New Haven, Connecticut

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New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut, after Bridgeport.[1] It is in New Haven County, on New Haven Harbor, on the northern coast of Long Island Sound.

Founded in 1638, New Haven could be considered to be the oldest formally planned community in the United States due to the original grid of four streets by four streets. This created what is now commonly known as the "Nine Squares," now the center of Downtown New Haven.

The city is best known as the home of Yale University but also lays claim to being the birthplace of American football, the Frisbee flying toy, the nation's first defense contractor (Eli Whitney), and, according to the proprietors' claims, both American pizza (see Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana) and the modern hamburger (see Louis' Lunch). Along with Yale University, healthcare (hospitals, biotechnology), business, financial services and retail trade form the base of the economy. Since the mid-1990s, the city's downtown area and many of its neighborhoods have seen extensive revitalization.

Contents

History

Pre-colonial and colonial history

Before European arrival, the New Haven area was the home of the Quinnipiack tribe of Native Americans, who lived in villages around the harbor and subsisted off local fisheries and the farming of maize. The area was briefly visited by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block in 1614. Dutch traders set up a small trading system of beaver pelts with the local inhabitants, but trade was sporadic and the Dutch did not settle permanently in the area.


In April 1638, five hundred Puritans who left the Massachusetts Bay Colony under the leadership of the Reverend John Davenport and the London merchant Theophilus Eaton sailed into the harbor. These settlers were hoping to establish a better theological community than the one they left in Massachusetts and sought to take advantage of the excellent port capabilities of the harbor. The Quinnipiacks, who were under attack by neighboring Pequots, sold their land to the settlers in return for protection.

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A statue in front of the old court house, on Elm Street, in New Haven.

By 1640, the town's theocratic government and nine square grid plan were in place, and the town was renamed Newhaven from Quinnipiac. The settlement became the headquarters of the New Haven Colony. At the time, the New Haven Colony was separate from the Connecticut Colony which had been established to the north focusing on Hartford. Economic disaster struck the colony in 1646, however, when the town sent its first fully loaded ship of local goods back to England. This ship never reached the Old World, and its disappearance stymied New Haven's development in the face of the rising trade power of Boston and New Amsterdam. In 1660, founder John Davenport's wishes were fulfilled and Hopkins School was founded in New Haven with money from the estate of Edward Hopkins.

In 1661, the judges who had signed the death warrant of Charles I of England were pursued by Charles II. Two judges, Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe, fled to New Haven to seek refuge from the king's forces. John Davenport arranged for these "Regicides" to hide in the West Rock hills northwest of the town. A third judge, John Dixwell, joined the other regicides at a later time.

New Haven became part of the Connecticut Colony in 1664, when the two colonies were merged under political pressure from England, partly as punishment for harboring the three judges. It was made co-capital of Connecticut in 1701, a status it retained until 1873. At that time, New Haven was a largely agricultural town. In 1716, the Collegiate School relocated from Old Saybrook to New Haven and established New Haven as a center of learning. In 1718, the name of the Collegiate School was changed to Yale College in response to a large donation from Welsh merchant Elihu Yale.

For over a century, New Haven citizens had fought alongside British forces, as in the French and Indian War. As the American Revolution approached, General David Wooster and other influential residents hoped that the conflict with Britain could be resolved short of rebellion. But on April 23, 1775 (still celebrated in New Haven as Powder House Day), the Second Company, Governor's Foot Guard, of New Haven entered the struggle against the British. Under Captain Benedict Arnold, they broke into the powder house to arm themselves and began a three-day march to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other New Haven militia members were on hand to escort George Washington from his overnight stay in New Haven on his way to Cambridge. Contemporary reports, from both sides, remark on the New Haven volunteers' professional military bearing, including uniforms.

British forces under General William Tryon raided the 3,500-person town in July of 1779, but did not torch it as they had with Danbury in 1777, or Fairfield and Norwalk a week after the New Haven raid, leaving many of the town's colonial features preserved.

Post-colonial history

File:Newhavensign11 G.jpg
A sign on New Haven Green that details the city history.

New Haven was incorporated as a city in 1784, and Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Constitution and author of the "Connecticut Compromise," became the new city's first mayor.

