^^ . ° " " , (3 <*. ■•Co '"•'' ^^ ^ ' . . 5 ' . K~. ■'- "-^--0^ oV^; , v {> * o » ' ,\^- •0^ {• t. \ ''Siy .0 .i5°o ■'> ,v-^. ■r c^ '^r. - '':- A*' X «■■'■» ■ V \^ ^o - V.' o > ^0 '^ •^ c' "T^ - • \" ■'■*''' -^.i^.- ^^ ,«^ o V A^ ...... *t-. <. ^0 • "^ o -^b nO-; ci'. O O -.^. .> .0' c ° ' <■ .^ (S A" O. - ■ ■ o, o .0 » > • • '% , "^^^ ^^^' y^^f. ^<.. Cs <=> ,0 ^-0^ ,^^^ ■S A <* c- f^ s> o > .,-^* ■ '". "-' „^^ %^ "-. ^°-^^. ... .'» ^ 'tf* * o » o ' .-0,^ 0- V . ' ■ ° 'v-O , \ ■\ H o v ^i^^-- '^^ , . . \^ - " ° V' , . „x '■■- 'y ^^ ' ' ,0 i .0^ .-. •.• '.. ^> V I. ' "°- • v^^ t^-o^ ^J^ v."^ v; %/ ;■ ->^f.^<; %./ ^^'^^''. ^.,^ ;>^^^h "\/ '^<^ '-^^ o " o , *^ ^'^^ 0^ c » " ° » A MODERN HISTORY' OF NEW HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY By EVERETT G.'HILL Editor of the New Haven Register ILLUSTRATED VOLUME I NE>X- YORK -:- CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1^18 (§\ A. U V CONTENTS CHAPTER I LOOKING BACKWARD TO BEGINNINGS THK LANDING OP THE QUINNIPIAC PILGRIMS — THE ROOTS OF NEW HAVEN AND THE PROCESS OF ITS EARLY DEVELOPMENT — JOHN DAVENPORT 'S TRINITY OP CHURCH AND STATE AND SCHOOL 1 CHAPTER II THE MOTHER AND THE DAUGHTERS THE PURCHASE OF THE TRACT WHICH WAS TO MAKE NEW HAVEN COLONY AND THE CREATION PROM IT OP THE DAUGHTER TOWtNS THE BLOOD, SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL RELATIONS AS DEVELOPED THROUGH THE YEARS 11 CHAPTER III THE DUAL DEVELOPMENT THE COMMON ORIGIN OP THE TOWN AND THE COLLEGE IN DAVENPORT 's PLAN THE VICISSITUDES OP THE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL IN ITS FOUtNDING AND EARLY DAYS, AND THE NEW HAVEN-HARTPORD STRIPE OVER A SITE^ — THE PART OP ELIHU YALE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OP YALE COLLEGE IN NEW HAVEN ... 19 CHAPTER IV THE YEARS OF DISCORD THE CRUDE STRIPE OP TOWN AND GOWN — ITS SEQUEL IN THE MISUNDERSTAND- / ING AND SEPARATION OP THE COMMUNITY AND THE UNIVERSITY 29 CHAPTER V THE BEGINNING OF HARMONY THE NEW ERA IN THE NEW CENTURY AND THE EMERGENCE OF YALE FROM ITS CLOISTER 36 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER VI THE GOWN LAID ASIDE THE YALE BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF 1901 THE PARTICIPATION OF YALE OFFICERS AND TEACHERS, GRADUATES AND 1JNDERGR.UJUATES IN THE RE- LIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND CIVIC LIFE OF NEW HAVEN 38 CHAPTER VII THE DOORS THROWN OPEN THE SUNDAY OPENING OF THE Y.VLE SCIENTIFIC AND ART COLLECTIONS AND THE WELCOME TO WOOLSEY HALL — YALe'S INVITATION OF THE PEOPLE TO HER ATHLETIC FEASTS 44 i CHAPTER VIII THE SEAL OF THE UNION THE PAGEANT OP 1916, ITS PREPARATION AND HISTORICAL CELEBRATION IN BAT- TELL CHAPEL THE GREAT SPECTACLE AT THE BOWL 49 CHAPTER IX THE OLD AND THE NEW THE CONTRAST OF THE CENTURIES AND THE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE IT — A GEN- ERAL GLIMPSE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW HAVEN , 61 CHAPTER X THE IDEAL NEW HAVEN A REVIEW OP THE RESPECTS IN WHICH THE REPORT OF THE CIVIC IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE WOULD MAKE OVER THE CITY 74 CHAPTER XI NEW HAVEN GREEN ITS ORIGIN, OWNERSHIP AND PRESERVATION INTACT — ITS HISTORY AND ITS DEVEIX)PMENT — ITS RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, CIVIC AND OTHER USES SO CONTEXTS vii CHAPTER XII NEW HAVEN'S PARK SYSTEM ITS MODERN DEVELOPMENT FROM EAST .\ND WEST ROCKS— THE INTERESTING SYSTEM OF CITY SQUARES 92 ■ CHAPTER XIII NEW HAVEN'S CHARTERS HISTORY AND PROGRESS AND DEV'ELOPMENT FROM 1784 TO 1917 CONSOLIDATION OF TOWN AND CITY AND THE HOME RULE ACT RECENT REVISION EFFORTS . . . 100 CHAPTER XIV NEW HAVEN'S CHURCHES THE ORIGINAL CHURCH AND ITS DESCENDANTS — THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE GROWTH OF ITS FORM OF WORSHIP IN A NEW ENGLAND CITY Ill CHAPTER XV NEW HAVEN'S CHURCHES (Concluded) THE EARLY AND LATER GROWTH OF THE METHODIST CHURCHES— THE BAPTIST CHURCHES — THE GRE.VT RECORD OF THE CHURCH OF ROME THE JEWISH CONGREGATIONS AND THEIR LEADERS — THE V^VLUABLE GROUP OF YOUNGER CHURCHES 126 CHAPTER XVI NEW HAVEN'S SCHOOLS THEIR DEVEIXJPMENT AND PRESENT CONSTITUTION — THEIR EXCELLENT EQUIP- MENT, FORCE AND OPERATION MISCELLANEOUS AND PRFV'ATE SCHOOLS 1H6 CHAPTER XVII NEW HAVEN'S LIBRARIES TARDY APPEARANCE OF A PUBLIC LIBRARY, AND ITS EARLY HISTORY — ERECTION OF THE NEW BUILDINC THE PUBLIC LIBRARY'S BRANCHES AND USE 148 viii CONTENTS CHAPTER XVIII THE CIVIC DEVELOPMENT ORIGIN AND WORK OP THE CIVIC FEDERATION — OLD AND NEW HISTORY OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE — SOME CONTRIBUTORY ORGANIZATIONS 158 \ CHAPTER XIX MANUFACTURING IN NEW HAVEN SOME RESPECTS IN WHICH NEW HAVEN WAS A PIONEER DE'VELiOPMENT AND DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY 's INDUSTRIES 174 CHAPTER XX THE NEW HAVEN MANUFACTURERS' EXHIBIT CONCEPTION AND FORMATION OP THE FIRST PERMANENT DISPLAY OP ITS SORT IN AMERICA — REVIEW OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL FEATURES IT PRESENTS 185 "^ CHAPTER XXI THE YALE BOWL THE NEED WHICH MOTHERED IT AND THE MAN WHO FATHERED IT — ITS CON- STRUCTION, ITS DESCRIPTION AND ITS SUCCESS ITS UNEXPECTED RESOURCES. . 194 CHAPTER XXII TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION EARLY DEVELOPMENTS IN TURNPIKES — THE MOUTH OP AN INTERESTING CANAL — STKiMBOAT AND RAILROAD LINES — NEW HAVEN AND THE TELEPHONE. . . . 203 CHAPTER XXIII THE SOCIAL EVOLUTION NEW HAVEN THE MELTING POT — RACES REPRE.SENTED AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION IN THE CITY — THE PROCESS OP ASSIMILATION, IN NEW HAVEN AND THE ADJOINING TOWNS 216 CONTENTS ix CHAPTER XXIV MAKERS OF MODERN NEW HAVEN IN GENERAL PUBLIC SERVICE — MEN OP THE CHURCHES LEADERS IN EDUCATION COURTS AND LAWYERS MEDICINE AND SOME OP THE PHYSICIANS — LEADERS IN GOVERiNMENT AND POLITICS BANKS AND BANKERS NEWSPAPERS AND PRINTERS M.VNUFACTURERS, MERCHANTS, ENGINEERS AND OTHERS 226 CHAPTER XXV MILITARY NEW HAVEN THE governor's FOOT GIWRD AND ITS .Uv^CIENT AND MODERN SERVICE THE HORSE GUARDS AND THE INFANTRY COMPANIES — NEW HAVEN 'S PLACE IN THE WAR SERVICE OF TODAY 251 CHAPTER XXVI THE PART OP WOMAN WOMEN AS INDIVIDUALS AND IN VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS — THEIR REMARKABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THE PREVENTION OF JUVENILE DEUNQUENCY THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SOCLIL SERVICE DANCE COMMITTEE 260 CHAPTER XXVII FRATERNITIES AND CLUBS THE ANCIENT ORDER OF M.\SONRY IN NEW HAVEN ODD FELLOWSHIP THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT WORK — FRATERNITIES IN GENERAL SOCIAL CLUBS THE TRADES UNION 269 CHAPTER XXVIII MERIDEN COLONIAL ORIGINS AND HISTORY, ITS NAMING, INCORPORATION OF TOWN AND CITY, LATER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT TO THE CITY OF TODAY 284 CHAPTER XXIX MERIDEN (Continued) CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, CIVIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS — MEN WHO HAVE MADE MERI- DEN. PHYSICIANS, LAWYERS, LEADERS IN LOCAL, STATE AND NATIONAL LIFE. . 290 X CONTENTS CHAPTER XXX MERIDEN (Concluded) INTERESTING GROWTH AND PRESENT M.VNTJFACTURING GREATNESS OF THE "SIL- VER CITY, ' ' A CHARACTERISTIC YANKEE MANUFACTURING TOWN ". 301 CHAPTER XXXI ORANGE EVOLUTION OF THE COLONLVL PARISH OF NORTH MILFORD INTO THE TOWN OF ORANGE, AND THE CHARACTER OF A RARE F^VRMING COMMUNITY 308 CHAPTER XXXII WEST HAVEN THE SEPARATE COMMUNITY ON THE NEW IIA^'EN" SIDE OP ORANGE WHICH HAS GROWN INTO A NEAR-CITY ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMUSEMENT RESORT, SAVIN ROCK 313 CHAPTER XXXIII WALLINGFORD EARLY LIFE OF THE MOTHER TOWN OF MERIDEN AND CHESHIRE — ITS CHURCHES, SCHOOLS AND SOME OF THE MEN WHO HAVE MADE IT 319 CHAPTER XXXIV WALLINGFORD (Concluded) MANUFACTURING AND INDUSTRI.AL HISTORY OF AN IMPORTANT CENTER OF THE SILVER FABRICATING ART, AND ITS PRESENT DAY PROGRESS 325 CHAPTER XXIXV BRANFORD ORIGINS OF AN IMPORTANT OLD COLONIAL TOWN, AND THE EVOLUTION FROM THEM OF A LIVELY, MODERN MANUFACTURING AND FARMING COMMUNITY. . . 330 CONTENTS xi CHAPTER XXXVI STONY CREEK THE UNIQUE SHORE RESORT, THE CENTER OP THE QUARRY INDUSTRY, THE OYSTER PRODUCING VILLAGE WHICH IS A PART OF THE TOWN OF BRANFORD 338 CHAPTER XXXVII HAMDEN TOWN OF MANY PARTS THAT ALMOST SURROUNDS NEW HAVEN, ANCIENT PLACE OF MANUFACTURES, MODERN SUBURBAN AND AGRICULTURAL TOWN 342 CHAPTER XXXVIII MOUNT CARMEL THE INDEPENDENTLY FOUNDED AND DISTINGUISHED SECTION OF HAMDEN THAT LIES IN THE SHADOW OF THE FAMOUS OLD "SLEEPING GIANT". . 348 CHAPTER XXXIX CHESHIRE THE FARMING AND INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY THAT WAS CARVED OUT OF WALLINGPORD IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. . . 357 CHAPTER XL NORTH HAVEN EARLY OFFSHOOT OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONY, HOME OF DISTINGUISHED DIVINES, MODERN MINGLING OF INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICl'LTURAL TOWN 363 CHAPTER XLI EAST HAVEN "east FARMS," ITS DEVELOPMENT, ITS GROWTH AND DIVISION AND ITS CHANGE TO THE AGRICULTURAL TOWN AND SUBURBAN SETTLEMENT WHICH IT IS . TODAY .- 368 xii CONTENTS CHAPTER XLII GUILFORD THE INDEPENDENT ORIGIN YET NEW HAVEN AFFILIATION OF THE FOUNDERS, THE ESTABLISHMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLANTATION OP MENUNKETUCK 374 CHAPTER XLIII TWO SONS OF GUILFORD FITZ-GREENE HALLECK, CONNECTICUT'S GREATEST POET, AND HIS WORK WIL- LIAM HARRISON MURRAY, PREACHER, WRITER, DISCOVERER OF THE ADIRON- DACKS AND THE PERFECT HORSE 383 CHAPTER XLIV MADISON EAST GUILFORD AND NORTH BRISTOL BEFORE THEIR SEPARATION FROM GUILFORD, THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND HISTORY AS DIVIDED PARTS OP AN UNUSUAL CON- NECTICUT TOWN 397 CHAPTER XLV WOODBRIDGE THE STORY OF THE ANCIENT "PARISH OF AMITY," AND OF THE ELEMENTS WHICH MAKE THE FINE OLD TOWN ON THE HILLS OVERLOOKING NEW HAVEN 406 CHAPTER XLVI NORTH BRAXFORD NORTH FARMS, THE HISTORIC AND COLONIAL PART OF BRANFORD, THE TOWN OF DEEP FOTTNDATIONS, HONORABLE RECORD AND SUBSTANTIAL MODERN INDUSTRY 414 PREFACE The rush and pressure of daily newspaper work is not conducive to that leisure and spirit of research which must precede careful historical production, and this must explain in part, though it may not excuse, the deficiencies of these pages. Moreover, much ground has been covered in a brief period of time, and the defects which may appear were inevitable. It will be obvious that this is not an attempt to tell again the story of these towns in their past, already, in most cases, told so well before. As to origins, no more has been attempted than to pick up some threads which may bind together a story that is chiefly in the present time. As a panorama of the "New Haven and Eastern New Haven County" of today, with emphasis on certain significant features of them, these pages are presented. The writer realizes their deficiencies by the usual historical tests, and only hopes that their errors are chietly those of omission. Even this would not have been possible without sulistantial aid from many sources. The writer acknowledges his great indebtedness, in the construction of the early chapters, to Edwin Oviatt's inspiring "Beginnings of Yale,"' a work of the higliest historical value. In the chapters on later New Haven aid has come from many sources, some of which are noticed by the way, but espe- cially is credit due to the help of Charles E. Julin of the Chamber of Commerce. The chapters on Meriden would not have V)een possible but for George Munson Curtis's "Century of Meriden," the masterly record of that town. In addition, for help from many friends, most of whom must remain unmentioned here, the writer is deeply grateful. E. G. H. Hartford, CoxNEfTicrT, May 8, 1918. Ill A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY CHAPTER I LOOKING BACKWARD TO BEGINNINGS THE LANDING OF THE QUINNIPIAC PILGRIMS THE ROOTS OP NEW HAVEN AND THE PROCESS OF ITS EARLY DEVELOPMENT JOHN DAVENPORT 's TRINITY OF CHURCH AND STATE AND SCHOOL ^Midway between where two mild raountaiu chaius, tapering down, the one from far north and the other from the northeast, end abruptly in accented heights close by Connecticut "s shore, has stood for nearly three centuries a unique New- "World community. The adventurous and inquisitive Dutch pioneers, who poked the noses of their shallops into more of our creek-mouths than we know, had seen, long before English foot was set upon it, the red plain between the sentinel rocks, which they had translated into their tongue as "Rodenburgh. " It was a fair land of agricultural, commercial and maritime promise, and the wonder is that the Dutch did not preempt it long before the English came, or at least claim it when they came. It seems, however, that the Dutch, safely separated by seventy-five miles of indistinctly trailed forest and marsh, never troubled themselves about their newer neighbors until some years later when those ambitious and grasping Englishmen came down and stirred them up — but that is another story. So the good ship Hector found no fort to threaten her progress when, on a breezy April Friday in 1638, she fortunately missed the then uncharted rocks off what is now Lighthouse Point, and entered the broad harbor of the Quin- nipiac. Her 300 people were not right from England, however, and they were not happening on this liarbor. For the Hector, with Pastor John Davenport and Master Theophilus Eaton in joint command, had left London almost a year earlier, and made her course directly for Boston. Somewhere in that section their fancy had located their promised land. With but the vaguest ideas of the extent of the new country, nothing short of the region of Pilgrim Plymouth 2 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN or greater Boston seemed to meet their requirements. But they demanded large room, as we shall see. It was not a town or a city, but a New World state that was to be different from any other earth had known, that the ambitious Davenport planned. As for Eaton, soon logically to be made governor with- out the formality of an election, what he wanted was a place to found a great trade metropolis. But both plans required space, and distance from rivals. No such place was found in Massachusetts. The Reverend John Daven- port, moreover, had other reasons for desiring to become, in a sense, lost in the wilderness. Archbishop William Laud of London, his implacable foe, had sworn that his hand should reach the rebellious Davenport, even in the New World, and the latter was minded to get where the archbishop would forget him. The Massachusetts neighbors, on their part, took another view of it. They were not slow to discern in the Rev. John Davenport, and as well in the substantial Theophilus Eaton, who had been a prosperous merchant in London before ever he started on his New World venture, stuff for progressive citizens such as the new colony needed. But neither of the leaders would listen to blandishments. Like earlier pioneers of that Holy Writ which was their law, and for similar reasons, they "sought a better country." Thej^ had some earthly guidance. Then, as since, war was opening up new country. It was Captain Stoughton, who had chased the doughty Pequot Indians down to the Connecticut marshes, who was able to tell the questers some good things about the region of the Quinnipiac. They had heard, too, of Dutch "Rodenburgh," and the information so appealed to the practical Eaton that he determined to prospect. He took a few of his best sailors, and probably in the good old Hector rounded Cape Cod — then, in pacifie August, quite a different region from that which the larger party must have found in the following March — and entered Long Island Sound. Past rocky Stonington, past to-be-historic New London, past that Saybrook Point which was later to play an important and almost dis- astrous part in John Davenport's plans, he made straight for the mouth of the Quinnipiac. He found what he wanted between the two red rocks, though it must have been but an imperfect idea he got of the virgin forest and untracked mai'sh. But his commercial eye saw its possibilities. Eaton wasted no time. Leaving a few squatters, as it were, for the perilous task of holding the ground until he could return with the larger party, he sailed back to Boston. It seems to have been no twenty-four hour trip from New Haven to Boston in those days, for it was impossible to get the party back before winter — which was as well for their health, no doubt. New Haven climate, as we may know, is more favorably introduced with spring than with winter. So it was not the Hector's first trip into Quinnipiac Harbor — that of April 13, 1638.* This landing, however, is accepted as the legitimate first. It seems to have occurred to the respecters of signs in the party, somewhile they were working their way up past Morris Cove or the Palisades, that the day was * There is no little confusion as to this dite. Kvirlently this was O. S., which would make it. by o\ir calendar. April 24, and the a-tnal landing the following day, April 25. NEW HAVEN COLONY fflSTORIOAL SOCIETY BUILDING, NEW HAVEN • 1 THE FOUNDERS 0? THIS TOW^ 1, IV -2' " "G XSAR TKI 5 S POT, ASSEMBLED HERE ro^ --E WORSFIP OF GOD r- -■■r,■,^ r-RST SUXD/W TABLET MARKING SPOT OF FIRST WORSHIP, AT GEORGE AND COLLEGE STREETS, NEW H.\VEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 3 P'riday. Seeming to have come on a good place to anchor, they prevailed on their leaders, who mayhap needed no great persuasion, to cast out some anchors and wait for the next day. But for the old maps with which the modern i-eader is plentifully furnished, it might be difficult to api)reciate the location of that lauding. One has to travel full seven city blocks seaward from that spot, in these days, to hnd anything like navigable water. There is a modern, un-Puritan drugstore, at the time of this writing, near the spot where they are said iirst to have set foot on the red soil of Quiunipiac. For some blocks around — this being now somewhat in the center of the motor vehicle supply district, there is more gasoline than water. But in those days the harbor itself came almost to the edge of what is now Hill Street, and nearly at a converging point entered it two creeks, one from the direction of what is now State and Elm streets, and the other from some point in the present region of George and High streets. It was up this latter and larger creek that the Hector went as far as her navigatoi's deemed prudent, the actual landing being from the ship's boats. If our fancy is lively enough, we can imagine these black-cloaked, steeple- hatted and sea-weary navigators, not as stepping out of their boats on to easy, mossy shores, already greening under April's sun and rain, but as scrambling up the high red clay banks of the narrow creek, laden with considerable house- hold furniture as well as their clothes-chests. We have to imagine most of the scene, for the authentic accounts are meager. They found the few "squatters" Theophilus Eaton had left there the preceding fall to hold the land very glad to see them, we may believe. These had been living in rudely roofed dugouts on the banks of the creek, and with similar shelters, it appears, the newcomers liad to content themselves that summer and probably through most of the next winter. Close liy the creek, for the moment, was tlie center of New Haven. This accounts for the fact that the first gathering of the Rev. John Davenport's flock for religious service, which was on the day after they landed, was near this northeast corner of the present George and College streets. There, since 1888, has stood a marble tablet suitably mai-king their first place of worship. II Superficially, this seems like the beginning of New Haven. But to under- stand the story, we shall have to go further back by some forty years. We shall find ourselves in that quaint old walled town of English Warwickshire which Tennyson first introduced to us as the result of his wait for the train — the very Coventry of Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom. For it is more than a coincidence that there, in the closing years of the sixteenth century and the opening of the next. John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton were boys together. And through Theophilus Eaton, as will later appear, was to come the natural connection of Elihu Yale with New Haven, and the name of Elihu Yale was to descend on the New Haven college of John Davenport's — to