Boston Photo Gallery - Harvard Yard

Puritan leaders founded a college in Newtowne in 1636, the first college in the American colonies. Upon John Harvard's death, he donated half his estate and all his books to it, and the town surrounding it was renamed Cambridge, after where the colony's leaders studied. At its historic heart is Harvard Yard, a grand leafy zone with many buildings and no cars. The Memorial Church was built in 1931 with a steeple modeled after the Old North Church in the city.