New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is situated on New Haven Harbor along the northern shore of Long Island Sound. According to the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in Connecticut, with a population of 134,023, and it is the largest city in the South Central Connecticut Planning Region. The surrounding Greater New Haven area is home to about 577,000 people.

New Haven has a rich history. It was one of the first planned cities in the United States. After being founded by English Puritans in 1638, its streets were arranged in a three-by-three grid, known as the "Nine Square Plan". In the center of this plan lies the New Haven Green, a large open space that is now a National Historic Landmark.

One of the most well-known features of New Haven is Yale University. The university plays a big role in the city's economy, bringing in many jobs and supporting local businesses. Other important parts of the city's economy include health care, financial services, and shopping.

For many years, from 1701 to 1873, New Haven was also one of Connecticut’s capitals, together with the city of Hartford. Since then, it has become known as the “Cultural Capital of Connecticut” because of its many theaters, museums, and music places. The city started the first public tree planting program in the United States, which helped create beautiful streets lined with trees, earning it the nickname “The Elm City”.

History

Pre-colonial foundation as an independent colony

Before Europeans came, the New Haven area was home to the Quinnipiac tribe of Native Americans. They lived in villages around the harbor and fished and farmed maize. Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited briefly in 1614 and set up a small trade for beaver pelts, but the Dutch did not stay.

In 1638, a group of Puritans arrived and settled in New Haven. They wanted to create a community where the church and government were closely linked. The Quinnipiacs sold their land in exchange for protection. By 1640, New Haven had a town plan and was named for its harbor. The area to the north stayed Quinnipiac until 1678 when it became Hamden.

As part of the Connecticut Colony

In 1664, New Haven joined the Connecticut Colony under pressure from England. Some settlers left to start Newark, New Jersey. New Haven became co-capital of Connecticut in 1701, a role it kept until 1873.

In 1716, a school moved to New Haven and was renamed Yale College in 1718 after a donation. During the American Revolution, New Haven citizens helped arm themselves and supported General George Washington. In 1779, British forces raided the town but did not destroy it.

Post-colonial period and industrialization

New Haven became a city in 1784. Eli Whitney, a Yale graduate, invented the cotton gin and started a gun factory, bringing growth. The city also had clock-making and brass industries. The Farmington Canal helped move goods until it closed.

New Haven planned to be the first college for African Americans, but this did not happen due to opposition. In 1839, the trial of people aboard the ship Amistad took place in New Haven. The American Civil War helped the local economy. After the war, many immigrants from southern Europe arrived.

Post-industrial era and urban redevelopment

New Haven grew during the World Wars but later faced population loss and economic decline, like many U.S. cities. In the 1950s, urban renewal projects changed parts of the city. The 1970s saw protests related to trials of political activists.

Since 2000, downtown New Haven has improved with new restaurants, shops, and housing. Projects include a new college campus and a large apartment building. Plans continue for new transportation and harbor improvements.

Geography

New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It has a total area of 20.1 square miles, with 18.7 square miles of land and 1.4 square miles of water.

The city has a large, shallow harbor and two rocky ridges called East Rock and West Rock. These ridges are popular parks. West Rock has a tunnel for a road and once was a hiding place for important historical figures. East Rock has a war monument and a set of steps called the "Great/Giant Steps."

New Haven has three rivers: the West, Mill, and Quinnipiac. Two of these rivers flow into New Haven Harbor, which is part of Long Island Sound. Several smaller streams also flow through the city.

The city has hot, humid summers and cool to cold winters. Summer temperatures often go above 80 °F, and occasional storms happen. Winters can change a lot, with both rain and snow.

New Haven has a planned layout with a central open space called the city green. This area has historic churches and is a social center for the city. The downtown area has many homes, shops, and restaurants. The city has many different neighborhoods, each with its own character.

Demographics

Census data

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2010, New Haven had a population of 129,779 people. By 2020, this number grew to 134,023. The city has many different groups of people. In 2020, about 27.61% were non-Hispanic white, 30.43% were Black or African American, and 30.64% were Hispanic or Latino. Other groups include Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, and people of two or more races.

In 2010, about 29% of households had children under 18 living in them. The median age of people in New Haven was 29 years, which is younger than the national average. Many families and individuals live in the city, and some people live alone.

Other data

About 14% of people in New Haven walk to work, which is one of the highest rates in the United States. This is because the city is small and home to Yale University. New Haven is also known for having many Italian American families and a special kind of local style of pizza.

