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New Haven is a city in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
. It is located on
New Haven Harbor New Haven Harbor is an inlet on the north side of Long Island Sound in the state of Connecticut]. The harbor area is an inlet carved by the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago. The city of New Haven and ...
on the northern shore of
Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
in
New Haven County, Connecticut New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's top 5 largest cities, Ne ...
and is part of the
New York City metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan are ...
. With a population of 134,023 as determined by the
2020 U.S. census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...
, New Haven is the third largest city in Connecticut after
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonn ...
and Stamford and the principal municipality of
Greater New Haven Greater New Haven is the metropolitan area whose extent includes those towns in the U.S. state of Connecticut that share an economic, social, political, and historical focus on the city of New Haven. It occupies the south-central portion of the sta ...
, which had a total 2020 population of 864,835. New Haven was one of the first
planned cities A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
in the U.S. A year after its founding by English
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
s in 1638, eight streets were laid out in a four-by-four
grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Common usage * Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road * Grid reference, used to define a location on a map Arts, entertainment, and media * News ...
, creating the "Nine Square Plan". The central common block is the New Haven Green, a square at the center of Downtown New Haven. The Green is now a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
, and the "Nine Square Plan" is recognized by the
American Planning Association The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of urban planning in the United States. APA was formed in 1978, when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Pla ...
as a National Planning Landmark. New Haven is the home of
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
, New Haven's biggest taxpayer and employer, and an integral part of the city's economy. Health care, professional and financial services and retail trade also contribute to the city's economic activity. The city served as co-capital of Connecticut from 1701 until 1873, when sole governance was transferred to the more centrally located city of
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
. New Haven has since billed itself as the "Cultural Capital of Connecticut" for its supply of established theaters, museums, and music venues. New Haven had the first public tree planting program in America, producing a canopy of mature trees (including some large elms) that gave the city the nickname "The Elm City".


History


Pre-colonial foundation as an independent colony

Before Europeans arrived, the New Haven area was the home of the
Quinnipiac Quinnipiac is the English name for the Eansketambawg (meaning "original people"; ''cf.'' Ojibwe: '' Anishinaabeg'' and Blackfoot: ''Niitsítapi''), a Quiripi-speaking Native American nation of the Algonquian family who inhabited the ''Wamp ...
tribe of Native Americans, who lived in villages around the harbor and subsisted off local fisheries and the farming of
maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...
. The area was briefly visited by
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
explorer
Adriaen Block Adriaen (Arjan) Block (c. 1567 – buried April 27, 1627) was a Dutch private trader, privateer, and ship's captain who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four v ...
in 1614. Dutch traders set up a small trading system of
beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers a ...
pelts with the local inhabitants, but trade was sporadic and the Dutch did not settle permanently in the area. In 1637 a small party of Puritans reconnoitered the New Haven harbor area and wintered over. In April 1638, the main party of five hundred Puritans who had left the
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as th ...
under the leadership of Reverend John Davenport and London merchant
Theophilus Eaton Theophilus Eaton (January 7, 1658) was a wealthy New England Puritan merchant, first Governor of New Haven Colony, Connecticut, co founder of that same colony and co founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His brother, Nathaniel Eaton, w ...
sailed into the harbor. It was their hope to set up a theological community with the government more closely linked to the church than that in Massachusetts, and to exploit the area's excellent potential as a port. The Quinnipiacs, who were under attack by neighboring Pequots, sold their land to the settlers in return for protection. By 1640, "Quinnipiac's" theocratic government and nine-square grid plan were in place, and the
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...
was renamed Newhaven, with ' haven' meaning harbor or port. (However, the area to the north remained Quinnipiac until 1678, when it was renamed Hamden.) The settlement became the headquarters of the
New Haven Colony The New Haven Colony was a small English colony in North America from 1638 to 1664 primarily in parts of what is now the state of Connecticut, but also with outposts in modern-day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The history of ...
, distinct from the
Connecticut Colony The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...
previously established to the north centering on
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
. Reflecting its
theocratic Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs. Etymology The word theocracy originates fr ...
roots, the New Haven Colony forbid the establishment of other churches, whereas the Connecticut Colony permitted them. Economic disaster struck Newhaven in 1646, when the town sent its first fully loaded ship of local goods (the "Great Shippe") back to England. It never reached its destination, and its disappearance stymied New Haven's development versus the rising trade powers of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
. In 1660, Colony founder John Davenport's wishes were fulfilled, and
Hopkins School Hopkins School is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational, day school for grades 7–12 located in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1660, Edward Hopkins, seven-time governor of the Connecticut Colony, bequeathed a portion of his estate to found s ...
was founded in New Haven with money from the estate of
Edward Hopkins Edward Hopkins (1600 – March 1657) was an English colonist and politician and 2nd Governor of the Connecticut Colony. Active on both sides of the Atlantic, he was a founder of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies, serving seven one-year t ...
. In 1661, the
Regicides Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
who had signed the death warrant of
Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after ...
were pursued by Charles II. Two of them, Colonel
Edward Whalley Edward Whalley (c. 1607 – c. 1675) was an English military leader during the English Civil War and was one of the regicides who signed the death warrant of King Charles I of England. Early career The exact dates of his birth and death are u ...
and Colonel
William Goffe Major-General William Goffe, in or before 1618 to , was an English religious radical and soldier who fought for Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and served in the New Model Army. A close associate and supporter of Oliver Cromwell, he ...
, fled to New Haven for refuge. Davenport arranged for them to hide in the West Rock hills northwest of the town. Later a third judge,
John Dixwell John Dixwell (1607 – 18 March 1689) was an English man who sat in Parliament, fought for the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War, and was one of the Commissioners who sat in judgement on King Charles I and condemned him to death. At ...
, joined the others.


As part of the Connecticut Colony

In 1664 New Haven became part of the Connecticut Colony when the two colonies were merged under political pressure from England. Some members of the New Haven Colony seeking to establish a new theocracy elsewhere went on to establish
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...
. It was made co-
capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
of Connecticut in 1701, a status it retained until 1873. In 1716, the Collegiate School relocated from Old Saybrook to New Haven, establishing New Haven as a center of learning. In 1718, in response to a large donation from
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
merchant
Elihu Yale Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist. Although born in Boston, Massachusetts, he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in England, Wales and India ...
, former Governor of
Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, the name of the Collegiate School was changed to
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
. For over a century, New Haven citizens had fought in the colonial militia alongside regular British forces, as in the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
. As the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
approached, General David Wooster and other influential residents hoped that the conflict with the government in Britain could be resolved short of rebellion. On 23 April 1775, which is still celebrated in New Haven as Powder House Day, the Second Company,
Governor's Foot Guard The Governor's Guards of Connecticut are four distinct units of the Connecticut State Guard, a part of the organized militia under the Connecticut State Militia. There are two foot guard units and two horse guard units. All four units are formed ...
, of New Haven entered the struggle against the
British parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
. Under Captain
Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...
, they broke into the powder house to arm themselves and began a three-day march to
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. Other New Haven militia members were on hand to escort
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
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. On July 5, 1779, 2,600 loyalists and British regulars under General
William Tryon Lieutenant-General William Tryon (8 June 172927 January 1788) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as governor of North Carolina from 1764 to 1771 and the governor of New York from 1771 to 1777. He also served durin ...
, governor of New York, landed in New Haven Harbor and raided the 3,500-person town. A militia of Yale students had been preparing for battle, and former Yale president and
Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...
professor
Naphtali Daggett Naphtali Daggett (September 8, 1727 – November 25, 1780) was an American academic and educator. He graduated from Yale University in 1748.Kelley, Brooks Mather. (1999)''Yale: A History,'' p. 62./ref> Three years later, he became pastor of th ...
rode out to confront the Redcoats. Yale president Ezra Stiles recounted in his diary that while he moved furniture in anticipation of battle, he still couldn't quite believe the revolution had begun. New Haven was not torched as the invaders did with
Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
in 1777, or Fairfield and Norwalk a week after the New Haven raid, so many of the town's colonial features were preserved.


Post-colonial period and industrialization

New Haven was incorporated as a city in 1784, and
Roger Sherman Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an American statesman, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign four of the great state papers of the United States related to the founding: the Con ...
, one of the signers of the
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
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 Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney hi ...
, a Yale graduate who remained in New Haven to develop the
cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...
and establish a gun-manufacturing factory in the northern part of the city near the Hamden town line. 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 The Eli Whitney Museum, in Hamden, Connecticut, is an experimental learning workshop for students, teachers, and families. The museum's main building is located on a portion of the Eli Whitney Gun Factory site, a gun factory erected by Eli Whit ...
, which has a particular emphasis on activities for children and exhibits pertaining to the A. C. Gilbert Company. His factory, along with that of Simeon North, and the lively clock-making and brass hardware sectors, contributed to making 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 Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of ...
invented the automatic revolver in 1836. Many other talented machinists and firearms designers would go on to found successful firearms manufacturing companies in New Haven, including Oliver Winchester and O.F. Mossberg & Sons. The
Farmington Canal The Farmington Canal, also known as the New Haven and Northampton Canal, was a major private canal built in the early 19th century to provide water transportation from New Haven into the interior of Connecticut, Massachusetts and beyond. Its Mas ...
, created in the early 19th century, was a short-lived transporter of goods into the interior regions of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and ran from New Haven to
Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an a ...
. New Haven was to be the site of the first college for African Americans in the United States, but the plan was obstructed by efforts led by Yale
Law School A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...
founder and former New Haven Mayor
David Daggett David Daggett (December 31, 1764 – April 12, 1851) was a U.S. senator, mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, Judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, and a founder of the Yale Law School. He helped block plans for the first college for Afri ...
, who went on to serve as a U.S. Senator and judge on Connecticut's highest court. Daggett denigrated African Americans, denied they were citizens, and presided over the trial of a woman persecuted for trying to admit an African American girl to her boarding school and, having that effort blocked, running a boarding school for African American girls. New Haven was home to one of the important early events in the burgeoning
anti-slavery movement Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
when, in 1839, the trial of mutineering Mende tribesmen being transported as slaves on the Spanish
slaveship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting Slavery, slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea ...
'' Amistad'' was held in New Haven's United States District Court. There is a
statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
of
Joseph Cinqué Sengbe Pieh (18141879), also known as Joseph Cinqué or Cinquez and sometimes referred to mononymously as Cinqué, was a West African man of the Mende people who led a revolt of many Africans on the Spanish slave ship ''La Amistad'' in July 1839 ...
, the informal leader of the slaves, beside City Hall. See "Museums" below for more information.
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
delivered a speech on slavery in New Haven in 1860, shortly before he secured the Republican nomination for President. The
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
boosted the local economy with wartime purchases of industrial goods, including that of the New Haven Arms Company, which would later become the
Winchester Repeating Arms Company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm went into receivership ...
. (Winchester would continue to produce arms in New Haven until 2006, and many of the buildings that were a part of the Winchester plant are now a part of the
Winchester Repeating Arms Company Historic District The Winchester Repeating Arms Company Historic District is a historic district in New Haven, Connecticut that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It includes 867 properties, which "include 858 major structures and 131 ...
). After the war, 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 North Haven are
Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
. Jewish immigration to New Haven has left an enduring mark on the city. Westville was the center of
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
life in New Haven, though today many have fanned out to suburban communities such as Woodbridge and Cheshire.
Lowell House Lowell House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University, located at 10 Holyoke Place facing Mount Auburn Street between Harvard Yard and the Charles River. Officially, it is named for the Lowell family, but an orna ...
, the city's first
settlement Settlement may refer to: * Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...
, opened in 1900.


