Liquors Were Once Dispensed to Student Body From Harvard Hall--Revolutionary Soldiers Looted Roof for Lead in 1776

Among the halls which have led long and checkered careers in the service of the University few have served a greater diversity of purposes than Harvard Hall, now chiefly noted for its bell and long since overshadowed by Sever, Emerson, and Widener. From the time of its construction in the seventeenth century it has been used as general University headquarters. Revolutionary barracks, and wine and grocery store.

At the time the original building burned down in 1764, the Massachusetts General Court had been holding its sessions in it, having been driven out of Boston on account of a smallpox epidemic. The Province of Massachusetts, therefore, provided for the erection of a new building from the plans of Governor Bernard. The new building, which is the one still standing today, was built in 1765-67 at a cost of $23,000.

Its uses since then have been many and varied. During the Revolution, for a short period of which the students of the University were transferred to Concord. Harvard Hall served as quarters for the American Army. Half a ton of lead was torn from the roof at the time to be moulded into bullets. George Washington was received there in 1789.

The "buttery", now obsolete, used to be in Harvard Hall. According to one account; "as the commons rendered the college independent of private boarding-houses so the buttery removed all just occasion for resorting to the different marts of luxury, intemperance, and ruin. This was a kind of supplement to commons and offered for sale to students, at a moderate advance on the cost, wines, liquors, groceries, stationery, and, in general, such articles as it was necessary and proper for them to have occasionally, and which, for the most part, were not included in the commons' fare."

Harvard Hall has also contained, at various times, the chapel, library, commons, and philosophical apparatus. From 1842 to 1871, it was the custom to serve Harvard commencement dinners there.