Economy

New Haven used to have a strong manufacturing economy, but after World War II, many factories closed down, especially in cities like New Haven that had many working-class families. At the same time, Yale University grew and became very important to the city.

Today, more than half of New Haven’s jobs are in services, especially education and healthcare. Yale University is the biggest employer in the city, followed by Yale – New Haven Hospital. Other big employers include Southern Connecticut State University, Assa Abloy (a lock company), and the Knights of Columbus headquarters. Clothing stores Gant and Ann Taylor started in New Haven.

In 2017, a study by Verizon named New Haven one of the top 10 cities in America for starting new technology businesses, and the best 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, a large Catholic service group and a Fortune 1000 company, has its main office in New Haven. Amphenol, a Fortune 100 company, is based nearby in Wallingford. NewAlliance Bank, Higher One Holdings, United Illuminating, and Transpro Inc. are also based in New Haven. The American part of Assa Abloy, a leading lock maker, is located in the city. SeeClickFix, a company started in 2007, is also headquartered here.

Law and government

Political structure

See also: List of mayors of New Haven, Connecticut and Mayoral elections in New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven uses a mayor-council system. Like other cities in Connecticut, it handles most local services such as fire, rescue, education, and snow removal because county government ended in 1960.

New Haven County is just a group of towns and a court area, not a government. New Haven is part of the South Central Connecticut Regional Council of Governments, which helps coordinate between towns and state agencies.

Justin Elicker is the mayor of New Haven. He became mayor on January 1, 2020.

The city council, called the Board of Alders, has thirty members, each from a different area of the city. Each area has about 4,300 people, and redistricting happens every ten years.

The city mostly supports the Democratic party. In 2017, of the 83,694 voters, 66% were registered Democrats, 4% were Republicans, and 29% were unaffiliated. The Board of Alders is mostly Democrats; a Republican has not been on the board since 2011.

New Haven has its own police and fire departments.

New Haven is in Connecticut's 3rd congressional district and has been represented by Rosa DeLauro since 1991. Martin Looney and Gary Winfield represent New Haven in the Connecticut State Senate, and the city is part of six districts in the Connecticut House of Representatives.

The Greater New Haven area uses the New Haven Judicial District Court and the New Haven Superior Court, both at the New Haven County Courthouse. The federal District Court for the District of Connecticut has a building in New Haven called the Richard C. Lee United States Courthouse.

Political history

See also: List of Yale University people § Law and politics; and List of people from New Haven, Connecticut § Politicians

New Haven is where former president George W. Bush was born when his father, former president George H. W. Bush, was a student at Yale. Many other leaders studied here, including presidents William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton, as well as Secretary of State John Kerry. President Clinton met his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while they were both at Yale Law School. Other important leaders like former vice presidents John C. Calhoun and Dick Cheney also studied here.

New Haven voters strongly supported leaders like Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

New Haven was important in a book called Who Governs? Democracy and Power in An American City by Yale professor Robert A. Dahl, which describes the city's politics in the 1950s.

Crime

Crime increased in the 1990s, but began to stabilize in the late 1990s. The city used community policing, which helped lower crime rates during the 2000s.

Violent crime levels change a lot between different parts of the city, with some areas having rates similar to the rest of Connecticut and others having much higher rates. A report from 2011 by the New Haven Health Department talks about these differences.

In 2010, New Haven was ranked as the 18th most dangerous city in the United States. However, studies show that comparing whole cities can be misleading because cities cover different sizes of land. Researchers suggest comparing smaller areas instead.

Education

Colleges and universities

New Haven is a special place for learning. Yale University is very famous and is right in the middle of the city. It is one of the biggest jobs in the area. The city is also home to Southern Connecticut State University, which is part of the Connecticut State University System. There is also a private school called Albertus Magnus College. Gateway Community College has a school in downtown New Haven. It used to be in the Long Wharf area but moved to a new building downtown.

There are also schools just outside New Haven. Quinnipiac University and the Paier College of Art are in the town of Hamden. The University of New Haven is in the nearby town of West Haven.

Primary and secondary schools

New Haven Public Schools takes care of the schools in the city. Wilbur Cross High School and Hillhouse High School are the two biggest public high schools.

