Editing Harvard, Illinois (section)

== History ==
[[Image:Harvard Illinois Downtown 01.jpg|thumb|left|Looking southwest on Ayer Street. Downtown Harvard, Illinois]]
[[File:HarvardIlCow.JPG|thumb|left|Statue of Harmilda the cow, commemorating Milk Days]]

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. These three men planned the layout of the town and named it "Harvard" in honor of [[Harvard, Massachusetts]]. The plat was signed by Judge J. M. Strode in [[Woodstock, Illinois]], on November 25, 1856. 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, Illinois|Cary]], toward [[Janesville, Wisconsin]]. The newly platted town of Harvard was located directly on the route of the extension, and in April 1856 the railroad accepted Ayer's offer of land to build a station in the town.<ref>Harvard - 150 Years, 1856-2006, Harvard Sesquicentennial Committee May 2006</ref>

In 1856 Mr. Wesley Diggins built a hotel for Mr. H. C. Blackman, who sold it to Mr. Elbridge Gerry Ayer in 1859. 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. In 1925 the Ayer Hotel was purchased by Mr. S. J. Noble and renamed the Noble Hotel. When he could not maintain mortgage payments it was purchased in 1937 by Mr. P. G. Allen and renamed the Hub Hotel. The building was destroyed in a fire on December 22, 1960.

As railroad employment expanded, Harvard's population grew. On April 18, 1869, voters incorporated the community and elected Elbridge Gerry Ayer as the first village president.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/567.html |title=Harvard, IL |website=www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |access-date=September 23, 2006}}</ref> 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.

Harvard was turned from a town into a city when citizens voted to do so (with a vote of 550 to 5) on April 6, 1891. With this change, Harvard was no longer a town administered by a village president. It became a city administered by a mayor.

