New Haven, Connecticut

New Havenis a city inNew Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It is located onNew Haven Harboron the northern shore ofLong Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the2020 U.S. census,New Haven is the third largest city in Connecticut afterBridgeportandStamford, the largest city in theSouth Central Connecticut Planning Region, and the principal municipality ofGreater New Haven, which had a total population of 864,835 in 2020.
New Haven was one of the firstplanned citiesin the U.S.A year after its founding by EnglishPuritansin 1638, eight streets were laid out in a four-by-fourgrid, creating the "Nine Square Plan".The central common block isthe New Haven Green, a 16-acre (6 ha) square at the center ofDowntown New Haven. The Green is now aNational Historic Landmark, and the "Nine Square Plan" is recognized by theAmerican Planning Associationas a National Planning Landmark.
New Haven is the home ofYale University, 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 ofHartford. 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 the U.S., producing a canopy of mature trees (including some largeelms) that gave the city the nickname "The Elm City".
Before Europeans arrived, the New Haven area was the home of theQuinnipiactribe ofNative Americans, who lived in villages around the harbor and sustained an economy of local fisheries and the farming ofmaize. The area was briefly visited byDutchexplorerAdriaen Blockin 1614. Dutch traders set up a small trading system ofbeaverpelts 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 did a reconnaissance of the New Haven harbor area and wintered over. In April 1638, the main party of five hundred Puritans, who had left theMassachusetts Bay Colonyunder the leadership of ReverendJohn Davenportand London merchantTheophilus Eaton, 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 potential as a port. The Quinnipiacs, who were under attack by neighboringPequots, sold their land to the settlers in return for a pledge of protection.
By 1640, "Quinnipiac's"theocraticgovernment and nine-square grid plan were in place, and thetownwas renamed New Haven, with 'haven' meaning harbor or port. However, the area to the north remained Quinnipiac until 1678, when it was renamedHamden. The settlement became the headquarters of theNew Haven Colony, distinct from theConnecticut Colonypreviously established to the north centering onHartford. Reflecting its theocratic roots, the New Haven Colony forbade the establishment of other churches, whereas the Connecticut Colony permitted them.
Economic disaster struck New Haven 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 hindered New Haven's development as compared to the rising trade powers ofBostonandNew Amsterdam(modern dayNew York).
In 1660, Colony founder John Davenport's wishes were fulfilled, andHopkins Schoolwas founded in New Haven with money from the estate ofEdward Hopkins.
In 1661, theRegicideswho had signed the death warrant ofCharles I of Englandwere pursued byCharles II. Two of them, ColonelEdward Whalleyand ColonelWilliam Goffe, fled to New Haven for refuge. Davenport arranged for them to hide in theWest Rockhills northwest of the town. A third judge,John Dixwell, later joined the others. None of the three were ever returned to England for trial; Dixwell died of old age in New Haven, the others likewise elsewhere in New England.
In 1664, New Haven became part of the Connecticut Colony when the two colonies were merged under political pressure from England. Seeking to establish a new theocracy elsewhere, some members of the New Haven Colony went on to establishNewark, New Jersey.
New Haven was made co-capitalof Connecticut in 1701, a status it retained until 1873.
In 1716, the Collegiate School relocated fromOld Saybrookto New Haven, establishing it as a center of learning. In 1718, in response to a large donation fromEast India CompanymerchantElihu Yale, former Governor ofMadras, the Collegiate School was renamedYale College.
For over a century, New Haven citizens had fought in the colonial militia alongside regular British forces, including theFrench and Indian War. As theAmerican Revolutionapproached, GeneralDavid Woosterand other influential residents hoped that the conflict with theBritish parliamentcould be resolved short of rebellion. On April 23, 1775, CaptainBenedict Arnoldcommanded the Second Company,Governor's Foot Guard, of New Haven to break into the powder house to arm themselves for a three-day march toCambridge, Massachusetts, an event still celebrated in New Haven asPowder House Day. Other New Haven militia members were on hand to escortGeorge Washingtonfrom 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 GeneralWilliam Tryon, governor of New York, landed in New Haven Harbor andraidedthe town of 3,500. A militia of Yale students had been preparing for battle, and former Yale president andYale Divinity SchoolprofessorNaphtali Daggettrode 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 withDanburyin 1777, orFairfieldandNorwalka week after the New Haven raid, preserving many of the town's colonial features.
New Haven was incorporated as a city in 1784, andRoger Sherman, one of the signers of theConstitutionand 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 ofEli Whitney, a Yale graduate who remained in New Haven to develop thecotton ginand establish a gun-manufacturing factory in the northern part of the city near theHamdentown line. That area is still known asWhitneyville, and the main road through both towns is known as Whitney Avenue. The factory is now theEli Whitney Museum, which has a particular emphasis on activities for children and exhibits pertaining to theA. C. Gilbert Company. His factory, along with that ofSimeon 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 thatSamuel Coltinvented theautomatic revolverin 1836. Many other talented machinists and firearms designers would go on to found successful firearms manufacturing companies in New Haven, includingOliver WinchesterandO.F. Mossberg & Sons.
