Hicks House Library

Photo of Hicks House

Hicks House is the Kirkland House Library, and is a wonderful resource available to Kirkland residents for quiet study as well as a place to find movies, books and games. The library is open to Kirkland residents with swipe access all day, every day of the week. It is unfortunately not readily accessible for non-Kirkland residents or members of the broader university community.

History of Hicks House:
John Hicks House was built in 1762 at the intersection of Dunster and Winthrop St., and later moved to its current location on John F. Kennedy Street to become our house library. The building was the home of John Hicks, a seasoned patriot and one of only two participants from Cambridge in the Boston Tea Party.

On April 19, 1775, after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the British soldiers marched in full retreat toward Boston. That afternoon, John Hicks along with Moses Richardson, and Isaac Gardner, hid behind some barrels at Watson’s Corner in what is now North Cambridge. They were launching a surprise attack on the retreating British. Fire was exchanged, and Gardner and Richardson were killed. Hicks was shot through the heart and buried in the Old Burying Ground.

Hicks House was also used by General Israel Putnam as his office during the Revolutionary War. In 1773, the house was purchased by John Foxcroft.