[[Motorola]] opened a {{convert|1500000|sqft|m2}} mobile telephone manufacturing and distribution facility on Harvard's north side in 1997. The plant employed more than 5,000 at its peak. 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.<ref>[http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/07/20/opinion/editorials/doc4880164edf02a071221925.txt Happy end for Harvard? | Northwest Herald<!-- Bot generated title -->]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wiant |first=Jenn |url=http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/08/14/news/local/doc48a3b25d6fdba877465088.txt |title=Motorola building sold to unknown buyers |work=[[Northwest Herald]] |date=August 15, 2008 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=August 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080816234042/http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/08/14/news/local/doc48a3b25d6fdba877465088.txt}}</ref> On August 13, 2008, the 1.5 million square foot facility was sold to Optima International's{{efn|Mordechai Korf and Uriel Lader founded Optima International of Miami in 1994 and Optima Ventures, LLC, is one firm in the Optima Family.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1302001/download |title=Privat Ponzie |work=[[Department of Justice]]: Southern District of Florida |pages=19–23 |date=August 6, 2020 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |quote=See note on page 32 for the account ''Optima Harvard Facility LLC''.}} See paragraphs 88 and 89.</ref>}} Optima Ventures, LLC{{efn|The Optima Family had an ''Optima Harvard Facility LLC'' account.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Starks |first1=Carolyn |last2=Long |first2=Jeff |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2008/08/15/motorola-plant-has-a-taker/ |title=Motorola campus in Harvard has a buyer - Miami-based real estate investment firm looking at plans to lease shuttered facility |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=August 15, 2008 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=May 13, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513022519/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-08-15/news/0808141200_1_optima-executive-motorola-campus}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Adkins |first=Lenore T. |url=http://prev.dailyherald.com/story/?id=227698 |title=Miami firm buys former Motorola plant in Harvard |work=Daily Herald |date=August 14, 2008 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=May 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519033653/http://prev.dailyherald.com/story/?id=227698}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://rejournals.com/former-motorola-campus-in-harvard-illinois-sells-for-9-3m-on-ten-x/ |title=Former Motorola campus in Harvard, Illinois sells for $9.3M on Ten-X |work=rejournals.com |date=April 1, 2017 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323231509/https://rejournals.com/former-motorola-campus-in-harvard-illinois-sells-for-9-3m-on-ten-x/}}</ref>}} 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.<ref name=ClevelandImportant>{{cite news |last=Jarboe McFee |first=Michelle |url=http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/02/the_most_important_guy_youve_n.html |title=The most important guy you've never heard of: Chaim Schochet, 25, builds downtown Cleveland empire |work=[[The Plain Dealer#Cleveland.com|The Plain Dealer]] (cleveland.com) |location=[[Cleveland, Ohio]] |date=February 4, 2012 |archive-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220323221151/https://www.cleveland.com/business/2012/02/the_most_important_guy_youve_n.html |access-date=May 9, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn|When PrivatBank was nationalized in 2016, [[Ihor Kolomoyskyi]] held 80% of PrivatBank's loan portfolio with almost none of the loans backed with collateral. The [[IMF]] loans to Ukraine were paying for Kolomoyskyi, seven of his friends and two of their subordinates and their company's problematic loans. On February 14, 2017, their companies were liquidated. The alleged nominal owners for the beneficial ownership of Kolomoyskyi were Viktor Shkindel, Ihor Malanchak and Ivan Makoviichuk, who owned eight Kharkiv firms, and Viacheslav Plakasov, who was the CEO of Optima 770, Volodymyr Golovko, who is a manager in Kolomoyskyi's oil refinery, Serhiy Kazarov,  who is the head of the fuel supplier ''Tsyurupinskiy Agropostach'', Vitaly Nemov, who is a manager of a gas station for Avias and owns Olymp Oil, Vadim Andreyuk, who owned three Kharkiv firms, and Anatoliy Derkach, who is a taxi driver that owns Avaris.<ref name=NationalPrivatBank>{{cite news |url=https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/zinas/ekonomika/ukrainas-valdiba-nacionalizejusi-privatbank.a215258/ |title=Ukrainas valdība nacionalizējusi "PrivatBank" |trans-title=Ukrainian government has nationalized «PrivatBank» |language=lv |work=[[Public Broadcasting of Latvia|LSM.LV]] |agency=[[Reuters]] |date=19 December 2016 |access-date=23 January 2021 |archive-date=23 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223060659/https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/zinas/ekonomika/ukrainas-valdiba-nacionalizejusi-privatbank.a215258/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcrVbhLDSkI |title=Перед націоналізацією з "ПриватБанку" вивели десятки мільярдів гривень на фірми-бульбашки: СХЕМИ |trans-title=Before nationalization, tens of billions of hryvnias were transferred from PrivatBank to bubble firms: SCHEMES |language=uk |work=[[Radio Free Europe]] |date=May 11, 2017 |access-date=March 23, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://strana.ua/pub/a/9/5/9537f80682731633f7951fe896326843.png |title=Kolomoisky's Billion Dollar Friends: Before nationalization Ihor Kolomoisky's PrivatBank