by Christopher Schaefer

copyright 2008

   City Point was originally part of New Haven's undeveloped "suburbs" on the western edge of town known as the Oyster Point Quarter or simply Oyster Point. By 1824 this was considered to be bounded on the North by what is now Columbus Ave. In 1848 a small stream in Oyster Point was drained to create the New York & New Haven railroad cut now used by Amtrak and Metro North, and this eventually came to be regarded by some residents to be the northern boundary of Oyster Point. (Nevertheless some maps as late as 1870 still show Oyster Point extending to Columbus Ave. or to the avenue's neighboring 1870 Derby Rail Road cut.) The Point was bordered on the East by New Haven Harbor (which originally extended along present-day Hallock Ave. and, at Lamberton and Cedar Sts, veered somewhat eastward along the former West Water St.). Oyster Point was bounded on the West by the West River salt marsh (partly fed by a small stream originating approximately behind what is now number 384 Greenwich Ave., at the corner of Greenwich and Second St.). Most of this area formed a "point" or narrow peninsula jutting out into the harbor.

    In the 1830s Gerard Hallock (1800-1866), a New York newspaper editor, purchased much of this land as his rural estate and in 1836 Sidney Mason stone (1803-1882) built Hallock's summer residence overlooking the harbor on what is now the rail yard side of Cedar St., across from present-day Cassius St. This impressive "Elizabethan Gothic" mansion sat upon a semicircular outcropping supported by a massive 2,000 foot-long sandstone wall, making an impressive sight from the harbor. It soon became a navigational reference point for ships entering the harbor. Although Hallock spent much of his time in a small apartment adjacent to his newspaper's pressroom in New York, his 40 acre New Haven property soon came to be known as "Hallock's Quarter" and the mansion "Hallock's Castle". 

   For many years Yalies and townies would pass Hallock's mansion on the way to The Cedars which for over seventy-five years was a popular beach located approximately between the present intersections of Lamberton & Cedar Sts. and Hallock Ave. and Second St. Here men would swim au naturel and during the 1880s & '90s one could rent boats and buy refreshments at the Vue de Leau Pavilion operated by carpenter, builder and carriage maker Godfrey Grenier at 241 Hallock Ave. near First St. 

   By the 1840s a thriving oyster industry developed at the southern tip of Oyster Point along South Water St., with industry-related buildings also springing up on Sea St. A neighborhood boatyard produced oyster boats called sharpies, a unique New Haven vessel.  Some of those built at Oyster Point were distinguished from the Fair Haven versions built across the harbor by their brass bow piece.

   In the 1850s Howard Ave. was used for Sunday horseback races, and during the Civil War the all-Irish Ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers as well as the Connecticut Fifteenth Volunteers trained on Hallock's property, approximately where Bay View Park now stands.

   One of City Point's landmarks, the Howard Avenue Methodist Church building, now home of New Light Holy Church, began as Sunday school lessons conducted by Mrs. Eaton in her home on South Water St. [According to local legend this was at No. 47-49 S. Water St., and some residents continued to call this house the former "sailors' mission" well into the 20th century. City directories confirm that one of the several City Point Eaton families lived at 47-49 S. Water in the 1860s.]  According to the City Directory, by 1875 the City Point [Methodist Episcopal] Mission was established on S. Water St. (The corner stone of the present ediface gives this as the year of the building's construction.) The 1881 City Directory gives both S. Water St. and Howard Ave. at Fourth St. as the Mission's addresses. Thus this is likely the year of the building's legendary two week move up Howard Ave., during which services purportedly were held while the building temporarily sat in the middle of the avenue. In the 1882 City Directory the name then only appears in the church index as the Howard Avenue Methodist Church at Howard Ave. & Fourth St. [although the street index continues to call it City Point Mission at Howard & Fourth through 1887]. This new location would have made the church more convenient for all Oyster Point residents, and allowed for the construction of a parsonage directly behind the church at No. 75 Fourth St. In 1890 the front section and belfry were added. Due to the many oyster industry employees who once belonged to the parish, it garnered the nickname "The Eel Pot".