The city struck fortune in the late 18th-century with the inventions and industrial activity of Eli Whitney, a Yale graduate who remained in New Haven to develop the cotton gin and establish a gun-manufacturing factory in the northern part of the city near the Hamden border. That area is still known as Whitneyville, and the main road through both towns is known as Whitney Avenue. The factory is now the Eli Whitney Museum which has a particular emphasis on activities for children, and exhibits pertaining to the A. C. Gilbert Company. Whitney pioneered the replacement of hand-shaped piecework with industrial mass-production and interchangeable parts and was the first defense contractor. His methods made early Connecticut a powerful manufacturing economy; so many arms manufacturers sprang up that the state became known as 'The Arsenal of America'. It was in Whitney's gun-manufacturing plant that Samuel Colt invented the automatic revolver in 1836.

The Farmington Canal, created in the early 1800s, was an important transporter of goods into the interior regions of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and ran from New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts.

New Haven was home to one of the important early events in the burgeoning anti-slavery movement when, in 1839, the trial of mutineering Mendi tribesmen being transported as slaves on the Spanish slaveship Amistad was held in New Haven's United States District Court. There is a statue of [[Joseph Cinqu�]], the informal leader of the slaves, beside the City Hall building. See "Museums" below for more information.

The Civil War boosted the local economy with wartime purchases of industrial goods. After the war, New Haven's population grew and doubled by the start of the 20th century, most notably due to the influx of immigrants from southern Europe, particularly Italy. Today, roughly half the populations of East Haven, West Haven, and Hamden are Italian-American.

Modern history

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Harkness Tower, part of the Yale University campus in downtown New Haven

New Haven's growth continued during the two World Wars, with most new inhabitants being African Americans from the South and Puerto Ricans. The city reached its peak population after World War II, and it can be argued that it was in decline when post-war suburbanization began. However, other factors, such as decreasing family sizes, explain most of the decline in population - because of the very small land footprint of the city (only 17 square miles), new housing after 1950 was built primarily in adjacent, suburban towns which, in many other parts of the United States, would be considered part of the city proper.

Like other cities in 1950s, New Haven was beginning to suffer from a perceived exodus of middle-class workers and the development of slums as the population grew. In 1954, then-mayor Richard C. Lee attempted to stem the tide with one of the earliest major urban renewal projects. Certain sections of Downtown New Haven were destroyed and rebuilt with new office towers, a hotel, and large shopping complexes. Other parts of the city were affected by the construction of Interstate 95 along the Long Wharf section, Interstate 91 and the Oak Street Connector. The Oak Street Connector (Route 34), running between downtown and The Hill neighborhood, was originally intended to run to the western suburbs of the city but was only partially completed; the remaining section is a strip of open fields.

From the 1960s through the early 1990s, New Haven continued to decline both economically and in terms of population despite attempts to resurrect the city through renewal projects. During this period, the city and Yale argued over taxation and land use. In the mid-1990s New Haven began to stabilize though poverty remains a problem as it does for many New England post-industrial cities such as Providence, Rhode Island and New Bedford, Massachusetts, whose poverty rates also exceed 20 percent of the population.

1970 trial

New Haven in 1970 witnessed the largest trial in Connecticut history. Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale and ten other Party members were tried for murdering an alleged informant. May Day, 1970 saw the beginning of the pretrial proceedings for the first of the two New Haven Black Panther trials; it was met with a demonstration by twelve thousand Black Panther supporters, including a large number of college students, who had come to New Haven individually and in organized groups and were housed and fed by community organizations and by Yale students in their dorms.

The demonstrations continued through the Spring. By day protesters assembled on the New Haven Green across the street from the Courthouse to hear speakers including Jean Genet, Benjamin Spock, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and John Froines; afterwards, many taunted the New Haven police, and in return were tear gassed and retreated to their temporary quarters. The police behind them half-heartedly assaulted the dormitories, as was customary for such demonstrations at the time, but on the whole it was peaceful, with very little injury or property damage and only two minor bombings. The National Guard were kept ready on the highways into the city, but police chief Jim Ahern determined that the city police were controlling the situation adequately, and that the presence of the Guard would only inflame the situation; the events at Kent State University a few days later were to prove him prescient.

This coincided with the beginning of the national student strike of May 1970. Yale (and many other colleges) went "on strike" from just before May Day until the end of the term; as at many colleges it was not actually "shut down", but classes were made "voluntarily optional" for the time and students were graded pass/fail for work done up to then.

