History of New Haven, (New Haven County) Connecticut United States of America

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Local History Notes:

NEW HAVEN, a city, port of entry, seat of justice of a county of its own name, and semi-capital of Connecticut, is situated in a beautiful plain,. at the head of New Haven bay, 4 miles from its entrance into Long Island sound. It is 160 miles S. W. from Boston, and 76 miles N. E. from New York, being in a direct line between the two cities. Lat. 41° 18' 23" N., lon. 72° 56' 30" W. The plain on which New Haven stands inclines gently towards the water, and is environed on all sides, except in the direction of the harbor, by an amphitheatre of hills, two of which, presenting rugged and perpendicular precipices from 300 to 400 feet in height, are called East and West rocks. These eminences consist principally of greenstone trap, and are conspicuous objects in the landscape. Three small streams, the Quinepiack on the E., with Mill river flowing into it about half a mile from its mouth, and the West river on the right, intersect this plain, discharging their waters into the bay. Of the two former, the first forms the eastern limit of the town, and the other of the city. Several bridges have been thrown across these streams, one of which, at the mouth of the Quinepiac, is a covered drawbridge, leading from the steamboat landing to East Haven. The chartered limits of the city extend 3 miles from E. to W., and 2 miles back from the harbor. This area is regularly laid out with streets, usually 4 rods broad, intersecting each other at right angles. Chapel street, the fashionable promenade, extends from Mill river in a W. N. W direction, throughout the entire length of the city, and, with State street, is the seat of the principal business. New Haven is one of the handsomest cities in the United States. Nearly every portion exhibits a uniform neatness and elegance. The private residences are mostly detached, standing in court-yards, beautifully adorned with fruit-trees, gardens, and shrubbery. In Hill-house avenue, a delightful suburb on the N., the dwellings are nearly concealed from view, amid the profusion of foliage and flowers. Probably in no other city are to be found so many and such lofty elms. Temple street and several others are so thickly shaded as almost entirely to shut out the sun. From the great abundance of these trees, New Haven has been familiarly denominated the "city of elms." Another scarcely less prominent or attractive feature are the public squares, the principal of which, commonly called the "Green," and lying about 1 1/2 miles N. W. from the steamboat landing, is, with its ornaments, one of the finest in New England. It includes an area of about 16 acres, bordered on all sides with majestic elms. Wooster square is a beautiful enclosure in the eastern part of the city, comprising 5 acres of ground, handsomely laid out and ornamented. Besides these, there are York square, and others of less prominence. The city burial-ground lies opposite the northern angle of the old town plot, and contains about 18 acres, divided by avenues and alleys into family lots, 32 feet long and 18 broad. It is beautifully adorned with various kinds of trees and shrubs, and in the summer season flowers are cultivated along the borders of the walks, and on many of the graves. The entire grounds are securely enclosed on three sides by a high wall of stone masonry, and in front by a massive iron fence. There are also three or four other cemeteries in different sections of the city.

Among the principal public edifices maybe mentioned the state house, standing in the western section of the green. It is a large stuccoed building, modelled after the Parthenon, and contains, besides the legislative halls, apartments for the supreme, superior, and county courts. The new railroad depôt, recently erected in Chapel street, near State street, is a magnificent brick structure, with towers. It is the terminus of all the railroads conducting to the city. The state hospital, erected in 1832, is a handsome stone edifice, well situated on high ground, about half a mile S. W. from the central square. Many of the churches, of which the city contains about 22, are justly admired for their neatness and elegance. Trinity church and St. Paul's chapel, beautiful stone edifices, have their walls and roofs thickly covered with creepers. The Central church, North church, Court and College street churches, (Congregational,) and the Methodist church, are all fine brick buildings, with lofty spires. The three last have been erected within a few years.