Hopkins School is a private school that was started in 1660, making it one of the oldest schools in the United States. New Haven has many other private schools and special public schools. Some of these schools are Metropolitan Business Academy, High School in the Community, Hill Regional Career High School, Co-op High School, New Haven Academy, Edgewood Magnet School, ACES Educational Center for the Arts, the Foote School, and the Sound School. The city also has two special charter schools called Amistad Academy and Elm City College Prep, and a school called Common Ground that focuses on nature and the environment.

Culture

Cuisine

In 2014, Livability.com named New Haven the Best Foodie City in the country. The city has many well-known restaurants, with over 120 of them located within two blocks of the New Haven Green. New Haven is famous for its pizza, called "apizza," which first appeared at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in 1925. This pizza is cooked in brick ovens and has a thin crust. It can be red (with tomato sauce) or white (with garlic and olive oil), and some pizzas come without cheese.

Another famous food spot is Louis' Lunch, which has been serving fast food since 1895. It is credited with inventing the hamburger and steak sandwich. The restaurant cooks its food in special griddles that keep the meat in place while it cooks.

Miya's is the world's first sustainable sushi restaurant, founded in 1982. It was the first to offer a plant-based sushi menu and a menu featuring sustainable seafood.

During lunchtime, over 150 lunch carts and food trucks serve meals around the city. Popular farmers' markets also set up shop weekly in several neighborhoods.

Theatre and film

New Haven has many theatres and production houses, including the Yale Repertory Theatre, the Long Wharf Theatre, and the Shubert Theatre. The Shubert Theatre has premiered many famous shows before they were performed on Broadway, such as Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Sound of Music.

Bow Tie Cinemas operates the Criterion Cinemas, the first new movie theater to open in New Haven in over 30 years. It has seven screens and shows a mix of popular and independent films.

Museums

New Haven has many museums, many of which are connected to Yale University. These include the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which has an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible, and the Connecticut Children's Museum. Other museums include the Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Yale University Art Gallery.

Artspace on Orange Street is one of several contemporary art galleries in the city, showing works by local, national, and international artists.

Music

The New Haven Green hosts many free music concerts, especially in the summer. These include the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the New Haven Jazz Festival, which began in 1982 and is one of the longest-running free outdoor festivals in the U.S.

The city is home to Toad's Place, a popular concert venue, and the Yale School of Music, which offers hundreds of free concerts each year. The school’s Woolsey Hall has the world’s largest symphonic organs.

Festivals

New Haven hosts many festivals, including the annual International Festival of Arts and Ideas. The city’s Saint Patrick's Day parade, which began in 1842, is the oldest in New England. Other festivals include the St. Andrew the Apostle Italian Festival and the Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival.

Newspapers and media

New Haven has several newspapers, including the New Haven Register and the Yale Daily News. Local television stations include WTNH Channel 8, an ABC affiliate, and WCTX Channel 59, a MyNetworkTV affiliate.

Sports and athletics

New Haven has a long history of professional sports. It has been home to teams in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer. The city hosted the 1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and it is home to the Pilot Pen International tennis event, held every August.

The city is also known for the Yale Bulldogs, who play Division I college sports, and for hosting "The Game" between Yale and Harvard, the country’s second-oldest college football rivalry. Many residents are fans of New York area sports teams, including the New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Boston Red Sox.

Structures

Architecture

New Haven has many important buildings from different times in American history. Famous architects such as Ithiel Town, Henry Austin, Cesar Pelli, and Frank Gehry have designed buildings here. The Yale School of Architecture helps keep architecture important in the city’s work. Famous buildings include Union Station and the New Haven Free Public Library, designed by Cass Gilbert. Some of Yale’s buildings, like the 1950s Ingalls Rink by Eero Saarinen, are very well known.

Many neighborhoods in New Haven show beautiful old homes and streets, like around the New Haven Green and Hillhouse Avenue. These areas are like walking museums of older American styles.

The five tallest buildings in New Haven are:

1. Connecticut Financial Center 383 ft (117m) 26 floors
2. 360 State Street 338 ft (103m) 32 floors
3. Knights of Columbus Building 321 ft (98m) 23 floors
4. Kline Biology Tower 250 ft (76m) 16 floors
5. Crown Towers 233 ft (71m) 22 floors

Historic points of interest

See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven has many special places from its past. The New Haven Green, made in 1638, has three old churches and a crypt below the First Church of Christ. Next to the Green is the Old Campus of Yale University, where you can find Connecticut Hall, Yale’s oldest building.

The Hillhouse Avenue area is famous for its beautiful old homes. In 1660, two generals, Edward Whalley and William Goffe, hid in a rock formation called Judges' Cave in what is now West Rock Park after fleeing England.