TheFarmington Canal, 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 toNorthampton, Massachusetts.
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 YaleLaw Schoolfounder and former New Haven MayorDavid Daggett, 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 burgeoninganti-slavery movementwhen, in 1839, the trial of mutineeringMende tribesmenbeing transported as slaves on the SpanishslaveshipAmistadwas held inNew Haven's United States District Court.There is astatueofJoseph Cinqué, the informal leader of the slaves, beside City Hall. See "Museums" below for more information.Abraham Lincolndelivered a speech on slavery in New Haven in 1860,shortly before he secured theRepublican nomination for President.
TheAmerican Civil Warboosted the local economy with wartime purchases of industrial goods, including that of theNew Haven Arms Company, which would later become theWinchester Repeating Arms Company. (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 theWinchester Repeating Arms Company Historic District).After the war, population grew and doubled by the start of the 20th century, most notably due to the influx ofimmigrantsfrom southern Europe, particularly Italy. Today, roughly half the populations of East Haven, West Haven, and North Haven areItalian-American. Jewish immigration to New Haven has left an enduring mark on the city. Westville was the center ofJewishlife in New Haven, though today many have fanned out to suburban communities such as Woodbridge and Cheshire.Lowell House, the city's firstsettlement, opened in 1900.
New Haven's expansion continued during the two World Wars, with most new inhabitants beingAfrican Americansfrom theAmerican South, andPuerto Ricans. The city reached its peak population afterWorld War II. The area of New Haven is only 17 square miles (44 km), encouraging further development of new housing after 1950 in adjacent, suburban towns. Moreover, as in other U.S. cities in the1950s, New Haven began to sufferwhite flightofmiddle-classworkers. One author suggested that aggressiveredliningand rezoning made it difficult for residents to obtain financing for older, deteriorating urban housing stock, thereby condemning such structures to deterioration.
In 1954; then-mayorRichard C. Leebegan some of the earliest majorurban renewalprojects in the United States. Certain sections ofdowntown New Havenwere redeveloped to include museums, new office towers, a hotel, and large shopping complexes.Other parts of the city, particularly the Wooster Square andFair Havenneighborhoods were affected by the construction ofInterstate 95along the Long Wharf section,Interstate 91, and theOak Street Connector. The Oak Street Connector (Route 34), running between Interstate 95, downtown, andThe Hillneighborhood, 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, aseries of criminal prosecutionsagainst various members of theBlack Panther Partytook place in New Haven, inciting mass protests on the New Haven Green involving twelve thousand demonstrators and many well-knownNew Leftpolitical activists. (See "Political Culture" below for more information). From the 1960s through the early 1990s, some 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 itscrime rate.
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 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 called360 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 parkFarmington Canal Trailis 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-eraQ Bridge, has begun.The city still hopes to redevelop the site of theNew Haven Coliseum, which was demolished in 2007.
In April 2009, theUnited States Supreme Courtagreed tohear a suitoverreverse discriminationbrought 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, noblackfirefighters scored high enough to qualify for consideration for promotion, so the city announced that no one would be promoted. In the subsequentRicci v. DeStefanodecision the court found 5–4 that New Haven's decision to ignore the test results violatedTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.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 theHartford Line, with a southern terminus at New Haven'sUnion Stationand a northern terminus atSpringfield'sUnion Station.According to theWhite House, "This corridor [currently] has one train per day connecting communities in Connecticut and Massachusetts to theNortheast CorridorandVermont. The vision for this corridor is to restore the alignment to its original route via theKnowledge Corridorinwestern Massachusetts, 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 beMontrealin Canada.Train speeds between will reportedly exceed 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) and increase both cities' rail traffic exponentially.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.1 square miles (52.1 km), of which 18.7 square miles (48.4 km) is land and 1.4 square miles (3.7 km), or 6.67%, is water.
New Haven's best-known geographic features are its large, shallow harbor, and two reddish basalttrap rockridges which rise to the northeast and northwest of the city core. These trap rocks are known respectively asEast RockandWest Rock, and both serve as extensive parks. West Rock has been tunneled through to make way for the east–west passage of theWilbur Cross Parkway(the only highway tunnel through a natural obstacle in Connecticut), and once served as the hideout of the "Regicides" (see:Regicides Trail). Most New Haveners refer to these men as "The Three Judges". East Rock features the prominent Soldiers and Sailors war monument on its peak as well as the "Great/Giant Steps" which run up the rock's cliffside.
The city is drained by three rivers; theWest,Mill, andQuinnipiac, named in order from west to east. The West River discharges intoWest HavenHarbor, while the Mill and Quinnipiac rivers discharge into New Haven Harbor. Both harbors are embayments ofLong Island Sound. In addition, several smaller streams flow through the city's neighborhoods, including Wintergreen Brook, the Beaver Ponds Outlet, Wilmot Brook, Belden Brook, and Prospect Creek. Not all of these small streams have continuous flow year-round.