him — unrealized dream. It may seem a far cry from the time and circumstances in which John 4 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Davenport of Coventry and Oxford became a rebel against the rule of the established church, to modern New Haven. But New Haven of today is a center of Congi-egatioualism, and the spirit of New Haven's sort of Congregationalism was born in John Davenport at Coventry. The later influences, at Oxford, in London and in Holland as a refugee, which made John Davenport a pioneer filled with the determination to find a spot so far from England and so remote from the vengeful eye of the tyrannical Bishop Laud of London that in it he might found a church-state after his own heart, it is not necessary to trace here. With these troubles the less idealistic Theophilus Eaton had less concern. He did, however, appreciate the possibilities for commercial opportunity which the New World might offer, and he was glad enough to join in the Davenport enterprise. It should not be supposed that there was no religious fervor in Eaton. It was not omitted from the constitution of any strong men of his land and time. He never demurred, as far as we can learn, at the churehly nature of the state of which he was to become the first governor. It was before the party sailed, not on the way over, that a covenant was drawn up and signed by some representative of each of the groups in the company, somewhat plainly defining the character of the unique government which it was proposed to es- tablish. The most we know of it is from the manner in which it worked out in New Haven's later history. It worked out its own destruction, by the way, for from reasons inherent in the very democratic air of the New World, it was out of the question for so utter an autocracy to outlast the vei-y beginnings of the primitive settlement. However, John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton must have been good friends, or at least very greatly in harmony in their confidence that the church- state was a sure foundation. If there was any clash of authority in their joint leadership, the record of it has not come down. The pastor was ruler, judge and executor in things spiritual ; the governor had the same authority in things temporal. But often it must have been hard to find the dividing line between the two. The laws were the laws of j\Ioses, and pastor and governor, about equally versed in them, were their joint interpreters. There was no participation in the government except by church members in good and regular standing — the regenerate who had brought forth works meet for repentance. They took their religion very seriously. They were so intolerant, not only here but in other parts of New England, of those who chanced to differ from them in matters of religious belief or practice, that they made the persecution of the churchmen of Old England look anaemic. On week days Governor Eaton's court sat — and considering the smallness of the population it had a busier time than our police court of today — and dealt with those against whom, it was natural from the critical spirit of the times, there should be abundant accusations. There was swift hearing, stern judgment — and there was no appeal. It was not always a meekly received judgment, for the early settlers were human, and the New World bred a sense of justice that could not always have matched the Davenport-Eaton sort. It is a ti'emendous trilrate to the genius of the joint arbiters of this strange republic that for thirty years they maintained it in a fashion, and that its down- AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 5 fall was hastened by circumstances which they could not control — circumstances which came in considerable measure fi'om without. But it matched the Cal- vinistic theology which Davenport brought with hiui, which his successors main- tained for a good deal more than thirty years. Meanwhile, the town had shaped itself physically in a manner that cannot but be intei-esting to us. Some crude assistance it had, to be sure. Modern dwellers in New Haven who often have wondered why the central streets follow no cardinal points of the compass may tind the answer in the vagaries of those early wandering creeks which have long since hidden their courses in shame. Coming, the one from the region of what is now upper Geoi'ge Street, its course about southeasterly, and the other from "somewhere out State Street," in a general southwesterly direction, they made a sort of rough right angle at the point where they entered the harbor head. This natural angle seemed to John Broekett, a young London surveyor who same over with the Davenport-Eaton party, better bounds than the points of the compass on which to lay out a city. So he marked out by map— the actual going by land was so far from being good that the map was easier — a towii of nine equal sciuares, one-half of a square mile in total extent. George Street and the West Creek were its southwestern .boundary; State Street and the East Creek its southeastern. On the northwest what was to be York Street limited it. To the northeast was what is now Grove Street, its name more than adeqiiately foretold by the interminable virgin forest which then began only a little north of Elm. These boundaries probably were not imaginary. The settlers had learned before they came to expect conflict from foes without as well as from their natural inward enemies of original sin. Against the latter they made it one of their early tasks to erect a ileeting House where Pastor Davenport might give them weekly — or more frequent — treatment for their souls. Their first task, however, was to enclose the nine squares with a substantial stockade. Even though trees wei-e plentiful and the digging was good (there is not in the whole nine squares today a rock or a stone, and proliably there were very few in those days") jthis could have been no light undertaking. To set close together two miles of sharpened palings, substantial logs well planted in the ground and extending seven feet above it, was a labor of spade and post and pestle that could hardly have been light, even for many hands. The evidence is conflicting, but the weight of it favors the belief that New Haven had this protecting stockade. The energetic Eaton, if not the provident Davenport, would liavc seen to that. Massive gates, closed and chained at "curfew," we may well believe, led through this stockade from the wild woods or marsh or meadows without. But he who entered for the first time noticed that the fencing habit was not limited to the outer wall. The early New Englanders had brought from across the sea the notion that "a man's house is his castle" needed emphasis. Each of the eight private squares was set off from the streets by five-foot palings. There was some economy and lighter substance in these barriers, for they were of split logs and a little less dense, perhaps, in their formation, but they served efifectually the purposes of protection and privacy. ^Moreover, as fast aS each householder 6 A MODEKN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN was able to define the limits of his private "lot," he marked it by aii unmis- takable rail fence. We may well believe that there was much more thought, for a good many of those early years, of keeping the bounds than there was of keeping the lawns. Only the central square, which we call ' ' The Green, ' " which they called the "Market Place," was unfeneed. Its idea, of course, was from the Old World Market Place. But there is said to have been an interesting reason why the early fathers of New Haven devoted a ninth of their city to that open space for whose preservation we praise them now. Davenport himself, it seems, was a Millenarian, and such was his positive leadership that many of his followers nuist have shared whatever belief he had. That is, he expected not only the second coming of Christ, but the arrival of "a thousand of his saints" with him. Obviously, there must be some place where the thousand, plus the much less than a thousand of dwellers in New Haven, could conveniently gather. If that was their idea in making the Market Place so large, they safely exceeded their retiuirements, for New Haven in its twenty -eighth decade has often seen several times ten thousand people gathered on the lower half of the Green. This old Market Place, inevitably, was the heart of the life of those early days, as it is destined to be for many generations afterward, and may still be in generations yet ahead of us. As near to the exact center of it as they could guess, John Davenport hastened to erect his first Meeting House, the direct ancestor of the stately Center Church of today. There was little of stateliness or even of architecture about that first edifice. It was uncomely without and barren within. Its frame, rough-hewn from some of the very trees, no doubt, which had been cleared from the forest of the forming Mai'ket Place to make room for it, was as I'oughly covered with uneven boards, that barely kept out the rain and snow^ and not as successfully the cold. Its hipped roof rose sharply from its four square sides to a point in the center, which was surmounted by the square watchman's turret from wOiich the town drummer beat the call to worship. Above that it rose to a blunt steeple. Within were the raised pulpit and sounding board, and probaT)ly the hard, backless, most uncomfortable oak-slab seats which we know the churches of that era had. But for years it was the most imposing building in the town, and always it and its successors have been the center of New Haven's religious life, performing, even for the large city in which it dwells today, a distinct and acknowledged community service. It was far from being "The Green" in those early days, that great central square. Not until more than a century later did it begin to assume that order which marks it today. When the first Meeting House was erected, the square to the northwest of it was still irregularly wooded. In the spot that had been cleared were still the straggling stumps of the trees, wdth leaf-strewn sand between. Most of the space between the Meeting House and Church Street — then "The Mill Highway" — was a swamp, crossed by two log causeways. The Meeting House was erected in 1639 or 1640, and the following year the first apparent move toward public education was made in the building of a school- house, to the northward midway between the house of worship and Elm Street. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 7 The only other building purpose to which the Market Place was put for several years was for a watclihouse, a "gaol, " and the necessary stocks and pillary, which stood in a group slightly northwest of the Meeting House. The burial ground, which became necessary even in that fii-st year, was, as we notice from its his- toric remnant, directly in the I'ear of the church. Dwelling houses, more or less pretentious, but all limited by the rude facili- ties of the time, grew apace with the public buildings. It seems likely that there were as many as forty-two buildings of various sorts as early as 1640. Governor Eaton's house, the most substantial in the colony, stood on the_ north side of Elm Street, a little above where Orange Street ci'osses it now. Mr. Davenport's was very near what is now the southeast corner of Elm and Orange. The other settlers had disposed themselves as their resources warranted, in buildings mostly around the Market Place side of the original nine squares, the extension being farther northward than in any other direction. There was considerable seaport activity, with the two landing places, one up George Street a "block" farther than the original landing on the creek bank, and the other on the East Creek near the corner of State and Chapel. There was a flour mill out near East Rock. There were clay pits, the primitive brickyards, out north State Street. There were many farms all around the edges. But these were daylight activities. It was several years before any but the pioneers who started new settlements "in the wilderness" made bold to build or spend their nights outside of the stockade. The development of the years that followed is not, in the main, a part of a ' ' modern history. ' ' Leaving that as a ta.sk well done by others, let us turn now to certain beginnings which have significant prophecy of an important modern relation. Ill John Davenport did not conceive his ideal of church and state complete without the higher school to make a trinity. An Oxford scholar, with the best education that Old England could give, it was inevitable that he should include in his ambition for a New World paradise a strong and advanced school system. In 1637 at Boston he was one of the twelve leading men of the colony to estab- lish what later was to be Harvard College, under the authority of the General Court. Through that experience, the idea which he had took practical shape for the new state which he planned to found. It is probably that, when he took with him on his pilgrimage to Quinnipiac the young Ezekiel Cheever, and later when he established that able young educator in the cabin schoolhouse at Grove and Church streets, Davenport thought his college was beginning. It was another step of progress when he secured the erection, some six years later, of the school- house on the Market Place. It stood near the church for other reasons than convenience. It was to be in literal truth a church school. It was to supplement for six days, with a teacher in utter harmony with the preacher, the instruction of the Meeting House on the Sabbath day. It was to lead to a higher or collegiate 8 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN school, which was, as it is easy to read in the history of the school that did come, tirst of all au institution for the training of men for the Congregational ministry. But Ezekiel Cheever, excellent teacher that he was, had some educational ideas of his own, and they did not harmonize with Davenport's. He did not agree that all the classics worth knowing were bound up in the Bible, or that the chief end of man was to learn Calvinistic theology. So he parted company with John Davenport and New Haven in 1647, greatly to the loss of the latter and greatly to the advantage of Ipswich in the Massachusetts colony, and later to Cambridge and Boston, in which communities he continued his later remark- able educational career. John Davenport would have advanced his college much faster if he had kept the brilliant Cheever, but he must have his way. There is little to be said of the progress of John Davenport's educational plans in the remaining decade of his disheartening struggle in New Haven. His church-state republic was doomed to fail, and with it was inevitably bound up, as could easily be seen, his sort of college. But it is worthy to record that he planted in the minds of his associates of New Haven and the Connecticut colony the germ of a college in New Haven. That was just as much a part of . the New Haven construction, it seems, as the Meeting House or the Market Place. In the yeai's that followed, though it seemed almost certain that the college, when established, was to be elsewhere than in New Haven, perhaps far removed from it, there was in the subconscious mind of leaders like James Pierpont, successor to John Davenport in the old New Haven church, and the others who formed with him what fortiinately was the ma.jority in the control of the collegiate school's affairs, the thought that it was inseparable from New Haven. It was a naturally inseparable alliance, more of state and college than of state and church, which the plan of John Davenport involved. Yale became a part of New Haven, in fact, when the first pastor set the first teacher at work in his paternal- ized community, and then was formed a partnership which was to have, in today's era, a meaning that could not have been dreamed of then. It was an even longer path to the goal than the years seem to make it. That was a strange battle of events and wils which took place from 1640 to 1716, when the collegiate school wavered between New Haven, Branford. Killing- worth, Saybrook, Wethersfield and Milford, and the story has been well told elsewhere. Early in the course of it came the downfall of that impossible Utopia which Davenport dreamed of at Quinnipiac. It was partly due to Davenport's lack of understanding of human nature, partly due to forces which he could not control. The stern God whom he preached had not set His favor, it would seem, on the man-planned state. Probably He was not sufficiently consulted in its construction. The church, indeed, survived by reason of compulsion of all the support of the people, hut the educational plans, as we have seen, went sadly agley, and the ship of state went on political and commercial rocks instead of into a fair harbor. The New Haven gi'oup, weakened by the readiness of many settlers to find a freer air elsewhere, simply could not stand alone, and the others, with little love in their hearts for the autocracy of Davenport and AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 9 Eatou, left it to its fate. That fate was to be absorbed in the hirger ConneL'tieut colony instead of remaining a colony in itself. Others of the bright dreams that came down the coast on board the old Hector had been shattered. New Haven has, as we have lived to see, commercial and industrial possibilities such as canny old Theojihilus Eaton never from the highest pinnacle of his ambition looked down upon, but that was only the middle of the seventeenth century. The stream of trade to and from London continued to flow to and from Boston, as it had done before. The New Haven commercial aspirants, who had built a small fleet of ships for the foreign trade, were obliged to content themselves with coasting to Boston or New- Amsterdam, or occasional trips to the Bernuidas or Barbadoes. If they had kept away from the region of New Amsterdam, they would have done better. That fated "Delaware" company was formed, and set up a trading post on Dutch territory. The Dutch promptly cleared these usurping Yankees out of their possessions, and the promoters of the Delaware company, in addition to having their scheme for wealth abruptly terminated, lost the £1,000 they put into it — which was a heavy disaster for New Haven in 1640. It was the l>eginning of bad luck, and it was the beginning of ti'ouble with the Dutch. The wonder is that the latter were so considerate as to refrain from coming up to New Haven and annexing "Rodenburgh" to New Amsterdam — a thing they might easily have done. Eaton and his associates purposed, however, to redeem their fortunes liy a trading venture to England with the " Create Shippe, " but that w-ent down at sea, and £5,000 — about all the free capital that there was left in the colony — went down with it. After that they were very meek, and seem to have taken what Heaven — and hard work — sent them, keeping their feet on the ground. But all this while, and even when, thirty years after he first sailed up the clay-banked creek, disappointed John Davenport took his books and beliefs to Boston, burying his ambitions behind him, fate was laying the foundation for the better union that was to be. When in 16-37 Theophilus Eaton joined his fortunes with his old playmate of the earlier days at Coventry for an excursion to the New World, he long had been a prosperous merchant at London, and was married to his second wife. She had been the widow of David Yale of Denbigh- • shire, and by him had two sons, Thomas and David Yale. Both came over on the Hector. The former was the father of Elihu Yale. There was also a daughter, who later married the Edward Hopkins of the original Davenport party. Hopkins lost his heart to Hartford before the New Haven settlement- was made, however, and prospering greatly there, returned to London in 16.54 with a considerable fortune, which he seems to have added to later. He was the patron of the Hopkins Grammai' School in New Haven. John Davenport had asked him to give his money for the college project instead, and had he done so, this might have been Hopkins instead of Yale College. It was not until sixty-four years later that the son of Thomas Yale, Boston born, London trained, made fabulously wealthy as an East India Company- protected plunderer in Old ^ladras, and later governor of