Post-industrial era and urban redevelopment

New Haven's expansion continued during the two World Wars, with most new inhabitants being
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s from the
American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
and
Puerto Ricans Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants. Overview The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...
. The city reached its peak population after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The area of New Haven is only , encouraging further development of new housing after 1950 in adjacent, suburban towns. Moreover, as in other U.S. cities in the
1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...
, New Haven began to suffer
white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...
of
middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...
workers. One author suggested that aggressive
redlining In the United States, redlining is a discriminatory practice in which services ( financial and otherwise) are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as "hazardous" to investment; these neighborhoods have sign ...
and rezoning made it difficult for residents to obtain financing for older, deteriorating urban housing stock, thereby condemning such structures to deterioration. In 1954; then-mayor Richard C. Lee began some of the earliest major
urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
projects in the United States. Certain sections of downtown New Haven were redeveloped to include museums, new office towers, a hotel, and large shopping complexes. Other parts of the city, particularly the Wooster Square and Fair Haven neighborhoods were affected by the construction of
Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
along the Long Wharf section,
Interstate 91 Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Connec ...
, and the
Oak Street Connector The Oak Street Connector, officially known as the Richard C. Lee Highway (named after former New Haven mayor Richard C. Lee), is a freeway section of Route 34 that is located in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The freeway begin ...
. The Oak Street Connector ( Route 34), running between Interstate 95, downtown, and
The Hill ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
neighborhood, was originally intended as a highway to the city's western suburbs but was only completed as a highway to the downtown area, with the area to the west becoming a boulevard (See "Redevelopment" below). In 1970, a series of criminal prosecutions against various members of the
Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...
took place in New Haven, inciting mass protests on the New Haven Green involving twelve thousand demonstrators and many well-known
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights ...
political activists. (See "Political Culture" below for more information). From the 1960s through the late 1990s, central areas of New Haven continued to decline both economically and in terms of population despite attempts to resurrect certain neighborhoods through renewal projects. In conjunction with its declining population, New Haven experienced a steep rise in its
crime rate Crime statistics refer to systematic, quantitative results about crime, as opposed to crime news or anecdotes. Notably, crime statistics can be the result of two rather different processes: * scientific research, such as criminological studies, vi ...
. Since approximately 2000, many parts of downtown New Haven have been revitalized with new restaurants, nightlife, and small retail stores. In particular, the area surrounding the New Haven Green has experienced an influx of apartments and condominiums. In recent years, downtown retail options have increased with the opening of new stores such as Urban Oufitters, J Crew, Origins, American Apparel, Gant Clothing, and an Apple Store, joining older stores such as Barnes & Noble and Raggs Clothing. In addition, two new supermarkets opened to serve downtown's growing residential population. A Stop & Shop opened just west of downtown, while Elm City Market, located one block from the Green, opened in 2011. The recent turnaround of downtown New Haven has received positive press from various periodicals. Major projects include the current construction of a new campus for Gateway Community College downtown, and also a 32-story, 500-unit apartment/retail building called 360 State Street. The 360 State Street project is now occupied and is the largest residential building in Connecticut. A new boathouse and dock is planned for New Haven Harbor, and the linear park
Farmington Canal Trail The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail is an multi-use rail trail located in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The trail was built on former New Haven and Northampton Company (NH&N) (later New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad H railbed, which w ...
is set to extend into downtown New Haven within the coming year. Additionally, foundation and ramp work to widen I-95 to create a new harbor crossing for New Haven, with an extradosed bridge to replace the 1950s-era Q Bridge, has begun. The city still hopes to redevelop the site of the New Haven Coliseum, which was demolished in 2007. In April 2009, the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
agreed to hear a suit over
reverse discrimination Reverse discrimination is a term for discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group. Groups may be defined in terms of ethnicity, gender identity, nationality ...
brought by 18 white firefighters against the city. The suit involved the 2003 promotion test for the New Haven Fire Department. After the tests were scored, no
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
firefighters scored high enough to qualify for consideration for promotion, so the city announced that no one would be promoted. In the subsequent ''
Ricci v. DeStefano ''Ricci v. DeStefano'', 557 U.S. 557 (2009), is a United States labor law case of the United States Supreme Court on unlawful discrimination through disparate impact under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Twenty city firefighters at the New Haven ...
'' decision the court found 5–4 that New Haven's decision to ignore the test results violated
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requi ...
. As a result, a district court subsequently ordered the city to promote 14 of the white firefighters. In 2010 and 2011, state and federal funds were awarded to Connecticut (and Massachusetts) to construct the Hartford Line, with a southern terminus at New Haven's
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
and a northern terminus at Springfield's Union Station. According to the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
, "This corridor urrentlyhas one train per day connecting communities in Connecticut and Massachusetts to the
Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, ...
and
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
. The vision for this corridor is to restore the alignment to its original route via the
Knowledge Corridor Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distin ...
in
western Massachusetts Western Massachusetts, known colloquially as “Western Mass,” is a region in Massachusetts, one of the six U.S. states that make up the New England region of the United States. Western Massachusetts has diverse topography; 22 colleges and u ...
, improving trip time and increasing the population base that can be served." Set for construction in 2013, the "Knowledge Corridor high speed intercity passenger rail" project will cost approximately $1 billion, and the ultimate northern terminus for the project is reported to be
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
in Canada. Train speeds between will reportedly exceed and increase both cities' rail traffic exponentially.


Timeline of notable firsts

*1638: New Haven becomes the first planned city in America. *1776: Yale student David Bushnell invents the first American
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
. *1787: John Fitch builds the first
steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
. *1793:
Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney hi ...
invents the
cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...
. *1836:
Samuel Colt Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of ...
invents the automatic revolver in Whitney's
factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...
. *1839:
Charles Goodyear Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844. ...
of New Haven discovers the process of vulcanizing rubber in
Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of government, in which an elected mayor is ...
, and later perfects it and patents the process in nearby
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, th ...
. *1860: Philios P. Blake patents the first corkscrew. *1877: New Haven hosts the first
Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...
PSTN The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local teleph ...
(telephone) switch office. *1878–1880: The District Telephone Company of New Haven creates the world's first
telephone exchange telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syste ...
and the first
telephone directory A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that ...
and installs the first public phone. The company expanded and became the Connecticut Telephone Company, then the
Southern New England Telephone Company The Southern New England Telephone Company (commonly referred to as SNETCo by its customers), doing business as Frontier Communications of Connecticut, is a local exchange carrier owned by Frontier Communications. History It started operations o ...
(now part of
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...
). *1882: The
Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...
are founded in New Haven. The city still serves as the world
headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
of the organization, which maintains a museum downtown. *1892: Local
confectioner Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categorie ...
George C. Smith of the Bradley Smith Candy Co. invents the first
lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are ava ...
s. *Late 19th century-early 20th century: The first public tree planting program takes place in New Haven, at the urging of native
James Hillhouse James Hillhouse (October 20, 1754 – December 29, 1832) was an American lawyer, real estate developer, and politician from New Haven, Connecticut. He represented the state in both chambers of the US Congress. From February to March 1801, Hill ...
. *1900: Louis Lassen, owner of
Louis' Lunch Louis' Lunch is a hamburger restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut, which claims to be the first restaurant to serve hamburgers and the oldest hamburger restaurant in the United States. It was opened as a small lunch wagon in 1895 and was one of t ...
, is credited with inventing the
hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, ...
, as well as the
steak sandwich A steak sandwich is a sandwich prepared with steak that has been broiled, fried, grilled, barbecued or seared using steel grates or gridirons, then served on bread or a roll. Steak sandwiches are sometimes served with toppings of cheese, onions, ...
. *1911: The Erector Set, the popular and culturally important construction toy, is invented in New Haven by
A.C. Gilbert Alfred Carlton Gilbert (February 15, 1884 – January 24, 1961) was an American inventor, athlete, magician, toy-maker and businessman. Gilbert invented the Erector Set and manufactured American Flyer Trains. Early life and education Gilbert ...
. It was manufactured by the A. C. Gilbert Company at
Erector Square Erector Square LLC is a 11-building, three-story brick industrial warehouse complex located at the intersection of Blatchley Avenue and Peck Street in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. History The complex originally housed ...
from 1913 until the company's bankruptcy in 1967. *1920: In competition with competing explanations, the
Frisbee A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection molded, injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreational ...
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 The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in New ...
. *1977: The first memorial to victims of
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...
on public land in America stands in New Haven's Edgewood Park at the corner of Whalley and West Park avenues. It was built with funds collected from the community and is maintained by Greater New Haven Holocaust Memory, Inc. The ashes of victims killed and
cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre ...
at
Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...
are buried under the memorial.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 6.67%, is water. New Haven's best-known geographic features are its large, shallow harbor, and two reddish basalt
trap rock Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. ...
ridges which rise to the northeast and northwest of the city core. These trap rocks are known respectively as
East Rock East Rock of south-central Connecticut, United States, with a high point of , is a long trap rock ridge located primarily in the neighborhood of East Rock on the north side of the city of New Haven. A prominent landscape feature and a popula ...
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 Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
" (see:
Regicides Trail Regicides Trail is a '' Blue-Blazed'' hiking trail, about 7 miles (11 km) long, roughly following the edge of a diabase, or traprock, cliff northwest of New Haven, Connecticut. It is named for two regicides, Edward Whalley and his son-in-la ...
). 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 drained by three rivers; the
West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
,
Mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...
, and
Quinnipiac Quinnipiac is the English name for the Eansketambawg (meaning "original people"; ''cf.'' Ojibwe: '' Anishinaabeg'' and Blackfoot: ''Niitsítapi''), a Quiripi-speaking Native American nation of the Algonquian family who inhabited the ''Wamp ...
, named in order from west to east. The West River discharges into West Haven Harbor, while the Mill and Quinnipiac rivers discharge into New Haven Harbor. Both harbors are embayments of
Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
. 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.


