Haystack Monument, in Mission Park on the Williams College campus, marks the birthplace of American Foreign Missions. One afternoon in August, 1806, five students of the College met in a grove to talk and pray together. They were deeply concerned about the future of the world and their part in it. When a sudden storm came up, the young men took refuge in the lee of a haystack and continued their discussions and prayer, which ended in a decision to dedicate their lives to the welfare of people in lands across the seas. Out of this decision grew the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the first organization to send missionaries from America oversees. This decision could also be considered the forerunner of America's concern, both sacred and secular, for the rest of the world. Before that time, America was mainly concerned with establishing itself as a nation, but after that date our feeling of responsibility for the whole world became increasingly strong.

Many Williams graduates have served as missionaries since that memorable day in 1806. In 1867 the College's Society of Alumni erected a 12-foot monument marking the site of the prayer meeting and renamed the area Mission Park. The monument has a 46-inch-square supporting a shaft surmounted by a 34-inch diameter globe representing the world. On the east side of the shaft, symbolizing the spirit of the mission, is the inscription "The Field is the World," and under an indented haystack are the names of the five undergraduates who participated in the historic meeting: Samuel J. Mills, James Richards, Francis L. Robbins, Harvey Loomis and Bryam Green.

A sesquicentennial celebration of the event was held in Williamstown in 1956, at which time the "Haystack Fellowship" was established to bring students from foreign countries to study at Williams.

In 1961, under what is believed to be the first college-sponsored summer project in the Far East, "Operation Haystack," The Williams College Chaplain and six undergraduates went to Hong Kong to work with Chinese refugees in education, health and recreation programs.

Williamstown Historical Society

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