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Harvard (MBTA station)
Encyclopedia
Harvard is a station on the Red Line
of the MBTA subway system in Cambridge
, Massachusetts
. The third-busiest MBTA subway station, Harvard saw 21,868 entries each weekday in 2010, with only Downtown Crossing
and South Station being busier. It is also an important transfer point, with subway, bus, and trackless trolley service all serving the station.
, a focal point in Cambridge. Specifically, it lies underneath Massachusetts Avenue near its intersection with Cambridge and Garden Streets. Harvard University
is by far the biggest attraction, with Harvard Yard
, the Harvard Art Museums, the Semitic Museum, and the Museum of Natural History
just a short walk away. Other important academic institutions include the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
, Cambridge Public Library
, Lesley College
, the Longy School of Music
, the Episcopal Divinity School
, and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
.
es and trackless trolleys. A kiosk
was added in 1928, and is now listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places
. The station's northbound platform is above the station's southbound platform, making it one of four stations in the MBTA system to have bi-level platforms.
The lead tracks to Eliot Yard (since demolished) curved under Harvard Square and Brattle Street with a portal south of Bennett Street. The tunnel is still in place underground and used for MBTA storage, but the aboveground section has been demolished save for one stone marked by the Boston Elevated Railway.
Stadium station was located at surface level in Eliot Yard, west of the corner of what is now JFK Street and Memorial Drive. It was not open for regular use and did not have fare gates; instead, employees collected fares. It opened on October 26, 1912 and the last known use was on November 18, 1967.
During the construction of the current Harvard station, two temporary stations were built. Harvard/Brattle, built of pressure-treated wood, consisted of two platforms between three tracks just outside the portal. It was open from March 24, 1979 to September 1, 1983.
Harvard/Holyoke is located in the main Red Line tunnel east of the current station, at Massachusetts Avenue and Holyoke Street. Although it was for inbound passengers only, the station was fully built with tile walls and other details. It was open from January 31, 1981 to September 1, 1983. The platform is visible from inbound Red Line trains.
. The Urban Ring will be a Bus Rapid Transit
(BRT) Line designed to connect the current MBTA Lines to reduce strain on the downtown stations.
, Harvard is handicapped-accessible.
program. Arts on the Line was devised to bring art into the MBTA's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar drives for art across the country.
Four of the original twenty artworks are located at Harvard station. These works are:
, loads lower level except Sunday) Huron Ave. via Concord Ave. (Trolleybus
, loads upper level) Waverley Sq.
via Trapelo Road (Trolleybus
, loads lower level except Sunday) Belmont Center
via Concord Ave. (loads upper level) Belmont Center
via Concord Ave. (loads upper level) Arlington Heights via Massachusetts Ave. (loads upper level) North Cambridge via Massachusetts Ave. (Trolleybus
, loads upper level) Arlmont Village via Park Circle (loads upper level) Sullivan Sq. Sta.
- Reservoir (Cleveland Circle
) via Harvard (loads upper level) Medford Sq. via George St. & Davis Sq. Sta. (loads upper level)
On street level (outside of the underground bus terminal): Dudley Station
via Massachusetts Ave. & B.U. Medical Center Dudley Station
via Allston & Brookline Village Kendall/M.I.T.
via Broadway Lechmere Sta.
via Cambridge St.
Red Line (MBTA)
The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the MBTA running roughly north-south through Boston, Massachusetts into neighboring communities. The line begins west of Boston, in Cambridge, Massachusetts at Alewife station, near the intersection of Alewife Brook Parkway and Route 2...
of the MBTA subway system in Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The third-busiest MBTA subway station, Harvard saw 21,868 entries each weekday in 2010, with only Downtown Crossing
Downtown Crossing (MBTA station)
Downtown Crossing Station of the MBTA, located at the corner of Washington Street and Summer Street and the corner of Chauncey Street and Summer Street in Boston, is the main transfer point between the Orange Line and the Red Line....
and South Station being busier. It is also an important transfer point, with subway, bus, and trackless trolley service all serving the station.
Location
Harvard station is located directly beneath Harvard SquareHarvard Square
Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...
, a focal point in Cambridge. Specifically, it lies underneath Massachusetts Avenue near its intersection with Cambridge and Garden Streets. Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
is by far the biggest attraction, with Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
, the Harvard Art Museums, the Semitic Museum, and the Museum of Natural History
Harvard Museum of Natural History
The Harvard Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.It has three parts:* the Harvard University Herbaria* the Museum of Comparative Zoology* the Harvard Mineralogical Museum....
just a short walk away. Other important academic institutions include the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, and is particularly strong in New World ethnography and...