New Haven in modern political history

New Haven is the birthplace of U.S. President George W. Bush, who was born when his father, former president George H. W. Bush, was living in New Haven while a student at Yale. A predominantly Democratic city, New Haven voters overwhelmingly supported Al Gore in the 2000 election and Yale graduate John Kerry in 2004. Interstate highway officials made several attempts to place signs on Interstates 91 and 95 announcing the city as the birthplace of the current president, but the signs were subject to rapid vandalism and have been removed. In addition to being the site of the college educations of both Presidents Bush, New Haven was also a temporary home to former president Bill Clinton and U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who met while they were students at Yale Law School. New Haven was also the residence of conservative thinker William F. Buckley in 1951, when he wrote his influential God and Man at Yale.

Geography

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Aerial view of downtown New Haven, including the Yale Center for British Art

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 52.4 km� (20.2 mi�). 48.8 km� (18.9 mi�) of it is land and 3.6 km� (1.4 mi�) of it (6.91%) is water.

New Haven's best-known geographic features are its large deep harbor, and two reddish basalt "trap rocks" which rise to the northeast and northwest of the city core. These trap rocks are known respectively as East Rock and West Rock, and both serve as extensive parks. West Rock has been tunneled through to make way for the east-west passage of the Wilbur Cross Parkway (the only highway tunnel through a natural obstacle in Connecticut), and once served as the hideout of the "Regicides" (see: Regicides Trail). Most New-Haveners refer to these men as "The Three Judges." East Rock features the prominent Soldiers and Sailors war monument on its peak as well as the "Great/Giant Steps" which run up the rock's cliffside.

The city is home to three rivers, the West, Mill, and Quinnipiac, named in order from west to east. The West River discharges into the West Haven Harbor, while the Mill and Quinnipiac Rivers discharge into the New Haven Harbor. Both harbors are embayments of Long Island Sound. In addition, several smaller streams flow through the city's neighborhoods, including Wintergreen Brook, the Beaver Ponds Outlet, Wilmot Brook, Belden Brook, and Prospect Creek. Not all of these small streams have continuous flow year-round.

Urban layout and neighborhoods

Urban layout

New Haven has a long tradition of urban planning and a purposeful design of the city's layout. Upon founding, New Haven was laid out in a grid plan of nine square blocks; the central square was left open, in the tradition of many New England towns, as the city green (a commons area). The New Haven Green is currently home to three separate historic churches which speak to the original theocratic nature of the city.[2] The Green remains the social center of the city today. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

Albeit modest in scale, with nearly 6,000 residents per square kilometer, Downtown New Haven, which wraps around the Green, is one of the densest downtown areas in the United States according to a Federal report.[3] The downtown provides about half of the city's jobs and half of its tax base, and in recent years has become filled with many new upscale restaurants, several of which have garnered national praise (such as Ibiza, recognized by Esquire and Wine Spectator magazines as well as the New York Times as the best Spanish food in the country), in addition to shops and thousands of apartments and condominium units.

Redevelopment and Renewal

Since the mid-1950's and spearheaded by its former long-serving mayor, Richard C. Lee, New Haven has undertaken numerous urban redevelopment projects, but with overall mixed results. The downtown area in particular has been the site of sometimes dubious experiments in urban redesign, with new hotels, retail complexes, parking structures, a sports coliseum, and office towers built under a labyrinth of city, state, federal and private efforts. Of recent note, as each of these pieces of the redevelopment puzzle transform, become obsolete or again redeveloped, New Haven tends to bear the brunt a fair share of painful analysis in regard to its ongoing rebuilding efforts, mostly in response to the overhyped claims of success that many similar projects touted over a generation ago.

During the 1950s and 60s, New Haven received more urban renewal funding per capita than any city in the U.S. New Haven became the de facto showcase of the new modern redeveloped city and plans for its downtown development were featured on the cover of Time Magazine in the early 1960's. Some projects, such as the brutalist-styled New Haven Coliseum, drew major crowds but were ultimately considered to be victims of modernist over-design and rapid obsolescence. (the Coliseum was demolished on January 20, 2007). Other downtown renewal efforts, such as the Chapel Square shopping mall and its anchors, Macy's and Malley's department stores, enjoyed some early success but declined dramatically through the 1980's and 90's as retail competition from nearby suburban malls took their toll. In 2004, the central structure of the mall was converted to luxury apartments, joining a renovated 4-star Omni hotel and new street-level retail. Other numerous smaller projects were ultimately successful, due to their in-fill design qualities and mixed-uses, which had more positive effects on the downtown streetscape.