   One year after Hallock's death in 1866, his heirs sold his land from the northern side of Lamberton St. northward to the New Haven & New York Rail Road. The rail road moved his mansion across the street to where nos. 4-16 Cedar St. now stand and immediately began filling in part of the harbor to build much of the present-day rail yard. Stones from his semicircular harborfront wall were used to build the present rail yard retaining wall. Hallock's land from the southern side of Lamberton St. southward was surveyed, mapped and divided into building lots by his heirs. This new housing development was bounded by new streets (Hallock Ave. and Greenwich Ave.), and new cross streets were included (First through Sixth Sts.;  his heirs, being New Yorkers, naturally adopted the numbered system for naming cross streets).

   Thus, many residents began to  regard the northern boundary of this new residential neighborhood, rather than the rail road cut, to be the northern boundary of Oyster Point--soon to be renamed City Point--, i.e. the southern [even-numbered] side of Lamberton St. at Hallock Ave. [nos. 20-32 Lamberton], continuing over to just before the intersection of Lamberton and Kimberly Ave., and angling down the rear yards of Kimberly to Greenwich Ave. (This approximately is the northern boundary of City Point as defined by the New Haven Preservation Trust in its 1982 publication New Haven Historic Resources Inventory.) 

   Thanks to the 1860 introduction of the horse-drawn streetcar (electrified in the 1890s) Kimberly Square soon developed into a commercial hub. This provided convenient shopping for nearby residents of this newly laid out Oyster Point residential neighborhood.  Thus the ubiquitous "corner store", once an essential part of urban neighborhoods, was and remains something of a rarity in City Point. A few 19th century exceptions were no. 323-25 Howard Ave. (built in 1895 as a grocery store and meat market, now Tracey Oil), 86 Second St. (built in 1871 as a grocery store, now an apartment), and 228-30 Greenwich Ave. (later replaced by a brick 2-family house). Early 20th century additions included 382 Greenwich Ave. (now an apartment, but the original 1925 location of Eddy's) and 151 Howard Ave. (opened in 1925 as George Stavrides' confectionary [candy store], now City Point Bubbles Laundromat). 

   The post civil War economic decline and the fact that the streetcar did not continue down Howard Ave. past Kimberly Ave. slowed development of the neighborhood. The 1888 map of New Haven shows very few homes between Second and Sixth Sts. The return of prosperity in the 1890s and the extension of the now-electrified streetcar to the end of Howard Ave. (the Q car, later the B car) resulted in a building boom, so that during this time most of the remaining building lots in the neighborhood were built upon. By 1900 the gas main had been extended into City Point and the Ahern boys of Second St. had the job of lighting the street lamps at dusk and extinguishing them at dawn.

   In 1890 the city acquired land for the development of a park to be built on the edge of the harbor, between Fifth and Sixth Sts. The new park was championed by George Dudley Seymour (known as "Mr. New Haven"), a proponent of the City Beautiful movement, and designed by landscape architect Donald Grant Mitchell. Mitchell's 1891 plan dubbed the park Oyster Point Reservation, but by 1892 the name had been changed to Bay View Park. By 1894 it included a central duck pond (actually a tidal basin) with two picturesque  rustic bridges leading to a small island, and a tree-lined harbor drive (built upon soil excavated to create the tidal basin). Later a monument to the Civil War's Ninth Regiment was added as well as a playground, ball field and comfort station. Ice skating was introduced in 1906 by closing the tidal basin flood gates for the winter, as called for in Mitchell's 1891 plan. The 1937 seawall, which replaced the 1890s wooden bulkhead, still can be seen at the end of the present basketball court, and a remnant of the harbor drive remains between the Boulevard sewage pumping station and the newer part of the Sound School campus. Unfortunately, in 1902 a concrete company was built between Howard and Greenwich Aves., directly across from Bay View Park--the first of several assaults on Mitchell's landscaped masterpiece--and the great hurricane of Sept. 21, 1938 destroyed the two rustic bridges and most of the park's original trees. Despite the park's official name "Bay View", residents long referred to it as "City Point Park".

