Harvard Square History Quiz

Think you know Harvard Square? Take our quiz—and submit your answers to be enrolled in a contest to win a copy of Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950 by Mo Lotman.

Think you know Harvard Square? Take our quiz--and submit your answers to be enrolled in a contest to win a copy of Harvard Square: An Illustrated History Since 1950 by Mo Lotman. For the accompanying article, see "Pictures in the Square," November-December 2009.

Note: The contest has ended. The answers, along with the winner and runner-up, are posted here.

 

1. What is the maximum number of gas stations that operated in Harvard Square at any one time since 1950? (Today, there are none.)
 

2. In what Harvard Square club did Joan Baez give her first concert, and how old was she at the time?



Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, The Boston Herald

3. What is this man's name and what business did he own?

 

 



Photograph by Lynn Millar/Radcliffe Archives (https://www.radcliffe.edu/schles/)

4. What was the name of this bookstore and what was its motto?

 

 

 


Photograph by David Hunsberger

5. What is the name of this café?

 

 


Photograph by Hugh Blackmer

6. What is this man’s name and what kind of business did he run?

 

7. What international soap chain began in the equipment room of the Brattle Theatre?

 

 

Photograph by Elsa Dorfman

8. What bookstore did the man on the right found in 1927, and what is his name?

 

9. What now stands on the site of the original Design Research?

 

 

Photograph by Harvard Magazine/VL

10. What function did this building serve before it became a shopping mall, The Garage?

 

 


Photograph by Eric Antoniou

11. What is the name of this bar and restaurant?

 

12. What record album did Van Morrison write while living on Green Street in 1968?

 


Photograph by Harvard Magazine/VL

13. What year did Leavitt & Peirce open?

You might also like

In Sermon, Garber Urges Harvard Community to ‘Defend and Protect’ Institutions

Harvard’s president uses traditional Memorial Church address to encourage divergent views.

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize. 

Snapshots of Harvard History | Summer 2025

Including profundity and pretzels

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Free Speech, the Bomb—and Donald Trump

A Harvard cardiologist on the unlikely alliances that shaped a global movement to prevent nuclear war

Irna Phillips, soap opera’s single mother, by Lynn Liccardo

Brief life of soap opera’s single mother: 1901-1973

Explore More From Current Issue

Johnston Gate

Your Views on Harvard’s Standoff, Antisemitism, and More

Readers comment on the controversial July-August cover, authoritarianism, and scientific research.

Room filled with furniture made from tightly rolled newspaper sheets.

A Paper House in Massachusetts

The 1920s Rockport cottage reflects resourceful ingenuity.

Brandon Terry, wearing a blue suit, standing before The Embrace, a large bronze sculpture of intertwined arms in Boston Common.

A New Narrative of Civil Rights

Political philosopher Brandon Terry’s vision of racial progress