lended over a billion dollars to companies belonging to his top lieutenants and two of their subordinates. Here's how much they received. |work=[[Strana.ua|СТРАНА.ua]] |date=June 6, 2017 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=June 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606101343im_/https://strana.ua/pub/a/9/5/9537f80682731633f7951fe896326843.png}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Stack |first=Graham |url=https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/6533-ukraine-s-top-bank-lent-owner-s-lieutenants-1-billion-before-nationalization |title=Ukraine's Top Bank Lent Owner's Lieutenants $1 Billion Before Nationalization |work=[[OCCRP]] |date=June 5, 2017 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706021125/https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/6533-ukraine-s-top-bank-lent-owner-s-lieutenants-1-billion-before-nationalization}}</ref>}}{{efn|On August 6, 2020, the [[United States Department of Justice]] in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida (Miami)]] alleged that [[Ihor Kolomoisky]], [[Gennadiy Bogolyubov|Gennadiy Boholiubov]], Mordechai Korf, and Uriel Lader collectively obtained the factory as part of a $5.5 billion [[Ponzi scheme]] as "an international conspiracy to launder money embezzled and fraudulently obtained from PrivatBank," which was nationalized in 2016 to prevent a collapse of Ukraine's equivalent to the United States' FDIC, and using PrivatBank's "Cyprus branch... as a washing machine for the stolen loan funds."<ref name=Politico17102021>{{cite news |last=Michel |first=Casey |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/10/17/ukrainian-oligarch-midwestern-factory-town-dirty-money-american-heartland-michel-kleptocracy-515948 |title=A Ukrainian Oligarch Bought a Midwestern Factory and Let it Rot. What Was Really Going On?: U.S. prosecutors say the decaying plant was part of a broader scheme to hide millions in stolen dollars across the American Midwest. |work=[[Politico]] |date=October 17, 2021 |access-date=March 23, 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Woo-Sung |first=Shim |url=https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2021/10/23/pandora-papers-show-corruption-money-laundering-behind-the-former-motorola-property-in-harvard/ |title='Pandora Papers' show corruption, money laundering behind the former Motorola property in Harvard |work=Lake McHenry Scanner |date=October 23, 2021 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323215925/https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2021/10/23/pandora-papers-show-corruption-money-laundering-behind-the-former-motorola-property-in-harvard/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1302001/download |title=Privat Ponzie |work=[[Department of Justice]]: Southern District of Florida |pages=6, 12 and 18 |date=August 6, 2020 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |quote=Using Korf and Laber’s network, Kolomoisky and Boholiubov spent prolifically: they purchased more than five million square feet of commercial real estate in Ohio, steel plants in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Michigan, a cellphone manufacturing plant in Illinois, and commercial real estate in Texas, among others.}} See paragraphs 21, 47, and 82.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Stack |first=Graham |url=https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/oligarchs-weaponized-cyprus-eranch-of-ukraines-largest-bank-to-send-5-billion-abroad |title=Oligarchs Weaponized Cyprus Branch of Ukraine's Largest Bank to Send $5.5 Billion Abroad |work=[[OCCRP]] |date=April 19, 2017 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=24 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324000453/https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/oligarchs-weaponized-cyprus-eranch-of-ukraines-largest-bank-to-send-5-billion-abroad}}</ref>}} 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.<ref name=Politico17102021/><ref>{{cite news |last=Gallun |first=Alby |url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/commercial-real-estate/why-one-far-flung-suburb-fed-rogue-developer |title=Why one far-flung suburb is fed up with this rogue developer: "It's almost as if the building is cursed." |work=Chicago Business |date=August 2, 2019 |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220324000142/https://www.chicagobusiness.com/commercial-real-estate/why-one-far-flung-suburb-fed-rogue-developer |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2006, Harvard held a year-long [[Sesquicentennial]] Celebration.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.harvard150.com/ |title=harvard150.com<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2006-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004055747/http://harvard150.com/ |archive-date=2006-10-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Greater Harvard Area Historical Society is located on Hart Street. The society identifies and marks historical sites in the area. It also works to obtain histories of Harvard families, businesses, and farms that have been in operation for more than 100 years.

Harvard is the self-proclaimed Milk Capital of the World and hosts one of the longest-running festivals in Illinois, Harvard Milk Days, the first weekend of June to commemorate their contributions to milk production during WWII.

A symbol of the Milk Days Festival, the statue of a cow, Harmilda, "stands 5 feet tall, 8 feet long, and weighs about 125 pounds."<ref>{{Cite web|last=report|first=Carolyn Starks, Tribune staff reporter Freelance reporter Tim Kane contributed to this|title=No one messes with Harmilda|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-09-01-0109010168-story.html|access-date=2021-04-08|website=chicagotribune.com|language=en-US}}</ref>