the English trading 10 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN ♦ post, Fort St. George, was moved by the strange iuterventioii of Cottou Mather and the perfectly iinderstandable urging of New Haven's London agent, Jeremiah Dummer, to part with a modicum of liis wealth for the struggling collegiate I school. After a stormy sixteen years in exile, it had become safely settled in New Haven. In Elihu Yale's gift — small enough compensation for the immortal gain of giving name to the college — it is possible to see rather the fulfillment of fate's pui-pose than the great enrichment of Yale. The securing of funds which made possible the winning of their fight to bring the college to New Haven had not been the work of a minute. It was gradually that the campaign of ~ Duinmer and the others on the other side had led up to Elihu Yale. But looking back now, it is easy to receive the impression that the alliance of New Haven and Yale was predestined from the fir.st. CHAPTER II THE MOTHER AND THE DAUGHTERS THE PURCHASE OF THE TRACT WHICH WAS TO MAKE NEW HAVEN COLONY AND THE CRE.4TI0N FROM IT OF THE DAUGHTER TOWNS THE BLOOD, SOCIAL AND COMMER- CIAL RELATIONS AS DEVELOPED THROUGH THE YEARS It must not be supposed that Pastor Davenport and Governor Eaton expected to make a state out of what is now included in the territorial limits of New Haven. Very earlj' in the progress of the settlement at Quinnipiae the process of expan- sion began. It continued until the land actually owned — as ownership went in those days — by the Davenport-Eaton Company, included, oddly enough, almost all but one section of that part of New Haven County with which the present history deals. This fact establishes without argument the proposition that New Haven is in a true sense the mother of all the towns included in what we have called "eastern New Haven County." This ownership was not acquired in any in-egular way. Thei-e was no seizui-e by force of the lands of the Indians, though the bargain seems to have been, as to its terms, one of those one-sided transactions which strike our business sense today as huraerous. When the settlers came they found here a peaceable tribe of Indians, the remnant, at least, of the tribe of the Quiunipiacs. If Captain Adrian Black, Dutch trader, who found -and named "Rodenburgh" in 1614, had been minded to come ashore and take possession, he might have shown less consideration for its nominal first owners than did the more diplomatic Theophi- lus Eaton. (Though for that matter, that worthy did not impoverish himself to give satisfaction, as we shall see.) The Quinnipiacs were minded to live peaceably with their white neighbors. Doubtless they were glad enough of the coming of courageous, well armed white men, whose residence might be expected to keep at a distance their old enemies, the Mohawks and Pequots. From what we can learn, the advent of the Davenport party, of whose 300 about fifty were adult males, probal)ly well armed after the manner of the times, did have a salutary efiPect on the warlike tribes who had caused so much trouble to the settlers further north and east. It probably was early in their first year in Quinnipiae that Governor Eaton and his associates drew up a verj- formal treaty of purcha.se, by which Moman- 11 12 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN guiii, saeliem of the Quimiipiaes, agreed to the best of his signatory ability to ensure to the settlers the right and fee simple to hold and possess and hand down the territory which is now the town of New Haven. There was much formal verbiage, but what seems to interest us most is the compeusatiou agreed upon. There is supposed to have been in the possession of the members of the Davenport-Eaton party, when they landed in New Haven, wealth to the amount of some £36,000. The cash of that amount was not seriously depleted by this which the settlers agi-eed to turn over to the Quinnipiacs' treasury as compeusa- tiou for this land, and which, we suppose, was well and properly delivered : Twelve coats of English trucking cloth. Twelve alchemy spoons. Twelve hatchets. Twelve hoes. Twenty-four knives. Pour cases French knives and scissors. We have no means of knowing just how much territory was included in this sale. Certainly it covered all that we know as New Haven, and probably much more to the north and west. Nor can w^e tell just how much cash this interesting lot of merchandise would have fetched on the market. It may be worth noticing that of the real estate thus transferred the ]\Iarket Place alone, The Green as we now know it, is now estimated to have a market value of $3, .500, 000. But that was 'many years ago. Theophilus Eaton looked ahead, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that he had a canny sense of the possible appreciation of real estate in such a great New World commercial metropolis as he proposed to create here. At any rate he must have known that the buying would never be any more favorable. Presently he found Sachem Montowese, son of Chief Sowheag, and his associate Sausenunck, who also had some land to sell. This second transaction was a triumph that put the first in the shade. Naturally, suburban land must go at lower rates. So the Eaton speculators acquired of ilontowese, apparently with less documentary formality, a tract extending sulistantially ten miles northward from the original purchase. Eastward it extended for eight miles from the Quinnipiac River toward the great river of Connecticut, and westward of the Quinnipiac five miles toward the Hudson. And for this considerable tract of something like 130 square miles Eaton and his associates paid "eleven coats of trucking cloth and one coat of English cloth" — with the assorted hardware left nut. This transaction was completed on December 11, 1638. By studying the territory thus acquired we may under.stand better how much of a state was created for New Haven, and how truh% in the course of resulting events. New Haven became the mother of the communities to the north and east, and in some measure to the west. For in this tract we shall find Hamden, North Haven, East Haven, Wood- bridge, all but the western section of Orange, Wallingford, Cheshire and the AND EASTEKN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 13 lower part of Merideu, Branford aud North Branford. This accounts for practically all of the county included in this group except Guilford, which, though settled independently, in a sense, was not less a daughter of New Haven. This had been purchased from Colonel George Fenwick, a part of his acquisition from Uncas, the Mohegan sachem. Though the settlers drove sharp bargains with the Indians in the matter of purchase, as it seems to us, they did not insist upon immediate possession. The thousand or so of the Quiuuipiacs, and such of the Montowese braves and the Mohegans as the Mohawks and the Pequots had not driven out, were permitted to use the still unimproved laud for happy hunting grounds pretty much as they pleased. It was this cordial agreement, which seems, at least as far as New- Haven and its district w'as eoncei-ned, to have existed until "the last of the ]\Iohegans" passed on to meet the Great Spirit, that added greatly to the lore and legend of those early times, as well as helped to keep the family of whites united. II "Quiunipiac" seems to have suited the settlers well enough as a name for their new commonwealth for a year or tw-o after their foundation. Just how the change came about we are not sure, but it was in 1639 that the Rev. Henry "Whitfield, with his group of twenty-five jiilgrinis from Kent and Surrey counties in England, stopped at Quinnipiac to see his old neighbors before going on to (iuilford. Perhaps he had not wholly decided where to go until he got their advice. It is said that his .ship was the first to enter the mouth of the Quin- nipiac itself, aud that he was so impressed l)y the harI)or that he called it "a Faire Haven." That name has stuck as applied to that locality. It seems not entirely clear how the settlement of John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton came to be called New Haven, but so it was formally christened in the town coui't in- the following year. It was in July of that same 1639 that the Rev. Henry AVhitfield and his party arrived at Guilford, which they for a time called by its Indian name llenunketuek. Though in some degree of independent origin, they were willing to consider themselves a branch of the New Haven settlement. This ]\Ienunke- tuck extended eastward from what is now the "West River to the Hammonassett, and northward to the present limits of the county. The "Whitfield party, presently enlarged by later arrivals from England, soon spread to East Guilford, later Madison, and from there across the Hammonassett to Killingworth, now Clinton. In this way was created the relation of New Haven with the original home of Yale, for the Rev. Abraham Pierson and his group had a distinct af- filiation with the older settlement on the Quinnipiac. Menunketuck was renamed Guilford in 1643, and East Guilford became ]Madison in 1826. But before this Abraham Pierson. father and son, turned up at Branford. Branford and North Branford were a part of the New Haven purchase from ^Montowese. It was in 1643 that a part}' of uon-eonformists from "Wethersfield 14 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN secured a grant of the Eaton purchase of Totoket, and the following year they were joined there by the Rev. Abraham Pierson the elder, who had come from Boston by way of Southampton, Long Island. It is possible that Pierson the younger, who was to be the first president of Yale, was born in Branford. From the first it was much of a New Haven community, being settled under the di- rection of Davenport's town. The elder Pierson was an associate of John Davenport, and shared his views on church and government. And Branford was to be the scene, as it turned out, of the actual foundation of the Collegiate .school at the meeting of the ministers there in 1701. Abraham Pierson, though he was to have a sojourn m New Jersey meanwhile, was on his return to Con- necticut to shepherd the Killingworth church, to be the school's first rector. What was originally Walliugford occupied a considerable portion of the northern part of that tract procured from Montowese for the dozen precious coats. It was settled in 1669 in somewliat intimate relations with New Haven, being, as we are told, a village of the greater town. The following year it was named Walliugford, and made a town in its own right in 1672. Out of this .section we have also Cheshire, which was settled as "West Farms" of Walling- foi'd, and the next new town to be created out of the section. Cheshire set up business for itself in May, 1780. Woodbridge was a part of the original New Haven tract, sucli of it as was not inlierited from Milford. It has from the first been a good deal of a "church- state" of its own, first being known as "the parish of Amity," and receiving its later name from the Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge, its first minister. Its relation with New Haven has been notably intimate. Its commanding hills were ever attractive to city dwellers who sought the heights, and for the past few decades Woodbridge has been increasingly favored as a suburban residence by the people of New Haven. Today its fine old farmhouses are interspersed with the considerably more pretentious homes of original Woodbridgeites who have expanded and come back, or of discriminating New Haveners wlio realize \Voodbridge's beauty, health and blessing. Just acro.ss the Quinnipiae used to be East Haven — "East Farms" of tlie old settlers. Until 1701, it was substantially a jiart of New Haven, though the overflow in this direction doubtless began very early in the history of tlie mother community. That which is .still known as "Fair Haven East" was the beginning of the East Haven village. It was not until 1785 that it was incorporated as a separate town. As late as 1881 the Quinnipiae River was still the western boundary of East Haven. Then w'hat are now known as Fair Haven East, ]\lorris Cove and Lighthouse Point were set off to New Haven, and are now its Fourteentli and Fifteenth wards. With the growtli of New Haven eastward and the growth of East Haven westward the break between the two has been almost filled, and East Haven has of late years become highly popular as a suburban residence place, so that the intimacy of relation between the two towns approaches that of unity. It seems impossible to leave New Haven in any direction without finding oneself in Hamden. In the old days, also, Hamden was very much on tlie edges AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 15 of New Haven. That part of it nearest the city received the overflow early, as the thrifty farmers, getting over their fear of the Indians, desired to live on or near their farms. But it was 1785 before Hamden, whose name was a modification of that of the English patriot, John Hampden, became incorporated as a town. Mount Carmel, which still has many characteristics distinguishing it from the larger community — or rather group of communities — to the south- west of it, was a distinct village some time before that. As it stands todaj', Hamden is made up, in addition to Mount Carmel, of the more or less distinct villages of Hamden Plains, Highwood, Whitneyville and Centerville, but all of them have a real and increasing connection with the parent city. The venturesome William Bradley was a pioneer in making North Haven a distinct community as early as 16-10. His settlement was, however, considerably south of the North Haven which one reaches toda.y after a ride of three-quarters of an hour in an electric car. It was, in fact, only barely beyond the boundaries of the present New Haven territory. The settlement began, like the others, with the farm expansion idea. North Haven was "North Farms" until about the time that East Haven, Woodbridge and Hamden became independent towns. There seems to have been a definite recognition of the growth of the family in 1785, and a naming of the children. It was then that North Haven was incorporated. We have seen how Wallingford was settled in 1669 with more land than it really knew what to do with. Before that the Hartford overflow had brought some pioneers from the north to what was the upper section of the present Meriden. It appears that the boundary line l)etween Hartford and New Haven counties was somewhat wavering at that time, and the part of Meriden settled by Jonathan Gilbert and Capt. Daniel Clark was then claimed by Hartford County. It was, however, only the upper part of the present Meriden. The southern and larger part was the "North Farms" of what wa.s then greater Wallingford. Meriden, therefore, seems to have been settled from both direc- tions. But we may find considerable warrant in the fact that it was ultimately included in New Haven County for concluding that the New Haven influence was much the greater. Meriden in recent years has grown to an individual importance that makes it independent of either New Haven or Hartford, but if we go back to beginnings we are justified in recognizing it as largely New Haven in its origin and affiliations. Orange, "so near and yet so far" from New Haven, has also a divided origin. To a large extent it is still as divided as that origin. Some day, perhaps, there will be a city of Orange, but today there is an Orange and a West Haven (not to mention Savin Rock), as there was in the latter part of the seventeenth century a village of West Haven and a village of North Milford. The explana- tion of this is the very natural one that the former was settled as an overflow of farmers from New Haven, and the latter as an overflow of farmers from Milford. The first was wholly a New Haven migration, and the second was partly so. Orange and West Haven, especially the latter, have with New Haven 16 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN today the iucreasing suburban residence conneetiou, but preserve a distiuet community individuality. The two youngest towns in the eastern part of the county owe their apparent youth to belated incorporation. One finds no lack of evidences of age in Madison. Some of the Henry Whitfield party may have gone, the very year they landed, on as far as Hammonassett, or what is locally known as "Scotland," which localities seem to have been settled earlier than what is called the center. East Guilford grew up contemporaneously with Guilford, both being, as has been noticed, under the motherly sponsorship of New Haven, and reckoned a part of the New Haven colony. Madison was incorporated and named in 1826. North Branford had a similar experience as the upper part of Totoket, being an overflow from the southern part of the town, and only slightly younger. It was 1831, however, before it was recognized and incorporated as a town, though it did not then change its name. Ill We may be sure that John Davenport regarded the whole of the first and second purchases from the Indians as included in his church-state. And with or without reason, he probably considered Guilford as in a way under his authority. In the early conception, then, practically all of the section of New Haven County which we have been considering was one community. All but the people of the Guilford gi'oup, and some of those, were from the New Haven settlement. There was much of common interest and something more than blood relationship, through tlie whole section. We should not, with our facility of communication, think twenty-five miles a great distance now, but some of us do. It is probable that from New Haven to East Guilford, though almost a day's journey on horseback over the bridle paths of 1645 or 1660, seemed less to them than it does to us. There was frequent visiting between the communities, and even a trip to Saybrook, far beyond the limits of this territory, seemed worth much more than the trouble. So the strength of the relationship between the mother and the daughter towns was not weakened as the years passed. New Haven was their market place, in several senses. The custom of "going to New Haven to trade" is older than at first we think. The ambition of Saybrook at the other end to become a metropolis was short lived. New Haven's dream of greatne.ss, for that matter, was long delayed in fulfillment, but for all that New Haven was the only place to get the things the people needed, and the place where they could dispose of what they had to sell. The natural relationships of origin liecame strengthened by others very real to a people who, with all their religious spirit and idealism, did not neglect to "look after the main chance." New Haven came to have a still greater hold on the country around with the development of its second century. There the Collegiate school, after a checkered early career which had isvolved Branford, Killingworth, Saybrook and Milford— not to mention Wethersfield— settled definitely, in 1716, as Yale AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 17 College in New Haveu. And what able-minded youth in all those towns did not at some time cherish the hope of studying under Rector Williams or Clap, or the even then famous Tutor Jonathan Edwards, in that great, blue-painted, awe-inspiring building at the corner of Chapel and College streets? And in later years, as the "" Brick Row" grew to a quadrangle, Woolsey, Porter and Dwigiit were names that called to the ambition of learning. The graduate list of Yale is an impressive proof of the hold which this institution has had from the first on the young men of the daughter towns of New Haven. Such ties as these do not diminish with the years. But not all the boys of Branford and Guilford and Wallingford and Meriden who looked toward New Haven had their eyes on the Campus. New Haven did strike its commercial gait in good time, and golden opportunities grew. A veiy absorbing tale could be told, if there were not so many other things to tell, of the fibre from the surrounding towns that came to the making of the mother community's uplrailding in business and commerce and industry. With the builders, of course, came the workers. New Haven was the laud of oppor- tunity. It had, particularly after 1820, when it finally took its place as the leading city of Connecticut, the fa.scination of the metropolis. They