Gates of Harvard Yard

File:Johnston Gate (Harvard Yard) - IMG 8974.JPG

The Johnston Gate was completed in 1889 after a Georgian Revival design by McKim, Mead, and White, it opens onto Peabody Street (often mistaken for Massachusetts Avenue, from which Peabody Street diverges nearby) just north of Harvard Square. Costing some $10,000, it was the gift of Samuel Johnston (Harvard College class of 1855). Each Harvard Commencement Day for several hundred years, the sheriffs of Middlesex and Suffolk Counties have arrived at Harvard Yard on horseback, preparatory to the Middlesex Sheriff's ritual calling of the celebrants to order. It has become traditional for them to enter via the Johnston Gate.{{refn|name=wonderment|{{cite news|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/05/commence-wonderment|title=Commencement wonderment|date=May 26, 2010 |last=Sweeney|first=Sarah|work=Harvard Gazette}}{{nbsp}}{{open access}}}}{{refn|name=feasting|{{cite news|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/05/commencement-feasting-customs-color-date-to-medieval-europe|title=Commencement feasting, customs, color date to medieval Europe | last=Cromie | first =William J. | date=May 31, 2007 |work=Harvard Gazette}}{{nbsp}}{{open access}}}}

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File:1870 Gate (Harvard Yard) - IMG 8975.JPG

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File:1881 gate (cropped).jpg

The inscription on the Class of 1881 Gate invites the reader to "come within its gates, in order that in whole-hearted service to the truth, they may enter into life and so be free".{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/08/the-gates-that-frame-harvard-yard/|title=The gates that frame Harvard Yard|date=2017-08-29|website=The Harvard Gazette|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-26|archive-date=2020-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102162319/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/08/the-gates-that-frame-harvard-yard/|url-status=live}} It has been locked for many years.{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/08/harvards-gates-on-the-screen/|title=Harvard's gates, on the screen|date=2013-08-12|website=The Harvard Gazette|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-26|archive-date=2019-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226183139/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/08/harvards-gates-on-the-screen/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/10/3/locked-away/|title=Locked Away: A Tour of Harvard Yard's Neglected Gates|website=The Harvard Crimson|access-date=2019-12-26|archive-date=2020-08-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821005033/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/10/3/locked-away/|url-status=live}}

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The Class of 1876 Gate is also known as Holworthy Gate; Holworthy Hall, a freshman dormitory, is immediately inside it. A plaque at its apex reads, "In Memory of Dear Old Times."{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/12/enter-to-grow-in-wisdom/|title=Enter to grow in wisdom|date=2005-12-15|website=Harvard Gazette|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-18}}{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/10/autumn-arrives-in-harvard-yard/|title=Autumn arrives in Harvard Yard|date=2016-10-28|website=Harvard Gazette|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-18}}

File:Cambridge, Massachusetts (2019) - 027.jpg|The Holworthy Gate (2019)

File:Holworthy Gate (Harvard Yard) - IMG 8981.JPG|Holworthy gate

File:Holworthy Gate (Harvard Yard) - IMG 8982.JPG|Detail, 2010

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File:Meyer gate.jpg

File:Emerson plaque on Meyer gate.jpg

Meyer Gate was given by George von Lengerke Meyer{{cite web| url = https://www.thecrimson.com/image/2015/11/11/Historical-Military-Tour-4/| title = Meyer Gate {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson| access-date = 2019-11-18| archive-date = 2022-02-13| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220213164928/https://www.thecrimson.com/image/2015/11/11/Historical-Military-Tour-4/| url-status = live}}

in 1901.{{Cite web|url = https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/12/enter-to-grow-in-wisdom/|title = Enter to grow in wisdom|date = 15 December 2005|access-date = 18 November 2019|archive-date = 10 December 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191210045221/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/12/enter-to-grow-in-wisdom/|url-status = live}}{{cite web| url = https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1901/6/3/change-on-the-meyer-gate-pthe/| title = Change on the Meyer Gate. {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson| access-date = 2019-11-18| archive-date = 2022-02-13| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220213164959/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1901/6/3/change-on-the-meyer-gate-pthe/| url-status = live}}

Like the Holworthy Gate, it connects the Yard to the Science Center Plaza.{{Cite web|url = https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/05/the-history-of-harvard-gates/|title = The history of Harvard gates|date = 23 May 2016|access-date = 18 November 2019|archive-date = 26 December 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191226183824/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/05/the-history-of-harvard-gates/|url-status = live}}

The words on a plaque set in the gate's brickwork are from Ralph Waldo Emerson's journal for 1836:{{cite web |url=https://harvardplanning.emuseum.com/objects/92011/oblique-view-of-ralph-waldo-emerson-plaque |title=Oblique view of Ralph Waldo Emerson plaque |publisher=Harvard Property Information Resource Center |date=5 June 2015 |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117235839/https://harvardplanning.emuseum.com/objects/92011/oblique-view-of-ralph-waldo-emerson-plaque |url-status=live }}

{{blockquote|I went to the College Jubillee on the 8th instant. A noble{{nbsp}}& well thought of anniversary. The pathos of the occasion was extreme{{nbsp}}& not much noted by the speakers. Cambridge at any time is full of ghosts; but on that day the anointed eye saw the crowd of spirits that mingled with the procession in the vacant spaces, year by year, as the classes proceeded; and then the far longer train of ghosts that followed the Company, of the men that wore before us the college honors{{nbsp}}& the laurels of the state{{snd}}the long winding train reaching back into eternity.}}

