Johnston Gate. Translated from Latin, the inscription on the tablet at left reads: "Samuel Johnston of Chicago  · Graduate in the year 1855  · Who was born in Cincinnati in the year 1833  · Lived 53 years  · By his will he ordered this."

The Johnston Gate is one of the several entrances to Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Completed in 1889 after a Georgian Revival design by McKim, Mead, and White, it opens onto Peabody Street (often mistaken for Massachusetts Avenue, from which Peabody Street diverges nearby) just north of Harvard Square. Costing some $10,000, it was the gift of Samuel Johnston (Harvard College class of 1855).

Each Harvard Commencement Day for several hundred years, the sheriffs of Middlesex and Suffolk Counties have arrived at Harvard Yard on horseback, preparatory to the Middlesex Sheriff's ritual calling of the celebrants to order. It has become traditional for them to enter via the Johnston Gate.[1][2]

Tablets flanking the gate's exterior

References

  1. ↑ Sweeney, Sarah (May 26, 2010). "Commencement wonderment". Harvard Gazette. Open access icon
  2. ↑ Cromie, William J. (May 31, 2007). "Commencement feasting, customs, color date to medieval Europe". Harvard Gazette. Open access icon

42°22′28.9″N 71°7′6.6″W / 42.374694°N 71.118500°W / 42.374694; -71.118500

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