came to make it fi-om the daughter towns, and brought to it their best and most pro- gressive stuff. Fortunate is that city whose foundations and early superstructure are thus made. There came to be a reciprocal movement, in time. It so happens, as we shall see, that the coast towns of this section of New Haven County, with their strangely fascinating variety of shoi'e and island and inlet, form an important summer playground, not only for Connecticut, but for regions farther away. It was not New Haven, strangely enough, that first discovered the shore of East Haven. Branford. Guilford and Madison, but New Haven was not slow to take notice. Then followed a rivalry between the summer shore seekers of Watei'- bury, Hai'tford, New Haven, Buffalo, New York and points beyond to improve this playground. The story of today tells itself in an almost continuous chain of summer settlements along the coast from South End to Haramonassett, which bring to some of these towns a summer population greater in itself than the winter rating of the census. To this New Haven gives its full share, and it all helps to keep green the old time relationship. Again, as the years have pas.sed, the sons of the country towns have come back. Prosperous New Haven business men have reclaimed or repurchased the well nigh abandoned farms of their early days, and are using them for summer homes or are running them for practical profit. And their example is con- tagious. The "back to the land" movement is having its results here. The wealtli of Woodbridge has already been mentioned. Others have discovered the beauty of North Branford, the fruit raising possibilities of Cheshire, the fer- tility of East Haven and Branford and Guilford and Madison. As Meriden has grown in size and wealth, it has become a center in itself, with its own suburban reach. But between all the towns there exists and grows a tie which is accounted for liy something more substantial than county boundaries. Vol. T— •_' 18 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Modern cominunicatioii has come in time to further strengthen the chain. The rude bridle paths to the north and the east in the colony's early days were not unused, but comparatively few were those who passed over them. The many ride by the modern trolley, or the still more modern motor car. Every town of the section is in easy reach of New Haven, and makes full use of this advan- tage. To New Haven's shore, to New Haven's and West Haven's amusement resorts, to theaters, to concerts, athletic sports they come by thousands daily, almost the year around. Constantly, in these twentieth century days, there is a fulfillment of his dream of the large community that would have staggered — and not altogether pleased, we must fear — the ambitious but straight-laced John Davenport. But there are other features which he must reckon, if he passes judgment on the conditions of today, in compensation. CHAPTER III THE DUAL DEVELOPMENT THE COMMON ORIGIN OF TPIE TOWN AND THE COLLEGE IN DAVENPORT "S PLAN — THE VICISSITUDES OP THE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL IN ITS FOUNDING AND EARLY DAYS, AND THE NEW HAVEN-HARTFORD STRIFE OVER A SITE — THE PART OF ELIHU YALE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF Y'ALE COLLEGE IN NEW HAVEN Tliere have been some New Haveners so narrow of vision as to resent the complete description of their town as the home of Yale University. They are not the ones who know that this was destined from the beginning. We have seen that it was a trinity which John Davenport conceived — the church, the state and the college. His ideal community was to combine the three. He died without realizing one of them, and the spirit of the New World was not to brook the dependent alliance of church and state. But the college was to be a part of the Davenport community, though not in his time. And the college was to gi-ow, albeit with a far different superstructure, on the foundation which he laid. In all this ambition, as imperfectly they realized it, the people of his flock were with Pastor Davenport from the first. They dutifully attended those all- day Sabbath services, and sat, shivering but sanctified, through their two-hour prayers and their two-hour sermons, each a day's work for a minister, and requiring an able bodied assistant to carry the service through. They submitted obediently to the discipline which Governor Eaton measured oat to evil doers, his law being John Davenpoi't's interpretation of the Holy Scriptui-es. Rare were they who did not, through some seemingly natural weakness of the flesh, find themselves evil doers now and then. The governor's wife was not among the fortunate who escaped, l)ut was publicly punished for some ofi'euse of which the details have not come down. Even in a little community of scarce 300 people there were many who failed to measure up to the stern standard of the Puritan- elaborated Mosaic law. A settler would be leaving the "state" without per- mission; a storekeeper was charging more than a just profit on his goods (verily they had food dictators in those days) ; a watchman slept on his heat; a shoe- maker's leather was not up to standard; someone worked on the Sabbath. All these, and a multitude of others too many to mention here, were offenses pun- ishable in Magistrate Eaton's court, and were punished thei-e. The wonder is 19 20 A MODEKN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN that one pair of stocks sufficed to correct all the offenders worthy of their cor- rection. There they stood, a prominent feature in the scenery of the ilarket Place. Their sight may well have been a deterrent to the righteous who in- advertently sinned, but the wicked, then as now, passed on and were punished. This is a glimpse of the rigors of tlie church-state, and perhaps it hints at the reason why that alliance did not long survive. But in the matter of education it was different. There was need of education. True, these settlers had been used to good schools in the Old World, but here were their children, with nothing but the church to depend upon in their new home. Not all of them had been so fortunate as John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton in ancient but classic Coventry, blessed l>y its free school. Both knew the imperative necessity of establishing, as soon as might be, a system of education in their ideal state. Davenport had brought the Ezekiel Cheever aforementioned with him when he came down from Boston, and he set him at work as soon as ever • the people got into better quarters than their dugouts on the banks of the West Creek. It was a strange education, from our viewpoint, which Cheever threshed into the minds of the youth of the colony. He was long on Latin and strong on temper and birch rods. He was effective, but his reign, as we have seen, could not exist in the same domain with John Davenport. He was succeeded by others, more subservient to the pastor. They had to follow a somewhat definite plan, and in it we can trace the beginnings of the compulsory school system as it exists today in New England. The old English school system was undemocratic, and depended for its educational equipment on private endowment, while attendance was more or less voluntary. The plan which Davenport had in mind was conceived from the view he had of the Dutch school system. It was public ; it was thoroughly democratic ; it was compulsory. With "a sehoolhouse in every valley" it was to become the effi- cient educational force which we have today. But this was fundamental. Davenport had ambitions for higher education for his to-be-perfect comnuinity. Here he departed almost entirely, it seems, from the known lines, and proposed to establish a college to serve certain purposes which he deemed highly essential. It was not to be an institution for all. It was not to provide what we should call a liberal education. We have come to term such schools as he had in mind "theological seminaries," not accepting for them the modern and broader term "schools of religion." It was, in short. John Davenport's purpose, as a means of perpetuating in un- diminished strength the peculiar religious sect which he represented, to es- tablish a college for the training of young men in the doctrines of the Calvinistic church, in order that they might become orthodox preachers of that faith in the churches of the colonies. With the modern Yale before our view, we may scoff at the narrowness of that idea. We wonder not and we cai-e little that it failed. But we should not forget that though it failed, though John Davenport left the seeming wreck of his church-state with his college plan even more in ruins than his state, he AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 21 Aad planted seed which bore the fruit that now we see. There was to be a college, and in spite of everything, it was to be in New Haven. II We may recall that there was with the Davenport party one Edward Hopkins, who had married Anne Yale, sister of Elihu. When Theophilus Eaton had spied out the goodly land of Quiunipiac, but suspected that it was under the jurisdiction of the Hartford colony, he sent Edward Hopkins from Boston to Hartford to secure a title to the site. But Hopkins did not return, and seems for some time to liave neglected to write. He found Hai'tford very much to his liking, we may judge, for remaining there, he waxed wealthy. And Eaton went it alone without any title except what he got from the Indians. Davenport, however, supposed Hopkins to lie friendly to New Haven, and so he proved to be. For when Davenpoi't had written to him in London, whither he had returned with liis wealth, in 1656 or 1657, asking him to help him financially with the collegiate project which he outlined, Hopkins's reply was to the effect that "if I understand that a college is begun and likely to be carried on, at New Haven, for the good of posterity, I shall give some encouragement thereto." But Edward Hopkins's death occurred within a year after that time, and instead of his inclination to "give some encouragement" to the Davenport college plan, his will, made previously, dictated the disposal of his Connecticut estate. It consisted, in the main, of £1,324 "and a negar." This was divided, for educational purposes, between "both grammar school and college." If the New Haven share had been realized at once, only about £331 would have been available for the college, obviously much too small a sum. Eventually, all that came to New Haven was used for the establishment of the Hopkins Grammar School, which was founded in 1660, and in existence continuously since. Thus was the original Davenport college plan sidetracked, mainly for lack of funds. But thus was what was in a certain sense a harvest of the Davenport seed realized. It was ineffectual as an educational provision, for at least the first few years. For it was inadequately endowed, and the colony's educational tide was at a low ebb. Meanwhile, came the Reverend James Pierpont as the first pastor's successor, and with him a new spirit into the plan to found a v'ollege in New Haven. Pierpont was a Harvard graduate in the class of 1681. Davenport had left in 1668 to close his disappointed days in Boston, and the seventeen years' in- terval between that and the coming of Pierpont was filled, first by the somewhat ineffectual Reverend Nicholas Street, who had been Davenport's assistant, then by several temporary preachers. Looking back on the failure of Davenport to achieve his ambition, one may regard without especial regret the fact that Pierpont was a man of different type. He was less forceful and obstinate : more winning and diplomatic. He may have been a less awesome preacher, but it is conceivable that "the common people heard him gladly" rather than 22 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN through compulsion. And he caught, in large degree, the Davenport idea as to the establishment of a college in New Haven. It was characteristic of James Pierpont, no doubt, that he did not set about to force the issue at once. It was nearly fifteen years after the coming of James Pierpont that the founding of a college reached an approach to actual realization, but even then he did not insist that it be at New Haven or nowhere. He realized that there was to be not a little difficulty, in the divided mind of the board of trustees, in settling the college anywhere in the New Haven region. The New Haven state, as we recall, had some time before been merged in the Connecticut colony, and there was a decided opinion in Hartford that the college ought to come in that direction. As a representative of the coast trustees Pier- pont was a leader in the successful effort to establish the college in the southern part of the colony. Later he compromised on Saybrook. But all along, we have excellent reason to believe, he held firmly the thought that it was in due time to come to New Haven. He did not quite live (his death was in 1714) to see the success of his purpose, but he lived long enough to make sure that it was to be. The events in the life of the Collegiate school outside of New Haven are interesting, and have also a constant bearing on its ultimate destination for the place of Davenport's original plan. The movers for the institution were min- isters, for though there may have been a modification of the strictness of pur- pose to make it a school for training in Calvinistic theology, the main thought was still to make it a training place for ministers. The church — and that meant the Congregational Church of the Connecticut sort — must have some source of supply. The New Haven colony was spreading out. New churches were being established. The call, then as now, was for men. The main de- pendence up to this time had been Harvard. But the sort of theology Harvard was teaching was being suspected in Connecticut. And anyway, Connecticut wanted its own school. There were strong men in the Connecticut churches of those days, several of whom were powers in the New Haven district. Others of them, as the pilots of the Collegiate school ship soon learned, and not entirely to their pleasure, were in the Hartford district. There was the able Timothy "Woodbridge of Hartford. Gershom Bulkeley of Wethersfield, though now well advanced in years, was still influential. Samuel Mather of the First Church of Windsor admitted himself "little and feeble," but he was mighty in council, neverthe- less. And Noadiah Russell of Middletown. born in New Haven, a classmate at Harvard of James Pierpont, seems to have been counted by the Hartford ministers on their side but to have had natural leanings to New Haven. There was a goodly group of ministers in Fairfield County, but the ones who chiefly concern us are Israel Chauncy of Stratford and Joseph Webb of Fairfield, the latter to be in the first list of trustees of the college. Stephen Buckingham of Norwalk, a younger man, was not to figure in the ca.se until later. New London County then had nine settled ministers, and all of them were concerned in the college plans. In Stonington and Lyme were brothers, James AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 23 and Moses Noyes, Harvard 1659. Of the others Thomas Buckingham of Say- brook, Abraham Piersou of Killiugworth (New London County came over to meet New Haven County in those days) and Gurdon Saltonstall of New London, later to be the governor of the colony and to play an important part in the bringing of Yale to New Haven, are the ones who figure here. Besides, Samuel Andrew of Milford and Thomas Ruggles of Guilford, Samuel Street of Walling- ford and Joseph Moss of Derby were the chief participants in the events of those years when the college was a pilgrim and a stranger to New Haven. It is desirable to notice them by location, for that played an important part in the alignment for the coming struggle between the Hartford party and the New Haven party to get the college. Up to 1701, Hartford had been the sole capital, but in that year the legisla- ture of the colony held its first meeting in New Haven under the plan of making that the joint capital. This was not a change to the advantage of the Hartford group, but they nevertheless resolved to seek fi'om that legislature a charter for the college, hoping at the same time to secure an order for its location where they wanted it. But the members of the New Haven group were even better politicians. They did not purpose to trust the matter to the legislature. It was at James Pierpont's house in New Haven that they met and formed a plan to make their charter in advance of the sitting of the legislature, and submit it to that body for ratification, not for formation. They took counsel with certain eminent lawyers at Boston for the construction of a charter. But when they got the document which the distinguished Secretary Addington and Cap- tain Sewall had prepared for them, they read it and then, in the characteristic Connecticut manner, did as they pleased. It was too Harvard-like to suit them. "An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School" was the title of the bill which they presented to the legislature upon its assembling at New Haven on October 16. 1701. It was the document which clinched the action of a some- what imperfectly authenticated meeting held earlier at the house of James Pierpont's classmate and associate in this enterprise, the Reverend Samuel Russel of Branford. The meeting was about the first of October, and the action consisted, we may assume, in the formal giving of some books for the forming of a college. There is much haziness and some disagreement as to this foundation, but in general we may as well allow Branford 's claim to have been the place of the actual founding of the college. It was a foundation by the New Haven party and in the interest of New Haven. The matter succeeded with the legislature, the Hartford group not seeing fit to make any decided opposition. The act made no reference to a site, and the opponents of New Haven would seem justified in deciding that it was still anybody's college, as indeed it proved to be. The trustees, numbering ten, who were to attempt to decide that matter, were Noyes of Stonington, Chauncy of Stratford, Buckingham of Saybrook, Pierson of Killingworth, Mather of Windsor, Andrew of Milford, Woodbridge of Hartford, Pierpont of New Haven, Russell of Middletown, and Webb of Fairfield. It may be seen from the list that the majority evidently was against Hartford, but there was nothing 24 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN to do about it. It ought to be said in passing that James Pierpout, if he played any politics in the making of the list, had at the start omitted his friend, Russel of Branford, and had added three names of liis opponents, Woodbridge of Hai-tford, Mather of Windsor and Russell of Middletown, to the originally planned list. Little was said then, and less is remembered in these days, about a strange gift of Major John Fitch of Plainfield, a member of the upper house in that historic legislature, announced the same day the charter was approved. It consisted, we are told, of 637 acres of land in the far northeastern town of Killingly, together with a promise of glass and nails to build a college house. The college house was not built until some years afterward, at the end of a strife over site whose outcome may not have been to the liking of Major Fitch, so it would be interesting to know whether he made good his promise about the glass and nails. As the aforesaid Killingly was the site of Timothy Wood- bridge's farm, we may suspect that the gift was made in hope in behalf of the Hartfoi'd faction. It is worthy of emphasis as the first substantial offering to the property of the Collegiate school. The trustees lost no time in proceeding on the authority of the charter. Saybrook was chosen as a suitable place for their first meeting. The settlement there was an important one in those days, though its promoters' hopes of com- mercial gi-eatuess for it were deferred in fulfillment. It was at the mouth of that river which was a convenient highway to Middletown and Hartford and Windsor. It was midway of the coast between Stamford and Stonington. And these same considerations highly recommended it, in the belief of its residents, as a site for the college. At that first meeting, held on November 11, 1701, at the parsonage of Thomas