   In the 1858 City Directory is found the first listing for the Oyster Point School on Howard Ave., [constructed on a lot purchased by the New Haven City School District from Gerard Hallock on Feb. 6, 1858], which in the 1866 Directory is then listed as the City Point School "at the foot of Howard Avenue" [and, in the 1870-71 edition, at 20 Howard Ave.].  This seems to be the first official use of the name City Point as an alternate to Oyster Point. (The 1877 City Directory lists this as one of the Washington District schools, along with the new Greenwich Ave. School which was built in 1877 at the corner of Greenwich & First St., where Galvin Park is now located. The 1876 Year Book of the City of New Haven states that the "City Point and Washington Branch Schools continued through the Fall and Winter Terms, and then became part of Greenwich Av. School, which was opened May 7th, 1877.")

   It perhaps is no coincidence that this first documented use of the name City Point in 1866 took place the same year that  Gerard Hallock died. The November 1867 map of building lots owned by Hallock's heirs was filed with the Town Clerk on Jan. 24, 1868.  It is this author's theory that the name City Point was coined by Hallock's heirs as a marketing device to promote their building lots as a new fashionable suburban development [and to dissociate it from the aesthetically unappealing oyster industry.] Changing the original proposed name of City Point's exquisitely landscaped 1890s park from Oyster Point Reserve to Bay View undoubtedly was part of this attempt to upscale the neighborhood's image. 

   The 1870-71 New Haven Directory lists Second St. as being in City Point, and Greenwich Ave. as extending from Kimberly Ave. to City Point [i.e. to Sea St.]. South Water St. is described as being in Oyster Point, while the City Point School is described as being at No. 20 Howard Ave. in City Point. Thus, by 1870 the names Oyster Point and City Point were being used interchangeably. 

   By the 1890s the name City Point began to replace Oyster Point as the preferred name of the neighborhood. (The 1893 Town and City Atlas of the State of Connecticut contains one of the first New Haven maps to use the name City Point in place of Oyster Point.) By the turn of the 20th century the old name Oyster Point came to be regarded as a derogatory reference to the area. Deteriorating docks of the declining oyster industry along South Water St., the putrid untreated sewage pouring into the harbor from a pipe now covered by the new Sound School pier at Sea & S. Water Sts. and the foul smell of the city dump that once stood near the corner of Sea St. and Greenwich Ave. dominated the scene. During the Great Depression an impromptu shanty town for the homeless appeared at the dump.

   Up until World War I, City Point was like a little country village unto itself. A dramatic increase in automobile ownership in the 1920s caused City Point to lose its quiet insular quality. Nevertheless, a remarkable number of barns and carriage houses survive in City Point, reminders of its pre-automotive era, e.g. behind nos. 393 & 133 Greenwich, 196 Hallock, 154 & 297 Howard (an unusual brick version whose original owner was a brick mason), 57 S. Water St, and nos. 40 & 74 Sea St. (the latter, recently restored from near-collapse, perhaps being the neighborhood's most flamboyant).

   In 1919 this quiet suburban neighborhood's tranquility was further broken with the construction of the Seamless Rubber Co. factory [now One Long Wharf] on Hallock Ave. which entailed additional filling of the Harbor, requiring the City Point Yacht Club to move from its dock between Second & Third Sts., to a dock directly across from Third Street at Hallock Ave. Shortly thereafter the West River salt marsh behind Greenwich Ave. (where Kimberly Field now stands) was drained to extend the Boulevard [now Ella Grasso Boulevard] to Sea St. Hence the intersection of Sea St. & Greenwich Ave. no longer was covered by high tide twice a day. More significantly, with the water on the Western side of City Point now gone, City Point was no longer a "point"! Unfortunately, zoning regulations and wetlands conservation laws, which would have prevented such environmental disasters, did not yet exist.