Current plans for downtown include relocating Gateway Community College to the sites that were once the Macy's and Malley's department store blocks on Church Street, and proposed plan to build a hotel, theatre, and shopping complex on the Coliseum site. A major focus has been the "Ninth Square," named from the original nine square layout of New Haven center. This area has experienced an influx of hundreds of new and renovated apartment and condominium units, plus a significant number of upscale restaurants and nightclubs have opened. As a result of these and other redevelopment programs, the new restaurants, retail and luxury residential draws, the quality of life in the center of New Haven is noticeably better today than it was during its nadir in the early 1990s.

The cost of housing in New Haven is high. Connecticut as a whole has generally high housing prices, as the state is wealthier on average than the rest of the United States, has a relatively low unemployment rate, a high quality of life in most regions, relatively mild coastal weather compared to other locations throughout the Northeast, and close proximity to large cities. Some residents believe the housing-price problem is exacerbated in New Haven by the presence of Yale University. They contend that the large student population in New Haven provides a constant and steady demand for apartment housing, which is in limited supply, thus keeping rental rates high. In response, the City of New Haven has undertaken several subsidy programs, in conjunction with the State, to try to provide affordable housing units for certain working-class families and residents.

Neighborhoods

The city has many distinct neighborhoods despite its relatively compact size. In addition to Downtown, centered on the central business district and the Green, are the following neighborhoods: the west central neighborhoods of Dixwell and Dwight; the southern neighborhoods of The Hill, historic water-front City Point (or Oyster Point), and the harborside district of Long Wharf; the western neighborhoods of Edgewood-West River, Westville, Amity, and West Rock-Westhills; East Rock and a smaller part of East Rock is the Cedar Hill Area, Prospect Hill, and Newhallville in the northern side of town; the east central neighborhoods of Mill River and Wooster Square, an Italian-American neighborhood; Fair Haven, located between the Mill and Quinnipiac rivers; Quinnipiac Meadows and Fair Haven Heights across the Quinnipiac River; and facing the eastern side of the harbor, The Annex and Morris Cove.


Demographics

Historical population of
New Haven[2][3]
1638 500 (estimate)
1641 800 (estimate)
1775 3500 (estimate)
1790 4,487
1800 4,049
1810 5,772
1820 7,147
1830 10,180
1840 12,960
1850 20,345
1860 39,267
1870 50,840
1880 62,882
1890 86,045
1900 108,027
1910 133,605
1920 162,537
1930 162,665
1940 160,605
1950 164,443
1960 152,048
1970 137,707
1980 126,021
1990 130,474
2000 123,626
2004 124,829 (estimate)

As of the census� of 2000, there were 123,626 people, 47,094 households, and 25,854 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,532.2/km� (6,558.4/mi�). There were 52,941 housing units at an average density of 1,084.4/km� (2,808.5/mi�). The racial makeup of the city was 43.46% White, 37.36% African American, 0.43% Native American, 3.90% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 10.89% from other races, and 3.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.39% of the population.

There were 47,094 households out of which 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.5% were married couples living together, 22.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.1% were non-families. 36.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.4% under the age of 18, 16.4% from 18 to 24, 31.2% from 25 to 44, 16.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,604, and the median income for a family was $35,950. Males had a median income of $33,605 versus $28,424 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,393. About 20.5% of families and 24.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.2% of those under age 18 and 17.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Colleges and universities

Yale University, at the heart of downtown, is one of the city's best known features and its largest employer. New Haven is also home to other centers of higher education, including Southern Connecticut State University and Albertus Magnus College. The University of New Haven is located, interestingly enough, in the neighboring city of West Haven. North of the city, in Hamden, is the site of Quinnipiac University. New Haven is also served by Gateway Community College, located in the Long Wharf district.

Primary and secondary schools

Hopkins School, also located in New Haven, was founded in 1660 and is the fifth oldest educational institution in the United States. New Haven includes a number of other private schools as well as highly-regarded public magnet schools such as Career High School and the Sound School, which draw students from within a wide radius of suburban towns.

New Haven is served by New Haven Public Schools [4].