Buckingham, the only representative of the Hartford faction was Noadiah Russell of Middletown. Two questions, having more con- nection with each other than may at first appear, were of first consideration. One was the choice of a rector, the other was the place of the college. The naming of the man and the designation of the place of his labors were not simple matters of arbitrary choice. The college had no buildings, and no immediate prospect of getting any. The rector must of necessity be a minister, and most of the ministers worth while were settled over parishes to whose welfare they seemed indispensable. However, the trustees attacked their task bravely. But the discussion developed difficulties that protracted it for three days. There seems to have been a determined effort on the part of the group from New Haven and beyond to take the college there in the first place, but the Reverend Noadiah Russell, sole representative at the meeting of the Hartford trustees, fought fire with fire. That is, be boldly advocated the taking of the Collegiate school to Hartford. Between these two positions a compromise seemed the only possibility, and doubtless Saybrook was that compromise. Trustee Buckingham, who with James Noyes of Stonington favored this, was of course not displeased at the prospect of such a compromise. So hopeless became the tangle that they deferred this question for a time, and attacked that of the rector. The introduction of the name of Abraham AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 25 Pierson was not a surprise, and to agree ou him did not take long. He did not decline the offer, and it was at once taken for granted that he would accept. It was also taken for granted that he would consent to remove to Saybrook, and that town was agreed upon, still in the spirit of compromise, as the place. Nevertheless, Killingworth, which is now Clinton, was to be the real first place of Yale, or as the trustees could only know it, the Collegiate school. Abraham Pierson may have been willing enough to go to Say brook, but his people were not. That is, they flatly refused to release him from his pastorate. Yes, they would consent that he teach the young men in his great parsonage on the banks of the Indian River, but in Killingwoi-th he must remain. This seems to have been without any formal vote of permission by the trus- tees, though they left the matter in a somewhat uncertain condition. They seem to have had an inkling that the people of Killingworth would not consent to part with Mr. Pierson, and to have left the matter of his residence somewhat indefinite. In the following j\Iarch (1702) Rector Pierson began his arduous labors with one student, Jacob Ileminway of East Haven. So the first member of the college w^as fwrnished by the New Haven community. He was "all of the college" for the first half-year. They had Commencement for him, too, though it and those that followed it were, by desire of the trustees, very unpretentious affairs. Three young men entered Rector Pierson 's cla.sses for the next year. This began immediately after Commencement, for the idea of long vacations had not yet arrived. Getting an education was too serious a business to lie remitted for any part of the year. So the years went on in the fine old parsonage at Killingworth, where good work was done \inder the able teaching of the college's first president, iintil this order of things was suddenly terminated by the death of Rector Pierson in March, 1707. In that five years, eighteen young men were graduated with their first degrees at the Collegiate school. It seemed now that the old struggle over a site might begin over again. But Saybrook was the official place of the school, and the trustees of Saybrook and farther east resolved that it should become so in fact. Perhaps with a purpose to play for time, the New Haven and western trustees compromised again by the election of Reverend Samuel Andrew of Milford rector pro tern. He took the senior class for instruction to his parsonage, while the other classes were taken to the parsonage at Saybrook by Tutor Phineas Fiske, of the class of 1704. This was a bad arrangement, but for some reason or other it was con- tinued until, in 1714, the long fight over a site was concluded by the permanent choice of New Haven, and the Reverend Timothy Cutler was chosen as the third rector. The later years of the college's wanderings were very disappointing ones for its friends. For a considerable part of the time classes were held in three places, Wethersfield competing, as it were, with Saybrook and Milford. In the first place Tutor Elisha Williams held his ground, seemingly in behalf of the Hartford County trustees, almost in defiance of the authority of the main body. The work at Saybrook was unsatisfactory. Acting Rector Andrew at 26 A MODERiN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Milford did not euter with especial spirit into the college work, and the number of students dwindled. Especially was the lack of funds disheartening. There were no suitable buildings at any of the places, the teaching was poor and the whole situation was of faint promise. Ill The name Yale, it appears, was the magic token that was to win the college for New Haveu. The chain that bound the institution to the town of John Davenport was never broken from tlie time he resolved to have a college "for the better trayniug upp of youth in this town, that through God's blessing, they may be fitted for publique service hereafter, either in church or common- weale. " But there were foes, as we have seen, to the New Haven plan, and it seemed for a time that there were few friends. Three men had much to do with changing this condition. The first was the Reverend James Pierpont, whose unremitting but unostentatious purpose to win for New Haven has been noticed. The second was the Reverend Gurdon Saltonstall of New London, who was later to leave the pulpit for the chief magisti-acy of the colony. After lie was made governor, he took up his resi- dence overlooking the lake which now bears his name. His purpose to bring the college to New Haven seems to have been a matter of common sense rather than partisanship. He realized that New Haven was the place for it. In the end, lie was glad enough to use his influence for the ending of an interminable and unseemly squabble. The tliird friend was Jeremiah Dummer, the Mas- sachusetts colony's agent in London, later Connecticut's agent there, whose connection with the affair was to end in the enlistment of the aid of Elihu Yale. Dummer 's help was besought in 1711 by James Pierpont, who wrote asking liim what could be done in London to secure funds or books for the struggling institution. It was fortunate that Dummer was a very energetic, resourceful and persistent business man, with some influential connections. He called on several important men, and as the result, secured that valuable library of some 700 volumes which was sent to Saybrook in 1714. It was that same library which, later taken from Saybrook much against the will of those who took witli very poor grace the removal of the college from that town, was seriously impaired in the struggle. The somewhat brief connection of Elihu Yale with the enterprise makes a story not so well known, but of the keenest interest to New Haven. Jeremiah Dummer practically did it all, though it will always be in interesting specula- tion as to the influence which the Reverend Cotton Mather of Boston had in it. The idea was to have Governor Yale, who was extremely wealthy for those days, make a very substantial gift to the college, and in return have it named in his honor. Tt may have first occurred to the energetic Dummer — it would have been strange if it had not — but oddly enough, it seems to have been Cotton Mather who fir.st put it unmistakably to Governor Yale. In a fit of grudge against Harvard, the great Baston divine wrote to Governor Yale in AND EASTEEN XEW HAVEN COUNTY 27 1717, eloquently presenting the need of funds for the college which was still trying to hold its own at New Haven, and adding: "Sir, though you have your felicities in your family, which I pray God may continue and multiply, yet certainly, if what is forming at New Haven might wear the name of Yale College, it would be better than a name of sons and daughters. ' ' Dummer followed this up energetically. Governor Yale was not, it appears, a very spiritually minded person. He had some sentiment for the Xew Haven community, for, as we have seen, his father had been with the Davenport party, and had made a fortune in the town. Later he went to Boston, where Elihu Yale was born. Early in life Elihu Yale went to London, was educated in good schools, and had gone to Madras with an East India Company adventure. Made governor of the trading post of Fort St. George, he had at the age of fifty returned to London with an almost fabulous fortune, gained, it is suggested, by means that would not have been approved even in the days when we counte- nanced "malefactors of great wealth." In London he was a typical man of the world, but at the time when Jeremiah Dummer approached him, almost seventy and looking forward with a sometimes thoughtful air. He was childless, which one needs to know to understand the Mather reference. This was the Elihu Yale with whom it was sought to make a trade of the honor of naming a college for a goodly bequest to it. Many a man of less com- parative wealth than he, in our days, has given much more generously for the honor of naming a college building. It is desirable to notice just what Yale did. He gave thirty or forty volumes of books in 1714. After Dummer had worked with him some four months after the receipt of the ilather letter, he donated to the college a consignment of goods to Boston whose value he esti- mated at £800, but which, when sold, netted £562, 12s. He also promised to give £200 a year to the college, and to make a settled annual provision for it after his death. He died in 1721, having given nothing further, and no pro- vision for the college was found in his will. But the .$2,833, or thereabout, which the college received from Governor Yale was the largest private donation it received in rather more than its first century. Its worth was multiplied because it came at the psychological moment. It came at just the time when it was needed to complete the college house which was building, and it clinched in New Haven the institution which Hart- ford was still trying to wrest from the setttlement at the mouth of the Quin- nipiac. New Haven and the university are well content with the name Yale, and concede that the old governor earned the honor he has received. So the dream of John Davenport, long deferred, was at length come true so far as the college was concerned. His mantle had been well worn by his successor Pierpont, and his ambition also was realized. The Hartford faction, W'hich had sought through the trustees, through the legislature, through the maintenance of a part of the college, unauthorized, at Wethersfield, and through a final attempt to take the institution to Middletown, to defeat that ambition, had lost at every point. Governor Saltonstall had been a valuable ally to the New 28 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Haven trustees, and even the attempt to punish him politically for his supposed partiality ingloriously failed. The City of New Haven today is a strange contrast with that rural com- munity of less than 2,500 people which in 1720 rejoiced at the certainty that Yale had come to stay. It looks back over two centuries, however, with the realization that the history of the town and the history of the college have been as truly interwoven ever since as they were in those days of foundation struggles. But there have been times in the centuries when not all of the people have taken gracefully to the relationship. Those differences form a not uninter- esting part of the history of New Haven, and have a distinct bearing on modern New Haven. It will be worth while to trace them as a contrast with the better order which prevails today. CHAPTER IV THE YEARS OF DISCORD THE CRUDE STRIFE OF TOWN AND GOWN — ITS SEQUEL IN THE MISUNDERSTANDING AND SEPARATION OF THE COMMUNITY AND THE UNIVERSITY [t has often been remarked that New Haven, for a city of its size, remark- ably retained the oliaracteristies of the New England village. This is not neces- sarily, when thoughtfully expressed, meant in disparagement. It signifies that there is in the community a sort of intimacy which brings all its interests and constituents very close together. This was especially true of the last century, and it was in considerable degi-ee the cause of the rivalry at one time con- spicuously existent between New Haven and its college. Or, to use the common and threadbare phrase, it accounts in a measure for the class distinctions and strife of Town and Gown. It was impossible that the residents of New Haven should look on the mem- bers of the college as the common run of men. New Haven would never have earned the college if it had been able to escape a certain awe of the educated man, or a decided respect for the process. And so certain of the residents of the town cultivated and made much of the "scholars" at Yale. Coming from near or far, they were always able to command a place immediately on their arrival in the society of New Haven, a place which was, in most instances, denied to the young man who came in from the country to work in a bank or store. The result was jealousy, both among the non-college .young men who grew up in the city, and those who came in from the surrounding towns. They made common cause, and it is not surprising that they decided the "student" to be their enemy. For this condition of things one cannot wholly excuse the people who caused it. that is, the people who patronized the college men. But as years went on, there came into the situation another element which made it even worse. Even in the earliest days, perhaps more generally than in these days, the young man who could afford a college education was a favored mortal, set above his fellows. Often he had much money to spend. Certain of the townspeople noticed this, and the New England inclination to "make hay while the sun shines" came to the surface. It reached the point, at one time and with some 29 30 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN persons, of making the most possible out of the students. They were over- charged, sometimes, it is suspected. At least there was a tendency to encourage them in the spending of much money. They came to realize this very clearly, and naturally resented it. We have, in brief, a condition in which the young "outlanders," as it seemed to the young men of the town, came under favor of special privilege, entered the best .society and monopolized all the girls, and generally carried themselves with an air of haughty superiority. On the other hand, the students deemed themselves the victims of greedy tradesmen and landladies and res- taurateurs, all of whom they despised. They set themselves, in .some cases, somewhat above the authority of the powers of law and order, and perpetrated the sort of pranks that were much the fashion in all colleges at some period in their growth. Yale by now has for the most part outgrown these things, which accounts for the better conditions. The situation thus outlined is nothing new. It has been developed in almost every juxtaposition of a college and a town from the very beginning. The youth who feels his growing learning is wont to be a supercilious, overbearing creature. If he is not that, he is likely to be so full of intensified animal spirits as to be a difficult ciuantity for a community to contain. New Haven simply had troubles in common with every college town, and it probably handled them no better than others have done. But they form an interesting and not uninstructive story, if studied for their reason. It needs to be remembered that there was in the last century, that is up to the last third of it, no organized form of athletics at the college. Some crude games there were, but they were played haphazard. The Nineteenth century was well advanced before football was played in any but the crudest way, and baseball as we know it came even later. Yet here was a considerable and growing body of young men, with all the surplus energy that young men have in these days. They were somewhat freed from the restraints of home, and the rigor of the early college discipline had been lightened. Something had to happen. It seems that something did happen. The story of the "Bully Club" is preserved only among rare Yale traditions, and New Haven people have forgotten it. It seems to be included mostly be- tween the years 1807 and 1843. One can only guess at the origin of the custom of choosing a class giant — there were giants in those days — as class Bully, and investing him with the great oaken club as his badge of office. It would have been a harmless custom enough, except that no pent up TJtica, that is to say, Campus, could contain such prowess. The Bully and his followers natur- ally went out to do slaughter among their natural enemies, the Philistines. These were the "muckers" of the early days. And there is a more or less misty tradition that these encoimters were not always matters of mere jest. Perhaps it was when Isaac T. Preston of 1812 wa.s Bully, perhaps it was in the reign of the no less renowned Asa Thurston of the class of 1816, that there was one of these fights in a notorious tavern on the water front in Fair Haven, which section of the town the students knew, perhaps from the company OAMaiiLLT ilALL, XAl.E LMVEKMTV. NEW HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 31 they sought there, as "Dragon." The Bully and his band on the one side, and an assorted bunch of oystermen, sailors and tough townsmen on the other, met there and fought to a draw, with some breaking of heads. There seems to have been a sequel soon after, when students bathing at Long Wharf were attacked by longshoremen, mariners and wharf rats, and badly worsted. There were a good many such fights in the early part of the century, and the legend of Bullyism is rich with glorious deeds. There is, for instance, that thrilling tale of how "three hundred students and their teachers held back a mob of three thousand (sic) townies. " But the faculty eventually came to the opinion that even such glory cost too high, and in 1840 abolished the Bull.y Club. It lived in defiance of the edict for three years longer, and then gradually disappeared. 