Climate

According to the
Köppen classification Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author an ...
, New Haven is ''cfa'', or a humid subtropical climate, however it borders on a hot-summer humid continental climate. The city has hot, humid summers and cool to cold winters. From May to late September, the weather is typically hot and humid, with average temperatures exceeding on 70 days per year. In summer, the
Bermuda High The Azores High also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda-Azores High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the H ...
creates as southern flow of warm and humid air, with frequent thundershowers. October to early December is normally mild to cool late in the season, while early spring (April) can be cool to warm. Winters are cold with both rain and snow fall. The weather patterns that affect New Haven result from a primarily offshore direction, thus reducing the marine influence of Long Island Sound—although, like other marine areas, differences in temperature between areas right along the coastline and areas a mile or two inland can be large at times. During summer heat waves, temperatures may reach or higher on occasion with heat-index values of over .
Tropical cyclones A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dependi ...
have struck New Haven in the past, including 1938 Hurricane (
Long Island Express Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...
), Hurricane Carol in 1954,
Hurricane Gloria Hurricane Gloria was a powerful hurricane that caused significant damage along the east coast of the United States and in Atlantic Canada during the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the first significant tropical cyclone to strike the nor ...
in 1985. The hardiness zone is 7a.


Streetscape

New Haven has a long tradition of
urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
and a purposeful design for the city's layout. The city could be argued to have some of the first preconceived layouts in the country. Upon founding, New Haven was laid out in a
grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...
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 city also instituted the first public tree planting program in America. As in other cities, many of the elms that gave New Haven the nickname "Elm City" perished in the mid-20th century due to
Dutch elm disease Dutch elm disease (DED) is caused by a member of the sac fungi (Ascomycota) affecting elm trees, and is spread by elm bark beetles. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease was accidentally introduced into America, Europe ...
, although many have since been replanted. The
New Haven Green The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in New ...
is currently home to three separate historic churches which speak to the original theocratic nature of the city. The Green remains the social center of the city today. It was named a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
in 1970. Downtown New Haven, occupied by nearly 7,000 residents, has a more residential character than most downtowns.CityOfNewHaven.com
Comprehensive Report: New Haven pg3
The downtown area provides about half of the city's jobs and half of its tax base and in recent years has become filled with dozens of new upscale restaurants, in addition to shops and thousands of apartments and condominium units which subsequently help overall growth of the city.


Neighborhoods

The city has many distinct neighborhoods. In addition to Downtown, centered on the
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
and the
Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...
, are the following neighborhoods: the west central neighborhoods of Dixwell and
Dwight Dwight may refer to: People * Dwight (given name) * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), 34th president of the United States and former military officer *New England Dwight family of American educators, military and political leaders, and authors * ...
; the southern neighborhoods of
The Hill ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, historic water-front City Point (or Oyster Point), and the harborside district of Long Wharf; the western neighborhoods of Beaver Hills, Edgewood,
West River West River may refer to: Rivers Canada *West River (Antigonish, Nova Scotia) in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia * West River (Pictou, Nova Scotia) in Pictou County, Nova Scotia * West River (Halifax, Nova Scotia) in Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia * West ...
, Westville, Amity, and West Rock-Westhills;
East Rock East Rock of south-central Connecticut, United States, with a high point of , is a long trap rock ridge located primarily in the neighborhood of East Rock on the north side of the city of New Haven. A prominent landscape feature and a popula ...
,
Cedar Hill Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...
, 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, an immigrant community located between the Mill and Quinnipiac rivers;
Quinnipiac Meadows Quinnipiac Meadows, also known as Bishop Woods, is a neighborhood in the northeast corner of the city of New Haven, Connecticut located east of the Quinnipiac River and north of Fair Haven and Fair Haven Heights. It contains a considerable wetla ...
and
Fair Haven Heights Fair Haven Heights, or simply the Heights, is a residential and light industrial neighborhood in the eastern part of the city of New Haven, Connecticut, located east of the Quinnipiac River. Fair Haven Heights is not to be confused with the adjac ...
across the Quinnipiac River; and facing the eastern side of the harbor,
The Annex The Annex is a neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The traditional boundaries of the neighbourhood are north to Dupont Street, south to Bloor Street, west to Bathurst Street and east to Avenue Road. The City of Toronto recognizes ...
and East Shore (or Morris Cove).


Demographics


Census data

The
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
reports a 2010 population of 129,779, with 47,094 households and 25,854 families within the city of New Haven. The population density was . There were 52,941 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 42.6%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 35.4%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.5% Native American, 4.6% Asian, 0.1%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 12.9% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 3.9% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino residents of any race were 27.4% of the population.
Non-Hispanic Whites Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Ame ...
were 31.8% of the population in 2010, down from 69.6% in 1970. The city's Latino population is growing rapidly. Previous influxes among ethnic groups have been African-Americans in the postwar era, and Irish, Italian and (to a lesser degree) Slavic peoples in the prewar period. As of the 2010 census, of the 47,094 households, 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.5% include 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 3.19. The ages of New Haven's residents were 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, which was significantly lower than the national average. There were 91.8 males per 100 females. 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. Median income for males was $33,605, compared with $28,424 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...
for the city was $16,393. About 20.5% of families and 24.4% of the population were living below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 32.2% of those under age 18 and 17.9% of those age 65 or over.


Other data

It is estimated that 14% of New Haven residents are pedestrian commuters, ranking it number four by highest percentage in the United States. This is primarily due to New Haven's small area and the presence of
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
. New Haven is noted for having the highest percentage of Italian American residents of any US city. New Haven is a predominantly
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
city, as the city's Dominican, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Puerto Rican populations are overwhelmingly Catholic. The city is part of the
Archdiocese of Hartford The Archdiocese of Hartford is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven counties in the U.S. State of Connecticut. The archdiocese includes about 470,000 Catholics, more ...
.
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
also make up a considerable portion of the population, as do Black
Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul com ...
. There is a growing number of (mostly Puerto Rican)
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movement New Haven's economy originally was based in manufacturing, but the postwar period brought rapid
industrial decline Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpre ...
; the entire Northeast was affected, and medium-sized cities with large working-class populations, like New Haven, were hit particularly hard. Simultaneously, the growth and expansion of
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
further affected the economic shift. Today, over half (56%) of the city's economy is now made up of services, in particular education and health care; Yale is the city's largest employer, followed by Yale – New Haven Hospital. Other large employers include
Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply Southern) is a public university in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it was founded in 1893 and is ...
,
Assa Abloy Assa Abloy AB is a Swedish conglomerate whose offerings include products and services related to locks, doors, gates, and entrance automation. Related products and services include controlling access and confirming identities with keys, cards, ...
lock manufacturing, the
Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...
headquarters, Higher One,
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Alexion Pharmaceuticals is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts that specializes in orphan drugs to treat rare diseases. It became an independent subsidiary of AstraZeneca in 2021. Its products include ecul ...
, Covidien and United Illuminating.< Clothing stores Gant and
Ann Taylor Ann or Anne Taylor may refer to: * Ann Taylor (writer, born 1757) (1757–1830), English writer *Ann Taylor (poet) (1782–1866), English poet and children's writer, daughter of the above * Ann Taylor (actress) (born 1936), British actress, hostess ...
were founded in the city. In 2017, New Haven was ranked by a
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...
study as one of the top 10 cities in America for launching tech startups, and top two in New England. Industry sectors: Agriculture (.6%), Construction and Mining (4.9%), Manufacturing (2.9%), Transportation and Utilities (2.9%), Trade (21.7%), Finance and Real Estate (7.1%), Services (55.9%), Government (4.0%)


Headquarters

The
Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...
, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization and a
Fortune 1000 The Fortune 1000 are the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenues, as compiled by the American business magazine '' Fortune''. It only includes companies which are incorporated or authorized to do business in the United States, and fo ...
company, is headquartered in New Haven. Amphenol, based in Greater New Haven ( Wallingford), is a Fortune 100 company. Eight Courant 100 companies are based in Greater New Haven, with four headquartered in New Haven proper. New Haven-based companies traded on
stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for t ...
s include
NewAlliance Bank NewAlliance Bancshares, doing business as NewAlliance Bank, was the second largest Connecticut-based savings bank. It was formed in 2004 through the union of The Savings Bank of Manchester, New Haven Savings Bank, and Tolland Bank. First Niagara ...
, the second largest bank in Connecticut and fourth-largest in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
(NYSE: NAL), Higher One Holdings (NYSE: ONE), a financial services firm, United Illuminating, the electricity distributor for southern Connecticut (NYSE: UIL), and Transpro Inc. (AMEX: TPR). Vion Pharmaceuticals is traded OTC (OTC BB: VIONQ.OB). The American division of
Assa Abloy Assa Abloy AB is a Swedish conglomerate whose offerings include products and services related to locks, doors, gates, and entrance automation. Related products and services include controlling access and confirming identities with keys, cards, ...
(one of the world's leading manufacturers of locks) is located in the city. The
Southern New England Telephone Company The Southern New England Telephone Company (commonly referred to as SNETCo by its customers), doing business as Frontier Communications of Connecticut, is a local exchange carrier owned by Frontier Communications. History It started operations o ...
(SNET) began operations in the city as the District Telephone Company of New Haven in 1878; the company remains headquartered in New Haven as a subsidiary of
Frontier Communications Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. (known as Citizens Utilities Company until May 2000 and Citizens Communications Company until July 31, 2008) is an American telecommunications company. The company previously served primarily rural areas and s ...
and provides telephone service for all but two municipalities in Connecticut. SeeClickFix was founded and has been headquartered in the city since 2007.
Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company The Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company is a candy-making division within the Hershey Company. History Peter Paul was founded in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1919 by six Armenian immigrants led by Peter Paul Halajian Peter Paul Halajian (1864 ...
(a candy-making division of the
Hershey Company The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milksh ...
) was formerly located in the city. Achillion Pharmaceuticals and Alexion Pharmaceuticals were also formerly headquartered in New Haven.


Law and government


Political structure

New Haven is governed via the mayor-council system. Connecticut municipalities (like those of neighboring states
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
) provide nearly all local services (such as fire and rescue, education, snow removal, etc.), as county government has been abolished since 1960.
New Haven County New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's top 5 largest cities, Ne ...
merely refers to a grouping of towns and a judicial district, not a governmental entity. New Haven is a member of the South Central Connecticut Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG), a regional agency created to facilitate coordination between area municipal governments and state and federal agencies, in the absence of county government. Justin Elicker is the mayor of New Haven. He was sworn in as the 51st mayor of New Haven on January 1, 2020. The city council, called the Board of Alders, consists of thirty members, each elected from single-member wards. Each of the 30 wards consists of slightly over 4,300 residents;
redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral distri ...
takes place every ten years. The city is overwhelmingly Democratic. In 2017, of the town's 83,694 voters, 66% were registered as Democrats (-4% since 2015), 4% were registered as Republicans (+1%), and 29% were unaffiliated (+3). The board of alders is dominated by Democrats; a Republican has not served as a New Haven alder since 2011.New Haven's Board of Alders races feature challengers and upcoming primary
, ''New Haven Register'' (August 22, 2015).
New Haven is served by the New Haven Police Department, which had 443 sworn officers in 2011. The city is also served by the
New Haven Fire Department The New Haven Fire Department (NHFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Fire Department currently serves a population of over 130,000 people living in 19 square miles of lan ...
. New Haven lies within
Connecticut's 3rd congressional district Connecticut's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in the central part of the state, the district includes the city of New Haven and its surrounding suburbs. Principal cities include: ...
and has been represented by
Rosa DeLauro Rosa Luisa DeLauro (; born March 2, 1943) is an American politician who has been the U.S. representative for since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in New Haven and includes most of its suburbs. DeLauro is ...
since 1991.
Martin Looney Martin M. Looney (born July 23, 1948) is an American politician. Looney, a Democrat, has been a state senator from Connecticut since 1993. From 2003 to 2014, Looney served as Majority Leader of the Senate; in 2015 he became President Pro Tempore ...
and
Gary Holder-Winfield Gary A. Winfield (born March 11, 1974) is an American politician from the state of Connecticut and member of the Democratic Party. He serves in the Connecticut State Senate, representing the 10th district. From 2009 to 2014 he served as a State ...
represent New Haven in the
Connecticut State Senate The Connecticut State Senate is the upper house of the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The state senate comprises 36 members, each representing a district with around 99,280 inhabitants. Sen ...
, and the city lies within six districts (numbers 92 through 97) of the
Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...
. The Greater New Haven area is served by the New Haven Judicial District Court and the New Haven Superior Court, both headquartered at the New Haven County Courthouse. The federal District Court for the District of Connecticut has a New Haven facility, the Richard C. Lee United States Courthouse.


