Havard University Was Once A Tiny School That Educated Clergy
By Melissa Mahoney|Published December 03, 2021
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Melissa Mahoney
Author
I'm an east coast girl living in a west coast world. I grew up in New England before moving to SoCal for several years. I then lived in NYC or a year before moving to AZ in 2009. I worked in the entertainment industry for many years of my adult life and have a deep love for photography, writing, and traveling around the U.S. as well as to far-flung locations around the world. Travel is my life and writing about it is a dream!
Harvard University in Massachusetts was not always known by that name. In fact, America’s oldest institute for higher learning was first known as “New College” and it had a curriculum that was far different than what is taught here today. From its humble beginnings to a world-renowned university, Harvard has come a long way over the centuries.
Founded in 1636, New College, as it was called back then, was originally a learning institution for training clergy in the new commonwealth. In 1639, the name of the college was changed to Harvard University after Reverend John Harvard left half of his estate along with his library of 400 books to the school upon his death.
In 1642, Harvard's nine enrolled students were the first to graduate. Over the centuries, this institute for higher learning continued to grow and today, there are approximately 30,000 students enrolled throughout the school's undergraduate and graduate programs.
Many of the buildings around the Harvard campus have a storied history. Massachusetts Hall is the school's oldest surviving building and has earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.
At over 300 years old, Massachusetts Hall was built between 1718-1720 and is the second oldest academic building in the country. Throughout its long history, it has served as a student residence, Army housing during the American Revolutionary War, and an observatory.
Harvard's Memorial Hall was built in 1870 in a High Victorian Gothic. It was dedicated as a memorial to alumni who had fought for the Union during the Civil War and served as the school's dining area until 1926.
Another building constructed in the 1870s is Sever Hall, an academic building located in Harvard Yard. By this time, Harvard's programs had grown to include a law school, a medical school, the Divinity School, and the Graduate School of the Arts and Sciences, among others.
Harvard has also seen its fair share of notable alumni graduate including future presidents John Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and John F. Kennedy and writers T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Harvard University in Massachusetts has a history that’s older than the country. From its humble beginnings as a training facility for clergy to the Ivy League school it is today, Harvard is known as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. To learn more about its history, visit the Harvard University website.
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