Harvard Road

Harvard Road runs from Gray Street in East Billerica southeast to Andover Road at its junction with Salem Road. For most of its length it follows the line of the Middlesex Canal, which was dug through this part of the town about 1802 and passed under Gray Street at the Richardson bridge and under Andover Road at the Allen bridge. No laying out of the road is recorded.

The road has had three names. The street naming committee chosen in 1896 (Martin Conway, John E. Rowell and Coburn S. Smith) called it "King street, running easterly from Andover street to Salem street, E. Billerica," probably for the King family of East Billerica. A meeting of citizens at the Historical Society in March 1898 asked that it be "Changed to Canal Street," after the old canal it follows, and the Billerica Historical Society's revised list, accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899, gave it as "25. Canal street, from Andover road running easterly to Salem road, E. Billerica." It kept that name for about ninety years. When the Street Renaming Committee of 1988 to 1990 removed duplicate names throughout the town, Canal Street became Harvard Road; the new name was in use by 1994, and a report of 2006 calls it "Harvard Road (formerly Canal Street)." Why the name Harvard was chosen is not recorded.

Canal Street was graveled 670 feet in 1902 and remained a gravel road until 1943, when it was "graded, shaped, dragged and rolled" and given a "prime-coat of tar ... followed by application of tar seal-coat, entire length." It was resurfaced and drained in 1994, and in 2007 a water main was laid looping Harvard Road to Gray Street. The town's list of streets accepted, printed in 1956, gives "Canal Street, Andover Rd. east to Salem Rd." with no date, the wording of the 1899 list. It was not on the official map of 1831 and was not among the roads accepted in 2016.

References

1. Annual report 1897: street naming committee, "King street, running easterly from Andover street to Salem street, E. Billerica"
2. Annual report 1899: citizens' meeting of March 1898 asks that item 25 be "Changed to Canal Street"
3. Annual report 1899: Historical Society list, "25. Canal street, from Andover road running easterly to Salem road, E. Billerica"
4. Annual report 1900: street list accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899
5. Annual report 1943: Canal Street graded and given a prime coat of tar and a tar seal coat, entire length
6. Annual report 1956: list of streets accepted, "Canal Street, Andover Rd. east to Salem Rd."
7. Annual report 1994: town meeting transfers $30,000 for resurfacing and drainage improvements to Harvard Road
8. Annual report 2006: Middlesex Canal sign at "Gray street at Harvard Road (formerly Canal Street)"