According to theKöppen classification, New Haven experiences ahumid subtropical climate(Cfa), bordering a hot-summerhumid continental climate(Dfa). 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 80 °F (27 °C) on 70 days per year. In summer, theBermuda Highcreates as southern flow of warm and humid air, with frequent (but brief) 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 more variable, with cool to cold temperatures, mixed with warmer spells, with both rain and snow fall.
While the weather patterns that affect New Haven result from a primarily offshore direction, thus reducing the marine influence of Long Island Sound, the location on Long Island Sound often influences the weather along the coastline compared to inland. During summer heat waves, temperatures may reach 95 °F (35 °C) or higher on occasion with heat-index values of over 100 °F (38 °C).Tropical cycloneshave struck New Haven in the past, including 1938 Hurricane (Long Island Express),Hurricane Carolin 1954,Hurricane Gloriain 1985.The hardiness zone is 7a.
New Haven has a long tradition ofurban planningand 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 agrid planof nine square blocks; the central square was left open, in the tradition of many New England towns, as thecity green(a commons area). The city also instituted the first public tree planting program in America. As in other cities, many of theelmsthat gave New Haven the nickname "Elm City" perished in the mid-20th century due toDutch elm disease, although many have since been replanted. TheNew Haven Greenis 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 aNational Historic Landmarkin 1970.
Downtown New Haven, occupied by nearly 7,000 residents, has a more residential character than most downtowns.The downtown area provides about half of the city's jobs and half of its tax baseand 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.
The city has many distinct neighborhoods. In addition to Downtown, centered on thecentral business districtand theGreen, are the following neighborhoods: the west central neighborhoods ofDixwellandDwight; the southern neighborhoods ofThe Hill, historic water-frontCity Point(or Oyster Point), and the harborside district ofLong Wharf; the western neighborhoods ofBeaver Hills,Edgewood,West River,Westville,Amity, andWest Rock-Westhills;East Rock,Cedar Hill,Prospect Hill, andNewhallvillein the northern side of town; the east central neighborhoods ofMill RiverandWooster Square, an Italian-American neighborhood;Fair Haven, an immigrant community located between the Mill and Quinnipiac rivers;Quinnipiac MeadowsandFair Haven Heightsacross the Quinnipiac River; and facing the eastern side of the harbor,The AnnexandEast Shore(or Morris Cove).
TheU.S. Census Bureaureports a 2010 population of 129,779, with 47,094 households and 25,854 families within the city of New Haven. The population density was 6,859.8 inhabitants per square mile (2,648.6/km). There were 52,941 housing units at an average density of 2,808.5 per square mile (1,084.4/km). The racial makeup of the city was 42.6%White, 35.4%African American, 0.5%Native American, 4.6%Asian, 0.1%Pacific Islander, 12.9% fromother races, and 3.9% from two or more races.HispanicorLatinoresidents of any race were 27.4% of the population.Non-Hispanic Whiteswere 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. Theper capita incomefor the city was $16,393. About 20.5% of families and 24.4% of the population were living below thepoverty line, including 32.2% of those under age 18 and 17.9% of those age 65 or over.
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 ofYale University.
New Haven is noted for having the highest percentage of Italian American residents of any US city, and is noted for itslocal style of pizza.
A study of the demographics of the New Haven metro area, based on age, educational attainment, and race and ethnicity, found that they were the closest of any American city to the national average.
New Haven's economy originally was based in manufacturing, but the postwar period brought rapidindustrial decline; 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 ofYale Universityfurther 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 byYale – New Haven Hospital. Other large employers includeSouthern Connecticut State University,Assa Abloylock manufacturing, theKnights of Columbusheadquarters, Higher One,Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Covidien andUnited Illuminating.Clothing storesGantandAnn Taylorwere founded in the city.
In 2017, New Haven was ranked by aVerizonstudy 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%)
TheKnights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization and aFortune 1000company, 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 onstock exchangesincludeNewAlliance Bank, the second largest bank in Connecticut and fourth-largest inNew England(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). The American division ofAssa Abloy(one of the world's leading manufacturers of locks) is located in the city. TheSouthern New England Telephone Company(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 ofFrontier Communicationsand provides telephone service for all but two municipalities in Connecticut.SeeClickFixwas founded and has been headquartered in the city since 2007.Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company(a candy-making division of theHershey Company) was formerly located in the city. Achillion Pharmaceuticals and Alexion Pharmaceuticals were also formerly headquartered in New Haven.
New Haven is governed via themayor-council system. Connecticut municipalities (like those of neighboring statesMassachusettsandRhode Island) provide nearly all local services (such as fire and rescue, education, snow removal, etc.), as county government has been abolished since 1960.
New Haven Countymerely 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 Elickeris 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;redistrictingtakes place every ten years.