Political history

New Haven is the birthplace of former
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
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. In addition to being the site of the college educations of both Presidents Bush, as Yale students, New Haven was also the temporary home of former presidents
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
,
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
, and
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
, as well as Secretary of State
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...
. President Clinton met his wife, former
U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, while the two were students at
Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...
. Former
vice presidents A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
John C. Calhoun John Caldwell Calhoun (; March 18, 1782March 31, 1850) was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina who held many important positions including being the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He ...
and
Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former ...
also studied in New Haven (although the latter did not graduate from Yale). Before the 2008 election, the last time there was not a person with ties to New Haven and Yale on either major party's ticket was 1968.
James Hillhouse James Hillhouse (October 20, 1754 – December 29, 1832) was an American lawyer, real estate developer, and politician from New Haven, Connecticut. He represented the state in both chambers of the US Congress. From February to March 1801, Hill ...
, a New Haven native, served as
President pro tempore of the United States Senate The president pro tempore of the United States Senate (often shortened to president pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, after the vice president. According to Article One, Section Three of the United S ...
in 1801. New Haven voters overwhelmingly supported
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic ...
in the 2000 election, Yale graduate
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...
in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...
, and
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and 2012. In the 2008 election,
New Haven County New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's top 5 largest cities, Ne ...
was third among all Connecticut counties in campaign contributions, after Fairfield and
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
counties. (Connecticut, in turn, was ranked 14th among all states in total campaign contributions.) New Haven was the subject of '' Who Governs? Democracy and Power in An American City'', a very influential book in
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
by preeminent Yale professor
Robert A. Dahl Robert Alan Dahl (; December 17, 1915 – February 5, 2014) was an American political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He established the pluralist theory of democracy—in which political outcomes ar ...
, which includes an extensive history of the city and thorough description of its politics in the 1950s. New Haven's theocratic history is also mentioned several times by
Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his wo ...
in his classic volume on 19th-century American political life, ''
Democracy in America (; published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840) is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville. Its title literally translates to ''On Democracy in America'', but official English translations are usually simply entitl ...
''. New Haven was the residence of conservative thinker William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1951, when he wrote his influential '' God and Man at Yale''.
William Lee Miller William Lee Miller (April 21, 1926 – May 27, 2012) was an American journalist, academic, and historian who taught in the University of Virginia's religious studies department for 17 years, and remained affiliated with the university after his ...
's ''The Fifteenth Ward and the Great Society'' (1966) similarly explores the relationship between local politics in New Haven and national political movements, focusing on
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
's
Great Society The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Universit ...
and
urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
. George Williamson Crawford, a Yale Law School graduate, served as the city's first black corporation counsel from 1954 to 1962, under Mayor Richard C. Lee. In 1970, the New Haven Black Panther trials took place, the largest and longest trials in Connecticut history.
Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...
co-founder
Bobby Seale Robert George Seale (born October 22, 1936) is an American political activist and author. Seale is widely known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with fellow activist Huey P. Newton. Founded as the "Black Panther Party for Self-Defense", ...
and ten other party members were tried for murdering an alleged informant. Beginning on
May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Tr ...
, the city became a center of protest for 12,000 Panther supporters, college students, and
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights ...
activists (including
Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Thief ...
,
Benjamin Spock Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician and left-wing political activist whose book '' Baby and Child Care'' (1946) is one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copies ...
,
Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponen ...
,
Jerry Rubin Jerry Clyde Rubin (July 14, 1938 – November 28, 1994) was an American social activist, anti-war leader, and counterculture icon during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman. He is known for being one of the ...
, and
John Froines John Radford Froines (; June 13, 1939 – July 13, 2022) was an American chemist and anti-war activist, noted as a member of the Chicago Seven, a group charged with involvement with the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicag ...
), who amassed on the
New Haven Green The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in New ...
, across the street from where the trials were being held. Violent confrontations between the demonstrators and the New Haven Police occurred, and several bombs were set off in the area by radicals. The event became a rallying point for the New Left and critics of the
Nixon Administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...
. During the summer of 2007, New Haven was the center of protests by
anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, has become a significant political ideology in many countries. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory ...
groups who opposed the city's program of offering municipal ID cards, known as the Elm City Resident Card, to
illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...
. In 2008, the country of
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
opened a
consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth co ...
in New Haven to serve the large Ecuadorean immigrant population in the area. It is the first foreign mission to open in New Haven since
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
opened a consulate (now closed) in the city in 1910. In April 2009, the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
agreed to hear a suit over
reverse discrimination Reverse discrimination is a term for discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group. Groups may be defined in terms of ethnicity, gender identity, nationality ...
brought by 20 white and Hispanic firefighters against the city. The suit involved the 2003 promotion test for the
New Haven Fire Department The New Haven Fire Department (NHFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Fire Department currently serves a population of over 130,000 people living in 19 square miles of lan ...
. After the tests were scored, no blacks scored high enough to qualify for consideration for promotion, so the city announced that no one would be promoted. On 29 June 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firefighters, agreeing that they were improperly denied promotion because of their race.Williams, Joseph (2009-06-30). Supreme Court rules in favor of Conn. firefighters. The Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2009-07-06 fro
Boston.com
, "Supreme court rules in favor of conn firefighters"
The case, ''Ricci v. DeStefano'', became highly publicized and brought national attention to New Haven politics due to the involvement of then-
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
nominee (and Yale Law School graduate)
Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...
in a lower court decision.
Garry Trudeau Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series '' Alpha House' ...
, creator of the political ''
Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, ...
''
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
, attended Yale University. There he met fellow student and later
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
candidate for
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
Charles 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 A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
"The Doones". A theory of international law, which argues for a sociological normative approach in regards to jurisprudence, is named the New Haven Approach, after the city. Connecticut US senator
Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...
is a Yale graduate, as is former Connecticut US Senator
Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee for ...
who also was a New Haven resident for many years, before moving back to his hometown of Stamford.


Crime

Crime increased in the 1990s, with New Haven having one of the ten highest violent crime rates per capita in the United States. In the late 1990s New Haven's crime began to stabilize. The city, adopting a policy of
community policing Community policing, or community-oriented policing (COP), is a strategy of policing that focuses on developing relationships with community members. It is a philosophy of full-service policing that is highly personal, where an officer patrols ...
, saw crime rates drop during the 2000s. Violent crime levels vary dramatically among New Haven's neighborhoods, with some areas having crime rates in line with the state of Connecticut average, and others having extremely high rates of crime. A 2011 New Haven Health Department report identifies these issues in greater detail. In 2010, New Haven ranked as the 18th most dangerous city in the United States (albeit below the safety benchmark of 200.00 for the second year in a row). However, according to a completely different analysis conducted by the "24/7 Wall Street Blog", in 2011 New Haven had risen to become the fourth most dangerous city in the United States, and was widely cited in the press as such. However, an analysis by the Regional Data Cooperative for Greater New Haven, Inc., has shown that due to issues of comparative denominators and other factors, such municipality-based rankings can be considered inaccurate. For example, two cities of identical population can cover widely differing land areas, making such analyses irrelevant. The research organization called for comparisons based on neighborhoods, blocks, or standard methodologies (similar to those used by Brookings, DiversityData, and other established institutions), not based on municipalities.


Education


Colleges and universities

New Haven is a notable center for
higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
.
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
, at the heart of downtown, is one of the city's best known features and its largest employer. New Haven is also home to
Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply Southern) is a public university in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it was founded in 1893 and is ...
, part of the
Connecticut State University System The Connecticut State Universities (CSU) are part of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, the largest public higher education system in Connecticut, and the second largest in New England. The four comprehensive state universities enrol ...
, and
Albertus Magnus College Albertus Magnus College is a private Catholic university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded by the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs (now Dominican Sisters of Peace), it is located in the Prospect Hill neighborhood of New Haven, ...
, a private institution. Gateway Community College has a campus in downtown New Haven, formerly located in the Long Wharf district; Gateway consolidated into one campus downtown into a new state-of-the-art campus (on the site of the old Macy's building) and was open for the Fall 2012 semester. There are several institutions immediately outside of New Haven, as well.
Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University () is a private university in Hamden, Connecticut. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, School of ...
and the Paier College of Art are located just to the north, in the town of Hamden. The University of New Haven is located not in New Haven but in neighboring West Haven.


Primary and secondary schools

New Haven Public Schools is the school district serving the city. Wilbur Cross High School and Hillhouse High School are New Haven's two largest public secondary schools.
Hopkins School Hopkins School is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational, day school for grades 7–12 located in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1660, Edward Hopkins, seven-time governor of the Connecticut Colony, bequeathed a portion of his estate to found s ...
, a private school, was founded in 1660 and is the fifth-oldest educational institution in the United States. New Haven is home to a number of other private schools as well as public magnet schools, including Metropolitan Business Academy, High School in the Community,
Hill Regional Career High School Hill Regional Career High School is a magnet high school located in the Hill area of New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Its original name was Lee High School, named after one of New Haven's most famous mayors, Richard C. Lee. The school's ...
,
Co-op High School Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School (referred to as Co-op High School) is a high school in the downtown section of New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1983 as a joint venture of New Haven and Hamden, it was originally known as the Hamden-New ...
, New Haven Academy, Edgewood Magnet School,
ACES Educational Center for the Arts ACES Educational Center for the Arts (ECA), is an American public arts magnet high school, located at 55 Audubon Street in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The school is primarily located in the former Congregation Mishkan Israel synagog ...
, the Foote School and the Sound School, all of which draw students from New Haven and suburban towns. New Haven is also home to two Achievement First charter schools, Amistad Academy and Elm City College Prep, and to Common Ground, an environmental charter school. The city is renowned for its progressive school lunch programs, and participation in statewide bussing efforts toward increased diversity in schools.