   This drainage of the salt marsh also allowed for the construction of St. Peter School & Church on Kimberly Ave., primarily to serve the area's rapidly growing Irish Catholic population.  The new parish's Northern boundary was declared to be the rail road cut, with many of its members living not only within the traditional Hallock Ave.-Greenwich Ave. borders of City Point, but also within the Kimberly Ave. area. Also Second St. was extended from Greenwich Ave. to Kimberly Ave., and a new street--St. Peter St.--was added off of Second St.  With City Point's Western border now less distinct, many residents of Kimberly Ave., Grant St. and Plymouth St. began to think of themselves as being City Point residents, particularly during the 1930s and '40s, even though these streets never were part of the geographic "point" from which City Point had derived its name. At about this same time, the construction of the present rail road station on Union Ave. caused many residents to gradually redefine the Hill neighborhood.  The Hill originally had derived its name from the upward slope along Congress Ave., beginning at the now-extinct West Creek. With the new rail road station, many residents began to define the Hill as comprising all of the area radiating from the upward slope of Union Ave., and therefore incorporating the City Point neighborhood. Thus began the gradual loss of City Point's distinct neighborhood identity.

   During the Great Depression and the rationing of World War II many homeowners simply did not have the money to maintain their properties. As a result many of the lovely old homes in City Point and nearby neighborhoods began to deteriorate. Lack of tax revenues during this time did not allow the city to provide basic services such as street repairs. Urban decay had set in. After World War II the federal government gave returning veterans low interest mortgages with very low down payments to purchase housing. However, the mortgages only could be used to purchase a new, not pre-existing, home. Simultaneously the government began a massive highway construction program, while spending virtually nothing on rail roads and other mass-transit systems. New Haven's own deteriorated trolley system shut down in 1948. The decline of the rail road soon followed, and by the 1970s New Haven's train station was in total disrepair. Ill conceived urban renewal programs during the 1950s and '60s razed entire neighborhoods, with no provisions having been made for the displaced residents and businesses. At this same time unscrupulous real estate agents engaged in the now-illegal practice of "block busting": white home-owners were contacted and told that "coloreds" were moving into the neighborhood, so they had better sell lest their property become worthless. All of these factors contributed to an explosion of suburban sprawl with devastating ecological impact. Vast swaths of highway were cut through historic neighborhoods, sucking the economic life-blood out of cities, exacerbating racial and economic divisions in our society, and making our nation utterly dependant on foreign oil.

   The 1949 harbor dredging and back-filling, and the 1950s construction of the Connecticut Turnpike/Interstate 95 eliminated the portion of the harbor facing Hallock Avenue: the final step in the obliteration of the geographical point or narrow peninsula from which City Point had derived its name. [It also buried all but a remnant of the ancient 3/4 mile Long Wharf which once began near the present Knights of Columbus building, and was last expanded in 1812 by New Haven's "Black King" William Lanson, a prominent leader of New Haven's free black community.] Bay View Park was split in two and its picturesque duck pond destroyed. Even the City Point Yacht Club, once located on a dock at Hallock Ave. and Third St., was forced to relocate over by the Kimberly Ave. Bridge--and thus was no longer in City Point! In the 1980s condominiums (which due to their gated, insular design, hardly can be considered part of the neighborhood) were built on the former Mosquito Beach, which for a time had been the site of the City Point ACs baseball field. Thus City Point's once expansive public beaches were reduced to a tiny strip at the end of Howard Ave., a fragment of the former Lane's Shore (named after one of the old oyster companies).

   As older residents died or moved away, the collective memories of what City Point once had been slowly disappeared, and the neighborhood soon lost its identity. Thus many City Point residents today think they simply live in "The Hill" or "Hill South". (The latter term is actually a large municipal administrative district, but not actually the name of any single neighborhood.)