The city is overwhelminglyDemocratic. 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 is served by theNew Haven Police Department, which had 443 sworn officers in 2011.The city is also served by theNew Haven Fire Department.
New Haven lies withinConnecticut's 3rd congressional districtand has been represented byRosa DeLaurosince 1991.Martin LooneyandGary Holder-Winfieldrepresent New Haven in theConnecticut State Senate, and the city lies within six districts (numbers 92 through 97) of theConnecticut House of Representatives.
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.Thefederal District Court for the District of Connecticuthas a New Haven facility, theRichard C. Lee United States Courthouse.
New Haven is the birthplace of formerpresidentGeorge W. Bush,who was born when his father, former presidentGeorge 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 presidentsWilliam Howard Taft,Gerald Ford, andBill Clinton, as well as Secretary of StateJohn Kerry. President Clinton met his wife, formerU.S. Secretary of StateHillary Clinton, while the two were students atYale Law School. Formervice presidentsJohn C. CalhounandDick Cheneyalso 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, a New Haven native, served asPresident pro tempore of the United States Senatein 1801.
New Haven voters overwhelmingly supportedAl Gorein the2000 election, Yale graduateJohn Kerryin2004,andBarack Obamain2008and 2012. In the 2008 election,New Haven Countywas third among allConnecticut countiesin campaign contributions, afterFairfieldandHartfordcounties. (Connecticut, in turn, was ranked 14th among all states in total campaign contributions.)
New Haven was the subject ofWho Governs?Democracy and Power in An American City, a very influential book inpolitical scienceby preeminent Yale professorRobert A. Dahl, 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 byAlexis de Tocquevillein his classic volume on 19th-century American political life,Democracy in America.New Haven was the residence of conservative thinkerWilliam F. Buckley, Jr., in 1951, when he wrote his influentialGod and Man at Yale.William Lee Miller'sThe Fifteenth Ward and the Great Society(1966) similarly explores the relationship between local politics in New Haven and national political movements, focusing onLyndon Johnson'sGreat Societyandurban renewal.
George Williamson Crawford, a Yale Law School graduate, served as the city's first blackcorporation counselfrom 1954 to 1962, under MayorRichard C. Lee.
In 1970, theNew Haven Black Panther trialstook place, the largest and longest trials in Connecticut history.Black Panther Partyco-founderBobby Sealeand ten other party members were tried for murdering an alleged informant. Beginning onMay Day, the city became a center of protest for 12,000 Panther supporters, college students, andNew Leftactivists (includingJean Genet,Benjamin Spock,Abbie Hoffman,Jerry Rubin, andJohn Froines), who amassed on theNew Haven Green, across the street from where the trials were being held. Violent confrontations between the demonstrators and theNew Haven Policeoccurred, and several bombs were set off in the area by radicals. The event became a rallying point for the New Left and critics of theNixon Administration.
During the summer of 2007, New Haven was the center of protests byanti-immigrationgroups who opposed the city's program of offering municipal ID cards, known as theElm City Resident Card, toillegal immigrants.In 2008, the country ofEcuadoropened aconsulatein New Haven to serve the large Ecuadorean immigrant population in the area. It is the first foreign mission to open in New Haven sinceItalyopened a consulate (now closed) in the city in 1910.
In April 2009, theUnited States Supreme Courtagreed tohear a suitoverreverse discriminationbrought by 20 white and Hispanic firefighters against the city. The suit involved the 2003 promotion test for theNew Haven Fire Department. After the tests were scored, noblacksscored high enough to qualify for consideration for promotion, so the city announced that no one would be promoted. On June 29, 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firefighters, agreeing that they were improperly denied promotion because of their race.The case,Ricci v. DeStefano, became highly publicized and brought national attention to New Haven politics due to the involvement of then-Supreme Courtnominee (and Yale Law School graduate)Sonia Sotomayorin a lower court decision.
Garry Trudeau, creator of the politicalDoonesburycomic strip, attended Yale University. There he met fellow student and laterGreen Partycandidate forCongressCharles Pillsbury, a long-time New Haven resident for whom Trudeau's comic strip is named. During his college years, Pillsbury was known by thenickname"The Doones". Atheory of international law, which argues for a sociological normative approach in regards to jurisprudence, is named theNew Haven Approach, after the city. Connecticut US senatorRichard Blumenthalis a Yale graduate, as is former Connecticut US SenatorJoe Liebermanwho also was a New Haven resident for many years, before moving back to his hometown ofStamford.
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 ofcommunity policing, 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 consecutive year).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.
New Haven is a notable center forhigher education.Yale University, at the heart of downtown, is one of the city's best known features and its largest employer.New Haven is also home toSouthern Connecticut State University, part of theConnecticut State University System, andAlbertus Magnus College, a private institution.Gateway Community Collegehas a campus in downtown New Haven, formerly located in theLong Wharfdistrict; 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 Universityand thePaier College of Artare located just to the north, in the town ofHamden. TheUniversity of New Havenis located not in New Haven but in neighboringWest Haven.
