Harvard is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in the
northwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
United States, on the
Palouse
The Palouse ( ) is a geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of North Central Idaho, north central Idaho, southeastern Washington (part of eastern Washington), and by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. ...
of
north central Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
in
Latah County.
Located on the
Palouse River
The Palouse River is a tributary of the Snake River in Washington and Idaho, in the northwest United States. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 3, 2011 south ...
, east of
Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Scienc ...
on
State Highway 6, Harvard has a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
with
ZIP code 83834.
Nearby is Camp Grizzly, a
Boy Scout
A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...
summer camp; it is approximately upstream to the northeast, at the base of the
Hoodoo Mountains
The Hoodoo Mountains are a mountain range in the northwest United States, in north central Idaho. They are part of the Clearwater Mountains and are the source of the Potlatch and Palouse rivers. Located in northeastern Latah County and southe ...
.
History
Harvard was founded in 1906 when the
Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway was extended to that point.
The community was named after
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
,
and its post office has been in operation since 1906.
The railroad slated it to be called "Canfield" after landowner Homer Canfield, who did not want the honor. He suggested "Harvard" as a complement to the existing
Princeton
Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...
, west, which was named after
Princeton, Minnesota
Princeton is a city in Mille Lacs and Sherburne counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota, at the junction of the Rum River and its West Branch. It is north of Minneapolis and east of St. Cloud, at the intersection of Highways 169 and 95. ...
.
Other locations in the vicinity with collegiate names include Cornell, Purdue,
Stanford
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
,
Vassar, Wellesley, and Yale.
Some were intended, others were coincidental.
Harvard's population was estimated at 200 in 1909, and was 50 in 1960.
References
External links
''Dearest Maude''– About Harvard, Idaho
Camp Grizzly– Boy Scouts of America, Inland Northwest Council
*
Video(2010)
Unincorporated communities in Latah County, Idaho
Unincorporated communities in Idaho
{{LatahCountyID-geo-stub