Newspapers and media

New Haven is served by the daily New Haven Register, the weekly alternative (now corporate run) New Haven Advocate and the online daily New Haven Independent. It is also served by several student-run papers, including the Yale Daily News, the weekly Yale Herald and a humor tabloid, Rumpus Magazine.

WTNH Channel 8, the ABC affiliate for Connecticut and the Connecticut Public Television station, WEDY, channel 65, broadcast from New Haven.

Culture and notable features

Architecture

New Haven has many architectural landmarks dating from every important time period and architectural style in American history. The city has been home to a number of architects and architectural firms that have also left their mark on the city including Ithiel Town and Henry Austin in the 19th century and Cesar Pelli, Kevin Roche, Herbert Newman and Barry Svigals in the 20th. The Yale School of Architecture has fostered this important component of the city's economy.

Many of the city's neighborhoods are well-preserved as walkable "museums" of 19th and 20th century American architecture, particularly the city's residential sections close to Downtown New Haven. Overall, a large proportion of the city's land area is comprised of National (NRHP) historic districts. One of the best sources on local architecture is "New Haven: Architecture and Urban Design", by Elizabeth Mills Brown.

The 10 tallest buildings in New Haven are:

  1. Connecticut Financial Center 383 ft (117 m) 26 Floors
  2. Knights of Columbus Building 321 ft (98 m) 23 Floors
  3. Kline Biology Tower 250 ft (76 m) 16 Floors
  4. Crown Towers 233 ft (71 m) 22 Floors
  5. One Century Tower 213 ft (65 m) 19 Floors
  6. NewAlliance Bank Tower 211 ft (64 m) 18 floors
  7. Omni New Haven Hotel 209 ft (64 m) 19 Floors
  8. TowerOne 21 floors
  9. Bella Vista Building E 19 floors
  10. Bella Vista Building D 19 floors

Cuisine

Credit for creation of the hamburger sandwich is disputed, but some say that it was first served in the United States in 1895 by Louis Lassen, operator of Louis' Lunch. The restaurant is one of eight featured in "Hamburger America"[5], a documentary film that premiered on Sundance cable television network on 4 July 2005.

A major destination for Italian immigrants in the early 20th century, New Haven also claims to be the birthplace of pizza in the United States. Contentious as that claim may be (see Gennaro Lombardi for a rival American claim, or the pizzerie Da Michele or Brandi of Naples, Italy, which claim to have invented the margherita in 1889), New-Haven-style pizza, called apizza (pronounced ah-BEETS in the local Italian dialect), is made in a coal- or wood-fired brick oven, and is notable for its paper-thin crust. Apizza may be Red (with a tomato-based sauce) or White (garlic and olive oil), and pies ordered "plain" are made without the otherwise customary mozzarella cheese (pronounced sca-MOTZ, as it was originally smoked mozzarella, known as "scamorza" in Italian). White clam pie is a local specialty.

The city has more top Zagat-rated restaurants than any other town or city in Connecticut, including many new additions such as upscale downtown restaurants Bentara, Roomba, and Ibiza. Claire's Corner Copia at Chapel and College Streets claims to be the oldest vegetarian restaurants in the country. Also of note are "The Carts," about 20 lunch carts from neighborhood restaurants that cater to the Yale Hospital pedestrian traffic in the center of the Hospital Green (Cedar and York Sts.) during weekday lunchtimes.

Popular culture

File:Yalenewhavenstructure1.jpg
A view of the buildings around Yale University in New Haven, with its distinctive architecture.

On March 20, 1914, the first United States figure skating championship was held here.

New Haven was also the location in 1967 of one of Jim Morrison's infamous arrests while he fronted the rock group The Doors. The resultant near-riotous concert and arrest was commemorated by Morrison in the lyrics to "Peace Frog" which include the missive "...blood in the streets in the town of New Haven..." This was also the first time a rockstar had ever been arrested in concert.

New Haven serves as the home city of the annual International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and is home to the famous concert and dance hall Toad's Place.

Doonesbury comic-strip creator Garry Trudeau attended Yale University. There he met fellow student and later Green Party candidate for senator Charlie Pillsbury, a long-time New Haven resident for whom Trudeau's comic strip is named: During his college years Pillsbury was known by the nickname "The Doones".

The film All About Eve (1950) is set at the Taft Hotel on the corner of College and Chapel Streets. The hotel was since converted into apartments.

