H.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Harvard, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1830s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1658, according to Wikidata. Harvard’s post office opened in 1811, and the first U.S. census counted 1,387 people here in 1790.
How does Harvard rank for history?
Harvard is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #98 of 283 in Massachusetts. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Harvard?
7 listings: 2 buildings and 5 historic districts with 217 contributing buildings. 221 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Harvard?
16% of Harvard’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1975.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (27), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
![[Massachusetts Archives, CLXXXII, 72.] In the adjoining town of Harvard were rusticated two gentlemanly Britons, Captain Edward Barron of the King's Own, and Surgeon Walter Cullen of the Seventy-second Foot or Royal Fencibles. They also got into temporary disagreement with their custodians by once …](https://images.townratings.com/story/23994/bk-96bb144cab64971d-l.jpg)
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