Famous Residents of Wadsworth House.

No building in Cambridge has sheltered so many people of eminence, probably, as has the plain wooden structure which stands at the entrance to the yard near the Bursars office. Wadsworth House is the oldest building in Cambridge, and is in fact a venerable patriarch, dating its foundation in the year 1726, if we are able to believe the report. The venerable elm which overtops the roof of Wadsworth House was set out by President Willard, and not until sixty years after the completion of the house.

It was as a residence for the presidents of the university that the old Wadsworth house gained its fame. A long line of presidents, beginning with President Wadsworth, and extending through presidents Holyoke, Locke, Langdon, Willard, Webber, Kirkland, Quincy, to President Everett, made Wadsworth House their official residence, and many a brilliant reception has been held in the venerable building, at which the professors of the college and many talented authors and statesmen have appeared.

Thus the names of many illustrious men are connected with the history of the house, and give a peculiar interest to it. But the most famous of all the Americans who visited the house was the Commander-in-chief of the American Rebels in Cambridge, George Washington. During his stay in Cambridge in 1775, at the time when he took command of the Continental army, he slept in Wadsworth House several times before making the Wassail House his permanent headquarters.

This was not the only time that Washington visited Wadsworth House. Again, in 1789, the then President Washington visited Cambridge, and was given a reception in Wadsworth House. This time, as we might naturally suppose, a brilliant assembly of prominent men of both literary and political talents, assembled in the old building, and we may well imagine what a glorious ovation there was to the idolized President of the United States.

Since the time of President Everett the building has been pretty thoroughly rebuilt inside and is now used for students rooms; and there have been, of course, many important repairs and changes in the exterior of the building in the course of its long life. However it has never been so much changed as to lose its identity and the right to be called Wadsworth House, and cannot fail to be of great historical interest as long as it exists at all.