This is a rare photo of the Harvard Hall building just prior to its replacement after a battle with the town and the invocation of eminent domain. The town needed to widen both Washington St. and Harvard St. and was literally shaving off sections of the building which sat at the apex of the two streets. The grocer, T. H. Dyer, insisted on remaining open and the building owner, in litigation with the town, covered the reduced and now-asymmetrical building with makeshift boarding.

[Courtesy of Historic New England]