   By the late 20th century a national New Urbanism movement took root which promotes the rebirth of city neighborhoods that are pedestrian, mass-transit and shopping-friendly and not automobile-dependant. This gradually has had an impact in City Point. In the 1980s the abandoned, boarded-up houses in the neighborhood were too numerous to count. Today such houses are a rarity in City Point (and usually the temporary result of an unfortunate fire or foreclosure). Likewise, nearby Kimberly Square, which traditionally served as City Point's neighboring commercial hub, has undergone a renaissance of its own, even boasting a large, modern supermarket. [In the early 21st century, St. Peter's was demolished and Second St. was returned to its original 1868 configuration. Thus today residents of Kimberly Ave., Grant St. and Plymouth St. generally consider themselves part of the Kimberly Square Neighborhood, rather than City Point.] There also has been a greater effort in recent years to fill empty lots in the City Point neighborhood with houses that blend better with the surrounding historic buildings. For example, nos. 149 to 165 Hallock Ave. are obviously modern tract homes, but the steep roof pitch with gables facing the street, bright colors, front porches and architectural detailing (typical 19th century practices) make these houses welcome recent additions to the neighborhood.

EPILOGUE

   Unlike a town or ward, a neighborhood is not a legally defined entity with precise boundaries. Thus residents never will agree on what constitutes City Point. The traditional East-West boundaries (Hallock & Greenwich Aves.) are generally uncontested because of the water that once defined these. Indeed, the street grid on modern maps of New Haven still allows one to visualize the narrow point that formerly was bounded by these avenues. On the other hand, the northern boundary always will remain controversial because the perceived northern boundary of Oyster Point changed over time: from Columbus Ave., to the 1848 rail road cut, to the northern edge of the 1867 map of new building lots, or even (in the opinion of those who know very little of the neighborhood's history) to Interstate 95.

   Adding to the controversy is disagreement among residents as to whether City Point should be considered an independent neighborhood or one of several neighborhoods that constitute The Hill, e.g. along with Kimberly Square and Trowbridge Square. Considering the historical "migration" southward of City Point's perceived nothern boundary, as well as the fact that Gerard Hallock was instrumental in developing both Trowbridge Square and City Point, perhaps an acceptable compromise would be to describe City Point as "a distinct neighborhood within the Hill". In stating this compromised definition, the author must point out that the steep rise from the shore of downtown's long-vanished West Creek upward along Congress Ave., a rise from which The Hill derived its name, was considered by New Haven residents to be a distinct topographical feature from the steep bluff that once dropped from lower Cedar St. and Hallock Ave. down to the harbor.

But then, it also must be acknowledged that City Point is no longer a "point"!

+++

Christopher Schaefer, a long-time member of the New Haven Museum And Historical Society, The New Haven Preservation Trust, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has lived in City Point in the 1871 Lane-Hubbard House at 84 Second St. since 1986, and becomes visibly perturbed when told that he lives in a mythical neighborhood called "Hill South". Despite his proposed compromised definition in the preceding Epilogue, he personally prefers to think of City Point as a separate neighborhood, distinct from the Hill. However, despite rumors to the contrary, he currently has no plans to have it declared The Independant Republic Of City Point. 

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SOURCES (With Notes)

Atlas of the City of New Haven, Connecticut Philadelphia: G. M. Hopkins, 1888

Atwater, Edward, ed. History of the City of New Haven New York: H.W. Munsell & Co., 1887

Baldwin, Simeon Public Parks New Haven: Penderson & Crisand, 1881 [briefly mentions the history of The Cedars beach]

Barber, John W. History and Antiquities of New Haven, Connecticut from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time...3rd edition. New Haven: Penderson, Crisand & Co., 1870

