Harvard, Massachusetts | |
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![]() The renovated library, established in 1856 | |
![]() Location in Worcester County and the state of Massachusetts. | |
Coordinates: 42°30′00″N 71°35′00″W / 42.50000°N 71.58333°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Massachusetts |
County | Worcester |
Settled | 1658 |
Incorporated | 1732 |
Government | |
• Type | Open town meeting |
• Town Administrator | Timothy P. Bragan |
• Select Board |
|
Area | |
• Total | 27.0 sq mi (69.9 km2) |
• Land | 26.4 sq mi (68.3 km2) |
• Water | 0.6 sq mi (1.6 km2) |
Elevation | 420 ft (128 m) |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 6,851 |
• Density | 250/sq mi (98/km2) |
Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (Eastern) |
ZIP code | 01451 |
Area code | 351 / 978 |
FIPS code | 25-28950 |
GNIS feature ID | 0619482 |
Website | www.harvard.ma.us |
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.[1] It is now a rural and residential town noted for its public schools.[2] The population was 6,851 at the 2020 census.[3]