After the American Revolutionary War began, Black Rock Fort was built to protect New Haven’s port. During the war, British soldiers captured and burned the fort, but it was rebuilt in 1807 and renamed Fort Nathan Hale after a hero from the war. During the Civil War, a newer fort was built nearby. Today, these forts are visited by many people.

Grove Street Cemetery is a very old burial ground next to Yale, where famous people such as Roger Sherman and Eli Whitney are buried. The cemetery has a special gateway and is the oldest planned burial ground in the United States.

Lighthouse Point Park is a popular beach with a historic lighthouse and a carousel. Other important places in New Haven include the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Wooster Square, and Louis' Lunch.

Transportation

Rail

New Haven has two railroad stations. Trains connect the city to New York City and other places along the Northeast Corridor by commuter rail, regional rail and inter-city rail. Service is provided by:

• Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line to places west, such as Bridgeport, Stamford, Greenwich, and New York City
• Shore Line East to places east, such as Old Saybrook and New London, with some trips west to Stamford
• Hartford Line to places north, such as Meriden, Hartford, Windsor, and Springfield, Massachusetts
• Amtrak to Northeast Corridor hubs, such as New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Boston

The city's main railroad station is the historic Beaux-Arts Union Station, which serves many commuter trains. About 175 trains stop at Union Station on weekdays. Union Station is also served by four Amtrak lines. The Northeast Regional_ and the high-speed Acela Express_ go to New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston. The New Haven–Springfield Line goes to Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts. The Vermonter_ goes to Washington, D.C., and Vermont.

An additional station, State Street Station, opened in 2002, making it easier for passengers to get to downtown New Haven. State Street Station now has Shore Line East and Hartford Line trains, plus some special Metro-North trips.

Bus

The New Haven Division of Connecticut Transit (CT Transit), the state's bus system, is the second largest in the state with 24 routes. All routes start from the New Haven Green, the main meeting place in the city. Service goes to 19 different places around Greater New Haven. Bus routes used to have letter names, but since October 8, 2017, all routes use 200-series numbers.

CT Transit's Union Station Shuttle gives free rides from Union Station to the New Haven Green and several parking spots in New Haven. Peter Pan and Greyhound buses stop at Union Station, and you can get to downtown using the Union Station Shuttle. A private company runs the New Haven/Hartford Express, which takes commuter buses to Hartford. The Yale University Shuttle gives free rides around New Haven for Yale students, teachers, and staff.

New Haven's buses follow paths that used to have trolley service. Horse-drawn streetcars started in New Haven in the 1860s, and by the mid-1890s all the lines used electricity. In the 1920s and 1930s, some trolley lines changed to buses, and the last trolley route became a bus in 1948. New Haven is just starting to think about bringing back streetcar (light-rail) service, which has not been here since after World War II.

Bicycle

Bikeshare

On February 21, 2018, New Haven started its Bike New Haven bikeshare program. It uses technology by Noa Technologies. At first, the program had 10 places to leave bikes and 100 bikes, all around the city center; they plan to have 30 places and 300 bikes by the end of April 2018. Starting the New Haven bikeshare program was at the same time as Yale University's own bikeshare program, which uses the same technology from Noa.

Bike lanes

In 2004, the city's first bike lane was added. The city has added covered bike parking spots at Union Station, making it easier to ride bikes to the station.

Farmington Canal Greenway

The Farmington Canal Trail is a rail trail that will eventually go all the way from downtown New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts. The trail follows the old path of the New Haven and Northampton Company and the Farmington Canal. Right now, you can ride a bike 14 miles (23 km) from downtown, through Hamden and into Cheshire, which makes bicycle commuting between New Haven and those suburbs possible. The trail is part of the East Coast Greenway, a planned 3,000-mile (4,800 km) bike path that would connect every big city on the East Coast from Florida to Maine.