Culture


Cuisine

Livability.com named New Haven as the Best Foodie City in the country in 2014. There are dozens of Zagat-rated restaurants in New Haven, the most in Connecticut and the third most in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
(after
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
). More than 120 restaurants are located within two blocks of the
New Haven Green The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in New ...
. The city is home to an eclectic mix of ethnic restaurants and small markets specializing in various foreign foods. Represented cuisines include Malaysian, Ethiopian, Spanish, Belgian, French, Greek, Latin American, Mexican, Italian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Cuban, Peruvian, Syrian/Lebanese, and Turkish. New Haven's greatest culinary claim to fame may be its pizza, which has been claimed to be among the best in the country, or even in the world.
New Haven-style pizza New Haven-style pizza is a style of thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan pizza common in and around New Haven, Connecticut. Locally known as apizza (, from Neapolitan ''’na pizza'' , "a pizza"), it originated in 1925 at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria ...
, called "apizza", made its debut at the iconic Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana (known as Pepe's) in 1925. Apizza is baked in coal- or wood-fired brick ovens, and is notable for its thin crust. Apizza may be red (with a
tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
-based sauce) or white (with a sauce of
garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...
and
olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...
), and pies ordered "plain" are made without the otherwise customary
mozzarella Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...
(originally smoked mozzarella, known as "scamorza" in Italian). A white
clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...
pie is a well-known specialty of the restaurants on Wooster Street in the Little Italy section of New Haven, including Pepe's and
Sally's Apizza Sally's Apizza is a pizzeria A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. As well as pizza, dishes at pizzerias can include kebab, salads and pasta. Many pizzerias offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or ...
(which opened in 1938).
Modern Apizza Modern Apizza is an American pizza restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and Sally's Apizza, Modern forms what is informally referred to by locals as the "Holy Trinity" of New Haven-style pizza; the thr ...
on State Street, which opened in 1934, is also well-known. A second New Haven
gastronomical Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gast ...
claim to fame is
Louis' Lunch Louis' Lunch is a hamburger restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut, which claims to be the first restaurant to serve hamburgers and the oldest hamburger restaurant in the United States. It was opened as a small lunch wagon in 1895 and was one of t ...
, which is located in a small brick building on Crown Street and has been serving
fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredie ...
since 1895. Though fiercely debated, the restaurant's founder Louis Lassen is credited by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
with inventing the
hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, ...
and
steak sandwich A steak sandwich is a sandwich prepared with steak that has been broiled, fried, grilled, barbecued or seared using steel grates or gridirons, then served on bread or a roll. Steak sandwiches are sometimes served with toppings of cheese, onions, ...
. Louis' Lunch broils hamburgers, steak sandwiches and
hot dogs A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...
vertically in original antique 1898
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...
stoves using gridirons, patented by local resident Luigi Pieragostini in 1939, that hold the meat in place while it cooks. A third New Haven
gastronomical Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gast ...
claim to fame is
Miya's Miya's was a restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, credited as the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the world. The restaurant was founded by Yoshiko Lai, a Japanese nutritionist. As of 2021, they are permanently closed. Cu ...
, the first
sustainable sushi Sustainable sushi is sushi made from fished or farmed sources that can be maintained or whose future production does not significantly jeopardize the ecosystems from which it is acquired. Concerns over the sustainability of sushi ingredients arise ...
restaurant in the world. Miya's, founded by Chef Yoshiko Lai in 1982, featured the first
sustainable seafood Sustainable seafood is seafood that is caught or farmed in ways that consider the long-term vitality of harvested species and the well-being of the oceans, as well as the livelihoods of fisheries-dependent communities. It was first promoted through ...
-based sushi menu, the first plant-based sushi menu, and the first
invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...
menu in the world. Second generation
Miya's Miya's was a restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, credited as the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the world. The restaurant was founded by Yoshiko Lai, a Japanese nutritionist. As of 2021, they are permanently closed. Cu ...
chef,
Bun Lai Bun Lai (born 1973) is a Hong Kong-born American chef. He is a leader in the sustainable food movement. His family restaurant, Miya's in New Haven, Connecticut, is the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the world. His mother, who received a ...
, is the 2016
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
Champions of Change for Sustainable Seafood and a
James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...
Award nominee. Chef
Bun Lai Bun Lai (born 1973) is a Hong Kong-born American chef. He is a leader in the sustainable food movement. His family restaurant, Miya's in New Haven, Connecticut, is the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the world. His mother, who received a ...
is credited as the first chef in the world for implementing a sustainability paradigm to the cuisine of sushi. During weekday lunchtime, over 150 lunch carts and food trucks cater to diners around the city. The carts and food trucks cluster at four main points: on Long Wharf Drive, along the city's shoreline with quick access off Interstate 95, by Yale – New Haven Hospital in the center of the Hospital Green (Cedar and York streets), by Yale's
Trumbull College Trumbull College is one of fourteen undergraduate residential colleges of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The college is named for Jonathan Trumbull, governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784 and advisor and friend to General George Wash ...
(Elm and York streets), and on the intersection of Prospect and Sachem streets by the
Yale School of Management The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate business school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Administration (MBA), MBA for Executive ...
. Popular farmers' markets, managed by the local non-profit CitySeed, set up shop weekly in several neighborhoods, including Westville/Edgewood Park, Fair Haven, Upper State Street, Wooster Square, and Downtown/New Haven Green. A large grocery store, the Elm City Market, opened on 360 State Street in New Haven in early fall 2011 and served local produce and groceries to the community. Originally, the market was a member-owned
co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
, but debt defaults in August 2014 forced a sale of the business. It is now an employee-owned business; the co-op's previous owners received no equity in the new business. In the past several years, two separate Downtown food tour companies have started offering popular restaurant tours on weekends. Taste of New Haven Tours offers several different weekly restaurant/bar tours and a popular pizza, bike, and pints tour. Culinary Walking Tours offers monthly restaurant tours and sponsors an annual Elm City Iron Chef competition.


Theatre and film

The city hosts numerous theatres and production houses, including the
Yale Repertory Theatre Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of Yale School of Drama, in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented stude ...
, the
Long Wharf Theatre Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared. Fo ...
, and the Shubert Theatre. There is also theatre activity from the
Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...
, which works through the Yale University Theatre and the student-run Yale Cabaret.
Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply Southern) is a public university in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it was founded in 1893 and is ...
hosts the Lyman Center for the Performing Arts. The shuttered Palace Theatre (opposite the Shubert Theatre) was renovated and reopened as the College Street Music Hall in May, 2015. Smaller theatres include the Little Theater on Lincoln Street. Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School also has a theatre on College Street. The theatre is used for student productions, and is the home to weekly services to a local non-denominational church, the City Church New Haven. The Shubert Theatre once premiered many major theatrical productions before their Broadway debuts. Productions that premiered at the Shubert include ''
Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tell ...
'' (which was also written in New HavenThe Taft Apartment Building—New Haven, Connecticut
. Morganreed.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-15.
), ''
Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in SA) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular pl ...
'', ''
South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
'', ''
My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...
'', ''
The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...
'', and ''
The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...
'', and the
Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...
play ''
A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of per ...
''. Bow Tie Cinemas owns and operates the Criterion Cinemas, the first new movie theater to open in New Haven in over 30 years and the first luxury movie complex in the city's history. The Criterion has seven screens and opened in November 2004, showing a mix of upscale first run commercial and independent film.


Museums

New Haven has a variety of museums, many of them associated with Yale. The
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library () is the rare book library and literary archive of the Yale University Library in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the largest buildings in the world dedicated to rare books and manuscripts. Es ...
features an original copy of the
Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the " Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed ...
. There is also the
Connecticut Children's Museum The Connecticut Children's Museum is located in the Children's Building in New Haven, Connecticut, which houses three programs interwoven in purpose and philosophy: Creating Kids Child Care Center, Creating Curriculum Child Care Provider Training ...
; the
Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...
museum near that organization's world headquarters; the
Peabody Museum of Natural History The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University is among the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It was founded by the philanthropist George Peabody in 1866 at the behest of his nephew Oth ...
; the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments; the
Eli Whitney Museum The Eli Whitney Museum, in Hamden, Connecticut, is an experimental learning workshop for students, teachers, and families. The museum's main building is located on a portion of the Eli Whitney Gun Factory site, a gun factory erected by Eli Whit ...
(across the town line in
Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 at the 2020 census. History The peaceful tribe of Quinnipiacs were the first residents of the ...
, on Whitney Avenue); the
Yale Center for British Art Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...
, which houses the largest collection of British art outside the U.K., and the
Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...
, the western hemisphere's oldest college art museum. New Haven is also home to the
New Haven Museum and Historical Society The New Haven Museum and Historical Society (originally known as the New Haven Colony Historical Society) was founded in 1862 in New Haven, Connecticut for the purposes of preserving and presenting the region’s history. The museum has a collectio ...
on Whitney Avenue, which has a library of many primary source treasures dating from Colonial times to the present.
Artspace Artspace may refer to: * Artspace (website), an online marketplace based in New York City * Artspace, New Haven, an art gallery in downtown New Haven, Connecticut * Artspace Mackay, Mackay, Queensland, Australia * Artspace NZ, a visual arts cent ...
on Orange Street is one of several contemporary art galleries around the city, showcasing the work of local, national, and international artists. Others include City Gallery and A. Leaf Gallery in the downtown area. Westville galleries include Kehler Liddell, Jennifer Jane Gallery, and The Hungry Eye. The
Erector Square Erector Square LLC is a 11-building, three-story brick industrial warehouse complex located at the intersection of Blatchley Avenue and Peck Street in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. History The complex originally housed ...
complex in the Fair Haven neighborhood houses, the Parachute Factory gallery along with numerous artist studios, and the complex serves as an active destination during City-Wide Open Studios held yearly in October. New Haven is the home port of a life-size replica of the historical '' Freedom Schooner Amistad'', which is open for tours at Long Wharf pier at certain times during the summer. 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 New Haven Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in 1895 and is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States. Today, the orchestra is ...
, the July Free Concerts on the Green, 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., until it was canceled for 2007. Headliners such as The Breakfast,
Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
,
Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
and
Celia Cruz Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during ...
have historically drawn 30,000 to 50,000 fans, filling up the New Haven Green to capacity. The New Haven Jazz Festival was revived in 2008 and has been sponsored since by Jazz Haven. New Haven is home to the concert venue
Toad's Place Toad's Place is a concert venue and nightclub located in New Haven, Connecticut. History The building, located on York Street down the street from Ashley's Ice Cream and across an alley from Mory's Temple Bar, was the original location of t ...
, and a new venue, College Street Music Hall. 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 College rock was the alternative rock music played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream ...
and underground hip-hop. Other local venues include Cafe Nine, BAR, Pacific Standard Tavern, Stella Blues, Three Sheets, Firehouse 12, and Rudy's. The
Yale School of Music The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a join ...
contributes to the city's music scene by offering hundreds of free concerts throughout the year at venues in and around the Yale campus. Large performances are held in the 2,700-seat Woolsey Hall auditorium, which contains the world's largest symphonic organs, while chamber music and recitals are performed in Sprague Hall. Hardcore band
Hatebreed Hatebreed is an American hardcore band from Bridgeport, Connecticut, formed in 1994. The band released its debut album '' Satisfaction is the Death of Desire'' in 1997, which gave the band a cult following. The band signed to Universal Records ...
are from Wallingford, but got their start in New Haven under the name Jasta 14. The band
Miracle Legion Miracle Legion was an American college rock band formed in 1983 in New Haven, Connecticut. They earned modest renown, especially in their native New England region, but also in the UK, where they were feted by music media such as ''NME'' and ''Mel ...
formed in New Haven in 1983. Folk musicians from New Haven include Loren Mazzacane Connors and Kath Bloom. The Hillhouse Opera Company is a U.S. non-profit
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
company based in New Haven that performs in the New Haven area. Founded in 2008 by Victoria Leigh Gardner, Nicole Rodriguez and Jim Coatsworth Hillhouse Opera Company has performed operas as well as opera scenes programs, master classes and concert series. In 2011, the Company professionally staged the works created through the Riverview Opera Project. The Riverview Opera Project created workshops for children and adolescents at Riverview Hospital, Connecticut's only state-funded psychiatric hospital for youth, and helped them to successfully create, produce, and perform four original operas.