New Haven Public Schoolsis the school district serving the city.Wilbur Cross High SchoolandHillhouse High Schoolare New Haven's two largest public secondary schools.
Hopkins School, 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, includingMetropolitan 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 theSound 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.
Livability.comnamed New Haven as the Best Foodie City in the country in 2014. There are dozens ofZagat-ratedrestaurants in New Haven, the most in Connecticut and the third most inNew England(afterBostonandCambridge).More than 120 restaurants are located within two blocks of theNew Haven Green.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, called "apizza", made its debut at the iconicFrank 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 atomato-based sauce) or white (with a sauce ofgarlicandolive oil), and pies ordered "plain" are made without the otherwise customarymozzarella(originally smoked mozzarella, known as "scamorza" in Italian). A whiteclampie is a well-known specialty of the restaurants onWooster Streetin the Little Italy section of New Haven, including Pepe's andSally's Apizza(which opened in 1938).Modern Apizzaon State Street, which opened in 1934, is also well-known.
A second New Havengastronomicalclaim to fame isLouis' Lunch, which is located in a small brick building on Crown Street and has been servingfast foodsince 1895.Though fiercely debated, the restaurant's founder Louis Lassen is credited by theLibrary of Congresswith inventing thehamburgerandsteak sandwich.Louis' Lunchbroilshamburgers, steak sandwiches andhot dogsvertically in original antique 1898cast ironstoves usinggridirons, patented by local resident Luigi Pieragostini in 1939, that hold the meat in place while it cooks.
A third New Havengastronomicalclaim to fame isMiya's, the firstsustainable sushirestaurant in the world. Miya's, founded by Chef Yoshiko Lai in 1982, featured the firstsustainable seafood-based sushi menu, the first plant-based sushi menu, and the firstinvasive speciesmenu in the world. Second generationMiya'schef,Bun Lai, is the 2016White HouseChampions of Change for Sustainable Seafood and aJames Beard FoundationAward nominee. ChefBun Laiis 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,byYale – New Haven Hospitalin the center of the Hospital Green (Cedar and York streets), by Yale'sTrumbull College(Elm and York streets), and on the intersection of Prospect and Sachem streets by theYale School of Management.
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-ownedco-op,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.
The city hosts numerous theatres and production houses, including theYale Repertory Theatre, theLong Wharf Theatre, and theShubert Theatre. There is also theatre activity from theYale School of Drama, which works through the Yale University Theatre and the student-runYale Cabaret.Southern Connecticut State Universityhosts 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 includeOklahoma!(which was also written in New Haven),Carousel,South Pacific,My Fair Lady,The King and I, andThe Sound of Music, and theTennessee WilliamsplayA Streetcar Named Desire.
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.
New Haven has a variety of museums, many of them associated with Yale. TheBeinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Libraryfeatures an original copy of theGutenberg Bible. There is also theConnecticut Children's Museum; theKnights of Columbusmuseum near that organization's world headquarters; thePeabody Museum of Natural History; theYale University Collection of Musical Instruments; theEli Whitney Museum(across the town line inHamden, Connecticut, on Whitney Avenue); theYale Center for British Art, which houses the largest collection of British art outside the U.K.,and theYale University Art Gallery, the western hemisphere's oldest college art museum.New Haven is also home to theNew Haven Museum and Historical Societyon Whitney Avenue, which has a library of many primary source treasures dating from Colonial times to the present.
Artspaceon 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. TheErector Squarecomplex in theFair Havenneighborhood houses, the Parachute Factory gallery along with numerous artist studios, and the complex serves as an active destination duringCity-Wide Open Studiosheld yearly in October.
New Haven is the home port of a life-size replica of the historicalFreedom Schooner Amistad, which is open for tours at Long Wharf pier at certain times during the summer. Also at Long Wharf pier is theQuinnipiackschooner, offering sailing cruises of the harbor area throughout the summer. TheQuinnipiackalso functions as a floating classroom for hundreds of local students.
The New Haven Green is the site of many free music concerts, especially during the summer months. These have included theNew Haven Symphony Orchestra, the July Free Concerts on the Green, and theNew Haven Jazz Festivalin 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 asDave Brubeck,Ray CharlesandCelia Cruzhave 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 venueToad's Place, 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 asindie,college rockand undergroundhip-hop.
TheYale School of Musiccontributes 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-seatWoolsey Hallauditorium, which contains theworld's largest symphonic organs, while chamber music and recitals are performed in Sprague Hall.
HardcorebandHatebreedare fromWallingford, but got their start in New Haven under the nameJasta 14. The bandMiracle Legionformed in New Haven in 1983. Folk musicians from New Haven includeLoren Mazzacane ConnorsandKath Bloom.
The Hillhouse Opera Company is a U.S. non-profitoperacompany 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.
