Thread: Harvard’s Massachusetts Hall, the oldest surviving building on campus, predates the creation of the United States by over 50 years. It has stood as silent witness to the continuous metamorphosis of the campus and community surrounding it. Let’s look at its history.
The historic building was designed and built between 1718 and 1720 by Harvard President John Leverett with input from his successor, Benjamin Wadsworth. Here’s the original blueprint they made, with handwritten instructions on the back, courtesy of @HarvardArchives. 
Several of our nation’s founding fathers lived in Mass Hall when attending Harvard, including John Adams, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams.
One of the earliest exterior representations of Mass Hall is a 1767 engraving by Paul Revere (yes—that Paul Revere), who needed to make money when his teapots didn’t sell.
General George Washington’s army camped out in Mass Hall during the Revolutionary War. The damage they caused resulted in some of the earliest recorded renovations to the building. In 1778, the state of Massachusetts reimbursed Harvard £417 for repairs.
Harvard College’s letter to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts listed the following damages:
- 27 brass knoblocks for chamber doors
- 1 knob latch for D
- 60 box locks for studies
- 62 rolls of paper
- 60 yards of paint
- 27 brass knoblocks for chamber doors
- 1 knob latch for D
- 60 box locks for studies
- 62 rolls of paper
- 60 yards of paint
In his 1802 math thesis, Harvard undergraduate Alexander Townsend used Mass Hall as his subject material to study angles of declination, elevation, and depression. His pen and ink drawing included one of the more detailed depictions of the exterior clock at the time.
It’s rumored that the ghost of Holbrook Smith, supposedly a member of the Class of 1914, haunted Mass Hall—though no record can be found of him. hrvd.me/harvac69ae
In 1924, a devastating fire roared through the top two floors of Mass Hall, incinerating dorm rooms and almost destroying original, single copies of three economics students’ freshly submitted theses. The papers were barely rescued in time.
Theories about the fire’s cause flew around campus, from a rogue bird or mouse nest using a match as building material to a discarded, lit match from Matthews Hall carried by the wind.
In 1977, Mass Hall was officially recognized as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service, highlighting it as a location that “possess[ed] exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.”
300 years of history in a few tweets not enough? There's more about the fascinating history of Mass Hall here: hrvd.me/athar9476d
