Harvard University – 5 Fun Facts

by Scott Jacobson

harvard university online Just the name Harvard conjures up images of ivy covered walls and brilliant minds.

Harvard was founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature and is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.

It has been ranked at the top of the various ranking publications for many consecutive years. Although, you may have stuffy images of Harvard University – 5 fun facts are listed below.

1. Harvard stadium was actually the first reinforced concrete structure in the world and the first stadium built just for college athletics. It was completed at a cost of just $310,000.

2. The school was originally chartered to teach divinity and had a heavy influence from the Puritans. In 1701, a group of Harvard alumni were growing concerned at their school’s decline in Puritan orthodox. Therefore, they decided to create a new school, and thus Yale was born.

3. Not only is Harvard the oldest school in the nation, it is also the first and oldest corporation in America.

4. Harvard has the largest academic library in the United States. It currently has 13.6 million volumes with some dating back to the 1700′s. Of the original volumes of John Harvard, the founder of the university, only one remains. The remaining were destroyed in a devastating fire.

5. Of the current Supreme Court justices, six of the nine studied at Harvard Law School. Of the United States federal judges, 149 studied at Harvard. And, of course, President Barack Obama graduated from Harvard in 1991 with a Juris Doctorate.