New Haven has long been celebrated for its literary advantages, and for the intellectual and moral character of its citizens. At the college and the various female schools, there are probably not less than a thousand pupils from abroad, in regular attendance. Yale College, which at the present time, and for many years past, has imparted instruction to a greater number of academical students than any other institution of the kind in the United States, was originally founded at Killingworth in the year 1700, and named in honor of its principal foreign donor, Elihu Yale, governor of the East India Company. It was chartered in 1701; removed to Saybrook in 1707, and to New Haven in 1716. It has always sustained a high reputation, and at present embraces five departments, viz. an academical, a theological, a medical college, a law school, and a school for the cultivation of philosophy and the arts, each having its own faculty. The latter department has 4 professors and 46 students, who also receive instruction from members of the other faculties. The buildings of the institution occupy almost an entire square, which lies immediately W. of the public green, and is separated from it by College street. Fronting E. S. E. stands a row of eight brick edifices, five of them four stories high, containing study and sleeping rooms for the students. Of the remaining three, each of which is adorned with a tower or spire, one is the chapel, another the observatory, and the third, called the Lyceum, is used for recitations. In the rear of these is a second range, consisting of the chemical laboratory, Trumbull gallery, one apartment of which is occupied by the historical and other paintings of Colonel John Trumbull, the other chiefly by the portraits of the officers and benefactors of the college; and a large building, containing on the first floor the philosophical apparatus, and on the second the cabinet of minerals, one of the largest and choicest collections in America. Still farther in the rear, near the W. side of the square, stands the library building, a costly Gothic structure, (fire-proof,) 150 feet in length, devoted to college and societies' libraries. A little N. of this is another spacious stone edifice, nearly completed, called Alumni hall, in which are apartments for the Linonan and Brothers' societies, and a large hall for the general purposes of the institution. The analytical laboratory of the philosophical department is at present in a wooden building near the north college. The medical college, a handsome granite structure, containing the anatomical museum, library, lecture rooms, &c., is situated at the head of College street, about 1/2 of a mile N. N. E. from the college proper. There are also several literary associations formed for the benefit of the citizens, one of which, called the Young Men's Institute, has a valuable library, and maintains an able course of lectures. Liberal means are likewise provided for the support of popular education. The Lancasterian school, under the management of John E. Lovel, has long been considered one of the best institutions of the kind in New England. There are 4 newspaper offices in the city, 3 of which issue daily, semi-weekly and weekly editions. The other publications are the American Journal of Science and Art, continued here since 1819, and edited by Professors Silliman and Dana; the New-Englander, a literary and religious quarterly of elevated character, and the Yale Literary Magazine, conducted by the students of the college. The American Journal of Science and Arts, issued six times per annum, is a work of high reputation, both at home and abroad. New Haven has extensive railroad communication with the interior and cities along the seaboard. A daily line of steamboats also connects it with New York. The facilities of the port for marine commerce, however, are somewhat limited, its harbor, though sufficiently capacious and well protected, being too shallow to admit vessels of a large class. To obviate as far as practicable this difficulty, a wharf, the longest in the United States, has been extended into it 3943 feet; yet from the filling up that is continually going on, there is said to be less depth of water now at its termination than when its length was only 20 rods. Further to facilitate the navigation of the harbor, the United States government are at the present time making considerable expenditures in removing the obstructions at its entrance. A lighthouse, exhibiting a fixed light 35 feet above the level of the sea, has also been erected on Fivemile Point, about 4 miles S. from the wharf. The foreign commerce of New Haven is chiefly carried on with the West India Islands, to which were formerly shipped great numbers of cattle, horses, and mules. Of late, however, this branch of trade has very much declined, no cattle, and but few horses, having been sent out for the last 15 years, though mules still constitute an important part of the foreign exports. The shipping of the port, June 30th, 1852, amounted to an aggregate of 6692 86/95 tons registered, and 13,425 22/95 tons enrolled and licensed. Of the latter, 13,070 53/95 tons were employed in the coast trade, and 1161 08/95 tons in steam navigation. The foreign arrivals for the year were 110, (tons, 21,356,) of which 77, (tons, 14,395,) were by American vessels. The clearances for foreign ports were 108, (tons 20,580,) of which 13,874 were in American bottoms. During the year 3 ships, 4 schooners, and 2 sloops, with an aggregate burthen of 1195 48/95 tons, were admeasured. The manufactures of New Haven are extensive, and furnish employment to about one-fourth of the entire population. The principal articles produced are carriages and clocks, India-rubber goods, iron ware, boots, shoes, &c. There are 5 banks in the city, with an aggregate capital of upwards of $2,000,000, and a savings' institution having $835,112 on deposite. Gas is employed to light the streets. It is also contemplated to supply the city with water, to be brought by means of an aqueduct, either from Mill river at Whitneyville, or some other available source. New Haven was settled as an independent colony in April, 1638, by a company from London. of whom Theophilus Eaton and the Rev. John Davenport were the leaders. In 1784 it was incorporated as a city. Population of the town in 1830, 10,678; in 1840, 14,390; in 1850, 22,529; of whom 20,341 resided in the city. Population of the city, September, 1853, about 23,000.

