Гарвард, Массачусетс: История и современность небольшого городка.

Harvard is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located 25 miles west northwest of Boston, in eastern Massachusetts. It is mostly bounded by I 495 to the east and Route 2 to the north. 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. It is also home to St. Benedict Abbey, a traditional Catholic monastery, and for over seventy years was home to Harvard University's Oak Ridge Observatory, at one time the most extensively equipped observatory in the Eastern United States. It is now a rural and residential town noted for its public schools. The population was 6,851 at the 2020 census.

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 several connections to Harvard College. According to The Harvard Crimson, Josiah Willard named the town after Harvard College, which he had attended, because the articles of incorporation had left the town unnamed. The first minister was Rev. John Seccombe, serving from 1733 to 1757. 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. One notable early enterprise based in Harvard was the Benjamin Ball Pencil Company, which produced some of the first writing instruments made in the United States. They operated in the Old Mill district from 1830 to 1860. Despite this and other limited manufacturing, 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. These apple orchards produce many apple products every year the most notable being apple cider. It is now mostly a residential "bedroom community" for workers at companies in Boston and its suburbs. Harvard has had a relatively quiet history, but has attracted several "non traditional" communities that have given its history some flavor.

One part of town is the site of Harvard Shaker Village, where a utopian religious community was established. During a period of religious dissent, a number of Harvard residents, led by Shadrack Ireland, abandoned the Protestant church in Harvard. In 1769, they built a house that later became known as the Square House. Not long after Ireland's death in 1778, the Shaker Founder Mother Ann Lee met with this group in 1781 and the group joined her United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or Shakers. It was the first Shaker settlement in Massachusetts and the second settlement in the United States. The Harvard Shaker Village Historic District is located in the vicinity of Shaker Road, South Shaker Road, and Maple Lane. At its largest, the Shakers owned about 2,000 acres of land in Harvard. By 1890, the Harvard community had dwindled to less than 40, from a peak of about 200 in the 1850s. In 1917 the Harvard Shaker Village was closed and sold. Only one Shaker building is open to the public, at Fruitlands Museum; the remaining surviving buildings are in private ownership. 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. Originally, Sears' Fruitlands property spanned , but in 1939, were seized by eminent domain for expansion of Fort Devens. As of 2010, that land is now part of the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge. is located in Still River, on the west side of Harvard.

In Still River there is an abbey of Benedictine monks that branched from the St. Benedict Center. They focus on reverently saying Mass in both in English and Latin in the post Vatican II form and chanting the Divine Office in Latin. Their current abbot is the Right Reverend Marc Crilly, OSB, who was elected May 15, 2021.

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 (2 km2), or 2.26%, is water. The eastern part of Harvard is on a large ridgeline. In 1931 Harvard College established the Oak Ridge Observatory at an elevation of 608 feet on Pinnacle Rd, the highest point between Mount Wachusett and the ocean. Harvard is largely wooded with rolling hills, fields, and wetlands. In addition to numerous streams and brooks, Bare Hill Pond, a 320 acre lake with its town beach, dock, and several small islands, is a central, iconic locale.

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 There were 2,225 housing units at an average density of 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 $117,934, and the median income for a family was $139,352. Males had a median income of $90,937 versus $49,318 for females. The per capita income for the town was $50,867. 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. The decline in the population of the town of Harvard from the 1990 census to the 2000 U. S. census is attributable to the 1996 closure of Fort Devens, a U. S. military installation and the departure of military personnel and families residing at Fort Devens, which in large part is within the territory of the town of Harvard. The Fort Devens property has in large part been converted to civilian use, under the direction of MassDevelopment, a development authority of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The public library of Harvard opened in 1856. The official seal of the town depicts the old town public library on The Common prior to renovations that removed the front steps. In fiscal year 2008, the town of Harvard spent 2.41% ($487,470) of its budget on its public library—approximately $81 per person and since then the library has undergone multiple renovations.

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.

Harvard houses three public schools. In the center of town is Hildreth Elementary, and a middle/high school, The Bromfield School. These schools are highly rated within Massachusetts and the nation. When the town constructed the current building housing the Bromfield School middle and high school, the town successfully resisted the Massachusetts School Building Authority efforts to regionalize its school system with other towns; the School Building Authority partially funds new school buildings and renovations.