Games on the Bromfield School grounds have long been part of Harvard’s Fourth of July celebration, but the kinds of games and their participants have changed over the years.
An 1899 July 4 journal entry of Still River resident Louisa Bateman notes games and a ball game, along with a band concert, and fireworks.
A 1906 “Program of Sports” shows that activities began at 9 a.m. on the Bromfield grounds. There were egg and potato races and a 100-yard dash for boys under 14; putting the shot; running broad jump, rope climbing, and 440 dash for men; and, the last event, a peanut race for girls. A 10:30 ball game, Harvard jrs. vs. Bromfields, was followed by an afternoon ball game, Harvard vs. Littleton.
Four years later, a 50-yard dash had been added for girls. A magician performed at Town Hall in early afternoon and was followed by a baseball game.
Across the country in the 1920s, boxing was a popular sport at Fourth of July celebrations. A photo at the Historical Society shows a Harvard celebration featuring a variation: barrel boxing. The picture is undated, but the photographic method suggests it is from the late 1920s. The sport is described in a 1922 book, “Games for Boys”: The two pugilists are put inside bottomless barrels, from which nails have been carefully removed. At the signal “Go to it,” each boxer tries to knock his opponent—and his barrel—over. In order to move the barrel, a man must hold it with his hands, leaving him without his guard up. The game appears to have drawn quite a crowd, but there is no record of how long it continued to be part of the festivities.
Copies of the Harvard Post show that in 1975 the pie-eating contest was for children in age categories, but it also included adults in three groups: ladies, men, and town officials.
Mini-musters were popular for a period of time, and a 1978 newspaper clipping shows kids in rain gear engaged in water polo with hoses.
The sack race seems to be the only game on this year’s schedule of games that has precedent in very early Harvard Fourth of July celebrations.
Barrel boxing was popular at Fourth of July celebrations. (Photo courtesy of Harvard Historical Society)