Benham's New Haven Directory New Haven: J. H. Benham, 1858-59, 1866-67, 1870-71, 1875 [The 1870-71 edition lists the City Point School at 20 Howard Ave., near S. Water St., and lists Second St. as being in City Point and Greenwich Ave. as extending from Kimberly Ave. to City Point. The other numbered streets of City Point as well as Hallock Ave. are not listed, since they had not yet been built upon. South Water St. is described as being in Oyster Point. Thus, at this time the names Oyster Point and City Point were being used interchangeably.  This also would bolster the claim by some residents that City Point begins on the even-numbered side of Lamberton St., between Hallock & Howard Aves., since this is the northern boundary of the 1867 map of building lots.]

Brown, Elizabeth Mills New Haven: A Guide To Architecture and Urban Design New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976 [gives brief history of some of the houses in New Haven, including City Point]

Caplan, Colin M. A Guide to Historic New Haven, Connecticut Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2007 [guided walking/driving tours for New Haven history buffs; includes history of many City Point houses]

www.census.gov [Both the Kimberly Square and the City Point neighborhoods together comprise New Haven's 2000 census tract no.1404. The City Plan Department's copy of this map labels tract 1404 "City Point", further adding to the traditional confusion and disagreement over what actually constitutes "City Point".  The City Plan Dept.'s version of the census map also points out--quite correctly--that there are no "official" neighborhood boundaries in New Haven.]

City Yearbook of the City of New Haven, 1876 Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co.

Dana, Arnold G. The Dana Collection aka New Haven Old and New   New Haven Museum and Historical Society [invaluable collection of photos and newspaper clippings from New Haven's past]

Doolittle, Amos, engraver Plan of New Haven 1824 [map]

Ernst, Margaret M. Donald Grant Mitchell & the Birth of the New Haven Park System: An Urban Adaptation of Rural Republicanism New Haven: New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1980

Goldberg, Cary, ed. inside New Haven's Neighborhoods: A Guide To The City Of New Haven   New Haven: George E. Platt Co., 1982 [includes reflections by residents on the racial divide created when City Point was bisected by Interstate 95. Over twenty-five years after this book was published demographic segregation within the neighborhood gradually is dissipating.]

Hallock, William H. Life of Gerard Hallock New York: Oakley-Mason & Co., 1869 [son's rather defensive biography of his late father, who often was mischaracterized as having been pro-slavery. He in fact purchased the freedom of over 100 southern slaves. Devout Christian pacifist, defender of Constitutional law. Therefore felt "radical" abolitionism, i.e. use of coercion or northern Personal Freedom Laws (which defied federal Fugitive Slave Act) would cause anarchy, civil war and dissolution of Union. He believed--rather naively, we can say today--that the  "spread of the Gospel" eventually would result in the end of slavery, so founded the Southern Church Aid Society. His editorials criticizing the Lincoln administration's unwillingness to negotiate with the South resulted in the Post Office refusing to deliver his New York Journal of Commerce, forcing him to retire to New Haven in 1861.]

Hartley, W. T., surveyor Map of Building Lots in the City of New Haven Belonging to the Heirs of Gerard Hallock, Deceased  privately published, 1867 [The rail road continued to own the odd-numbered side of Lamberton St. just across from these new building lots into the 20th century.]

Hartley & Whitford, surveyors Map of the City of New Haven Philadelphia: Collins & Clark, 1851 [This map clearly shows the original location of "Hallock's Castle" and West Water St. below the bluff. A one-block fragment of West Water St. still survives behind the New Haven Police Headquarters: an obscure reminder of how far north the harbor once extended.]

