Photograph of Harvard Square — Photograph by (User: Wgreaves ), CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Harvard Square Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1893.

From the record

One of 1,353 National Register listings published here for Middlesex County · listed in 1988 · category: District.

Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

Address. Roughly bounded by Harvard & Massachusetts Aves., Mt. Auburn, Winthrop, Bennett, Story & Church Sts., Cambridge
When was it listed? July 1988
Category. district
Also known as. Cambridge MRA
National Register reference number. 86003654 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

62 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 62 fires within 5 miles of Harvard Square Historic District (Boundary Increase) between 2015 and 2020, burning about 107 acres in total. None started naturally. 24 were 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
Arson/incendiarism	24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	17
Debris and open burning	8
Recreation and ceremony	6
Smoking	5
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	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
8 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
4 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
23 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
23 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
22 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
2 September 2018	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	BROOKLINE
2 September 2017	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	QUINCY

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 12 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Harvard Square Historic District (Boundary Increase): 10 plants, 2 past producers. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium). Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
(Facility) Vulcan Smelter--Chelsea, Ma.	Copper, Lead	Plant
C. J. Mabardy	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Nrc Inc--Newton, Ma.	Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium)	Plant
Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma.	Silica	Plant
Us Gypsum Co--Boston	Gypsum-Anhydrite	Past Producer
Whittemore Prdts Inc--Boston	Perlite	Plant
(Facility) Cambridge Smelter Co	Lead	Plant
General Metals & Smelting--Boston	Lead	Plant
Industrial Serv. Centers--Cambridge	Iron	Plant
Somerville Smelting Co.	Lead	Plant

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Maps showing this location

17 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1893 USGS Boston quadrangle1:62500 - 4 printings
1903 USGS Boston quadrangle1:62500 - 13 printings
1943 USGS Boston quadrangle1:125000
1944 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:24000
1946 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:31680 - 3 printings
1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1954 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000
1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 6 printings
1956 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1970 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:24000
1970 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000
1977 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000
1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
1987 USGS Boston South quadrangle1:25000 - 2 printings
1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

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.

Property	Distance	Listed
Hasty Pudding Club	under 500 feet	1978
Porcellian Club	under 500 feet	1983
Harvard Square Subway Kiosk	under 500 feet	1978
Harvard Square Historic District	under 500 feet	1982
Harvard Yard Historic District	under 500 feet	1987
Harvard Lampoon Building	under 500 feet	1978

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 86003654 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Middlesex County	All 1353 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.