[3] The city is 63 miles from the Chicago Loop and it is the last stop on the Union Pacific Northwest Line.

The original owners of the land which came to be Harvard, Illinois, were Abram Carmack and Jacob Davis, who obtained it from the government in 1845 and sold it to Gilbert Brainard shortly afterward.

Upon Gilbert Brainard's death, the land was purchased by Amos Page, Otis Eastman, and Elbridge Gerry Ayer.

Shortly afterward Amos Page and Otis Eastman sold their shares of the property to Elbridge Gerry Ayer.

Mr.Ayer's involvement came out of his business interest in the extension of the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company railroad west from Cary, toward Janesville, Wisconsin.

Mr. Ayer built additional floors to raise it to a height of three stories and added a wing and a veranda.

During the Civil War, sick and wounded soldiers passing through Harvard were lodged at the hotel with no charge for their meals.

[5] The first ordinance adopted required every able-bodied citizen between the ages of 18 and 60 to perform one day of labor for the town.

Motorola opened a 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m2) mobile telephone manufacturing and distribution facility on Harvard's north side in 1997.

However, a combination of factors, including a significant decline in Motorola's business in the early 2000s, compelled the company to shutter the facility in 2003.

[6][7] On August 13, 2008, the 1.5 million square foot facility was sold to Optima International's[a] Optima Ventures, LLC[b] a Miami-based real estate investment firm led by Chaim Schochet and 2/3rd owned by the Ihor Kolomoyskyi associated Privat Group, one of Ukraine's largest business and banking groups holding 33% of the individual deposits and accounting for 25% of Ukraine's banking sector from 2003 to 2016.

[12][c][d] In 2016, Xiao Hua "Edward" Gong, who was born in China but resides in Toronto, purchased the former Motorola plant but, in December 2017, prosecutors in Canada and New Zealand alleged that the plant was part of a money laundering scheme and fraud involving Chinese citizens purchasing securities valued at hundreds of millions of dollars and supported by firms in New Zealand.

Public events are hosted at the library on a regular basis, including lectures, performers, crafts, storytimes, and more.

The Harvard Police Department is located in the lower level of the old City Hall building at 201 W. Front Street.

Dispatch services are provided by the North East Regional Communications Center, also known as NERCOM, of which the department is a founding and partner member and is located in McHenry Illinois.

[32] Harvard's Fire Protection District consists of 47 trained firefighters, of which 22 are Emergency medical technicians and 14 are paramedics.

The district provides fire and emergency medical service for 108 square miles (280 km2) and is funded by ambulance user fees and property taxes.

Metra's Union Pacific Northwest Line has a station in Harvard and operates daily service to Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center.

The Harvard station is the most remote point in the Metra system at 63.16 miles (101.65 km) from downtown Chicago.

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