Hill, Everett G. A Modern History Of New Haven And Eastern New Haven County 2 vols. New York: S. J. Clark Publishing Co., 1918

Hoose, Shoshana City Point New Haven: Schooner, Inc., c. 1979 [intended for students, includes reflections on City Point by older residents]

Land Records, City of New Haven: Vol. 172, p.37 [deed transferring 50' X 100' lot on Howard Ave. in Oyster Point from G. Hallock to The New Haven City School District, Feb. 6, 1858]; Vol. 519, p. 54; Vol. 523, p. 159 [deeds transferring same lot from Jeremiah Smith to Nellie Manville, May 11 & July 18, 1899]; Vol. 663, p. 476 [deed transferring same lot--now described as No. 44 Howard Ave.-- from N. Manville to Chauncey L. Wedmore, May 18, 1911] (author still researching transfer from City to Smith...) 

Lattanzi, Robert M. Oyster Village To Melting Pot: The Hill Section Of New Haven Chester, Conn.: Pattaconk Brook Publ., 2000 [The upward slope from the former West Creek to the "suburbs" caused the area around present-day Congress Ave. to be named "Sodom Hill", Mount Pleasant" and finally "The Hill".]

Mitchell, Donald Grant Mitchell Collection aka Donald Grant Mitchell Papers (Mss 140) New Haven Colony Historical Society [includes his notes for developing Oyster Point Reservation/Bay View Park]

New Haven Directory (including West Haven) New Haven: Price & Lee Co., 1876, 1877, 1881, 1882, 1887, 1891, 1896, 1899 [1891 edition includes one of the first city maps showing the not-yet-named Bay View Park. Several of the above sources (Brown, Caplan, Lattanzi) state that the Howard Ave. Methodist Church building originally stood at Howard & Sixth Street, but New Haven directories do not corroborate this.]

New Haven Preservation Trust & Conn. Historical Commissionn, Anne F. Niles, ed. New Haven Historic Resources Inventory, Phase I: Central New Haven 1982 [This gives the northern boundary of City Point as the rear yards of 20-32 Lamberton, which is inconsistent with the fact that these addresses--originally a single building lot facing Hallock Ave., but later subdivided--are on Hartley's 1867 map of new building lots. It was shortly after these building lots were drawn up that the name City Point gradually began to displace the name Oyster Point.]

http://magrissoforte.com [another great source (besides The New Haven Museum and Historical Society aka New Haven Colony Historical Society) for historic New Haven photos. Also historic property research]

Osterweiss, Rollin G. Three Centuries of New Haven, 1638-1938 New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1953

Rackliffe, Pamela A. The Origin and Development of the New Haven Parks Designed by Donald Grant Mitchell: The First Three Decades (Masters Thesis) Storrs, Conn.: University of Connecticut, 1987 [The author alternates between spelling City Point's park as one word "Bayview" or two "Bay View". D. G. Mitchell's plans for the park use two words "Bay View".] 

Shumway, Floyd & Richard Hegel New Haven: An Illustrated History Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor Publ. Inc. 1987

Townshend, Doris The Streets of New Haven: The Origin of Their Names New Haven Colony Historical Society, 1984

Town and City Atlas of the State of Connecticut Boston: D. H. Hurd & Co., 1893

Warner, Robert Austin New Haven Negroes: A Social History New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1940

Withington, Sidney The First Twenty Years of Railroads in Connecticut New Haven: Yale University Press, 1935 [He gives the date of the Derby Rail Road as 1871, but it already appears on the map in J. W. Barber's 1870-71 directory.]

www.yaleslavery.org [Site includes information on Rev. Simeon Jocelyn who founded nearby Spireworth (later called Trowbridge) Square in 1830 where free blacks and whites would live together. When he proposed establishment of country's first Negro College a white mob stoned his house. (Northerners generally were opposed to slavery, but did not support equal rights.) In 1833 state passed "Black Law" outlawing such schools (including Prudence Crandall's in Canterbury, CT). Law repealed in 1838. In 1850s Gerard Hallock further developed the Trowbridge Square area. Also see www.yale.edu/glc/crandall/index.htm regarding correspondence between Jocelyn and Crandall.]

SUGGESTED READING

Walljasper, Jay  The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-it-yourself Guide to Placemaking New Society Publ., 2007

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