New Haven was fictionalized in the movie The Skulls, which focused on conspiracy theories surrounding the real-life Skull and Bones secret society which is located in New Haven. The city was also fictionally portrayed in the movie Amistad concerning the events around the mutiny trial of that ship's rebelling captives.

Sports and athletics

Hockey

Much like other mid-sized Northeastern industrial cities, New Haven has historically supported its minor league hockey teams enthusiastically, having had a hockey team for 76 years. The New Haven Eagles were founding members of the American Hockey League in 1936, playing at the old New Haven Arena on Grove Street. The New Haven Blades of the Eastern Hockey League played from 1954 to 1972 before being succeeded by the New Haven Nighthawks of the AHL, which played at the then-new New Haven Coliseum, a sports and entertainment facility that hosted hosted such performers and and others as the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, Aerosmith, The Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, and the Steve Miller Band before closing in 2003, when the state-funded Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport later became the preferred venue.

The Nighthawks were replaced by the short-lived Senators in 1993. After a hiatus, hockey returned in 1997, with the Beast of New Haven, a team famous for its ugly logo. Playing in a newly refurbished Coliseum, this team lasted only two seasons, ending AHL hockey in New Haven.

The New Haven Knights of the United Hockey League then took up residence in the Coliseum, playing there until the Coliseum closed in 2002. Afterward, fans' allegiance shifted to the Yale University hockey team, which plays at Ingalls Rink; the Quinnipiac University hockey team; or United Hockey League's Danbury Trashers, owned by James Galante, who attempted to purchase and save the New Haven Coliseum and the New Haven Knights.

New Haven had been known for its blue collar fans who favor rough play, especially the "Crazies" who sat in "The Jungle" � Section 14 at the Coliseum, behind and adjacent to the opposing team's bench. These fans were renowned for being extremely tough on opposing teams, relentlessly screaming obscenities and taunts at opposing players (and sometimes at hometown players), making New Haven an intimidating place to play even though outright physical violence in the stands was rare. Section 14ers maintain a website called "Section 14 Online" which can be found at Section14.com.

Baseball

New Haven was home to the minor league baseball team the New Haven Ravens, an Eastern League AA unit, from 1994 to 2003. Yale Field, across the border in West Haven, was renovated for the team, which was very successful in its first few seasons before losing support. The Ravens won the Eastern League championship in 2000, giving New Haven its first professional championship since the New Haven Blades' championship in 1956. The Ravens have since moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, becoming the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. The New Haven Cutters baseball team began play at Yale Field in 2004 in the independent Northeast (now Can-Am) League.

Football

In 2002, New Haven had an af2 minor-league arena football franchise, the Ninjas, who were successful but had to leave when the Coliseum was closed the following year

The New York Giants of the NFL played an exhibition game against the Detroit Lions in 1960 in the Yale Bowl, a pro-football first for the city. The New York Jets played exhibition games in the Bowl through the 1970s, and in 1973 and 1974, the Giants made the Yale Bowl their home field while Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey was under construction. As of 2006, the Yale Bowl is the second-largest stadium in New England, and is often full when rivals Yale and Harvard play what has become known as "The Game.

Other

From July 1-9, 1995, the city hosted the Ninth Special Olympics World Summer Games.

The Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale University hosts the Pilot Pen International, a professional men's and women's tennis event, every August. The stadium at the Connecticut Tennis Center is the second largest tennis venue in the world, second only to Arthur Ashe Stadium at Flushing Meadows in New York City.

Theatre

The city hosts numerous theatres and production houses including the Yale Repertory Theatre, the Long Wharf Theatre, and the Shubert Performing Arts Center. There is also theatre activity from the School of Drama at Yale, which works through the Yale University Theatre and the student-run Yale Cabaret. Southern Connecticut State University hosts the Lyman Center for the Performing Arts.

The Shubert Theater has premiered many major theatrical productions before their Broadway debuts. Productions that premiered at the Shubert include Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, as well as the Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.

Museums

New Haven has a variety of museums, many of them associated with Yale. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library features an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible. There is also the Connecticut Children's Museum; the Knights of Columbus museum near that organization's world headquarters; the Peabody Museum of Natural History; the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments; the Eli Whitney museum (across the border in Hamden, Connecticut, on Whitney Avenue); the Yale Center for British Art, which houses the largest collection of British art outside the U.K., and the Yale University Art Gallery, the nation's oldest college art museum. New Haven is also home to the New Haven Museum and Historical Society on Whitney Avenue, which also has a library of many primary source treasurers dating from Colonial times to the present.