Festivals

In addition to the Jazz Festival (described above), New Haven serves as the home city of the annual
International Festival of Arts and Ideas The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is a 15-day festival that takes place in New Haven, Connecticut. The festival presents performing arts, lectures, and conversations that celebrate influential artists and thinkers from around the wo ...
. New Haven's
Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...
parade, which began in 1842, is
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
's oldest and draws the largest crowds of any one-day spectator event in Connecticut. The St. Andrew the Apostle Italian Festival has taken place in the historic Wooster Square neighborhood every year since 1900. Other parishes in the city celebrate the Feast of
Saint Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua ( it, Antonio di Padova) or Anthony of Lisbon ( pt, António/Antônio de Lisboa; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was bo ...
and a carnival in honor of St. Bernadette Soubirous. New Haven celebrates Powder House Day every April on the New Haven Green to commemorate the city's entrance into the Revolutionary War. The annual Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1973 planting of 72 Yoshino Japanese cherry blossom trees by the New Haven Historic Commission in collaboration with the New Haven Parks Department and residents of the neighborhood. The Festival now draws well over 5,000 visitors. The
Film Fest New Haven The Film Fest New Haven (FFNH) is an annual film festival held in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, home of Yale University. Also sometimes known as the New Haven Film Fest, it is a non-profit organisation that was founded in 1995. This indepe ...
has been held annually since 1995.


Nightlife

In the past decade downtown has seen an influx of new restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Large crowds are drawn to the Crown Street area downtown on weekends where many of the restaurants and bars are located. Crown Street between State and High Streets has dozens of establishments, as do nearby Temple and College Streets. Away from downtown, Upper State Street has a number of restaurants and bars popular with local residents and weekend visitors.


Newspapers and media

New Haven is served by the daily ''
New Haven Register The ''New Haven Register'' is a daily newspaper published in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The Register's main office is located at 100 Gando Drive in New Haven. The ''Register'' was established about 1812 an ...
'', the weekly "alternative" ''
New Haven Advocate New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
'' (which is run by Tribune, the corporation owning the ''
Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
''), the online daily ''New Haven Independent'', and the monthly ''Grand News Community Newspaper.'' Downtown New Haven is covered by an in-depth civic news forum, Design New Haven. The ''Register'' also backs ''
PLAY Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...
'' magazine, a weekly entertainment publication. The city is also served by several student-run papers, including the ''
Yale Daily News The ''Yale Daily News'' is an independent student newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut since January 28, 1878. It is the oldest college daily newspaper in the United States. The ''Yale Daily News'' has consis ...
'', the weekly ''
Yale Herald ''The Yale Herald'' is a newspaper run by undergraduate students at Yale University since 1986. A weekly, the paper aims to provide in-depth, investigative reporting, and includes personal essays, interviews, opinion pieces, culture articles, revi ...
'' and a humor tabloid, ''
Rumpus Magazine ''Rumpus'' is a tabloid publication produced six times a year by students at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. Visually resembling the ''New York Post'', ''Rumpus'' is a controversial, humorous publication with content ranging from campus ...
''.
WTNH WTNH (channel 8) is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX (channel 59), a ...
Channel 8, the ABC affiliate for Connecticut,
WCTX WCTX (channel 59) is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside ABC affiliate WTNH (channel 8) ...
Channel 59, the
MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...
affiliate for the state,
Connecticut Public Television Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) is the Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member network for the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, a community-based non-profit organization that holds the licens ...
station
WEDY The manga series ''Death Note'' features an extensive cast of fictional characters designed by Takeshi Obata with their storylines created by Tsugumi Ohba."How to Think." ''Death Note: How to Read 13''. VIZ Media. 59. The story follows the nov ...
channel 65, a PBS affiliate, and WTXX Channel 34, the IntrigueTV affiliate, broadcast from New Haven. All New York City news and sports team stations broadcast to New Haven County.


Sports and athletics

New Haven has a history of professional sports franchises dating back to the 19th century and has been the home to professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
,
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
,
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
,
hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
, and
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
teams—including the
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...
of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
from 1973 to 1974, who played at the
Yale Bowl The Yale Bowl Stadium is a college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in New Haven, Connecticut, on the border of West Haven, about 1½ miles (2½ km) west of the main campus of Yale University. The home of the American f ...
. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, New Haven consistently had minor league hockey and baseball teams, which played at the New Haven Arena (built in 1926, demolished in 1972), New Haven Coliseum (1972–2002), and
Yale Field George H.W. Bush Field (commonly known as Bush Field, originally Yale Field) is a stadium in West Haven, Connecticut, just across the city line with New Haven, Connecticut. It is primarily used for the Yale University baseball team, the Bulldogs, ...
(1928–present). When John DeStefano, Jr., became mayor of New Haven in 1995, he outlined a plan to transform the city into a major cultural and arts center in the
Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
, which involved investments in programs and projects other than sports franchises. As nearby
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonn ...
built new sports facilities, the
brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
New Haven Coliseum rapidly deteriorated. Believing the upkeep on the venue to be a drain of tax dollars, the DeStefano administration closed the Coliseum in 2002; it was demolished in 2007. New Haven's last professional sports team, the
New Haven County Cutters The New Haven County Cutters were an independent baseball team based in New Haven, Connecticut. From 2004 through 2007, it played in the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball (the "Can-Am League," formerly known as the Northeast ...
, left in 2009. The DeStefano administration did, however, see the construction of the New Haven Athletic Center in 1998, a indoor athletic facility with a
seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...
of over 3,000. The NHAC, built adjacent to Hillhouse High School, is used for New Haven public schools athletics, as well as large-scale area and state sporting events; it is the largest high school indoor sports complex in the state. New Haven was the host of the
1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games The 1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games were held in New Haven, Connecticut, United States on July 1–9, 1995. More than 7,000 athletes from 143 countries gathered for competition in 21 sports. The opening and closing ceremonies were held i ...
; then-President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
spoke at the opening ceremonies. The city is home to the Pilot Pen International tennis event, which takes place every August at the Connecticut Tennis Center, one of the largest tennis venues in the world. New Haven biannually hosts " The Game" between Yale and
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, the country's second-oldest college football rivalry. Numerous road races take place in New Haven, including the
USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 an ...
20K Championship during the
New Haven Road Race The New Haven Road Race is a 20 kilometer road race held in New Haven, Connecticut which was started in 1978. The race is held during the Labor Day weekend. History The first year the race was contested was in 1978, when nearly 1,200 runners s ...
.
Greater New Haven Greater New Haven is the metropolitan area whose extent includes those towns in the U.S. state of Connecticut that share an economic, social, political, and historical focus on the city of New Haven. It occupies the south-central portion of the sta ...
is home to a number of
college sports College athletics encompasses non- professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale de ...
teams. The
Yale Bulldogs The Yale Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two NCAA national championships in women's fencing, four in ...
play Division I college sports, as do the
Quinnipiac Bobcats The Quinnipiac Bobcats are the 21 sports teams representing Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut in intercollegiate athletics. The Bobcats compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, joining o ...
in neighboring Hamden. Division II athletics are played by
Southern Connecticut State University Southern Connecticut State University (Southern Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State, SCSU, or simply Southern) is a public university in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Connecticut State University System, it was founded in 1893 and is ...
and the University of New Haven (actually located in neighboring West Haven), while
Albertus Magnus College Albertus Magnus College is a private Catholic university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded by the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs (now Dominican Sisters of Peace), it is located in the Prospect Hill neighborhood of New Haven, ...
athletes perform at the Division III level. New Haven is home to many
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...
,
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...
, &
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
fans due to the proximity of New York City & Boston. Walter Camp, deemed the "father of American football," was a New Havener. The New Haven Warriors
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
team play in the
AMNRL The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...
. They have a large number of
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
s playing for them. Their field is located at the West Haven High School's Ken Strong Stadium. They won the 2008 AMNRL Grand Final.


Structures


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 left their mark on the city including
Ithiel Town Ithiel Town (October 3, 1784 – June 13, 1844) was an American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the f ...
and Henry Austin in the 19th century and
Cesar Pelli Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...
,
Warren Platner Warren Platner (June 18, 1919 – April 17, 2006) was an American architect and interior designer. Platner produced a furniture collection that has proved to be a continuing icon of 1960s modernism. He is also famed with designing several promi ...
,
Kevin Roche Eamonn Kevin Roche (June 14, 1922 – March 1, 2019) was an Irish-born American Pritzker Prize-winning architect. He was responsible for the design/master planning for over 200 built projects in both the U.S. and abroad. These projects in ...
, Herbert Newman and
Barry Svigals Barry Svigals, FAIA (born 1948) is a Connecticut-based architect and sculptor. He is the founder and Partner Emeritus of Svigals + Partners, an architectural design firm in New Haven, Connecticut. Svigals + Partners was founded in 1983 and has a s ...
in the 20th. The
Yale School of Architecture The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...
has fostered this important component of the city's economy.
Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and ...
, of the Beaux-Arts school, designed New Haven's
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
and the New Haven Free Public Library and was also commissioned for a
City Beautiful The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the ...
plan in 1919.
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
, Marcel Breuer, Alexander Jackson Davis, Philip Johnson, Philip C. Johnson, Gordon Bunshaft, Louis Kahn, James Gamble Rogers, Frank Gehry, Charles Willard Moore, Behnisch Architekten, Stefan Behnisch, James Polshek, Paul Rudolph (architect), Paul Rudolph, Eero Saarinen and Robert Venturi all have designed buildings in New Haven. Yale's 1950s-era Ingalls Rink, designed by Eero Saarinen, was included on the ''America's Favorite Architecture'' list created in 2007. Several residential homes in New Haven were designed by Alice Washburn, a noted female architect whose Colonial Revival style set a standard for homes in the region. Many of the city's neighborhoods are well-preserved as walkable "museums" of 19th- and 20th-century American architecture, particularly by the
New Haven Green The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in New ...
, Hillhouse Avenue and other residential sections close to Downtown New Haven. Overall, a large proportion of the city's land area is National (NRHP) historic districts. One of the best sources on local architecture is ''New Haven: Architecture and Urban Design'', by Elizabeth Mills Brown. The five tallest buildings in New Haven are: # Connecticut Financial Center 383 ft (117m) 26 floors # 360 State Street 338 ft (103m) 32 floors # Knights of Columbus Building (New Haven, Connecticut), Knights of Columbus Building 321 ft (98m) 23 floors # Kline Biology Tower 250 ft (76m) 16 floors # Crown Towers (New Haven, Connecticut), Crown Towers 233 ft (71m) 22 floors