In addition to the Jazz Festival (described above), New Haven serves as the home city of the annualInternational Festival of Arts and Ideas. New Haven'sSaint Patrick's Dayparade, which began in 1842, isNew England'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 historicWooster Squareneighborhood every year since 1900. Other parishes in the city celebrate the Feast ofSaint Anthony of Paduaand a carnival in honor ofSt. Bernadette Soubirous.New Haven celebratesPowder House Dayevery April on the New Haven Green to commemorate the city's entrance into theRevolutionary War. The annual Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festivalcommemorates the 1973 planting of 72YoshinoJapanese 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. TheFilm Fest New Havenhas been held annually since 1995.
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.
New Haven is served by the dailyNew Haven Register, the weekly "alternative"New Haven Advocate(which is run by Tribune, the corporation owning theHartford Courant), the online dailyNew Haven Independent,and the monthlyGrand News Community Newspaper.Downtown New Haven is covered by an in-depth civic news forum,Design New Haven. TheRegisteralso backsPLAYmagazine, a weekly entertainment publication. The city is also served by several student-run papers, including theYale Daily News, the weeklyYale Heraldand a humor tabloid,Rumpus Magazine.
WTNHChannel 8, theABCaffiliate for Connecticut,WCTXChannel 59, theMyNetworkTVaffiliate for the state,Connecticut Public TelevisionstationWEDYchannel 65, aPBSaffiliate, 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.
New Haven has a history of professional sports franchises dating back to the 19th centuryand has been the home to professionalbaseball,basketball,football,hockey, andsoccerteams—including theNew York Giantsof theNational Football Leaguefrom 1973 to 1974, who played at theYale Bowl. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, New Haven consistently had minor league hockey and baseball teams, which played at theNew Haven Arena(built in 1926, demolished in 1972),New Haven Coliseum(1972–2002), andYale Field(1928–present).
WhenJohn 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 theNortheast, which involved investments in programs and projects other than sports franchises. As nearbyBridgeportbuilt new sports facilities, thebrutalistNew 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, theNew Haven County Cutters, left in 2009. The DeStefano administration did, however, see the construction of the New Haven Athletic Center in 1998, a 94,000-square-foot (8,700 m) indoor athletic facility with aseating capacityof over 3,000. The NHAC, built adjacent toHillhouse 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 the1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games; then-PresidentBill Clintonspoke at the opening ceremonies.The city is home to thePilot Pen Internationaltennis event, which takes place every August at theConnecticut Tennis Center, one of the largest tennis venues in the world.New Haven biannually hosts "The Game" between Yale andHarvard, the country's second-oldest college football rivalry. Numerousroad racestake place in New Haven, including theUSATF20K Championship during theNew Haven Road Race.
Greater New Havenis home to a number ofcollege sportsteams. TheYale Bulldogsplay Division I college sports, as do theQuinnipiac Bobcatsin neighboringHamden. Division II athletics are played bySouthern Connecticut State Universityand theUniversity of New Haven(actually located in neighboringWest Haven), whileAlbertus Magnus Collegeathletes perform at the Division III level.
New Haven is home to manyNew York Yankees,New York Mets, &Boston Red Soxfans due to the proximity of New York City & Boston.
Walter Camp, deemed the "father of American football", was a New Havener.
TheNew Haven Warriorsrugby leagueteam play in theAMNRL. They have a large number ofPacific Islandersplaying for them.Their field is located at theWest Haven High School'sKen Strong Stadium.They won the 2008 AMNRL Grand Final.
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 includingIthiel TownandHenry Austinin the 19th century andCesar Pelli,Warren Platner,Kevin Roche,Herbert NewmanandBarry Svigalsin the 20th. TheYale School of Architecturehas fostered this important component of the city's economy.Cass Gilbert, of theBeaux-Artsschool, designed New Haven'sUnion Stationand the New Haven Free Public Library and was also commissioned for aCity Beautifulplan in 1919.Frank Lloyd Wright,Marcel Breuer,Alexander Jackson Davis,Philip C. Johnson,Gordon Bunshaft,Louis Kahn,James Gamble Rogers,Frank Gehry,Charles Willard Moore,Stefan Behnisch,James Polshek,Paul Rudolph,Eero SaarinenandRobert Venturiall have designed buildings in New Haven. Yale's 1950s-eraIngalls Rink, designed by Eero Saarinen, was included on theAmerica's Favorite Architecturelist 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 theNew Haven Green,Hillhouse Avenueand other residential sections close toDowntown 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 isNew Haven: Architecture and Urban Design, by Elizabeth Mills Brown.
The five tallest buildings in New Haven are:
Many historical sites exist throughout the city, including59 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Of these, nine are among the60 U.S. National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut. TheNew Haven Green, 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 ofBenedict Arnoldand the aunt and grandmother of PresidentRutherford B. Hayes; Hayes visited the crypt while President in 1880.TheOld CampusofYale Universityis located next to the Green, and includesConnecticut Hall, Yale's oldest building and a National Historic Landmark. TheHillhouse Avenuearea, which is listed on theNational Register of Historic Placesand is also a part of Yale's campus, has been called a walkable museum, due to its 19th-century mansions and street scape;Charles Dickensis said to have called Hillhouse Avenue "the most beautiful street in America" when visiting the city in 1868.
In 1660,Edward Whalley(a cousin and friend ofOliver Cromwell) andWilliam Goffe, twoEnglish Civil Wargenerals who signed the death warrant ofKing Charles I, hid in a rock formation in New Haven after having fled England upon therestorationofCharles IIto the English throne.They were later joined by a thirdregicide,John Dixwell. The rock formation, which is now a part ofWest Rock Park, is known asJudges' Cave, and the path leading to the cave is called theRegicides Trail.
After theAmerican Revolutionary Warbroke out in 1776, theConnecticut colonial governmentordered the construction ofBlack Rock Fort(to be built on top of an older 17th-century fort) to protect the port of New Haven. In 1779, during theBattle 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 theThomas Jeffersonadministration), and rechristenedFort Nathan Hale, after theRevolutionary War herowho had lived in New Haven. The cannons of Fort Nathan Hale were successful in defying British war ships during theWar of 1812. In 1863, during theCivil War, asecond Fort Halewas built next to the original, complete with bomb-resistant bunkers and a moat, to defend the city should aSouthern raidagainst New Haven be launched. TheUnited States Congressdeeded 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 ofRoger Sherman,Eli Whitney,Noah Webster,Josiah Willard Gibbs,Charles GoodyearandWalter Camp, among other notable burials.The cemetery is noted for itsEgyptian Revivalgateway, and is the oldest planned burial ground in the United States.TheUnion League Clubof New Haven building, located on Chapel Street, is notable for not only being a historicBeaux-Artsbuilding, but also is built on the site where Roger Sherman's home once stood;George Washingtonis 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 andChief JusticeWilliam Howard Taftlived 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 theRoaring Twenties, attracting luminaries of the period such asBabe RuthandTy Cobb.The park remains popular among New Haveners, and is home to theFive Mile Point Lighthouse, constructed in 1847, and the Lighthouse PointCarousel, constructed in 1916.Five Mile Point Light was decommissioned in 1877 following the construction ofSouthwest Ledge Lightat 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 theSoldiers and Sailors Monument, which stands at the summit ofEast Rock, theMarsh Botanical Garden,Wooster Square,Dwight Street,Louis' Lunch, and theFarmington Canal, all of which date back to the 19th century. Other historic parks besides the Green includeEdgerton Park,Edgewood Park, andEast Rock Park, each of which is included on the National Register of Historic Places.
New Haven has two railroad stations, connected toNew York Cityand points along the Northeast Corridor bycommuter rail,regional railandinter-city rail. Service is provided by:
The city's main railroad station is the historicBeaux-ArtsUnion Station, which serves Metro-North, Hartford Line, and Shore Line East commuter trains. Approximately 175 trains serve Union Station on weekdays. Union Station is also served by four Amtrak lines: theNortheast Regionaland thehigh-speedAcela Expressprovide service to New York,Washington, D.C., andBoston, and rank as the first and second busiest routes in the country; theNew Haven–Springfield Lineprovides service toHartfordandSpringfield, Massachusetts; and theVermonterprovides service to both Washington, D.C., andVermont, 15 miles (24 km) from theCanada–US border.
An additional station,State Street Station, was opened in 2002, providing passengers easier access todowntown New Haven. State Street Station is currently serviced by Shore Line East and Hartford Line trains, plus some peak-hour Metro-North trips.
TheNew Haven DivisionofConnecticut Transit(CT Transit), the state'sbussystem, is the second largest division in the state with 24 routes. All routes originate from theNew Haven Green, making it the central transfer hub of the city. Service is provided to 19 different municipalities throughoutGreater New Haven. 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 PanandGreyhoundbus 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 bytrolleyservice.Horse-drawn streetcarsbegan 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.
On February 21, 2018, New Haven officially launched itsBike New Havenbikeshare program.based on dockless technology powered by Noa TechnologiesAt 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.
In 2004, the first bike lane in the city was added to Orange Street, connectingEast Rock Parkand theEast Rock neighborhoodto 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 theWestvilleneighborhood with downtown. The city has added dozens of coveredbike parkingspots at Union Station, in order to facilitate more bike commuting to the station.
TheFarmington Canal Trailis arail trailthat will eventually run continuously from downtown New Haven toNorthampton, Massachusetts. The scenic trail follows the path of the historicNew Haven and Northampton Companyand theFarmington Canal. Currently, there is a continuous 14-mile (23 km) stretch of the trail from downtown, throughHamdenand intoCheshire, makingbicycle commutingbetween New Haven and those suburbs possible. The trail is part of theEast Coast Greenway, a proposed 3,000-mile (4,800 km) bike path that would link every major city on theEast CoastfromFloridatoMaine.
New Haven lies at the intersection ofInterstate 95on the coast—which provides access southwards and/or westwards to the western coast of Connecticut and to New York City, and eastwards to the eastern Connecticut shoreline,Rhode Island, and easternMassachusetts—andInterstate 91, which leads northward to the interior of Connecticut, Massachusetts andVermontand the Canada–US border. I-95 is notorious for traffic jams increasing with proximity to New York City; on the east side of New Haven it passes over theQuinnipiac Rivervia 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.
TheOak Street Connector(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. TheWilbur 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 andHamden, 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 asHeroes Tunnel), running throughWest Rock, home toWest Rock Parkand theThree Judges Cave.
The city also has several major surface arteries.U.S. Route 1(Columbus Avenue, Union Avenue, Water Street, Forbes Avenue) runs in an east–west direction south of downtown servingUnion Stationand leading out of the city toMilford,West Haven,East HavenandBranford. The main road from downtown heading northwest is Whalley Avenue (partly signed asRoute 10andRoute 63) leading toWestvilleandWoodbridge. Heading north towardsHamden, there are two major thoroughfares, Dixwell Avenue and Whitney Avenue. To the northeast are Middletown Avenue (Route 17), which leads to the Montowese section of North Haven, and Foxon Boulevard (Route 80), which leads to the Foxon section of East Haven and to the town ofNorth Branford. To the west isRoute 34, which leads to the city ofDerby. Other major intracity arteries areElla GrassoBoulevard (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.
Tweed New Haven Airportis located within the city limits 3 miles (5 km) east of the business district, straddling the border with neighboring East Haven. Service to approximately 25 cities is provided byAvelo Airlines, which established its first East Coast base at the airport in 2021.Breeze Airwaysplans to begin operations at Tweed in December 2024, and will provide service to 10 destinations. The airport is currently planning a runway lengthening and new terminal on the East Haven side of the airport.
Bus service betweenDowntown New Havenand Tweed is available via theCT Transit New Haven Division.
New Haven Harboris 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 handlebreak bulk cargo. The port has the capacity to load 200 trucks a day from the ground or via loading docks.Providence and Worcester Railroadprovides freight rail transportation to the port, with the railroad operating a switch engine for yard movements, a private siding for loading and unloading, and trackage over theTomlinson Lift Bridgetoward the Northeast Corridor. Approximately 400,000 square feet (40,000 m) of inside storage and 50 acres (200,000 m) 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 theNathan Hale, a 36 foot (11 m) port security vessel capable of servingsearch and rescue, firefighting, and constabulary roles.
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 Hospitalhas four pavilions, including the Yale – New Haven Children's Hospitaland the Smilow Cancer Hospital;theHospital of Saint Raphaelis 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 inMilfordisMilford Hospital, and to the north inMeridenis the MidState Medical Center.
In recent years, Yale and the City of New Haven have been working to build a medical and biotechnology research hub in the city and Greater New Haven region.The city, state and Yale together run Science Park,a large site three blocks northwest of Yale'sScience Hillcampus.This multi-block site, approximately bordered by Mansfield Street, Division Street, and Shelton Avenue, is the former home ofWinchester'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-builtRoute 34extension.As of late 2009, aPfizerdrug-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 formerSNETtelephone building at 300 George Street is being converted into lab space, and has been quite successful so far in attracting biotechnology and medical firms.
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 Corporationoperates a 220 MW peaking natural gas turbine plant in nearby Wallingford.
Near New Haven there is thestatic inverter plantof theHVDCCross Sound Cable.
There are threePureCellModel 400fuel cellsplaced in the city of New Haven—one at theNew Haven Public Schoolsand newly constructed Roberto Clemente School,one at the mixed-use360 State Streetbuilding,and one atCity 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 byClearEdge Power,formerlyUTC Power.Additional fuel cells are located at theYale Peabody Museum of Natural Historyand at the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority (GNHWPCA).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 2017and reaffirmed in the 2018 New Haven Climate and Sustainability Framework.
Several movies have been filmed in New Haven since 2000, includingMona Lisa Smile(2003), withJulia Roberts,The Life Before Her Eyes(2007), withUma Thurman, andIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull(2008) directed bySteven Spielbergand starringHarrison Ford,Cate BlanchettandShia LaBeouf.The filming ofCrystal Skullinvolved 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.InEverybody's Fine(2009),Robert De Nirohas a close encounter in what is supposed to be theDenvertrain station; the scene was filmed in New Haven's Union Station.
New Haven is mentioned in the songPeace Frogbythe Doors, referencing a 1967 incident where vocalistJim Morrisonwas arrested for "attempting to incite a riot" in the middle of a concert at theNew Haven Arena.
New Haven'ssister citiesare:
Some of these were selected because of historical connection—Freetown because of theAmistadtrial. Others, such as Amalfi and Afula, reflect ethnic groups in New Haven.
In 1990, theUnited Nationsnamed New Haven a "Peace Messenger City".