Roads

New Haven is where Interstate 95 and Interstate 91 cross. I-95 runs along the coast, going south and west to the western coast of Connecticut and New York City, and east to the eastern Connecticut shoreline, Rhode Island, and eastern Massachusetts. I-91 goes north to the interior of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont and the Canada–US border. I-95 can get very busy near New York City; on the east side of New Haven it goes over the Quinnipiac River via the Pearl Harbor Memorial, or "Q Bridge", which often gets stuck in traffic. I-91 is usually less busy, except where it meets I-95 during busy travel times.^{[citation needed]}

The Oak Street Connector (Connecticut Route 34) meets I-91 at exit 1, just south of where I-95 and I-91 cross, and runs northwest for a short way as a highway to downtown before it ends. The Wilbur Cross Parkway (Connecticut Route 15) runs close to I-95 west of New Haven, turning north as it gets closer to the city and then running north past New Haven and Hamden, offering another way to travel instead of using I-95/I-91 (only for cars without big trucks). Route 15 in New Haven has the state's only highway tunnel (officially called Heroes Tunnel), going through West Rock, home to West Rock Park and the Three Judges Cave.

The city also has many big roads. U.S. Route 1 (Columbus Avenue, Union Avenue, Water Street, Forbes Avenue) goes east–west south of downtown and passes Union Station, leading out of the city to Milford, West Haven, East Haven and Branford. The main road from downtown going northwest is Whalley Avenue (part of Route 10 and Route 63) going to Westville and Woodbridge. Going north towards Hamden, there are two big streets, Dixwell Avenue and Whitney Avenue. To the northeast are Middletown Avenue (Route 17), going to the Montowese part of North Haven, and Foxon Boulevard (Route 80), going to the Foxon part of East Haven and the town of North Branford. To the west is Route 34, going to the city of Derby. Other big streets in the city are Ella Grasso Boulevard (Route 10) west of downtown, and College Street, Temple Street, Church Street, Elm Street, and Grove Street in the downtown area.

Airport

Tweed New Haven Airport is inside the city, 3 miles (5 km) east of the business district, close to the border with neighboring East Haven. Avelo Airlines, which opened its first East Coast base at the airport in 2021, flies to about 25 cities. Breeze Airways plans to start flying from Tweed in December 2024 and will fly to 10 places. The airport is now planning to make the runway longer and build a new terminal on the East Haven side.

Buses run between Downtown New Haven and Tweed using the CT Transit New Haven Division.

Seaport

New Haven Harbor has the Port of New Haven, a deep-water port with three places to stop ships and boats and the things needed to load and unload break bulk cargo. The port can load 200 trucks a day from the ground or using loading docks. Providence and Worcester Railroad brings freight trains to the port, with a small train engine for moving around the yard, a special track for loading and unloading, and tracks over the Tomlinson Lift Bridge toward the Northeast Corridor. The port has about 400,000 square feet (40,000 m²) of indoor storage space and 50 acres (200,000 m²) of outdoor storage space. There are five big cranes that can lift 250 tons and 26 forklifts, each able to lift 26 tons.^{[citation needed]}

On June 17, 2013, the city put into service the Nathan Hale, a 36 foot (11 m) boat for port safety that can help with search and rescue, firefighting, and security.

Infrastructure

Hospitals and medicine

New Haven has many important medical centers, including Yale – New Haven Hospital and the Hospital of Saint Raphael. These hospitals offer special care for children and cancer patients. There are also smaller health centers around the city and a hospital for veterans nearby.

Power supply facilities

New Haven gets its electricity from a large power station near the harbor. The city also uses special fuel cells at schools, buildings, and museums to save energy and money. Solar panels on city schools help New Haven use clean energy for its operations.

In popular culture

Several movies have been filmed in New Haven since 2000. These include Mona Lisa Smile (2003), starring Julia Roberts, and The Life Before Her Eyes (2007), featuring Uma Thurman. One famous film is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, and Shia LaBeouf. The movie included a big chase scene through the streets of New Haven, with some downtown streets closed off and changed to look like they were from 1957. Local people were also hired to act in the film. In another movie, Everybody's Fine (2009), Robert De Niro has a scene that looks like it takes place in the Denver train station, but it was actually filmed in New Haven’s Union Station.

New Haven is also mentioned in a song called Peace Frog by the Doors. The song refers to an event in 1967 when the band’s singer, Jim Morrison, was arrested during a concert at the New Haven Arena.

Notable people

For a more comprehensive list, see List of people from New Haven, Connecticut.

Sister cities

New Haven has several sister cities around the world, including Afula in Israel, Amalfi in Italy, Avignon in France, Changsha in China, Freetown in Sierra Leone, Huế in Vietnam, León, Nicaragua in Nicaragua, Taichung in Taiwan, and San Francisco Tetlanohcan in Mexico.

Some of these cities were chosen because of historical ties, like Freetown due to the Amistad trial. In 1990, the United Nations named New Haven a "Peace Messenger City".