Reports From Yale Recall Days at Harvard When Full-Fledged Brewery Did Flourishing Business in the Yard

Recent reports that stills had been discovered in dormitories on the campus at Yale are not without their precedents at the University, as a full-fledged brewery was among one of the earliest buildings in the College Yard. Although it has been impossible to find exact records of the date of the construction of this building, it can be clearly seen in some of the earliest pictures of the Yard now in the print collection at Widener Library. One pictures, an engraving made by F. Hill for a number of the Massachusetts Magazine in March 1790, shows the brewery, a long, one-story building, located beyond Hollis and Stoughton, near the present site of Thayer Hall.

When the building was desnolietied is not known. It is probable, that it still existed in 1814 when University Hall was built. This buildings was originally intended for College commons. The four main rooms on the first floor, now occupied by the Deans' offices were the original dining rooms. One room was occupied by each class in the College, and the plates of food were passed in through large round openings in the hallways, which have since been boarded up. After meals in University Hall, it was the custom for the students to take their pewter mugs and go out to a buildings, probably the original brewery, at the north end of the University, where they received their regular allotment of ale and beer.