Historic points of interest

Many historical sites exist throughout the city, including National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven, Connecticut, 59 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Of these, nine are among the List of National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut, 60 U.S. National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut. The
New Haven Green The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in New ...
, one of the National Historic Landmarks, was formed in 1638, and is home to three 19th-century churches. Below the First Church of Christ in New Haven (referred to as the Center Church on the Green) lies a 17th-century crypt, which is open to visitors. Some of the more famous burials include the first wife of
Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...
and the aunt and grandmother of President Rutherford B. Hayes; Hayes visited the crypt while President in 1880. The Old Campus of
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
is located next to the Green, and includes Connecticut Hall, Yale's oldest building and a National Historic Landmark. The Hillhouse Avenue area, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a part of Yale's campus, has been called a walkable museum, due to its 19th-century mansions and street scape; Charles Dickens is said to have called Hillhouse Avenue "the most beautiful street in America" when visiting the city in 1868. In 1660,
Edward Whalley Edward Whalley (c. 1607 – c. 1675) was an English military leader during the English Civil War and was one of the regicides who signed the death warrant of King Charles I of England. Early career The exact dates of his birth and death are u ...
(a cousin and friend of Oliver Cromwell) and
William Goffe Major-General William Goffe, in or before 1618 to , was an English religious radical and soldier who fought for Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and served in the New Model Army. A close associate and supporter of Oliver Cromwell, he ...
, two English Civil War generals who signed the death warrant of King Charles I of England, King Charles I, hid in a rock formation in New Haven after having fled England upon the Restoration (England), restoration of Charles II to the English throne. They were later joined by a third regicide,
John Dixwell John Dixwell (1607 – 18 March 1689) was an English man who sat in Parliament, fought for the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War, and was one of the Commissioners who sat in judgement on King Charles I and condemned him to death. At ...
. The rock formation, which is now a part of West Rock Park, is known as Judges' Cave, and the path leading to the cave is called the
Regicides Trail Regicides Trail is a '' Blue-Blazed'' hiking trail, about 7 miles (11 km) long, roughly following the edge of a diabase, or traprock, cliff northwest of New Haven, Connecticut. It is named for two regicides, Edward Whalley and his son-in-la ...
. After the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1776, the Connecticut Colony, Connecticut colonial government ordered the construction of Fort Nathan Hale, Black Rock Fort (to be built on top of an older 17th-century fort) to protect the port of New Haven. In 1779, during the Tryon's raid, Battle of New Haven, British soldiers captured Black Rock Fort and burned the barracks to the ground. The fort was reconstructed in 1807 by the federal government (on orders from the Thomas Jefferson administration), and rechristened Fort Nathan Hale, after the Nathan Hale, Revolutionary War hero who had lived in New Haven. The cannons of Fort Nathan Hale were successful in defying British war ships during the War of 1812. In 1863, during the American Civil War, Civil War, a Fort Nathan Hale, second Fort Hale was built next to the original, complete with bomb-resistant bunkers and a moat, to defend the city should a Confederate States of America, Southern raid against New Haven be launched. The United States Congress deeded the site to the state in 1921, and all three versions of the fort have been restored. The site is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and receives thousands of visitors each year. Grove Street Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark which lies adjacent to Yale's campus, contains the graves of
Roger Sherman Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an American statesman, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign four of the great state papers of the United States related to the founding: the Con ...
,
Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney hi ...
, Noah Webster, Josiah Willard Gibbs,
Charles Goodyear Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844. ...
and Walter Camp, among other notable burials. The cemetery is noted for its Egyptian Revival gateway, and is the oldest planned burial ground in the United States. The Union League, Union League Club of New Haven building, located on Chapel Street, is notable for not only being a historic Beaux-Arts building, but also is built on the site where Roger Sherman's home once stood;
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
is known to have stayed at the Sherman residence while President in 1789 (one of three times Washington visited New Haven throughout his lifetime). Two sites pay homage to the time President and Chief Justice of the United States, Chief Justice
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
lived in the city, as both a student and later Professor at Yale: a plaque on Prospect Street marks the site where Taft's home formerly stood, and downtown's Taft Apartment Building (formerly the Taft Hotel) bears the name of the former president who resided in the building for eight years before becoming Chief Justice of the United States. Lighthouse Point Park, a public beach run by the city, was a popular tourist destination during the Roaring Twenties, attracting luminaries of the period such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. The park remains popular among New Haveners, and is home to the Five Mile Point Lighthouse, constructed in 1847, and the Lighthouse Point Carousel, constructed in 1916. Five Mile Point Light was decommissioned in 1877 following the construction of Southwest Ledge Light at the entrance of the harbor, which remains in service to this day. Both of the lighthouses and the carousel are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other historic sites in the city include the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (New Haven), Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which stands at the summit of
East Rock East Rock of south-central Connecticut, United States, with a high point of , is a long trap rock ridge located primarily in the neighborhood of East Rock on the north side of the city of New Haven. A prominent landscape feature and a popula ...
, the Marsh Botanical Garden, Wooster Square, Dwight Street Historic District, Dwight Street,
Louis' Lunch Louis' Lunch is a hamburger restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut, which claims to be the first restaurant to serve hamburgers and the oldest hamburger restaurant in the United States. It was opened as a small lunch wagon in 1895 and was one of t ...
, and the
Farmington Canal The Farmington Canal, also known as the New Haven and Northampton Canal, was a major private canal built in the early 19th century to provide water transportation from New Haven into the interior of Connecticut, Massachusetts and beyond. Its Mas ...
, all of which date back to the 19th century. Other historic parks besides the Green include Edgerton (Hamden and New Haven, Connecticut), Edgerton Park, Edgewood Park, and East Rock Park, each of which is included on the National Register of Historic Places.


Transportation


Rail

New Haven is connected to New York City and points along the Northeast Corridor by commuter rail, regional rail and inter-city rail. Service is provided by: * Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line (commuter rail) to points west, such as Bridgeport, Stamford, Greenwich, and New York City * Shore Line East (commuter rail) to points east, such as Old Saybrook and New London, with limited rush-hour service west to Stamford * Hartford Line (commuter rail) to points north, such as Meriden, Hartford, Windsor, and Springfield, Massachusetts * Amtrak (regional and intercity rail) The city's main railroad station is the historic Beaux-Arts
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
, which serves Metro-North, Hartford Line, and Shore Line East commuter trains. Union Station is also served by four Amtrak lines: the ''Northeast Regional'' and the high-speed rail, high-speed ''Acela Express'' provide service to New York, Washington, D.C. and
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, and rank as the first and second busiest routes in the country; the New Haven–Springfield Line provides service to
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
and
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, th ...
; and the ''Vermonter (train), Vermonter'' provides service to both Washington, D.C., and
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
, from the Canada–United States border, Canada–US border. Amtrak also codeshares with United Airlines for travel to any airport serviced by United Airlines, via Newark Liberty International Airport originating from or terminating at Union Station . An additional station, State Street Station (New Haven), State Street Station, was opened in 2002, providing passengers easier access to downtown New Haven. State Street Station is currently serviced by Shore Line East and Hartford Line trains, plus some peak-hour Metro-North trips.


Bus

The Connecticut Transit New Haven, New Haven Division of Connecticut Transit (CT Transit), the state's bus system, is the second largest division in the state with 24 routes. All routes originate from the
New Haven Green The New Haven Green is a privately owned park and recreation area located in the downtown district of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It comprises the central square of the nine-square settlement plan of the original Puritan colonists in New ...
, making it the central transfer hub of the city. Service is provided to 19 different municipalities throughout
Greater New Haven Greater New Haven is the metropolitan area whose extent includes those towns in the U.S. state of Connecticut that share an economic, social, political, and historical focus on the city of New Haven. It occupies the south-central portion of the sta ...
. Bus routes were formerly identified by letters, but as of October 8, 2017, all service was renamed using 200-series numbers, in accordance with a renumbering of CTtransit's statewide services. CT Transit's Union Station Shuttle provides free service from Union Station to the New Haven Green and several New Haven parking garages. Peter Pan Bus Lines, Peter Pan and Greyhound Lines, Greyhound bus lines have scheduled stops at Union Station, and connections downtown can be made via the Union Station Shuttle. A private company operates the New Haven/Hartford Express which provides commuter bus service to Hartford. The Yale University Shuttle provides free transportation around New Haven for Yale students, faculty, and staff. The New Haven Division buses follow routes that had originally been covered by tram, trolley service. Horsecar, Horse-drawn streetcars began operating in New Haven in the 1860s, and by the mid-1890s all the lines had become electric. In the 1920s and 1930s, some of the trolley lines began to be replaced by bus lines, with the last trolley route converted to bus in 1948. The City of New Haven is in the very early stages of considering the restoration of streetcar (light-rail) service, which has been absent since the postwar period.


Bicycle


Bikeshare

On February 21, 2018, New Haven officially launched its Bike New Haven bikeshare program. based on dockless technology powered by Noa Technologies At time of launch, the program features 10 docking stations and 100 bikes, spread throughout the urban core; there are plans to reach 30 bike stations and 300 bikes by the end of April 2018. The launch of the New Haven bikeshare program coincided with the launch of Yale University's own bikeshare program, which uses the same technology powered by Noa.


Bike lanes

In 2004, the first bike lane in the city was added to Orange Street, connecting East Rock Park and the East Rock (neighborhood), East Rock neighborhood to downtown. Since then, bike lanes have also been added to sections of Howard Ave, Elm St, Dixwell Avenue, Water Street, Clinton Avenue and State Street. The city has created recommended bike routes for getting around New Haven, including use of the Canal Trail and the Orange Street lane. As of the end of 2012, bicycle lanes have also been added in both directions on Dixwell Avenue along most of the street from downtown to the Hamden town line, as well as along Howard Avenue from Yale New Haven Hospital to City Point. The city has plans to create two additional bike lanes connecting Union Station with downtown, and the Westville neighborhood with downtown. The city has added dozens of covered bicycle parking, bike parking spots at Union Station, in order to facilitate more bike commuting to the station.