, Cambridge Public Library
Cambridge Public Library
The Cambridge Public Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts is part of the Minuteman Library Network. The library includes a headquarters and several branch buildings throughout the city....
, Lesley College
Lesley College
Lesley College is the undergraduate section, and founding institution of, Lesley University.The college was founded in 1909 by Edith Lesley as The Lesley School, a women's college which focused on early childhood education as a part of the international kindergarten movement established by...
, the Longy School of Music
Longy School of Music
The Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...
, the Episcopal Divinity School
Episcopal Divinity School
The Episcopal Divinity School is a seminary of the Episcopal Church based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Known throughout the Anglican Communion for prophetic teaching and action on issues of civil rights and social justice, its faculty and students have been directly involved in many of the social...
, and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School is a public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.The school, serving grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Cambridge Public Schools....
.
Nearby destinations
- American Repertory Theater
- Cooper-Frost-Austin HouseCooper-Frost-Austin HouseThe Cooper-Frost-Austin House is a historic Colonial American house, currently estimated to have been constructed circa 1681-1682. It is located at 21 Linnaean Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the oldest extant home in Cambridge and operated as a non-profit museum by Historic New England...
- Hooper-Lee-Nichols HouseHooper-Lee-Nichols HouseThe Hooper-Lee-Nichols House is a historic Colonial American house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Initially constructed 1685 and enlarged and remodeled many times thereafter, it is located at 159 Brattle Street in Cambridge. It is the second-oldest house in the city...
- Longfellow National Historic SiteLongfellow National Historic SiteThe Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, also known as the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House and, until December 2010, Longfellow National Historic Site, is a historic site located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For almost fifty years, it was the...
History
It opened on March 23, 1912 and was rebuilt in the 1980s. The Harvard Bus Tunnel also opened in 1912, originally serving streetcars but now busBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es and trackless trolleys. A kiosk
Harvard Square Subway Kiosk
The Harvard Square Subway Kiosk is an historic kiosk and landmark in Harvard Square on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was constructed in 1928 and retired in 1981, when the Harvard Station of the MBTA closed for renovation and expansion....
was added in 1928, and is now listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. The station's northbound platform is above the station's southbound platform, making it one of four stations in the MBTA system to have bi-level platforms.
Former stations
There have been a total of five stations on the Red Line in and around Harvard Square. The former Harvard station was located just east of the current station, and some remains exist. It opened March 23, 1912 and closed January 30, 1981.The lead tracks to Eliot Yard (since demolished) curved under Harvard Square and Brattle Street with a portal south of Bennett Street. The tunnel is still in place underground and used for MBTA storage, but the aboveground section has been demolished save for one stone marked by the Boston Elevated Railway.
Stadium station was located at surface level in Eliot Yard, west of the corner of what is now JFK Street and Memorial Drive. It was not open for regular use and did not have fare gates; instead, employees collected fares. It opened on October 26, 1912 and the last known use was on November 18, 1967.
During the construction of the current Harvard station, two temporary stations were built. Harvard/Brattle, built of pressure-treated wood, consisted of two platforms between three tracks just outside the portal. It was open from March 24, 1979 to September 1, 1983.
Harvard/Holyoke is located in the main Red Line tunnel east of the current station, at Massachusetts Avenue and Holyoke Street. Although it was for inbound passengers only, the station was fully built with tile walls and other details. It was open from January 31, 1981 to September 1, 1983. The platform is visible from inbound Red Line trains.
Future
As a vital interchange station, Harvard is a proposed stop on the MBTA's planned Urban Ring ProjectUrban Ring Project (MBTA)
The Urban Ring is a project of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to develop new public transportation line that would provide improved circumferential connections among many existing transit lines that project radially from downtown...
. The Urban Ring will be a Bus Rapid Transit
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
(BRT) Line designed to connect the current MBTA Lines to reduce strain on the downtown stations.
Station layout
One of the most complex subway stations of the MBTA system, Harvard has two side platforms built on two levels, with outbound trains running on the upper level and inbound trains on the lower level. Above the subway station is the Harvard Bus Tunnel, which offers passengers connections within the paid area to buses and trackless trolleys. Like all other Red Line stations apart from WollastonWollaston (MBTA station)
Wollaston is a station on the Red Line of the MBTA subway at the intersection of Beale Street and Newport Avenue in Quincy, Massachusetts. It serves Quincy's Wollaston neighborhood. There is an on-site 550 space parking lot...