New Haven is also the home port of a life-size replica of the historical Amistad slaveship, which is open for tours at Long Wharf pier at certain times during the summer. Although it carried slave cargo at the time of its iniquity, it was not the type of ship that brought slaves from Africa to the Americas, but rather a coastal trading ship suitable for various cargo. Also at Long Wharf pier is the Quinnipiack schooner, offering sailing cruises of the harbor area throughout the summer. The Quinnipiack also functions as a floating classroom for hundreds of local students.

Music

The New Haven Green is the site of many free music concerts, especially during the summer months. These have included the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the July Free Concerts on the Green in July, and the New Haven Jazz Festival in August. The Jazz Festival, which began in 1982, is one of the longest-running free outdoor festivals in the U.S. Headliners such as Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles and Celia Cruz have historically drawn 30,000 to 50,000 fans, filling up the New Haven Green to capacity.

New Haven is also home to the famous concert venue Toad's Place. The city has retained an alternative art and music underground that has helped to influence post-punk era music movements such as indie/college rock and underground hip-hop.

The Yale School of Music, one of the world's most notable music conservatories, also contributes to the city's music scene by offering hundreds of free concerts throughout the year at venues in and around the Yale campus.

Points of interest

Miscellaneous

File:Sunglass.jpg
A lighthouse in New Haven

In 1892, local confectioner George C. Smith invented the first lollipops.

The Frisbee is said to have originated on the Yale campus, based on the tin pans of the Frisbie Pie Company which were tossed around by students on the New Haven Green.

New Haven serves as the world headquarters of the Knights of Columbus organization, which maintains its headquarters and a small museum downtown. The organization was founded in the city in 1882.

The city instituted the first public tree planting program in America. Elms were planted widely leading the nickname "Elm City". Of course, as with every other American city, many of the older elms perished in the mid-20th century due to Dutch Elm disease, but disease resistant varieties have since been replanted. It now has many very large, mature oaks, elms and other trees.

New Haven hosted the first Bell PSTN (telephone) switch office. The District Telephone Company of New Haven created the world's first telephone exchange and first telephone directory (1878) and installed the first public phone (1880). The company expanded and became the Connecticut Telephone Company, then the Southern New England Telephone Company (now part of ATT).

The Erector Set, the popular and culturally important construction toy, was invented in New Haven by A.C. Gilbert in 1911, and was manufactured by the A. C. Gilbert Company at the Erector Square factory in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1913 until the company's bankruptcy in 1967.

Ultra-traditional men's clothier J. Press was founded in New Haven by immigrant tailor Jacobi Press in 1902. Their store on York Street remains their largest in the country; additional stores are in New York, New York, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C.

New Haven was the home of Starter Clothing Line, a sports clothing line popular in the 1990's.

Infrastructure

Hospitals and medicine

The New Haven area supports several medical facilities that are considered some of the best hospitals in the country. These include Yale-New Haven Hospital (including the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital), and the Hospital of Saint Raphael. A large Veterans Affairs hospital is located nearby in West Haven. To the west in Milford is Milford Hospital and to the north in Meriden is the MidState Medical Center.

Transportation

Railroad

New Haven is connected to New York City by both intercity and commuter rail, provided by Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad respectively, and some New Haven residents commute to work in New York City (just under two hours away by train). The city's main railroad station is Union Station, which serves Metro-North trains to New York, Shore Line East commuter trains to New London, and Amtrak trains to New York, Hartford, Boston, and Springfield, Massachusetts. An additional station at State Street provides Shore Line East and a few peak-hour Metro-North passengers easier access to the Central Business District. The

The start of the New Haven Railroad began in a small area of New Haven called Cedar Hill Area. It has long been forgotten since its days of grandeur, but still has all the elements in place from the great railroad days.