5'Iore definite, and '■also more serious, is the story of some mob outbreaks which owed no origin to the Bully Club. The "Medical College riot" of 1824 was the first of these, and indicates the general spirit of disregard of the feel- ings of the townspeople on the part of the students, and of smouldering suspicion and dislike on the part of the townspeople. A gi'ave w'as found broken in West Haven Cemetery, and the recently buried body of a young woman was missing. Suspicion was at onee directed to the students of the Medical College, which was then located at the corner of Grove and Prospect streets. An excited crowd gathered on the Green, and resolved on stern action. One of the town cannon was secured, and the mob proceeded to the Medical College building. What might have happened if the militia had not received warning at the same time it is difficult to guess. The soldiers arrived before or soon after the crowd, and restrained the mob until a committee could be appointed to proceed with some order. A search of the building revealed the body beneath the pave- ment in the cellar. Then the excitement flared to its gi-eatest height, and it took all the force of the soldiers to prevent serious damage to the building. Eventually the mob went back to the Grftn, where a greater procession was formed and returned the body in state to its resting place in West Haven. It was many years before the effect of that incident passed off. One person was imprisoned, and' a stringent law was passed against such outrages. Then there was the familiar strife between the students and the members of the volunteer fire companies, most common about the middle of the century. They may have had their origin, at least they had their aggravation, from en- counters on the Green. This was all the athletic field the students had ; it was also the scene of the maneuvers of the fire companies. The latter were fond of contests to see which company could throw a stream of water highest, and Center Church spire was a favorite target. If the students chanced to be hav- ing on the Green at the same time one of their crude games of football, it is easy enough to imagine how an encounter started. The hose was dragged across the football field ; perhaps its holders were not careful to keep the streams of water from playing on the players. In retaliation, ready knives would now and then cut a line of hose. There were toughs among the firemen ; there were hot-bloods, some of them southerners, among the students. And this was not 32 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN so long- before the Civil War. Some of the students and perhaps some of the firemen carried pistols for just such an emergency, and one account has it that in the worst of these fights, in which tiie Bully Clnb may have figured, a fireman, William Miles, was shot dead. There is some definite account of what may have been the culmination of these encounters, on October 30, 1841. It was the day of the annual review of the New Haven fire department. This was one of the times when the hose playing and the football playing clashed, and the students were worsted. Later in the day they retaliated by interrupting the firemen's banquet, which was in the basement of the old State House. They were driven off after a fight. Next night some students broke into an engine house near the college and injured the apparatus, for which prank the college authorities had to settle roundly. On March 17, 1854, occurred a battle, fully as serious in its way, in which the firemen were not, as organization, concerned. That began, as many lesser troubles did in later years, with a row at a theater. After "breaking np the show," a crowd of townies followed the students up the street to the campus. The latter barricaded themselves in South College, where they were besieged all night liy an angry and increasing mob. Two cannon were brought from somewhere, and those operating them were earnestly besought to "blow up the college." But for the interference of the police, who must by this time have begun to feel that the matter was going too far, there might have been some explosion of gunpowder, and doubtless somebody would have been injured thereby. As it was, there were heads and bones injured by stones and brick- bats, and the leader of the town mob, one Patrick O'Neil, barkeeper and general trouble maker, was stabbed through the heart by one of the students, .said to have lieen a senior from Mississippi. These are illustrations of the more serious of the encounters, mostly in the first half of the last century. The intensity of the rivalry waned somewhat as the century drew near its close, though the feeling was always there. The townsmen seem to have lost interest, somewhat, in keeping it up. They began to sense the fact that there were students and students. Some of them even realized that the part of the college which went abroad from the campus making trouble and giving Yale a bad name was only a small rainoritj' of the whole. This minority kept busy, however, and passed on its traditions. It frequented the town dance resorts — New Haven had some choice ones in those days — and was usually able to find something there with which to lubricate trouble. It tried, on occasion, usually after an athletic victory, to run the theaters. This does not refer to the "Football Nights" at the Hyperion, which wei'e peculiar institutions, thoroughly enjoyed by those who took them in the proper spirit. It was long the custom, when Yale beat Harvard or Princeton in the annual football game, to celebrate the event by special services not down on the program of the Hyperion performance of that particular Saturday night. After a few experiences, the managers learned that it was desirable to book for that night some light and gladsome show, such as a musical comedy. What it lacked in entertainment the joyous students would supply. They usually bought the !ii.M>i:ii : HALL, YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HA\]':N YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. NEW HAVEN 34 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN eneourageinent to the educational' institution as it was to the church. It was taken for granted, then, that there nuist be no taxation of college property. In the beginning there was no college property to tax, and it did not occur to the colonists that there ever would be. Little did they dream of the time when Yale University would own property approximating $15,000,000 in value, or have real estate holdings in area nearly equal to half of the original nine city squares. It was in the late eighties that Yale began to foresee the need of expansion. Her fiscal directors, knowing well the expense of buying property in haste and when the need for it was obvious, inaugurated the policy of quietly and unobservedly getting bits of real estate as favorable opportunity offered. This went gradually on for a number of years, until all at once the tax levying authorities of the city, in the midst of their struggle to meet increasing munici- pal expenses without raising the tax rate, awoke to the fact that Yale was a large holder of real estate on which it paid no taxes. The ancient antagonism easily magnified this, and soon there began to be talk that Yale had been long enough immune from taxes. Times had changed, they argued. The struggling little college had grown to a wealthy, money-making corporation. It had erected great and costly ))uildings. Its number of students had grown to over 2,500, most of them paying high tuition. It was buying property for specula- tion, they contended, and receiving large rentals for it. It was constantly in receipt of enormous gifts, and all the while seeking more. These were the arguments, mostly of the undiscerning, who knew little of the history of the past or of the real facts of the present. They could be answered, but they would not listen to the answer. The faction grew of New Haven taxpayers who insisted that Yale ought to be taxed, and more than once the matter was taken to the Legislature. That body was always governed, how- ever, by those who saw the case in its proper perspective, and there never was any particular danger of a mea.sure to tax Yale going through. But there re- mained a party of New Haveners who insisted that the thing ought to be done, and there was a steady friction that had a tendency to gi'ow. There is something to be said about that matter, too, which is not wholly in condemnation of the faction bound to tax the college, superficial as its view- point was. The old dividing line between the college and the town was gradu- ally being erased by the progress of events and the change in the customs and character of the student body, but the college authorities themselves were, to put it mildly, missing glorious opportunities to help on the good work. There was a certain aloofness, if not an assumption of superiority, on the part of the conservative college circle, which did not help matters. It was beneath their dignity to reason out this matter of taxation with the people. If they thought there was danger of trouble, they were willing to argue before the proper body, but that was all. These modern mentors of the community through the college had some- what materially departed from the conception of John Davenport, stern old autocrat though he was, of a college in whose benefits every member of the AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 35 community should share. So we find, in the closing years of the Nineteenth century, the university with a great equipment of instructors and buildings and historical, scientific and art collections, whose tremendous potentiality for benefit to others beyond the student liody was little shared by the public. There was a door of opportunity for those disposed to push, but it did not exactly stand open. There never was any justification for the argument that such an institution as Yale ought to pay a tax on its non-productive property (it always has paid taxes on its income-paying property). But it was eminently desirable that those responsible for Yale appreciate the fact that in holding some five million dollars' worth of property, as they did by the end of the century, free of taxa- tion, they incurred a large responsibility, and that the least they could do was to show some evidence of appreciatiou. Fortunately, there came a change early in Yale's third century of existence, as we shall see in the next chapter. CHAPTER V THE BEGINNING OF HARMONY THE NEW ERA IN THE NEW CENTURY AND THE EMERGENCE OP YALE FROM ITS CLOISTER The first year of the new century saw the beginning of a new era for Yale, and as well — though this was not recognized in the distinguished celebration — a new era in the consciousness of relation between Yale and New Haven. A notable feature of the Bicentennial exercises which marked October 20 to 23 of 1901 at New Haven w-as the dedication of the group of Bicentennial buildings, and of these the most conspicuous was Yale's great music auditorium, Woolsey Hall. This new auditorium, seating near to 3,000 people, was to be for many years the largest assembly hall in New Haven. In connection with it, let it be re- membered, is Yale's great dining hall, also the largest building of its sort in the city, and destined to play an important part in the change. Naturally, the possibilities of these buildings were little realized at the first. It was expected that they would largely be used by the student body, and for great university and graduate gatherings. But there had been in existence for a number of years previous to this time an excellent organization known as the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. It has labored a.ssiduously for the perfection of itself in the production of good music, but it had received little encourage- ment in its labors. That is, there was no opportunity for the adequate produc- tion of its music before an audience of suitable size. Soon after the completion of Woolsey Hall began the annual series of eon- certs by this orchestra, and to this annual offering of the world's best music, competently presented, to some thousands of the people of New Haven and vicinity may be given the- credit for first breaking the ice between the university and the community. It was the beginning, moreover, of New Haven's awaken- ing to the fact that it had, through Yale, that wherewith to make it a national music center. There was also to be installed in Woolsey Hall the great Newberry organ, when it was erected, one of the largest instruments of its sort in the country, and in 1916 and 1917 to be enlarged to international magnitude. This also was a great attraction to the people, and they made the most of it. Later, as we may see, they had increasing opportunity. "With this impetus, the change was bound to come. The inherited animosities 36 VVOOLSEY HALL, YALK I "XI \KKSITV. XKW HA\'KN OSBOKN HALL, YALE IXIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 37 of a century were not overcome iu a minute, to be sure. But the expansion of the university would have had its inevitable result, perhaps, without the opening of Woolsey Hall. This is mentioned here chiefly as the milestone of the progress. The college that in the first two-thirds of the Nineteenth century found the "Brick Row" suificient unto its needs had been as well sufficient unto itself. Living its own cloistered life, it acquired a feeling of superiority, and that bred a reciprocal feeling of hate, which worked out a.s we have seen. Now the college suddenly realized that it was a university. At the same time it dis- covered that it had long since burst its shell. It was overflowing into New Haven, in spite of itself. This was true of the undergraduates of the college; it wa.s still more true of those in the other departments of the university. The scientific school had not then commenced to create a campus, and the members of the law, the medical and the art departments were compelled to live among the people of the town. About this time the members of the teaching force, who formerly had lived in a restricted area inhabited mostly by Yale faculty members, found that there were other parts of the spreading city possessing greater attractions. So they began to live "among people," as it were, and to take an interest in the things of real life. The city itself was becoming larger, better balanced, less provincial. It was beginning to realize that it had something besides Yale to boast as its possession, but at the same time to ti-uly realize the value of Yale. There was a better understanding on both sides. Unconsciously, perhaps, but surely, the people of twentieth century New Haven were beginning to know that they were destined to be one with Yale, and that Yale was destined, and had been for considerably more than two centuries, to be one with them. The ways in which this harmony has grown toward completeness, in the first two decades of this century, are now to be told somewhat more in detail. CHAPTER VI THE GOWN LAID ASIDE THE YALE BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF 1901— THE PARTICIPATION OF YALE OFFICERS AND TEACHERS, GRADUATES AND UNDERGRADUATES IN THE RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND CIVIC LIFE OF NEW HAVEN. I It has been said that the Hieeiiteunial of tlie fouudiiig of Yale marked sub- stantially the beginning of the breaking down of the walls between Gown and Town. It seems as well to have brought to the leaders of Yale, because of its emphasis of the fact that New Haven and the college were destined for each other from the first, because of its new revelation of the unity involved in John Davenport's plan for a church-state-college, a consciousness of their one- ness with the community. For that reason the Bicentennial itself, as a part of the modern history of New Haven, has a place here. Whether we regard Yale as having been founded at Branford or Killing- worth or Saybrook, there is no getting away from the fact that the date is 1701. For October of 1901, then, Yale prepared an impressive celebration. It was to be the great feast of Yale history, and to it many were bidden. They came in thousands. Considering how nnich smaller was the number of Yale graduates even as recently as that — the number increases now at the rate of almost a thousand a year, taking no account of deaths — it meant much that nine thousand came from near and far to attend the exercises of some part of the four days, October 20 to 23, inclusive. Over nine thousand, graduates and undergraduates, took some part in those exercises. From other collegiate in- stitutions and learned societies, from America. Europe and Asia, came three hundred and thirty-one representatives. Yale granted, to members of this group and others, more than sixty honorary degrees. It was by far the most distinguished group ever to receive Yale degrees, including John Hay, Horace Howard Furiu'ss, John La Farge, Archbishop Ireland, Charles Eliot Norton, Thonms Bailey Aldrich, Samuel L. Clemens, William Dean Howells. Marr|uis Ito, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Sunday. October 20, saw a nota])le group of church recognitions of the occasion. In Battell Chapel the Rev. Joseph H. Twiehell of Hartford, dis- tinguished, loyal and favorite son of Yale, and a member of the corporation, 38 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 39 preached a historical sermon, and there were special services in Center, Trinity and United churches in honor of the anniversary. At 3 in the afternoon there were services, and later an organ recital, iu Battell Chapel. There were many special services at various points on Monday the 21&t, but the central event of that day to most Yale visitors was the torchlight procession, in which five thousand Yale men participated, from the campus through the streets of New Haven. All were in costumes representing the historic ages of the university, and carried torches and colored fire. The classes participating ranged all the way from 1905, then freshmen, hack to the veterans of 1844. The campus itself was alight with orange lanterns, and all about it great bowls filled with burning rosin lighted up the night. Tuesday night the undergraduates assumed command, and presented for the delectation of the gi-aduates, on a stage in a specially built amphitheater, scenes from the history of Yale. Open air performances of this sort were much less common than they have been since ; in fact, the distinction of having been the first to so present historical scenes is claimed for Yale on this occasion. " 'Neath the Elms" in veiy truth they gathered in the bright October night, and sang the good old songs of their times the while they waited for the preparations lietween the scenes. The finale of the occasion, when the 9,000 stood and sang the Doxology while the rockets and bombs burst overhead, caused one witty ob- server to remark that it was a typical Yale coml)iuation of "praising God and raising hell." Wednesday was the last, the great day of the feast, when such as were elected, either by being first at the doors or by some other means, attended the formal commemoration exercises. Woolsey Hall was not completed, and had it been, it could not have accommodated more than a third of those who participated in the other exercises. It was necessary to fall back on the Hyperion Theater, dear to many Yale men, whose capacity was much smaller. Thither at 10 o'clock went from the campus a distinguished academic proces- sion. In it were a President of the United States and a President to be, a secretary of state, a ju.stice of the Supreme Court, a premier of Japan, the presidents of nearly all the important American colleges, and eminent scholars, scientists, preachers, writers and legislators from all parts of the world. These were on the stage when the others reached the theater. Such of the gathering as could entered at the doors and found seats. Others, a fortunate few who knew the stage door, witnessed the sight and heard the exercises from the wings. It was on that occasion that Theodore Roosevelt said he had never yet worked at a great task in wliich he did not find himself "shoulder to shoulder with some son of Yale." This was in response to President Iladley's happ.y charac- terization of him as "a Harvard man by nature, but in his democratic spirit, his breadtli of national feeling, and his earnest pursuit of what is true and right, he possesses those qualities which represent the distinctive ideal of Yale, and make us more than ever proud to enroll him among our alumni." Til the light of events since. President Hadley's utterance to Professor Woodrow Wilson, as he was about to make him Doctor of Laws, has a lively 40 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN interest. "On you," he said, "who like Blaekstoue have made the studies of the jurist the pleasures of the gentleman, and have clothed political investiga- tions in the form of true literature, we confer the degree of Doctor of Laws." . It was in the course of these Bicentennial exercises that many of Yale 's dis- tinguished graduates presented addresses and literary and musical contribu- tions to make the occasion one memorable in literature and art as well as in history. Donald G. Mitchell's classic dedication of Woodbridge Hall, to be the university's executive building among the Bicentennial group, was one of them. This veteran graduate of Yale (1841), "Ik Marvel" to two generations of the lovers of letters and nature, to be beloved of other generations to come, was near the close of his earthly career, but his contribution lacked neither force uor merit. Then there were Edmund Clarence Stedman's poem, "Mater Corona," read by himself. Professor Goodell's Greek ode, the singing of Professor Parker's "Hora Novissima," and a concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Professor Canby, in his excellent article in the Book of the Pageant, sees the moral effect of all this as a great service to Yale, and he is right. But as he puts it, the manner of that great service proved the awakening of the men of Yale to a sense of their actual relation to New Haven. The form of it, in his words, has a definite bearing on the entrance of these men of Yale, in the period immediately following the Bicentennial observance, into the life of the commu- nity. "The great service," as he puts it, "was not the mere assemblage of national leaders in New Haven, nor a reunion of college classes on an unpre- cedented scale, nor the dignified Bicentennial group of buildings then dedicated as a la.sting monument, nor even the splendid impulse toward development along true university lines thus given to Yale and renewed continuously since. It was rather the realization of the historic past of Yale and her associated dignities, the opportunities and the responsibilities thereof, which then came first with emphasis to the college generations in whose hands the future of the Uni- versity was to rest. Beneath the excitement of the Bicentennial week, and beyond its pomp and ceremony, was the consciousness of an institution that was more than stone and mortar, more than endowment, more even than men ; a trust of inestimable dignity, a heritage of ideals, and a name commanding veneration as well as love. Much of what Yale seemed to demand of that generation has been realized; much more remains to be achieved. But the sense of historic continuity once aroused is powerful upon the future. It tempers pride by responsibility ; it makes loyalty self-confident, yet modest because aware of the high examples of the past. Yale has been less provincial, less tamely conserva- tive, more earnest and more mindful that lasting tenure comes from enduring service to the state, since the awakening of the Bicentennial. ' ' The fact that these thoiightful words were written fifteen years after that event, and by a man who has evidenced a true consciousness of his place in the greater eommunitj% makes them the more significant. ST. ANTIid.W HALL, \.