, Harvard is handicapped-accessible.
Public artwork
As a part of the Red Line Northwest Extension, Harvard was included as one of the stations involved in the Arts on the LineArts on the Line
Arts on the Line was a program devised to bring art into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Arts on the Line was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar drives for art across the country...
program. Arts on the Line was devised to bring art into the MBTA's subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the first program of its kind in the United States and became the model for similar drives for art across the country.
Four of the original twenty artworks are located at Harvard station. These works are:
- Gateway to Knowledge by Anne NortonAnne NortonAnne Norton is an American professor of political science and comparative literature. She currently holds a chair in political science at the University of Pennsylvania.-Early life:...
- A 20 foot 6 inch high brick structure divided vertically down the center by a gap but still attached at the top. One half is slightly forward of the other. (located in Brattle Square) - New England Decorative Art by Joyce KozloffJoyce KozloffJoyce Kozloff, b. 1942, is an American artist commonly associated with the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970s - and with artists whose work is based on cartography since the early 1990s....
- An 83 foot long mosaic split up into 8 sections, each resembling a quilt. - Omphalos by Dimitri Hadzi - A grouping of pillars holding up various shapes that intersect at odd angles. Many different types and polishes of granite are used.
- Blue Sky on the Red Line by György KepesGyörgy KepesGyörgy Kepes was a Hungarian-born painter, designer, educator and art theorist. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1937, he taught design at the New Bauhaus in Chicago...
- A large stained glass wall composed of mostly blue glass with the exception of a red band that runs the length of the work.
Bus connections
In the Harvard Bus Tunnel: Watertown Square via Mt. Auburn St. (TrolleybusTrolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
, loads lower level except Sunday) Huron Ave. via Concord Ave. (Trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
, loads upper level) Waverley Sq.
Waverley (MBTA station)
Waverley is a passenger rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line, in Waverley Square, Belmont, Massachusetts. The station is located below grade, in the triangle of Trapelo Road, Lexington Street, and Church Street in western Belmont. This location is also the western terminus of the...
via Trapelo Road (Trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
, loads lower level except Sunday) Belmont Center
Belmont Center (MBTA station)
Belmont Center Station is a rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail system in Belmont, Massachusetts.The station stop is located at the intersection of Common Street and Concord Avenue in Belmont Center...
via Concord Ave. (loads upper level) Belmont Center
Belmont Center (MBTA station)
Belmont Center Station is a rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail system in Belmont, Massachusetts.The station stop is located at the intersection of Common Street and Concord Avenue in Belmont Center...
via Concord Ave. (loads upper level) Arlington Heights via Massachusetts Ave. (loads upper level) North Cambridge via Massachusetts Ave. (Trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
, loads upper level) Arlmont Village via Park Circle (loads upper level) Sullivan Sq. Sta.
Sullivan Square (MBTA station)
Sullivan Square is a station on the MBTA rapid transit Orange Line, and a major bus transfer point. It was also a major transfer point on the old Charlestown Elevated, with two streetcar loops for free transfers, later converted for trackless trolleys and buses.The first Sullivan Square station...
- Reservoir (Cleveland Circle
Cleveland Circle and Reservoir (MBTA stations)
Cleveland Circle and Reservoir are adjacent stops on different branches of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Green Line, located at Beacon Street and Chestnut Hill Avenue at Cleveland Circle, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston...
) via Harvard (loads upper level) Medford Sq. via George St. & Davis Sq. Sta. (loads upper level)
On street level (outside of the underground bus terminal): Dudley Station
Dudley Square (MBTA station)
Dudley Square is a ground-level bus depot in Dudley Square, Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, served by local buses of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and their Silver Line bus rapid transit service...
via Massachusetts Ave. & B.U. Medical Center Dudley Station
Dudley Square (MBTA station)
Dudley Square is a ground-level bus depot in Dudley Square, Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, served by local buses of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and their Silver Line bus rapid transit service...
via Allston & Brookline Village Kendall/M.I.T.
Kendall/MIT (MBTA station)
Kendall/MIT is a station on the rapid transit Red Line in Kendall Square at the intersection of Broadway and Main Street, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Trains emerge from the Red Line tunnel just east of the station to cross the Charles River via the Longfellow Bridge...
via Broadway Lechmere Sta.
Lechmere (MBTA station)
Lechmere is the northern terminus of the MBTA Green Line. It is located in Lechmere Square in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the intersection of Cambridge Street and Monsignor O'Brien Highway . The tracks make a loop at Lechmere, with a small yard...
via Cambridge St.