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File:Bradstreet Gate aka 1997 Gate (Harvard Yard) - IMG 8987.JPG

Bradstreet Gate is a wrought-iron gate across Quicny Stree and Cambridge Street from Memorial Hall.{{cite book|title=Harvard University: An Architectural Tour|author1=Shand-Tucci, D.|author2=Cheek, R.|author3=Rudenstine, N.L.|date=2001|publisher=Princeton Architectural Press|isbn=9781568982809|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3g6vmGl0UgwC&pg=PA255|page=255|access-date=2019-12-13|archive-date=2022-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705022046/https://books.google.com/books?id=3g6vmGl0UgwC&pg=PA255|url-status=live}} In 1997 it was dedicated to Anne Bradstreet on the 25th anniversary of female students living in Harvard's freshman dormitories.{{cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/08/the-gates-that-frame-harvard-yard/|title=The gates that frame Harvard Yard – Harvard Gazette|website=news.harvard.edu|date=29 August 2017 |access-date=2019-12-13|archive-date=2020-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102162319/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/08/the-gates-that-frame-harvard-yard/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.curbed.com/2016/4/27/11519500/harvard-architecture-gates-blair-kamin-urban-design|title=Why The Gates of Harvard Yard Exemplify Great Urban Design|website=Curbed|date=27 April 2016 |access-date=2019-12-13|archive-date=2019-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213005012/https://www.curbed.com/2016/4/27/11519500/harvard-architecture-gates-blair-kamin-urban-design|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://harvardmagazine.com/1998/01/alumni.women.html|title=The Alumni - January–February '98 - The Women's Entrance|website=harvardmagazine.com|access-date=2019-12-13|archive-date=2019-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213005024/https://harvardmagazine.com/1998/01/alumni.women.html|url-status=live}} A plaque with a quote from one of Bradstreet's poems was added in 2003.{{cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/6/5/to-our-readers-on-an-october/|website=thecrimson.com|title=To Our Readers: {{pipe}}|access-date=2019-12-13|archive-date=2021-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415042058/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/6/5/to-our-readers-on-an-october/|url-status=live}}

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File:1887 and 1888 Gates (Harvard Yard) - IMG 8988.JPG

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File:1877 Gate, Harvard University - Cambridge, Massachusetts - DSC09216.jpg (2018)]]

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File:McKean Gate (Harvard Yard) - IMG 9039.JPG

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File:1857 Gate - Harvard Yard - Cambridge, Massachusetts - DSC06515.jpg

The 1857 Gate (or Class of 1857 Gate) is a triple-arched gate which Harvard Magazine called "a very touching memorial to the unbroken bonds of friendship that this class had" despite the fact that its members had fought on both sides of the American Civil War.{{Cite web|url=https://harvardmagazine.com/2013/07/gates-of-harvard-yard|author= J. Michael Welton| title=The Gates of Harvard Yard, by Blair Kamin (review)|date=18 July 2013|access-date=10 December 2019|archive-date=10 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210045224/https://harvardmagazine.com/2013/07/gates-of-harvard-yard|url-status=live}} Students on both sides helped fund the gate.{{Cite web|url = https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gates-of-harvard-yard-by_b_9799926|title = Gates of Harvard Yard, by Blair Kamin|date = 28 April 2016|access-date = 10 December 2019|archive-date = 10 December 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191210045225/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gates-of-harvard-yard-by_b_9799926|url-status = live}} It has a Latin inscription from Horace's Odes.{{explain|date=November 2024}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGrBJFRw1GsC&pg=PA153|title = Harvard a to Z|isbn = 9780674020894|last1 = Bethell|first1 = John T.|last2 = Hunt|first2 = Richard M.|last3 = Shenton|first3 = Robert|date = 30 June 2009| publisher=Harvard University Press }}{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3g6vmGl0UgwC&pg=PA53|title = Princeton University: The Campus Guide|isbn = 9781568982090|last1 = Rhinehart|first1 = Raymond|date = March 2000| publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |access-date = 2019-12-10|archive-date = 2022-01-29|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220129213400/https://books.google.com/books?id=3g6vmGl0UgwC&pg=PA53|url-status = live}}

The gate was relocated 40 feet{{clarify|reason=Where? How?|date=November 2024}} in 1924,{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1924/10/8/workmen-begin-on-new-administration-building/|title=WORKMEN BEGIN ON NEW ADMINISTRATION BUILDING | News | the Harvard Crimson|access-date=2019-12-10|archive-date=2020-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820191905/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1924/10/8/workmen-begin-on-new-administration-building/|url-status=live}} and is now on axis{{explain|date=November 2024}} with the 1876 Gate.{{Cite web|url = https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/12/enter-to-grow-in-wisdom/|title = Enter to grow in wisdom|date = 15 December 2005|access-date = 10 December 2019|archive-date = 10 December 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191210045221/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/12/enter-to-grow-in-wisdom/|url-status = live}}

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|editor-last=Kamin|editor-first=Blair|title=Gates of Harvard Yard|date=3 May 2016 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press|isbn=9781616894641}}
• {{cite book|last=Shand-Tucci|first=Douglas|publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |title=The Campus Guide: Harvard University|year=2001|isbn=9781568982809|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3g6vmGl0UgwC}}

{{Portal|Massachusetts}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Bradstreet Gate (Harvard Yard)}}
• [https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/12/enter-to-grow-in-wisdom/ "Enter to grow in wisdom: A tour of Harvard gates"], The Harvard Gazette, December 15, 2005

{{Harvard University}}

Category:Gates at colleges and universities in the United States

Category:Harvard University