Farmington Canal Greenway

The
Farmington Canal Trail The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail is an multi-use rail trail located in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The trail was built on former New Haven and Northampton Company (NH&N) (later New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad H railbed, which w ...
is a rail trail that will eventually run continuously from downtown New Haven to
Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an a ...
. The scenic trail follows the path of the historic New Haven and Northampton Company and the
Farmington Canal The Farmington Canal, also known as the New Haven and Northampton Canal, was a major private canal built in the early 19th century to provide water transportation from New Haven into the interior of Connecticut, Massachusetts and beyond. Its Mas ...
. Currently, there is a continuous stretch of the trail from downtown, through Hamden and into Cheshire, Connecticut, Cheshire, making bicycle commuting between New Haven and those suburbs possible. The trail is part of the East Coast Greenway, a proposed bike path that would link every major city on the East Coast of the United States, East Coast from Florida to Maine.


Roads

New Haven lies at the intersection of
Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
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 Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
, and eastern
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
—and
Interstate 91 Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Connec ...
, which leads northward to the interior of Connecticut, Massachusetts and
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
and the Canada–US 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 The Oak Street Connector, officially known as the Richard C. Lee Highway (named after former New Haven mayor Richard C. Lee), is a freeway section of Route 34 that is located in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The freeway begin ...
(Connecticut Route 34) intersects I-91 at exit 1, just south of the I-95/I-91 interchange, and runs northwest for a few blocks as an expressway spur into downtown before emptying onto surface roads. The Wilbur Cross Parkway (Connecticut 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 the site of the only highway tunnel in the state (officially designated as Heroes Tunnel), running through West Rock, home to West Rock Park and the Three Judges Cave. The city also has several major surface arteries. U.S. Route 1 in Connecticut, U.S. Route 1 (Columbus Avenue, Union Avenue, Water Street, Forbes Avenue) runs in an east–west direction south of downtown serving
Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
and leading out of the city to Milford, Connecticut, Milford, West Haven, East Haven, Connecticut, East Haven and Branford, Connecticut, Branford. The main road from downtown heading northwest is Whalley Avenue (partly signed as Connecticut Route 10, Route 10 and Connecticut Route 63, Route 63) leading to Westville and Woodbridge, Connecticut, Woodbridge. Heading north towards Hamden, there are two major thoroughfares, Dixwell Avenue and Whitney Avenue. To the northeast are Middletown Avenue (Connecticut Route 17, Route 17), which leads to the Montowese section of North Haven, and Foxon Boulevard (Connecticut Route 80, Route 80), which leads to the Foxon section of East Haven and to the town of North Branford, Connecticut, North Branford. To the west is Route 34, which leads to the city of Derby, Connecticut, Derby. Other major intracity arteries are Ella Grasso Boulevard (Connecticut Route 10, Route 10) west of downtown, and College Street, Temple Street, Church Street, Elm Street, and Grove Street in the downtown area. Traffic safety is a major concern for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists in New Haven. In addition to many traffic-related fatalities in the city each year, since 2005, over a dozen Yale students, staff and faculty have been killed or injured in traffic collisions on or near the campus.


Airport

Tweed New Haven Regional Airport is located within the city limits east of the business district. Avelo Airlines flies nonstop to cities across Florida, including Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa, and West Palm Beach. Bus service between Downtown New Haven and Tweed is available via the Connecticut Transit New Haven, CT Transit New Haven Division. Taxi service and rental cars are available at the airport. Travel time from Tweed to downtown takes approximately 15 minutes by car. Other nearby airports include: *Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. *Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Bridgeport, Connecticut.


Seaport

New Haven Harbor New Haven Harbor is an inlet on the north side of Long Island Sound in the state of Connecticut]. The harbor area is an inlet carved by the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago. The city of New Haven and ...
is home to the Port of New Haven, a deep-water seaport with three berths capable of hosting vessels and barges as well as the facilities required to handle break bulk cargo. The port has the capacity to load 200 trucks a day from the ground or via loading docks. Rail transportation access is available, with a private switch engine for yard movements and private siding for loading and unloading. Approximately of inside storage and of outside storage are available at the site. Five shore cranes with a 250-ton capacity and 26 forklifts, each with a 26-ton capacity, are also available. On June 17, 2013, the city commissioned the Nathan Hale (fireboat), ''Nathan Hale'', a port security vessel capable of serving search and rescue, firefighting, and constabulary roles.


Infrastructure


Hospitals and medicine

The New Haven area supports several medical facilities that are considered some of the best hospitals in the country. There are two major medical centers downtown: Yale – New Haven Hospital has four pavilions, including the Yale – New Haven Children's Hospital and the Smilow Cancer Hospital; the Hospital of Saint Raphael is several blocks north, and touts its excellent cardiac emergency care program. Smaller downtown health facilities are the Temple Medical Center located downtown on Temple Street, Connecticut Mental Health Center/ across Park Street from Y-NHH, and the Hill Health Center, which serves the working-class Hill neighborhood. A large Veterans Affairs hospital is located in neighboring West Haven. To the west in Milford, Connecticut, Milford is Milford Hospital (Connecticut), Milford Hospital, and to the north in Meriden, Connecticut, Meriden is the MidState Medical Center. Yale and New Haven are working to build a medical and biotechnology research hub in the city and Greater New Haven region, and are succeeding to some extent. The city, state and Yale together run Science Park, a large site three blocks northwest of Yale's Science Hill (Yale University), Science Hill campus.[citation forthcoming] This multi-block site, approximately bordered by Mansfield Street, Division Street, and Shelton Avenue, is the former home of Winchester Repeating Arms Company, Winchester's and Olin Corporation's 45 large-scale factory buildings. Currently, sections of the site are large-scale parking lots or abandoned structures, but there is also a large remodeled and functioning area of buildings (leased primarily by a private developer) with numerous Yale employees, financial service and biotech companies. A second biotechnology district is being planned for the median strip on Frontage Road, on land cleared for the never-built Route 34 extension. As of late 2009, a Pfizer drug-testing clinic, a medical laboratory building serving Yale – New Haven Hospital, and a mixed-use structure containing parking, housing and office space, have been constructed on this corridor. A former Southern New England Telephone, SNET telephone building at 300 George Street is being converted into lab space, and has been quite successful so far in attracting biotechnology and medical firms.


Power supply facilities

Electricity for New Haven is generated by a 448 MW oil and gas-fired generating station located on the shore at New Haven Harbor. PPL Corporation operates a 220 MW peaking natural gas turbine plant in nearby Wallingford. Near New Haven there is the static inverter plant of the HVDC Cross Sound Cable. There are three PureCell System, PureCell Model 400 fuel cells placed in the city of New Haven—one at the New Haven Public Schools and newly constructed Roberto Clemente School, one at the mixed-use 360 State Street building, and one at New Haven City Hall and County Courthouse, City Hall. According to Giovanni Zinn of the city's Office of Sustainability, each fuel cell may save the city up to $1 million in energy costs over a decade. The fuel cells were provided by ClearEdge Power, formerly UTC Power. Additional fuel cells are located at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and at the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority (GNHWPCA). IKEA, Ikea's New Haven facility also utilizes a 250 kW fuel cell and 940.8 kW solar array. New Haven recently installed solar panels at 11 city schools with a combined power generation capacity of 1.8 MW. Owned and maintained by Greenskies, the panels allow New Haven to purchase electricity at a discounted rate through a power-purchasing agreement. The panels bring New Haven's solar capacity to 2.8 MW and will help New Haven meet its commitment to powering 100% of its municipal operations through clean energy, which it made in Summer 2017 and reaffirmed in the 2018 New Haven Climate and Sustainability Framework.


In popular culture

Several recent movies have been filmed in New Haven, including ''Mona Lisa Smile'' (2003), with Julia Roberts, ''The Life Before Her Eyes'' (2007), with Uma Thurman, and ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' (2008) directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf. The filming of ''Crystal Skull'' involved an extensive chase sequence through the streets of New Haven. Several downtown streets were closed to traffic and received a "makeover" to look like streets of 1957, when the film is set. 500 locals were cast as extras for the film. In ''Everybody's Fine (2009 film), Everybody's Fine'' (2009), Robert De Niro has a close encounter in what is supposed to be the Denver train station; the scene was filmed in New Haven's Union Station. New Haven is mentioned in the song Peace Frog by The Doors, referencing a 1967 incident where Morrison was arrested for "attempting to incite a riot" in the middle of a concert at the New Haven Arena.


Notable people


Sister cities

New Haven's Sister city, sister cities are: * Afula, Israel * Amalfi, Italy * Avignon, France * Changsha, China * Freetown, Sierra Leone * Huế, Vietnam * León, Nicaragua, Nicaragua * San Francisco Tetlanohcan Municipality, San Francisco Tetlanohcan, Mexico Some of these were selected because of historical connection—Freetown because of the ''Amistad'' trial. Others, such as Amalfi and Afula, reflect ethnic groups in New Haven. In 1990, the United Nations named New Haven a "United Nations Peace Messenger Cities, Peace Messenger City".


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven, Connecticut *
New Haven Fire Department The New Haven Fire Department (NHFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Fire Department currently serves a population of over 130,000 people living in 19 square miles of lan ...
* New Haven Police Department * Coast Guard Station New Haven * Human coronavirus NL63, New Haven Coronavirus


References


Further reading

* 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) * *
Robert A. Dahl Robert Alan Dahl (; December 17, 1915 – February 5, 2014) was an American political theorist and Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He established the pluralist theory of democracy—in which political outcomes ar ...
, ''Who Governs?, Who Governs? Democracy and Power in An American City'' (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1961) *
William Lee Miller William Lee Miller (April 21, 1926 – May 27, 2012) was an American journalist, academic, and historian who taught in the University of Virginia's religious studies department for 17 years, and remained affiliated with the university after his ...
, ''The Fifteenth Ward and the Great Society'' (Houghton Mifflin/Riverside, 1966) * 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) * Preston C. Maynard and Majorey B. Noyes, (editors), "Carriages and Clocks, Corsets and Locks: the Rise and Fall of an Industrial City—New Haven, Connecticut" (University Press of New England, 2005) * Mandi Isaacs Jackson, ''Model City Blues: Urban Space and Organized Resistance in New Haven'' (Temple University Press, 2008) * James Cersonsky, "Whose New Haven? Reversing the Slant of the Knowledge Economy" (''Dissent'', February 15, 2011) * Paul Bass, "New Hope for New Haven, Connecticut" (''Nation'', January 25, 2012)


External links

* {{Authority control New Haven, Connecticut, Cities in Connecticut Cities in New Haven County, Connecticut Cities in the New York metropolitan area Former state capitals in the United States, Connecticut Populated coastal places in Connecticut Populated places established in 1638 Port cities and towns of the United States Atlantic coast 1638 establishments in Connecticut Hispanic and Latino American culture in Connecticut