A commuter rail line to run along the existing Amtrak line from New Haven through Hartford to Springfield, MA has been proposed by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) and is currently in the planning phase. The line would include shuttle bus service from the Windsor Locks station to Bradley International Airport.[6]

Major highways

New Haven lies at the intersection of Interstate 95 on the coast, which provides access southwards and/or westwards to the western coast of Connecticut and to New York City, and eastwards to the eastern Connecticut shoreline, Rhode Island, and eastern Massachusetts; and Interstate 91, which leads northward to the interior of Massachusetts and Vermont and the Canadian border. I-95 is infamous for traffic jams increasing with proximity to New York City; on the east side of New Haven it passes over the Quinnipiac River via the Pearl Harbor Memorial, or "Q Bridge", which often presents a major bottleneck to traffic. I-91, however, is relatively less congested, except at the intersection with I-95 during peak travel times.

The Oak Street Connector intersects I-91 at exit 1, just north of the I-95/I-91 interchange, and runs northwest for a few blocks as a spur into downtown before emptying onto surface roads and eventually becoming Route 34. The Wilbur Cross Parkway (Route 15) runs parallel to I-95 west of New Haven, turning northwards as it nears the city and then running northwards parallel to I-91 through the outer rim of New Haven, and Hamden, offering an alternative to the I-95/I-91 journey (restricted to non-commercial vehicles). Route 15 in New Haven is also the site of the only highway tunnel in the state, running through West Rock, home to West Rock Park and Three Judges Cave.

Airports

Tweed-New Haven Airport located along the New Haven/East Haven border provides daily service through US Airways. Jet service returned to Tweed New Haven in May 2004 after a long absence, but was discontinued in January 2006. It is quite common for locals to use Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, or New York City's three major airports, LaGuardia, JFK International or Newark Liberty in Newark, New Jersey, when flying overseas or to a non-East Coast destination.

Power supply facilities

Electricity for New Haven is generated by 448 MW oil and gas-fired generating station located on the shore at New Haven Harbor [7]. In addition, Pennsylvania Power and Light (PPL) Inc. operates a 220MW peaking natural gas turbine plant in nearby Wallingford. Near New Haven there is the static inverter plant of the HVDC Cross Sound Cable.

Sister cities

New Haven encourages its citizens to gain a global awareness by forging links with sister cities, including:

Some of these were selected because of historical connection ? Freetown because of the Amistad trial. Others, such as Amalfi and Afula-Gilboa, reflect ethnic groups in New Haven.

In 1990, the United Nations named New Haven a "Peace Messenger City".

New Haven Photos

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Downtown New Haven

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Night Scene of New Haven

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New Haven Skyline

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Five Mile Point Lighthouse from Lighthouse Point Park

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Orange Street from East Rock Park

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Knights of Columbus Building on Church St.

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New Haven Beach

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New Haven Harbor from East Rock Park

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Kline Biology Tower at Yale University

Notable New Haven natives and long-term residents

president and Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti and brother of Marcus Giamatti.

Notable Yale alumni and faculty

Main article: List of Yale University people

Notable Hopkins School alumni

Main article: List of Hopkins School people

Literature

  • Leonard Bacon, Thirteen Historical Discourses, (New Haven, 1839)
  • C. H. Hoadley (editor), Records of the Colony of New Haven, 1638-1665, (two volumes, Hartford, 1857-58)
  • J. W. Barber, History and Antiquities of New Haven, (third edition, New Haven, 1870)
  • C. H. Levermore, Town and City Government of New Haven, (Baltimore, 1886)
  • C. H. Levermore, Republic of New Haven: A History of Municipal Evolution, (Baltimore, 1886)
  • E. S. Bartlett, Historical Sketches of New Haven, (New Haven, 1897)
  • F. H. Cogswell, "New Haven" in L. P. Powell (editor), Historic Towns of New England, (New York, 1898)
  • H. T. Blake, Chronicles of New Haven Green, (New Haven, 1898)
  • E. E. Atwater, History of the Colony of New Haven, (New edition, New Haven, 1902)
  • Douglas W. Rae, City: Urbanism and Its End, (New Haven, 2003)
  • New Haven City Yearbooks
  • Michael Sletcher, New Haven: From Puritanism to the Age of Terrorism, (Charleston, 2004)

References

  1. ^
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ New Haven City Plan Department Comprehensive Plan, Downtown Section. www.cityofnewhaven.com
  4. ^ (1963) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 
  5. ^ a b [1969] (1979) in Reichler, Joseph L.: The Baseball Encyclopedia, 4th edition, New York: Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 0-02-578970-8. 

External links

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References

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