Whats got fewer than 1,000 people, excellent farm land, and good, clean living?
By Ken Gewertz Gazette Staff Harvard, as everyone knows, is unique, matchless, one of a kind, sui generis. But is it? It had never occurred to us to question Harvard’s peerless status until we got a letter from Craig Barfknecht, who teaches fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade social studies in the town of Harvard, Nebraska. Barfknecht wanted to tell us how his town got its name. “Harvard, Nebraska,” he wrote, “was named by an official of the railroad that built its track through this area in the early 1870s. As was the custom at that time, settlements along the tracks were named in alphabetical order. When the tracks reached our location, a settlement that began with an “H” was needed, and since the official, whose name is unknown, had attended Harvard University, he suggested that it be named in the school’s honor.” Another Harvard! And so far away. Smack dab in the middle of what used to be called the Western Wilderness, a land of waving wheat, grain silos, and endless highways presided
