A National Historic Landmark. Built in 1843. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. 16 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1893.
One of 686 National Register listings published here for Worcester County · listed in 1974 · category: Building · built in 1843 · a National Historic Landmark.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article
The chapter on Harvard Town in History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889 names Harvard. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
The town of Harvard is located in the eastern part of the county and is bounded as follows : on the north by Ayer ; on the east by Littleton, Boxborough and Stow; on the south by Bolton ; and on the west by Lancaster and Shirley. This town was originally a portion of Lancaster,' and was incorporated January 29, 1732, and named in honor of John Harvard, founder of Harvard University. Portions of Groton and Stow were subsequently added to the town.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
The Public Library building and library owe their existence to the sime spirit of benevolence that founded the Bromfield School. The library building was erected at a cost of about ten thousand dollars, all of which, except thirty-nine hundred dollars, raised by the town, was given by former citizens of Harvard. The laru-est amount was a legacy left by Mrs. Hannah W. C. Sawyer, principally from the estate of her husband, A. J. Sawyer, a citizen of Harvard. Warren Hapgood, Esq., of Boston, generously contributed twenty-six hundred dollars, and W. Channing Whitney, of Minneapolis, architect, presented the plans and specifications.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Harvard Town - 585 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 74 fires within 5 miles of Fruitlands between 2002 and 2020, burning about 2,686 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 32 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 September 2015 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 1 September 2017 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 30 August 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 27 August 2017 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 18 August 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 18 August 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 14 August 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | DEVENS |
| 10 August 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,108 specimens collected within 10 miles of Fruitlands between 1859 and 1974: 1,204 Animalia, 539 Plantae, 345 Fungi, 11 Unrecorded, 8 Chromista, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. C. Gibson, A. Ferrett and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.
| Image | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Exidia glandulosa (Bull.) Fr. | 1896 | F. O. Grover | Prospect Hill |
 | Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook. | 1899 | E. F. Williams | |
 | Condylura cristata cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1859 | E S Wheeler | BERLIN |
 | Dryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson, 1832) | 1861 | not recorded | Bolton |
| Clemmys insculpta Fitzinger, 1835 | 1864 | Agassiz | ||
 | Bromus sterilis L. | 1879 | C. E. Faxon | |
 | Megascops asio asio (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1879 | Smith, J. C.; Thomas Wilmer Dewing collection | Groton |
 | Strix varia varia Barton, 1799 | 1880 | Smith, J. C.; Thomas Wilmer Dewing collection | Groton |
| unnamed | 1881 | Sargent, F. L. | Groton, Mass. [Massachusetts] | |
 | Conocephalum conicum (L.) Underw. | 1881 | Charles W. Swan | |
 | Hypericum gentianoides (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. | 1881 | Fredrick L Sargent | Lunenburg |
| Arthuriomyces peckianus (Howe) Cummins & Y.Hirats. | 1892 | W. B. Hosmer |
All 2,108 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Fruitlands: 6 past producers, 3 producers, 1 unknown, 1 occurrence. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Kyanite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Hill Andalusite Occurrence | Kyanite | Occurrence | Metamorphic | |
| Keating Quarry & Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Keating Quarry and Mill | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Bolton Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Hazen Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Joy Contracting Tc | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Kanis Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Lancaster Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Landfill Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Shirley Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Harvard, the town this property stands in, in 13 storm reports between 1994 and 2021: 9 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | $20,000 | Multiple trees were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | $15,000 | Trees on Scott Street were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| August 2016 | Lightning | Harvard | $10,000 | A barn on Still River Depot Road was struck by lightning, causing a small fire on the 2nd floor. |
| August 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | $5,000 | Two trees were downed by thunderstorm winds, one of them was blocking one side of Route 111. |
| May 2014 | Hail | Harvard | $5,000 | Golfball size hail damaged a Massachusetts Environmental Police cruiser as they traveled between Interstate 495 and Route 2 through the center of Harvard. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | $2,000 | In Harvard, multiple trees were down on Houghton Lane. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | $2,000 | At 5:35 PM EST a large tree and wires were reported down on Warren Avenue in Harvard. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | - | Trees and power lines down near Bull Park. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | - | Trees and power poles downed. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | - | Trees down on Warren Road. |
| July 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harvard | - | Trees were reported uprooted and wires knocked down. About 1500 electrical customers lost power. |
| July 1999 | Hail | Harvard | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Hail | Harvard | - | no account filed |
United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Fruitlands Museums Historic District | 0.3 miles | 1997 |
 | Still River Baptist Church | 1.3 miles | 1996 |
 | Harvard Center Historic District | 1.7 miles | 1997 |
 | Frederick Fiske and Gretchen Osgood Warren House | 2.0 miles | 1996 |
 | Harvard Shaker Village Historic District | 3.2 miles | 1989 |
 | Ayer Main Street Historic District | 3.6 miles | 1989 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 74001761 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Worcester County | All 686 listed properties in this county. |
Block
