Boylston's Architecture Likened to That of Jails in Old Magazine Article, Describing Quiet Town of Cambridge

"Boylston Hall is a plain, granite building of the style of architecture generally devoted now to jails," according to an article published in Appleton's Magazine in 1870, now preserved in a collection of Harvard clippings maintained in the University Library. The author's praise is not all damning, however, for he goes on to say that "Memorial Hall will add a beautiful and unique feature to the architecture of Cambridge."

The article explains, presumably for its metropolitan readers, that "Cambridge is a quiet, peaceful little town," and contrasts the judgement of Harvard's founders with those of Yale, saying they were "wise enough to build their college in the village of Newtowne, now Cambridge, instead of in the centre of the crowded city of New Haven."

Sixty years ago Cambridge's chief drawing-card for tourists was its historical points of interest, for "in many places may still be seen the earthworks of the Continental Army, erected during the Revolutionary War." Stampedes of cattle were apparently not uncommon, for the writer says "Harvard Square is a sort of halfway point between the two great cattle markets of Boston." While the cattle were being driven from one market to the other, the herders would make a half at the Square to water their charges at the town pump.

Detailed instructions are given for those travellers who might wish to visit Harvard, as well as a careful description of the parts of Boston which must be traversed in the journey. One had to pass through the "bustling streets of Cambridgeport," past "rows of the mansions of prosperous merchants of Boston," until "we finally come into sight of the Harvard Yard."

The article closes with a prediction that under the regime of President Fliot, the University would do much in the way of starting anew and breaking with the traditions of more than 200 years, remaining ever true, however, to its twin mottes. "Veritas" and "Christo et Ecclesiae."