Warren Hapgood

In 1886, Town Meeting appropriated money to add to the bequest of Mrs. Augustus Sawyer and purchased land at what is now 7 Fairbank Street, land made vacant by a devastating fire in 1880. The site was used for the Harvard Public Library. The architect, William Channing Whitney of Minneapolis, a Harvard native, gave his services to the town for the plans. Warren Hapgood, a retired Boston merchant originally from Harvard, learning that the town had insufficient funds to complete the building according to the plans, gave the town an additional $2,500 for the building program. Construction started on August 2, 1886 and the building was dedicated June 22, 1887. The new building housed not only the library, but also the Harvard Post Office. There were no changes to the building until 1902 when a bequest from Warren Hapgood made possible an addition along the eastern side of the building for meetings and exhibits; it would later become the children’s room. The name “Hapgood Memorial” is etched along the top of the south facing wall of the building. Mr Hapgood made other donations to the town of Harvard.

Warren Hapgood was born in the Old Mill district of Harvard on October 14, 1862, the son of an old Harvard family.  As a young man, he was not interested in farming and aspired to a college education. But this was out of the question for him; his only schooling was at the local district school.  He held several jobs before starting a ready-made clothing and tailoring firm in Boston.  He married Julia Adelaide Gamage in 1852.  The couple did not have children: they took in a nephew to care for and educate, who sadly died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-two.  Warren Hapgood died on January 30, 1932.