Biographies:

Henry Baldwin Harrison, governor of Connecticut, was born in New Haven, Conn., Sept. 11, 1821. He was graduated at Yale college in 1846, and in 1848 was admitted to the bar. He was one of the organizers of the Republican party in Connecticut in 1856, and in 1885 was elected governor. He died in New Haven, Oct. 29, 1901.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Howe, historian, was born in New Haven, Conn., Oct. 11, 1816; son of Gen. Hezekiah and Sarah (Townsend) Howe; grandson of Hezekiah and Hannah (Beers) Howe and of Ebenezer and Eunice (Atwater) Townsend, and a descendant of James Howe, who came to America from Essex county, England, in 1637, and settled in Ipswich. Mass. Gen. Hezekiah Howe was the first publisher of Webster's dictionary. Henry learned the book business from his father, and published his first book, "Eminent Mechanics," in 1839, followed by: "Historical Collections" of New York in 1841, of New Jersey in 1843, of Virginia in 1845, and of Ohio in 1847. In 1891, after six years of extended travel, lie published "Historical Collections of Ohio, Centennial Edition," in three large volumes, the plates and copyright of which were purchased by the state of Ohio. He was elected to honorary membership in the various state and national historical societies, and received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Otterbein university, Ohio, in 1889. Besides his Historical Collections be is the author of: The Great West (1851); Travels and Adveutures of Celebrated Travellers (1853); Life and Death on the Ocean (1855); Adventures and Achievements of Americans (1858); Our Whole Country (2 vols., 1861); Times of the Rebellion in the West (1876); Over the World (1883); Outline History of New Haven (1884); New Haven Elms and Greens (1885). He died in Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 14, 1893.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Colin Macrae Ingersoll, engineer, was born in New Haven, Conn., Dec. 1, 1858; son of Colin Macrae and Julia (Pratt) Ingersoll, and grandson of the Hon. Ralph Isaacs and Margaret (Van den Heuvel) Ingersoll. He was graduated at Yale, Ph.B., in 1880, after studying in Europe, notably in Geneva, through several vacations. He engaged as an assistant in the engineer department of the Missouri Pacific railroad, 1880-81, and of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, 1881-1900, and in 1900 was elected chief engineer.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Harriet Mulford Lothrop, author, was born in New Haven, Conn., June 22, 1844; daughter of Sidney M. and Harriet (Mulford) Stone, and a descendant in the eighth generation from the Rev. Thomas Hooker, founder of Connecticut. She began to contribute to juvenile periodicals in 1877. She adopted the pen name "Margaret Sidney" and directed her literary work to the instruction and amusement of children. She was married Oct. 4, 1881, to Daniel Lothrop , and made her summer home at "The Wayside," Concord, Mass. She was the founder and first president of the National Society of the Children of the American Revolution. She is the author of: So as by Fire (1881); Five Little Peppers and How they Grew (1882); Half Year at Bronckton, (1882); The Pettibone Name (1883); What the Seven Did (1883); Who told it to Me (1884); Ballad of the Lost Hare (1884); The Golden West (1885); How They Went to Europe (1885); Hester, and other New England Stories (1886); The Minute-Man (1886); Two Modern Little Princes (1887); Dilly and the Captain (1887); An Adirondack Cabin; Whittier with the Children; Old Concord, Her Highways and Byways; A Little Maid of Concord Town; A Historical Romance of the American Revolution; and many poems.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor