New Haven: Economy

Major Industries and Commercial Activity

In the 1950's, New Haven's economy was based on the manufacturing industry. Today, while manufacturing continues to be an important component of the regional economy, the base of that economy has shifted to health, business, and financial services, as well as retail trade. In all, the services sector constitutes 56 percent of the local economy, with transportation and utilities (13 percent), trade (11 percent), and manufacturing (9 percent) also playing major roles. Both government and financial services comprise about 4 percent of the local industry base. The city benefits from its close proximity to two major bioscience centers, New York and Boston. Local healthcare and pharmaceutical firms, along with Yale Medical School, constitute one of the major concentrations of bio-medical research in the nation. The increasingly significant and growing cluster of the bio-technology industry in Greater New Haven is one of the results of this concentration. There are already several well-established bio-tech firms in the region with more likely to come. These companies alone added some 1,000 jobs to the regional economy in the late 1990s, and continue to fuel the economy into the 2000s. Another important element in the Greater New Haven economy is higher education, particularly the presence of Yale University and its worldwide reputation as a research center and its highly-skilled and educated graduate base. Yale and other local colleges together maintain a student base of nearly 50,000 and employ thousands of others.

Items and goods produced: pharmaceutical products, computer software, firearms, ammunition, tools, clocks and watches, lamps, silverware, airplane parts, oil filters, telephones, cutlery, chocolate

Incentive Programs—New and Existing Companies

Local programs

The city of New Haven has several business incentive programs, including programs that offer information and loans in the Aerospace, BioScience, and Information Technology industries. General business loans of up to $5 million and special loans for child care businesses, start-ups, and manufacturing businesses are also available. The City of New Haven Small Business Revolving Loan Fund provides capital for start-up or expansion of small, minority and/or disadvantaged businesses located within and providing goods and services to New Haven's low to moderate income neighborhoods. The Urban Jobs and Enterprise Zone Program provides property tax abatements for manufacturers, state corporation income tax credits, and other assistance.

State programs

The Connecticut Development Authority works to expand Connecticut's business base. Among its many services, the Connecticut Development Authority works with private-sector partners to guarantee or participate in loans for businesses that may be unable to meet credit underwriting standards; provides access to lower-cost fixed asset financing through Small Business Administration 504 Debentures and tax-exempt Industrial Revenue Bonds; provides financial incentives to companies that enhance the skills of their employees; and encourages investment in the state's urban commercial infrastructure.

The Connecticut Development Authority offers business assistance including direct and guaranteed loans to small businesses, businesses involved in brownfield development or information technology, and businesses that are relocating or expanding. Connecticut's financial and tax incentives include grants and tax abatements for firms locating in State Enterprise Zones and Urban Jobs Program (New Haven qualifies for both), low-cost loans and development bond financing, and funding for new product development.

Job training programs

The city of New Haven, the state of Connecticut, and various local for-profit and non-profit organizations have programs that benefit workers and employers, especially in the areas of placement, recruitment and referral, technology and manufacturing job placement, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training and career development.

Development Projects

By 2005, after a decades-long decline followed by years of intelligent planning, New Haven was in the midst of a notable transformation designed to bring the city into the new millennium poised for sustained growth. Major projects include a massive $1.5 billion agenda designed to grow New Haven's downtown, where nearly half of the city's jobs are centered, and a renewed dedication to developing the New Haven waterfront. Among other considerations, the agenda includes renewal of the city's historic waterfront and initiatives creating a 269-slip marina and a permanent berth for the replica slave ship Amistad; expansion and renovation of shoreline commuter rail stations and expansion of I-95, a major artery connecting New Haven to New York City and Boston; a $2.7 million Small Business Initiative to provide small-business owners with capital resources—in the form of a revolving loan fund—as well as technical assistance in such areas as accounting, marketing and inventory control; and the creation of a federal Empowerment Zone (EZ), which gives the city access to $100 million in grants, $130 million in tax credits, and new programs aimed at implementing a strategic plan.

In the few years prior to 2005, numerous other projects aimed at improving New Haven's infrastructure have either been completed or are under way. Among them are $3.15 million in construction projects to improve Tweed-New Haven Airport and an updated master plan to map out the facility's future and improve the level of utilization; a doubling of the city's investment in parks and public works maintenance efforts and a Citywide Beautification Initiative to improve public spaces and support more than 400 community gardens and green spaces; and a Livable City Initiative that has so far rehabilitated 500 housing units, trained 500 residents in homeownership, and established the most aggressive housing code enforcement program in the state. The Ninth Square project has revamped an old industrial and shopping area into a modern shopping, business and residential center. The site of Science Park, New Haven's former Winchester Arms Company complex established in 1866 and open for more than a century, now provides a research-oriented business incubator facilitating more than 70 manufacturing companies and laboratories and over 1,400 potential job opportunities. Others include the IKEA project, in which a 2 story retail distribution of furniture owned and operated by IKEA provides 400-450 jobs with full time benefits for full and part time employees (the project also has a $50,000 commitment to the Hill Development Corporation and a $100,000 commitment to Gateway Community College for job recruitment and training for New Haven residents); and the Pfizer project, which offers a 3 story clinical research unit owned and operated by Pfizer and contributes to the sophistication of medical imaging research at Yale University.

Economic Development Information: Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, 195 Church St., New Haven, CT 06510; telephone (203)787-6735

Commercial Shipping

New Haven, Connecticut's largest wholesale distributing city, makes use of a major port of entry, many railroad lines, and major interstate highways. New Haven features a deep-water seaport with three berths capable of hosting vessels and barges and facilities for handling any type of break-bulk cargo. The Port of New Haven has a capacity for loading 200 trucks a day from the ground or via loading docks. The Port is serviced by the Providence and Worcester railroad connecting with CONRAIL, New England Railroad, and the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railroads. A private switch engine for yard movements and private siding for loading and unloading of boxcars, gondolas, flatcars, and others is located at the site. The Port of New Haven has approximately 400,000 square feet of inside storage and 50 acres of outside storage available at the site. Five shore cranes with a 250-ton capacity and 26 forklifts, each with a 26-ton capacity, are also available. The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce contracts with Logistec Connecticut to operate New Haven's Foreign Trade Zone, providing additional tax incentives to international shipping operations into and out of New Haven's harbor area. Interstate common carriers include about 12 trucking lines.

Labor Force and Employment Outlook

The city of New Haven draws from a highly skilled labor force. More than 5,000 college graduates enter the job market from New Haven's colleges each year. Proximity to New York City and relatively lower wages make Greater New Haven a desirable home for commuters and an attractive business site. Yale University, Yale Medical School, and projects like Science Park draw pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as high-technology manufacturing firms and research and development organizations, providing and attracting a supply of highly educated workers. Employers may also draw from the pool of workers who commute to Stamford and New York from New Haven and surrounding communities.

Because New Haven's major employers are utilities, hospitals, and educational institutions, long-term prospects for economic stability are good. Tourism's impact, bolstered by New Haven's new status as a sports destination, is expected to increase its benefits to the city.

The following is a summary of data regarding the New Haven metropolitan area labor force, 2004 annual averages.

Size of nonagricultural labor force: 271,300

Number of workers employed in . . .

mining and construction: 11,500

manufacturing: 34,000

trade, transportation, and utilities: 50,300

information: 8,700

financial activities: 14,100

professional and business services: 25,900

educational and health services: 61,700

leisure and hospitality: 20,500

other services: 10,500

government: 34,200

Average hourly earnings of production workers employed in manufacturing: $16.19 (April 2005)

Unemployment rate: 4.9% (April 2005)

Cost of Living

The cost of living in New Haven is the same or lower than most East Coast and West Coast cities but higher than cities in the Midwest. Of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country, New Haven is in the bottom third for overall crime, sandwiched between Indianapolis and San Francisco. Based on the most commonly accepted methodology used to determine the most and least stressful places to live in the United States, New Haven falls within the 15 percent least stressful areas in which to live.

The following is a summary of data regarding several key cost of living factors for the New Haven-Meriden PMSA.

2004 (3rd Quarter) ACCRA Average House Price: $400,880

2004 (3rd Quarter) ACCRA Cost of Living Index: 123.9 (U.S. average = 100.0)

State income tax rate: 3% to 5%

State sales tax rate: 6% on most items

Local income tax rate: None

Local sales tax rate: None

Property tax rate: $39.53 mills (2003)

Economic Information: Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, 910 Chapel St., New Haven, CT 06510; telephone (203)787-6735

New Haven: Recreation

Sightseeing

Yale University, whose scholarly ranks include patriot Nathan Hale; presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush; scholar Noah Webster; and statesman John C. Calhoun, is one of the nation's oldest schools. A walking tour of the campus will include a view of Connecticut Hall, built in 1717. The school's 12 colleges, the 221-foot Harkness Tower famous for its carillon concerts, and the world's largest gymnasium—the Payne Whitney Gymnasium—are highlights of the tour. Adjoining Yale University in an area known as The Green is United Church, whose congregation fervently supported the struggle against slavery. The church is regarded as an outstanding example of New England architecture. The New Haven Colony Historical Society has exhibits celebrating the exploits of several former slaves who revolted aboard the slave ship Amistad, eventually landed in New Haven, and were eventually set free by the United States Supreme Court.

One of America's first cemeteries, the Grove Street Cemetery, was founded in 1797 and contains the graves of many New Haven notables. On the eastern shore of the New Haven Harbor are Black Rock Fort, used in the Revolutionary War, and Fort Nathan Hale, a Civil War fort. The Pardee-Morris House dates from 1750 and contains many colonial Connecticut furnishings. East Rock Park offers a bird sanctuary, self-guided nature trails, picnic groves, and the Pardee Rose Garden and Greenhouse. Lighthouse Point Park's natural history displays and its unique carousel set in an eighteenth-century pavilion on the beach are popular tourist attractions. West Rock Nature Center is a year-round 40-acre facility with displays of native wildlife. The park includes Judges' Cave, where the regicidal judges who condemned King Charles I to the block hid to escape English royal retribution. New Haven's historic Green, a national historic landmark, is ringed on one side by churches built between 1812 and 1815 in the Gothic, Federalist, and Georgian styles. Day and evening harbor cruises and educational tours of the coast are available aboard local chartered boats.

The Connecticut Afro-American Historical Society, located on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University honors the role of African-American people in New Haven and the United States. The university's Ethnic Heritage Center also highlights the cultures of Jewish-, Italian-, Irish-, and Ukranian-Americans, as well as other ethnic groups. Eli Whitney Museum, established in Whitney's restored gun factory, offers programs, lectures, and workshops about machinery and technology.

Arts and Culture

New Haven's performing arts offerings are rich. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the fourth oldest in the country, is nationally recognized for its performances, which are often accompanied by international guest artists. The symphony presents a summer concert series on New Haven's historic Green. Orchestra New England, a chamber ensemble, is gaining a reputation as well. Performances of touring groups and guest artists are staged at two major facilities in New Haven: the Palace and the Shubert Theater, a traditional stop for shows on their way to Broadway. Concerts include internationally renowned symphonies, concert artists, bands, and singers performing the whole musical spectrum.

Theater is popular and critically acclaimed in New Haven. The Long Wharf Theatre Company is known for its contemporary works while the Yale Repertory Theatre, home to the university's world-renowned drama schools, is heralded for its productions of the classics. Many other fine student, amateur, and professional groups enhance the cultural landscape.

Yale University has made the city of New Haven synonymous with fine museums. Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History is New England's largest and one of its oldest science museums. The Yale Center for British Art is considered one of the foremost collections of its kind in the world. American, European, and classical works form part of the Yale University Art Gallery's collection. Artspace and the Arts Council of Greater New Haven are local arts organizations that offer support, performance and exhibition space, education, and classes for student and professional artists. The Yale Collection of Musical Instruments numbers more than 800 sixteenth- to twentieth-century instruments. A Gutenberg Bible and Audubon bird prints are on display at the Bienecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

The New Haven Colony Historical Society houses a museum and library of local memorabilia, including industrial and toy exhibits. The Connecticut Children's Museum stimulates the imaginations of children under eight years of age. Private galleries in New Haven include the John Slade Ely House, the Museum of American Theatre, the Munson Gallery, the Mona Berman Gallery, and the galleries of the Creative Arts Workshop and City Spirit Artists, both of which offer instruction in the arts.

Arts and Culture Information: Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon Street, New Haven, CT 06510; telephone (203)772-2788

Festivals and Holidays

Its location in the center of the former colonies makes New Haven a treasure-trove of Americana. The New Haven Antiques Show, held at the New Haven Coliseum, schedules a spring and fall exhibition while the Connecticut Antiques Showcase is held in November. Powder House Day, commemorating Benedict Arnold's seizure of the New Haven powder stores in the name of the Revolution, is celebrated each spring with a drill and costumed parade on the Green. In March, the Annual International Competition of Women in the Arts take place.

April's Film Festival New Haven screens features, shorts, and documentaries at three local venues. April also brings the Cherry Blossom Festival at Wooster Square. New Haven's maritime past is celebrated with East Shore Day in the harbor area in June. A week-long Summertime Street Festival runs concurrently with the Pilot Pen International Tennis Tournament. The Annual International Festival of Arts & Ideas, which is fashioned after the Spoletto and Edinburgh Festivals, takes place in June and centers around the New Haven Green. Each June on Wooster Square, the St. Anthony Italian Feast takes place, as it has for the past 105 years. The Celebrate New Haven 4th takes place each July 4 weekend and includes fireworks, entertainment, and sails on the schooner Quinnipiack. There is an annual lobster bake each July in nearby Milford. The best in contemporary crafts produced by 400 craftspeople from around the country is on display for most of November and December at the Celebration of American Crafts Creative Arts Workshop. December's UI Fantasy of Lights at Lighthouse Park on New Haven harbor allows visitors to drive through an enchanting land of more than 200,000 lights.

The city's love of music is apparent in the large crowds drawn to the summer weekend New Haven Jazz Festival held on the Green. Religious and ethnic celebrations include St. Andre's Feast in June, Santa Maria Magdelina Feast in July, and the Greek Festival at Lighthouse Park in September. Connecticut's oldest fair, the Durham Fair, will celebrate its 86th year in September 2005.

Sports for the Spectator

The New Haven Cutters play minor league baseball at Yale Field as part of the 8-team Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent baseball league. The Sports Haven in New Haven provides horse-racing fans with simulcasts of some of the major races on four large screens and permits betting. Visitors can dine at the on-site sports bar or the Shark Bar. Several local colleges and universities field sports teams, including the Albertus Magnus Falcons, the Quinnipiac Bobcats, the Southern Connecticut State University Owls, and the New Haven University Chargers, whose contests are eagerly attended throughout the year. The Yale Bulldogs compete in one of the oldest collegiate sporting leagues in America, the tradition-rich Ivy League, with such fierce rivals as Harvard, Princeton, and Brown. Although its team can no longer compete with the top Division 1 collegiate programs, the Yale Bulldogs football team is a hugely popular local favorite that has drawn up to 70,000 fans to big home games. The Yale Bowl hosts world-class soccer tournaments during the summer. Tennis is represented by the Pilot Pen International Tennis Tournament, held each August at the new Connecticut Tennis Center. The Milton Jai Alai fronton in nearby Milford is the only remaining fronton in Connecticut.

Sports for the Participant

Water sports predominate in New Haven. Boating, swimming, and aquatic sports of all types can be enjoyed at the city's many beaches. Golf is played at the Alling Memorial Golf Course, where the 18 holes carry a par of 70. Fully 17 percent of New Haven's land is dedicated to parks. City parks include East Rock Park, the city's largest, which maintains hiking trails and an array of recreational facilities. Lighthouse Point Park features swimming and recreational facilities. Edgewood Park has a skate park, and the Walker Ice Rink has ice skating and hockey. The city has dozens of sports leagues for kids and adults, as well as swim instruction. Each fall New Haven hosts a Road Race, which draws amateur athletes from throughout the Northeast. In Ledyard, east of New Haven, the Mashantucket Pequot Indians opened a casino in 1992.

Shopping and Dining

The downtown area's bilevel shopping complex, the Chapel Square Mall, was renovated and reopened in 2004, giving the beleaguered mall a facelift that many hoped would return it to its glory days. Ann Taylor Loft, which began in New Haven 50 years prior, returned to anchor the newly restored complex. Small, family-owned shops can be found throughout New Haven, along with a variety of bookstores that serve the university community. Many unique shops can be found in the historic Wooster Square, the Arts District near Audubon, and around the Green.

A diner's paradise with a growing national reputation for its sophisticated cuisine, New Haven is home to more than 100 restaurants, many within an easy walking distance of downtown and the Green, including the Union League Café, which serves fine French cuisine in an elegant setting, and Scoozi's, New Haven's only wine bar, which offers contemporary Italian fare. Other cuisines from which to choose include American, Caribbean, Chinese, Continental, Ethiopian, Greek, Indian, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Latin American, Malaysian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, soul food, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and vegetarian.

Visitor Information: Greater New Haven Convention & Visitors Bureau, 59 Elm St., New Haven, CT 06510; telephone (203)777-8550; toll-free (800)332-STAY

NEW HAVEN

NEW HAVEN , U.S. port city in Connecticut. New Haven has a Jewish population of 24,300 (2001) out of a general population of about 124,000. It was settled in 1638 by Puritans who envisioned it as a Wilderness Zion based on biblical law. It was 120 years later, in 1758, that the first Jews, the brothers Jacob and Solomon *Pinto, arrived. They were soon integrally involved in the city's life. With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the three sons of Jacob Pinto – Solomon, Abraham, and William – took up arms in the Continental army. In 1783, Jacob Pinto was a signer of the petition to Connecticut's General Assembly which brought about the incorporation of New Haven as a town.

President Ezra *Stiles of Yale College recorded in his diary the arrival of an unnamed Venetian Jewish family in the summer of 1772 who observed the Sabbath in traditional Jewish manner, "worshiping by themselves in a room in which were lights and a suspended lamp." He noted that this was purely private Jewish worship, since the Venetians were too few to constitute a synagogue quorum, "so that if thereafter there should be a synagogue in New Haven, it must not be dated from this."

A slow influx of Jewish settlers began about 1840. Families from Bavaria, their friends and kinsmen soon constituted a minyan which became Congregation Mishkan Israel. A burial ground was acquired in 1843. Mishkan Israel was New England's second congregation and the 14^th Jewish congregation established in the United States. Soon after its founding, divergences in religious approach arose, one in the direction of Orthodoxy, the other toward Reform. In 1846 a first break occurred: a Reform group broke away, for several years conducting its own congregational service.

Until 1854 the pioneer New Haven congregation met for prayers in a variety of local halls. In 1854, Mishkan Israel Congregation, along with other U.S. congregations, received a $5,000 bequest from the estate of the philanthropist Judah *Touro. With this sum it purchased and refurbished a church as its first synagogue. By then the Reform segment of the congregation had become the majority and in 1855 the Orthodox members seceded permanently and established B'nai Sholom Congregation, which continued as a small congregation until it went out of existence in the late 1930s. Only the cemetery of this early German Orthodox congregation remains.

Mishkan Israel prospered over the decades, led by German-Jewish rabbis who maintained close ties with Rabbi IsaacM. *Wise and the growing Reform movement. In 1897 the congregation built a large synagogue in Byzantine style, in keeping with its growing affluence; the sermons, previously in German, and much of the service as well, were now in English.

The first Jewish refugees arrived from Russia in February 1882, and were followed by a steady influx of Russian-Jewish families. By 1887 the Jewish population had grown to about 3,200. In the next decade it grew to about 8,000 and the increase was greatly accelerated in the wake of the Kishinev pogrom of 1903. By the beginning of World War i, New Haven Jewry numbered about 20,000.

The first congregation organized by the immigrants from East Europe was B'nai Jacob Congregation (1882), which grew into New Haven's largest Conservative congregation. Of the 11 Orthodox congregations organized during the height of the immigration period, four remained in 1968. Several new ones have been established as a response to the new religiosity of the last decades of the 20^th century.

The first organized charity by the Jews of New Haven was undertaken in 1881. The pioneer German Jews established the Hebrew Benevolent Society to assist the Russian-Jewish immigrants, and the latter established the Hebrew Charity Society in 1885. In 1910 the sisterhood of Mishkan Israel began to devote itself to charitable enterprise, opening a special office for the purpose. In 1919 the three charitable undertakings were formally organized into the United Jewish Charities. The Jewish Family Service, professionally staffed, came into existence in 1939.

By the mid-1920s there were in New Haven over 60 Jewish religious, charitable, fraternal, and Zionist organizations, and in addition the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association, the Jewish Home for Children, and the Jewish Home for the Aged. Community leaders, recognizing the need for coordination, in 1928 created the New Haven Jewish Community Council, to which member organizations regularly elected delegates. Out of the council's efforts there emerged the Jewish Welfare Fund and, subsequently, the Bureau of Jewish Education.

Jewish education of children has improved since the 1950s with the growth of synagogue schools, the Lubavitcher-sponsored Hebrew Day School, and the Conservative-sponsored Ezra Academy. These schools are coordinated by the Bureau of Jewish Education. A community-sponsored Hebrew High School is maintained under the bureau's supervision. The first memorial to the Holocaust built on public land was erected in New Haven and the first project to video-tape Holocaust Survivors was begun in New Haven by local survivors, psychologist Dore Laub, and media specialist Laurel Vlock. It evolved over time into the Fortunoff Archive housed at Yale University Sterling Library. There are seven synagogues in New Haven itself. Neighboring Orange has three synagogues, Reform, Conservative, and Chabad, and also is the home of the New Haven Hebrew Day School, an Orthodox k-8 school. Woodbridge, which is now the center of Jewish activity, has a major Conservative synagogue, Congegation B'nai Jacob, which moved from the city along with the Jewish Community Center that moved from downtown New Haven to the suburbs and Ezra Academy, a Solomon Schechter Day School affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The Jewish Community Center is housed in a 106,000 square foot building containing an Olympic-size shallow depth lap pool, two full-court gymnasiums, racquetball courts, health spa, fitness center, personal training, Judaic gift shop, Claire's kosher vegetarian restaurant, a library, auditorium and more, all on 53 acres. Hamden has two synagogues, one Reform and the other Conservative.

The Jewish Family Service has served the community since 1881.

Yale University is a major center of Jewish life. After generations in which there was a quota on Jews, in the early 21^st century Yale has a large Jewish student body, a Jewish president, Richard *Levin, a distinguished Jewish Studies Department with scholars such as Paula *Hyman, Steven Fraude, and Ivan Marcus and a large Hillel building near the Center of campus, the Slifka Center. The Hillel Children's School at Yale which helps children aged 7 to 13 discover positive Jewish identities. Jewish life is a presence on campus and Jewish faculty participate in the community. Judaic scholars are a resource for New Haven Jews. There is an active Chabad presence at Yale.

The most famous Jewish citizen of New Haven is Joseph I. *Lieberman, the United States senator and an observant, self-described Orthodox Jew who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000. He credits the rabbi of the Young Israel of New Haven with mentoring him on how to unite a staunch commitment to Jewish observance with his responsibilities as a United States senator. Marvin Lender, a New Haven based philanthropist whose family began Lender Bagels, is credited as national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal with convening a group of Mega donors to coordinate their own private philanthropy with the ongoing needs of the Jewish community.

[Arthur Chiel /

Michael Berenbaum (2^nd ed.)]

New Haven: History

Religious Colony Becomes Important Port

New Haven, its name declaring a new haven from religious oppression, was settled by a company of English Puritans in 1638. The group, led by the charismatic Reverend John Davenport, had originally called their settlement Quinnipiac, after the local Native American tribe of that name, but changed the town's name to New Haven in 1640. The settlement soon outgrew its confines and several neighboring towns grew up to form New Haven Colony. New Haven, however, made a poor political choice in sheltering Britain's fleeing regicidal judges who had condemned King Charles I to death in England. In 1664, as a punishment for its treachery, New Haven lost its status as an independent colony and was absorbed into the Hartford-ruled Connecticut Colony. Hartford and New Haven were co-capitals of the state from 1701 to 1873, when Hartford became the sole capital.

Colonial New Haven initially thrived on trade with the West Indies and with other towns along the Atlantic seaboard. Later, New Haven ships traveled to the Orient to import tea, porcelain, and silk. By the Revolution, New Haven was renowned not only for its flourishing sea trade but for its educational resources. Yale University had moved to New Haven in 1716 and a newspaper soon began publishing. Long Wharf was built and the first elm trees were planted on the Green in the center of the city. During the Revolutionary War, New Haven was looted and burned by invading British troops but the violence did not dull New Haven's thirst for independence from England. Roger Sherman of New Haven was the only patriot to sign all four major documents upon which the present-day U.S. government is based: the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution.

In 1784, New Haven was incorporated as a city and its industrial star went into ascent. Goods manufactured in the city included Winchester repeating rifles, carriages, hardware, pianos, watches, corsets, bicycles, and cigars. Eli Whitney, a New Haven local and the inventor of the cotton gin, devised a system of manufacturing with interchangeable parts, setting the stage for mass production of goods. Also in New Haven Charles Goodyear developed vulcanized rubber, later essential to the bicycle and automotive industries. Rail travel entered the city in 1839, providing a way to transport these goods to other parts of the young nation.

Industrial Diversity Precedes Renewal

Before and during the Civil War, New Haven was an important center of Abolitionist sentiment. The war itself served to undermine one of the city's industries. With the fall of the South, the demand for New Haven-built carriages waned. Other industries took up the slack, however, notably the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, makers of the rifle that helped open the American West for settlement.

New Haven in 1957 became one of the first eastern U.S. cities to begin large-scale urban renewal of older downtown areas. The result of these first efforts was the Chapel Square Center, which restored housing and other community facilities and attracted commercial development. In 1967, racial tension exploded into serious rioting when minority groups protested that they had been left out of the development planning process. Further urban renewal included the erection of the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, as well as a market development near New Haven Harbor, a facility that houses the Long Wharf Theatre. In addition, Wooster Square, which in the 1950's was a slum, is now home to new commercial and industrial buildings and an established historic district, and in 1994 the Audubon Arts Center Complex was completed.

As of 2000, revitalization had also begun in Science Park, the East Shore community, the harbor front, Upper State Street, and many other areas of the city. The Livable City Initiative, a historic new approach to housing and neighborhood revitalization, is making a tangible difference in the city's neighborhoods, reducing vacant structures in the city by 70 percent. The Elm City—Green and Clean initiative, the revitalization of Ninth Square and the redevelopment of downtown are restoring a sense of hope and future to the fabric of the community. In 2004 the city announced plans for a $230 million development project, including $180 million in state bond funding, to relocate Gateway Community College and Long Wharf Theater to brand new facilities downtown as the first step in an ambitious development effort to transform a long vacant downtown. The city has taken steps to shore up its public school system as well. New Haven's $1.1 billion school construction program has received national and statewide attention for effectively leveraging the state's matching funds to create new and improved schools with smaller classroom sizes for New Haven's children.

Spurred by the city's resurgence, Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. referred to New Haven as "a reborn American city." In an article in the journal Government Finance Review Stefano further summed up the keys to the city's turnaround: "City officials have returned the jurisdiction back to a sound fiscal footing and are recreating a place where children learn in good schools, residents live in safe neighborhoods, and everyone has the opportunity to make the most of his or her talents. The city has accomplished this by following a path that avoids temporary, quick fixes in favor of creating a climate for sustainable economic growth and social well-being. New Haven has regenerated itself through competition and compassion."

Historical Information: New Haven Colony Historical Society, 14 Whitney Ave., New Haven, CT 06510; telephone (203)562-4183

New Haven: Education and Research

Elementary and Secondary Schools

New Haven's school system, rated among the nation's best, offers a program for talented and gifted students beginning in kindergarten, as well as special education classes and an adult education program. The district's 27 magnet schools are very popular and require a lottery system to determine placement. Magnet schools offer specialized curricula in areas such as the arts, languages, science, mathematics, and communications. In 2005 the district set ambitious goals, aiming for 95 percent of the students to be ready to succeed by the end of kindergarten; to achieve math and literacy standards; and to be ready for college, post-secondary education, the military, or the workforce by the time they had reached the 9th grade.

The following is a summary of data regarding the New Haven Public School District as of the 2004–2005 school year.

Total enrollment: 20,759

Number of facilities

elementary schools: 29

junior high/middle schools: 9

senior high schools: 7

other: 4 (transitional schools)

Student/teacher ratio: 14.4:1 (2003)

Teacher salaries

average: $51,770 (2005)

Funding per pupil: $16,820 (2003)

Supplementing the public school system are a number of private preparatory schools, as well as parochial and nursery schools.

Public Schools Information: Public Information Office, Gateway Center, New Haven Board of Education, 54 Meadow St., New Haven, CT 06519; telephone (203)946-8450

Colleges and Universities

While the New Haven area is home to 8 colleges and universities, its most famous is Yale University, which in 2005 had approximately 11,275 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled. Founded in 1701 in Branford and moved to New Haven in 1716, Yale is a charter member of the Ivy League and rated among the top five universities in the country. The school began with the donation of books and money from Elihu Yale, a merchant who made his fortune in East India imports. Today, Yale University is noted for its schools of law, medicine, business, divinity, and computer science. Yale's libraries, museums, and other facilities are among the largest and finest in the country. Yale's cultural influence on the city is pervasive. The school's drama productions, adult lecture series, tutorial programs at local high schools, art galleries, and sports events all enhance life in New Haven. The oldest scientific publication in the United States, the American Journal of Science, began publishing at Yale in 1818. Other Yale "firsts" were the doctoral degree granted in 1861, establishment of the School of Fine Arts in 1870, and opening of the School of Forestry in 1900.

Other institutions of higher learning in New Haven include Albertus Magnus College, a Roman Catholic four-year liberal arts college of about 2,400 students (in 2005). Southern Connecticut State University, a four-year public institution with more than 12,000 students on its 168-acre New Haven campus, focuses on liberal arts and business. Gateway Community College, formerly the South Central Community College, maintains two campuses, one in North Haven and the other in Long Wharf. Nearby are New Haven University (in West Haven) and Quinnipiac University (in Hamden).

Libraries and Research Centers

The New Haven Free Public Library system consists of the main facility, Ives Memorial Library, and three branch libraries (Fair Haven, Mitchell, and Stetson), as well as a bookmobile. The system numbers some 600,000 books in its collection, which also includes large print books, a children's collection, and computer resources. Materials on local history and a wide range of audio-visual equipment and rentals are available.

Yale University Library is the fourth largest library in the country. Among its many libraries, Yale maintains the Sterling Memorial Library, housing the Yale Archives, with more than 4 million volumes, and Babylonian tablets on display. Other Yale facilities are the Beinecke Rare Book Library, displaying the Gutenberg Bible, and the school's libraries of law, medicine, drama, business, and forestry.

Another local facility is the Connecticut Judicial Branch Law Library at New Haven. The New Haven Colony Historical Society's Whitney Library maintains books, maps, and photographs, along with Chinese porcelain displays and an original cotton gin. Special interest libraries include the Albertus Magnus College Library and the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's Osborne Library.

Studies of clinical cultures for the AIDS virus are performed at the Veterans' Administration (VA) Medical Center's national reference virology laboratory in West Haven. Other research programs of note include the University of Connecticut's Haskins Laboratories, which study speech production and perception in humans. Yale University's many science, economic, art, and business research programs include involvement in Science Park, an incubator for high-technology industries.

Public Library Information: Main Library, 133 Elm Street, New Haven, CT 06510; telephone (203)946-8130; fax (203)946-8140