\\.K rXIX' KKSIT V. NKW HA\EN 42 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN The participation of Yale leaders in New Haveu life took a more practical turn, as men reckon practicality. We find Y^ale professors serving as citizens of New Haven on the municipal boards, with every willingness to aid in the direction of efficient and clean government. Such cases as that of Prof. Edward B. Reed on the Civil Service Board and of Prof. Herbert E. Gregory on the Board of Education are instances of the readiness of Yale to serve in this field ; instances, as well, of the wisdom in selection of some of the mayors. The experi- ments, if such they might be called, did not always result in the highest suc- cess. In every case of failure, it may be said with confidence, this was due to the unwillingness of the town members of the boards to meet the ideals of the Yale men. There was something more in the way than the remnants of the antagonism. Generally this was "practical polities," a game the Yale men were slow in learning to play. Mention of Yale leaders in New Haven life would be injustice if it failed to include the service of Prof. William B. Bailey in social work through the Organ- ized Charities. Coming into that work to fill a temporary vacancy, late in the first decade of 1900, he applied to this force for the betterment of New Haven the mind of a trained social scientist, the genius of an unusually able organizer. He brought it up to its name. He co-ordinated, standardized, made systematic and effective, the whole work of relief in New Haven. He was never lacking in human sympathy, but he eliminated maudlin sentiment. Most of all, he made need and merit the basis of mercy, and sternly discouraged fraud. Through him those with hearts of sympathy and either the means to give or the will to work, were assured that their gifts and their labors were effectively applied when really they were needed. It is an achievement well worthy to stand among the important events in New Haven's progress. The renaissance of the Chamber of Commerce, soon after the beginning of this Bicentennial period, included many Yale leaders in a most definite way. As citizens of New Haven, professors and instructors and officers were reached by the active membership campaign. They found themselves working at a common task with citizens of New Haven whose ac((uaintanee they had not pre- viously made. They discovered the community in a sense they had not under- stood before. They found problems to solve which appealed to their best ability and knowledge — not infrequently their special knowledge. There were great modern tasks to be done in New Haven, and here was a wonderfully equipped and modern university to do them. They had the conscioiisness of unity of interest between the community and the college; they were about to apply it. So we have such undertakings as the scientific suppression of the smoke nuisance; the attacking of New Haven's peculiar sewage disposal problem; the elimination of the mosquito pest. There was created a .system of co-operation, through the Chamber of Commerce, between the university and some of the factories of the city, for the application of efficiency methods, for the improve- ment in various ways of the conditions of employes. These are glimpses of what was happening. The progress was slow, the benefit sometimes nebulous. But the idea was forming. The leaders of Yale AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 43 were living Uie life of the city. They were making its problems their own. They were, in many ways l)esides their participation in the social service of Lowell House social settlement — an institution, by the way, in whose progress Yale idealists had from the first a definite part — carrying into practical appli- cation its motto and inspiration, "Not what we give but what we share, For the gift without the giver is bare." CHAPTER VII THE DOOES THROWN OPEN THE SUNDAY OPENING OP THE YALE SCIENTIFIC AND AET COLLECTIONS AND THE WELCOME TO WOOLSEY HALL YALE's INVITATION OP THE PEOPLE TO HER ATHLETIC FEASTS But something still was lacking to bring consciousness, both to Yale and to the people of the New Haven family with which it dwells, of their reciprocal relation. To the many Yale was still a thing apart. The advantages of Yale, as they saw them, were only for the favored few who entered the gates on payment of an admission fee, as it were. There was the great university plant, with its multiplying buildings, seen only by some who entei'ed through the invitation of Yale friends. There was Peabody Museum, with its wonderful and growing natural history and scientific collections, open to the public on week days, but at hours when only the few could avail themselves of the opportunity. There was the Art School collection, containing some of the rarest and most instructive art of the nation, having especial value for the people of New Haven and Connecticut, restricted in the same way. There was Woolsey Hall and its musical offerings, to be sure, but aside from the Symphony Orchestra concerts, providing little of a popular nature, and always with a substantial admission fee attached. There were Yale's athletic games, but there were restrictions, too. Their managers did not for a long time awaken to the need and advantage for them of catering, so to speak, to the New Haven public. In a word, something needed to be done to popularize Yale. And this was not wholly because the community needed Yale. It was getting along very well by itself, it believed. It had its own music, its own amusements, its own education, its own athletics. Yale needed the public. The better under- standing still to be attained was what was to remove entirely the feeling of antagonism between New Haven and Yale, and make tangible and fully real- ized the fact of their historical and destined unity. Yale must make a sacrifice, in some measure, to bring that about. There was no citizen of modern New Haven who saw this more clearly than did George Dudley Seymour, who soon after 1900 enlarged his already wide acquaintance with the people of his community by fathering the sometimes 44 >«s.^sea?.:i^::>f: SKULL AND BONES FRATERN^TY HOUSE, YALE UXIVKRSITV, Xi:\\- ]IA\I:N :^LROLL AND KEYS FRATERNITY HOUSE. YALK IXIYERSITY. NEW HAYEX AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 45 despised but destined to be useful "city beautiful" plan. A loyal and under- standing son of Yale, he was also loyal and wise for New Haven. Now he attacked the problem of bringing in a better harmony between- the university and the town. His first j^roposal was very simple. Let Yale extend to certain parts of Sunday afternoons, in all but the summer months, the hours of public opening of Peabody Museum and the Art School. It was so simple a plan that it failed, at first, to create a sensation. But Mr. Seymour was not surprised or discouraged. He knew the forces of conservatism with which he had to contend. He knew that no suggestion takes in New Haven on its first application. So, gently but fii'mly, he returned repeatedly to the attack. He frankly put the suggestion to the ofScials of Yale. Through the newspapers he proposed the thing to the public. He I'eceived substantial backing from at least one newspaper, which kept the matter before the public insistently until the battle was won. For it was won, and sooner than might be expected, perhaps. In 1908 Yale University formally announced that it would, beginning with November, open the museum and the Art School on Sunday afternoons from 2 :30 to 5. It may perhaps be suspected that tlie uuiversity did this more from the motives which influenced the "unjust judge'' than out of faith that there would be a response from the public sufficient to justifj- the concession. Even Mr. Seymour and those who were with him in the endeavor were weak in the faith, at first. But the newspapers did their part in telling the public of the innovation, and men- tioning the hours of the openings. Some of them went further, editorially, by pointing out the significance of the change. The result was such as pleasantly to astound Yale and cordially to strengthen the faith of those who had worked for this change. The public responded in an intelligent, not a spasmodic manner. Those who came were not mere curiosity seekers. The response was steady, appreciative, not sensational. The first year the average number of visitors to the two exhibits on Sunday afternoons was not far from two hundred, and the attendance was well maintained until the end of April, when the university judged it wise to end the sea.son. This was some four months longer, there is reason to believe, than some of the officers had believed the "fad" would last. There -was some anxiety on the part of those who had promoted the plan to see whether Yale would remember to resume the arrangement in the following fall. To tell the truth, they did not trust entirely to Yale's memory. And the Sunday openings were resumed that season, with the definite announcement that they would continue to April. They have continued since, each season up to the present writing. The results have eminently justified the continuance. Tlie New Haven public has steadily used these exhibits for instruction, not for curiosity. Soon after the first opening, the opportunity was enlarged by adding the Steinert collection of musical instruments in Memorial Hall, and later the School of Religion's archaeological exhibits were also opened on Sunday afternoons. A few years after the completion of Woolsey Hall and its organ, Harry B. 46 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Jepson, son of New Haven's loved old music master, Prof. Benjamin Jepson, now Battel] professor of music at Yale, inaugurated the custom of Monday afternoon organ recitals, for which a small admission was charged. These were enjoyed by many hundreds of music lovers, but their hour was such that the attendance was always limited. Joining in the movement of opening Yale's doors to the larger public. Professor Jepson now introduced two popular Sunday afternoon organ recitals in the season, one in the Christmas holidays, the other at Easter, both free to the public. These were from the start overwhelmingly attended, and Professor Jepson found it desirable, in a few years, to enlarge their- number, giving a series of recitals every Sunday afternoon through January and Febru- ary, in addition to the Christmas and Easter ones. It is needless to add that these opportunities were improved to the fullest extent. These results had opened the eyes of Yale's governors to the virtue of fellow- ship with the community. The result was the adoption of the policy of offering or granting the use of Woolsey Hall as a place, in general, for public mass meetings. Enterprises which moved for the common good, which called together large gatherings of the people, found the doors of the great assembly hall open for them. Conventions representing or interesting any considerable number of the people of New Haven or of a wider circle had only to ask to receive Yale's hospitality, and often it was offered. The dining hall was likewise opened to many great banquets, notably those of the Chamber of Commerce, where men of international reputation, presidents of the nation and publicists of large emi- nence, were among the speakers. Organizations of New Haven men and women, having occasion to gather for a banquet in greater numbers than any other banquet hall in town could accommodate, met around the tables of this noble banquet room, where the portraits of former presidents of Yale looked down on scenes such as the men in their lifetime had never dreamed of seeing. II The gates were open, but there was another important means by which Yale was "getting solid" with people who might never have entered through Peabody or the Art School or any of the doors of the great building at the corner of College and Grove streets. Yale athletics had a growing hold on the New Haven public. Yale was the ideal, in sporting achievement, of the average young man of the town. Yale games, whether in baseball or football, have always had an attraction over games by other than college players. The attendance at these games constantly increased, but the Yale athletic management set out to popular- ize them still further. It placed the prices on its early season games at a point attractive to the public, and the public responded. Many a "Brown game," even before the days of the Bowl, had an attendance rivaling that of a Yale- Princeton game in the 'nineties. But not all of this attendance was always paid, to the credit of Yale. Some years liefore the new field was developed or the Bowl built, in the earlier days of the regime of Everard Thompson as the manager of the Yale ticket depart- AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 47 ment, the plan of offering football tickets as rewards of merit in the New Haven High School was inaugurated. On a basis which the teachers arranged, each week a certain number of pupils who had shown an approved proficiency in scholarship or effort were given free tickets to the Saturday game. The number rose, at one time, as high as two thousand at a game, and every son and daughter, we may easily imagine, was a loyal "■rooter" for Yale. It is easy to see the pace at which Yale's friendships grew liy this process. • Then there was the "Brown game," which became an annual institution in New Haven. Each year, the week before the big game with Harvard or Prince- ton, Yale played the team from Brown University. That enterprising institution at Providence had achieved a substantial reputation by sending up for two suc- cessive years in the early nineteen hundreds a team whicli very neatly "trimmed" Yale — more of a feat at that time than it was a decade later. There were many New Haveners, in and out of the college, who liked to watch that game. Inci- dental mention might be made of the "Whiffenpoofs, " a unique body of Yale vaudevillians, who about this time took it upon themselves to provide burlesifue entertainment in the intermissions of this jiarticular game. New Haven always saw this game. Youthful New Haven also saw it, because of another pleasant custom. It began witli Judge Albei't McClellan Mathewson, who had a sort of George Junior RepulJic organization of boys which he called the Good Government Club. Many of them were boys unlikely to have money to spend to see a football game. He put the ease liefore the Yale athletic authorities, and they agreed to admit free, in a bod.y, as many boys as Judge Mathewson would sponsor. Naturally, the plan met great favor with the boys, and naturally, too, the number of those willing to come in under the judge's charge grew yearly. Starting with a hundred or a little over, it increased by the addition of newsboys, members of boys' clubs and schoolboys in general until the group down at one end of the stands imnibered at times 1,500. Their loyalty and their enthusiasm heightened the enjoyment of the game alike for players and spectators. There was still a drawback, in the athletic department. New Haven, as its fellowship with Yale increased, became increasingly desirous of seeing the "big: game" which was the climax of the bootball season. But there was no more room cm the old football staiuls, then seating 35,000 at tlie most, than was required b.y the Yale multitude — that is, the graduates, undergraduates and their friends. Except as thej- borrowed applications for tickets, or as they were included in the invited groups. New Haven people were limited to a rapidly disappearing public sale of tickets. In the closing years of the old stand, there was no public sale. The long hoped-for football stadium, which turned out to be a Bowl, completed in time for the Yale-Harvard game of 1914, had offered another opportunity for the co-operation of Yale and New Haven. It was a great financial undertak- ing, and Yale offered New Haven money a chance to share in it. The offer was gladly accepted by many men who had no alumni connection with the college, for it included the privilege of subscribing each year for a certain number of tickets for the big game for each one hundred dollars cash subscribed for the 48 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Bowl. In this way a considerable number of the men of New Haven's affairs came to feel a share in one of the gi-eat enterprises of the university, and came into intimate touch with one important feature of its life. The completion of the Bowl, with its initial seating capacity of 65,000, seemed to offer to everyone who desired it a chance to see the great game. Provisions had been made to extend 'the seat sale, not only generally to the New Haven public, but throughout the state. What was the consternation, then, of Mana- ger Thompson to find, as the time for the game approached, that he had appli- cations for tickets something like 25,000 in excess of the number of seats which even the great amphitheater would provide. Immediately some 8,000 extra seats were added, but eveu then the most heroic measui'es had to be adopted to keep the attendance within the capacity. Conditions somewhat similar pre- vailed in 1915. But in both years the management was loyal to New Haven. The Chamber of Commerce had expected a block of about 2,000 seats at the game which opened the Bowl, and it was not disappointed. In 1916 the pressure was even greater, but again the applicants "of the Chamber of Commerce were supplied. These are evidences of the degree to which the animosity between the college and the public in the Nineteenth century had changed to harmony in the Twentieth. There were many others, less obvious but even more important. The university had come to realize its relation and its duty to the community with which it was inseparably identified, and to do something about it. The community had begun to appreciate the honor and advantage offered by the existence of Yale. And there was to be a tangible demonstration of this relation which should attract the attention and enlist the participation of a great many who had not previously noticed. That was the Pageant of 1916, of whose details we shall proceed to learn. CHAPTER VIII THE SEAL OF THE UNION THE PAGEANT OF 1916, ITS PREPARATION AND HISTORIC CELEBRATION IN BATTELL CHAPEL THE GREAT SPECTACLE AT THE BOWL The "wedding" of New Haven and Yale took place when the trustees of the collegiate school, in session at New Haven on October 17. 1716, formally though not unanimously voted that the school, or college, should be established in New Haven. Preparations suitably to celeln'ate that wedding's two hundredth anni- versary began considerably earlier than October in the year 1916. The officers of Yale, indeed, had for several years realized that the event should have a unique celebration, and had begun their plans for one. Early in 1916. there was appointed on behalf of Yale a general committee consisting of Eli Whitney, chairman ; Edwin Rogers Embree, secretar.y ; Rev. Joseph Anderson and Mr. Otto Tremont Bannard of the corporation, and eighteen other members of the faculty and prominent graduates of Yale. The City of New Haven appointed a citizens' committee of thirty-eight members, of which flavor Frank James Rice was chairman. From these were chosen an executive committee, on behalf of Yale' of Francis Hartman Markoe, Edwin Rogers Embree, Howell Cheney. Frederick Blair Johnson and Prof. Clarence Whittlesey Mendell ; on behalf of New Haven of Mayor Frank James Rice, Vice Mayor Samuel Campner, Joseph Edward Hubinger, James Thomas Moran, Louis Ezekiel Stoddard, and Isaac Moses L^llman. Mr. Markoe, a Yale graduate with a considerable experience in similar under- takings, was chosen master of the Pageant — for the Pageant was to be the central feature of the celebration. His assistants were Prof. Jack Randall Crawford and Dennis Cleugh as stage manager. Prof. George H. Xettleton was editor of the Book of the Pageant. Pi'of. David Stanley Smith was chosen master of the music, and Miss Christine Herter was the artist of the Pageant. "Sirs. Dennis Cleugh was mistress of the robes, Frederick Blair Johnson was business manager and Charles Emerson Cooke director of publicity. Thus ofiSeered, the gi-eat undertaking was launched early in the year. The committees, and a number of guests representing various activities of the city which it was expected to enlist in the Pageant, met at luncheon in Memorial Vol 7—4 49 50 A :\IOUERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Hall early in the spring, and the plans for the project were presented in some detail. There was the most evident enthusiasm, and earnest pledges on the part of several of the most infiuential citizens to do all in their power to carry the project to success. Those pledges were faithfully kept. All spring, all summer, the committees and sub-committees, the pageant officers and their aids, labored unceasingly. There was to be an elaborate pro- gram — religious, scholastic, historical, literary — covering the three days of Octo- ber 20, 21 and 22, but the great day was to be that of the Pageant, Saturday, the twenty-first. Waiving the exact date of the anniversary, Saturday was chosen because of the number of school children it was proposed to enlist in the production, and because of the better opportunity the day afforded for the attendance of the people. It was proposed to have about 7,000 participants in the various scenes of the Pageant. Different departments of the university, several of the graduate classes, alumni organizations of other colleges, the Gov- ernor's Foot Guards, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Sons of Veterans, several chajiters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Young AVomen's Christian Association, the New Haven Caledonian Club, several lodges of the Order of Red Men, the Naval Militia, the Spanish War veterans, the Yale Battery and several other organizations, besides a large number of unat- tached individuals, were represented in the cast. There was an endless detail of costumes to be provided, and the rehearsals for the play constituted, when the number and variety of the participants is considered, a tremendous under- taking. There were many discouraging features. But the committee for the university and the citizens worked faithfully on. And the end crowned their lal)or and justified their faith. The third week in October of 1916 promised to be much like other mid- autumn weeks in our uncertain New England climate. As the crowning require- ment to the Pageant's success was good weather, its developments, weather- wise, were somewhat anxiou.sly watched. The opening feature of the program was the repetition of John Jay Chapman's Florentine masque, '"Cupid and Psyche," which had been given at the Art School in June, and for that the weather did not so much matter. It was a somewhat severely classical and dis- tinctly college event, but as it was given in commodious Woolsey Hall, it had an audience containing many of the townspeople. There was some fear as to how the somewhat delicate and in a sense parlor event would fit into massive Woolsey Hall, but if it may be judged by the enthusiasm of the audience, it was in every respect a success. It was produced by ladies of New Haven, and though wholly of Yale authorship, was in its nature especially appropriate to celebrate the union of the college and the town. Friday afternoon had been rainy, and Saturday forenoon continued the storm. Up to mid-forenoon, the prospect was decidedly unpromising. The hearts of the thousands to whom the Pageant meant so much were as gloomy as the weather. There had been a dress rehearsal of the spectacle on the previous Saturday, which had raised many hopes. But so much depended on the weather ! Meanwhile, there were some historical exercises on Saturday forenoon. In YA\A-: Srllddl, OF ItKLK.KiX. NKW ll.WI.N BATTELL CHAPEL, YALE UNIVERSITY. XEW HAVEN AND EASTEKN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 5] the excitement and anxiety, they were overlooked by too many New Haven people. Battell Chapel was entirely sufficient to accommodate all who went to hear them. It was an important and remarkable program, worthy of mention in some detail. Most gracefully, as is his wont. President Hadley opened the exercises with his tribute, on behalf of the university, to New Haven. Quoting at the start from Jeremy Duunner's letter to Governor Gurdon Saltonstall, in which he felicitated New Haven on the happy consummation of the luiptials. and mentioned Elihu Yale's satisfaction thereat, President Hadlej- paid tribute, first to the ministers whose unflagging zeal and loyalty to New Haven had so much to do with bringing it about, and second to the community whose real substance deserved and won the institution for its own. He praised the hard work and hard cash of the New Haven citizens by which they enabled John Davenport the younger to exult in that realization of which the first John Davenport was denied, and closed by saying: "To the descendants and successors of those that builded the house, no less than those that first taught therein, high honor and cordial congratulation ai-e this day due." Of the responses by the city the first was, appropriately, by the lineal de- scendant in office of John Davenport and James Pierpont, the twentieth century pastor of Center Church on the Green. Discerningly, appreciatively, did the Rev. Dr. Oscar E. ilaurer make reply. Gracefully he referred to the ambition of his first predecessor to be the founder of a college in New Haven, and to the inibreakable bond, none the less close and firm because it was left to those who came after John Davenport to realize the fulfilment of his prophecy, between Center Church and Yale University. But he spoke as well for all the churches of New Haven and Connecticut, which united in rejoicing at the union and its anniversary. "Yale and the church," he said, "are united in a common destiny, their mission is a common mission ; and so, Mr. President, speaking for the churches of New Haven and Connecticut, deeply thankful for all the blessed ties that have bound us together in the past, I pledge to you our continued devotion and loyalty for the years that lie ahead, and the assurance of our fervent prayer that Yale and the Church may together go on and ever on in their holy mission of Truth and Light." Mayor Frank J. Rice was not able to represent the city on that occasion. As we shall see, his active work for the city he loved was over, and he was compelled to content himself with watching from the distance the co^j^summation of the celebration in which he had taken so great an interest. Samuel Campner, acting mayor, responded for the city in his place, and did so with an under- standing eminently commendable. He rejoiced in the older history of Yale, that part of it which belonged to the era before New Haven. But he saw it now as only a background to the new, the greater Yale which was largely liecause of the union now being celebrated. He made clear the existence of the spirit of entire harriiony between the New Haven which is and the Yale which is, and looked hopefully forward. "May the life of Yale and of New Haven," he hoped, 52 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN "flow together through the centuries of the future as one life, one unit, one liody politic — tlie einbodiinent of one idea — the expression of the lofty, pro- gressive, God-fearing and God-serving spirit of free America." Fittingly closing the exercises was the scholarly, complete historical address of Prof. Williston Walker. With the historian's sense of proportion, with the understanding of the scholar, with the eloquence of one baptized with the spirit of the hour, he portrayed the development of two hundred years. Going back of the two century period, however, he showed on what foundation of vision and sacrifice and holy ambition of the founders was laid the structure raised in New Haven. Dramatically he told of the struggles of those years ; with what a battle the college was won for New Haven. Feelingly he drew the picture, touching in the brighter lights of the understanding which the discerning had from the first of the proper relation between the college and the community, of true kinship of the mother and daughter — New Haveu and Yale. "So today," he concluded, "as we commemorate the two hundredth anni- versary of the settlement of Yale in New Haveu, it is with gratitude toward those who in the da.ys of small things made this much possible. They had their abundant perplexities, their contests, their discouragements. They had, also, an unconquerable faith, and a courage adequate to their needs. They builded well, and we have entered into the fruit of their labors. Nor can we forget the noble succession which for two centuries, in city and in university, has carried on their work, building fairer and nobler year by year, till we have the New Haven and the Yale in which we now rejoice. What the future may have in store none may know : but of this we may be assured, that Yale and New Haven will continue in inseparable connection, in growing helpfulness each to the other, and in increasing appreciation of the common advantages of their associ- ation. May the memories of the last two hundred years he perpetuated and strengthened in the association and growth of Yale and New Haven for genera- tions to come." II The heavens smiled on such faith, such brave and thoughtful words. As the historical worshippers came from Battell Chapel, they found that the October storm h'ld been transformed to October beauty. Not soon will New Haven, and especially those who participated in the exercises, forget the beauty of that afternoon. And who did not participate? Seven thousand men and women, boys and girls, re])resenting all phases of the ancient and modern life of New Haven and Yale, were in the moving life, the historical depiction, the glorious picture and color, Qf the Pageant. And every one had friends. All sides of the life of the city had been touched in the preparation. All the schools had been drawn upon. A large number of the societies and organizations of the city had been woven into the story. No wonder New Haven noticed. It was such a plot as Shakespeare would have coveted. Here was to he told a story of two centuries rich with drama, touched with humor, pathos, sentiment, AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 53 tragedy. Far back of the beginnings of New Haven the writer had gone for his prologue, to that 1485 when the union of Margaret, daughter of lenkyn ap levau to Ellis ap Griffith of Cwyddelwern laid the foundation of the house of Yale. Through the colonial times, with their wealth of romance and fascination of history he had built the beginning of his story. He had not missed the thrill and adventure and inspiration of the Revolutionary days. The strifes and the sacrifices and the abundant human interest of the early Nineteenth century were faithfully and eft'eetively portrayed. And there was a wealth of modern epi- .sode to lead up to the climax, the bright realization of the light and truth of the ancieiit ev'eriastiug union. Such was the play. And never playwright had such a playhouse. "Some genius," wrote a chronicler for the Yale Alumni Weekly, "had foreseen the effects which might be gained in that large amphitheater, the Yale Bowl, on a clear autumnal day." It was not with fear or misgiving that the management had accepted the Bowl as the place to stage such a spectacle. Already its visual, its accoustie, its spectacular qualities had been tested in football and Greek play and grand opera, and on each trial it had surprisingly responded to every requirement. Built for football, Iniilt only with the thought conveniently to gather, comfortably seat and safely disperse mighty multitudes of people, it had proved to have qualities for conserving and reflecting sound not possessed by any structure of its sort in America. Now, of course, its qualities for dis- playing a spectacle were to be especially tested. ]\Iany were the misgivings with which fond parents and sensitive spectators had looked forward to this afternoon. The costumes which made that feast of color were flimsy things, poorly qualified for resisting the chill blasts and threat of frost which the afternoon of the third Saturday in October might easily pro- vide. And there might be a nip and an eagerness in the air which would make sitting for three hours to view a pageant less than a thing of joy for those in the least sensitive to cold. In strange and thrilling measure these fears were allayed, these misgivings made vain. It was such an October afternoon as even that rare month might not furnish twice in a dozen years. Out of a sky without a cloud, through an atmosphere erystally clear, with only just a relieving breeze, shone the autumn sun. It brought out at their best its spectrum colors, multi- plied to countless shades that the rainbow never knew, in the costumes of the participants. Over that rich sward where a month later the dun-clad cohorts of Harvard and Yale were to race and tear in one of the great games of the century — and crown the Bowl with a Yale victory to remember — proceeded in measured dignity the appointed persons of the play. And over them bent the thousands. The Bowl has seen greater crowds. But 50,000 of the friends of Yale and New Haven, gathered from near and far, with such a motive and for such a sight, is a multitude not to be despised. Its own color and variety, its life and its magnetic expectancy, completed the wonder of the occasion. It is two o'clock on that never-to-be-forgotten afternoon, and though this is an amateur production, and one of the most difficult ever handled, Director 54 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Markoe is ready. But before the gates are opened, there is a wondrous prelude. At one end of the great amphitheater, under a reflecting canopy, there is such an aggregation of bands as even music-blessed New Haven never had on one plat- form. And back of them is a chorus of 500 people. It is the Derby Choral Society — neighbors glad to share in the great service. Led by Professor William Edward Haesche, who has written the music, it launches into the stately numbers of Charlton ilincr Lewis's "Invitation to the Pageant."" Its opening words are fulfilled before the people, and seem to have been prophetic: October "s glory ripens to its close; The flaunting splendors fade ; yet still abides The warm sun. wizarding from brown to rose The bastioned refuge of the Regicides. And the eastern gates open, burst by a noise of trumpets. From out their portals comes a procession of the Middle Ages. Pages and bards and men-at- arms lead the way for maids and gentlemen and ladies in their gayest garb. For it is nothing less than the bridal procession of the fair Margaret. Forth she comes M'ith her knightly bridegroom, each riding upon a horse that seems to sense the ancient dignity of the occasion. It is the first glimpse of the glory of color that shall be. For on Margaret and her maidens, on pages and on the caparisoned horses, shines a blazonry of many hues that needs l)ut the dun garb of the men — so like, in this respect, to tlie modern wedding — to Itring out by contrast its magnificence. And so was Margaret wedded to the brave Ellis ap Griffith. So was the house of Yale founded. The romance, the imagery of the scene grip the beholder. But there is no lingering. This is only the prelude. The Pageant has not yet begun, and the play's the thing. As silently as they came the flashing cos- tumes are gone. The sorely tried nerves of the amazed modern New Haven horses are soothed again in the free air outside the echoing portals of the Bowl. And from another portal bursts a strangely different scene. Stifdy come Pastor Davenport and Governor Eaton, leading their party of pilgi'ims, weary from their long voyage, and muddy from their elimb up the red clay banks of the creek. With surprising promptness comes from another quai'ter a mournful procession of Quinuipiacs, and the scene shifts in fancy to the meadows of Morris Cove. Boi-ne on a litter is Shaumpishuh, sister of the Sachem Momauguin, sick unto death. The women wail their lament to the Great Spirit. The tribe dances its medicine dance. There is all this in the swift scene, and if one makes a little allowance for the ardor of the unpracticed young Indian actors, he gets the serious import of it. Still more life is injected by the sudden appearance of the war-painted Moh'awks — they are at their old game of demanding tribute. But the Quinnipiacs fear the death of the pestilence more than they fear the death of battle. They resist and overcome the tribute-seekers. Whereupon they note the presence of the pilgrims, whom they accept on faith at once as friends. The pilgrims give thanks for their deliverance from the perils of the sea, and for their friendly greeting. But Shaumpishuh cannot sui'vive, and the procession now takes up a real lament for the dead, and proceeds sadly out from the portals. 2; 56 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN matter of fact, despicable things compared with the rich garb of the Foot Guards —figure again. It is a solemn scene. We are spared, of course, any attempt at the execution itself, but the grim preparations are there. We are glad, on the whole, when the scene vanishes through the portals. There is a richness of costume, especially feminine, in the scene representing the visit of Washington to New Haven after he became President. We have the men in stately grandeur. And Washington and his stafif ride well, assisted by one or two trick horses such as, probably, would greatly have annoyed the old general in his time. Then the field clears, and we are ready for another interlude — an Allegory of War and Peace. It was not the intention, evidently, to paint war in any attractive colors. These gnome-like figures, hooded and cloaked in brown, who come crouching in to the droning of dismal music, are the spirits of Starved Desire and Fear of Brotherhood. Others no more attractive follow, the warped souls of Dema- gogues and Self Lovers, and these unite to utter, in something like song, "The Wise Voice of the Old, Deep, Unchanging World." But the chorus strengthens by the addition to the Holy Servants of war's sacrifice, the Young Men Who Have Found Their Manhood. Presently join these the Contented Dead, and then the mothers who raise their boys to be soldiers, to speak in flippant phrase. There is weird and thunderous music, and Life's Wastrels cavort over the scene. The Noble Wives, the Old Men, the Calm Fathers and other Heroic Hearts follow in quick succession, chanting a solemn hymn. Then the music changes, a hush comes over the wild clamor, and sweet, calm, majestic, radiant Peace is there, with the little children in wJiite robes playing about her. The Rout of War falls back from the altar, the weary sufferers welcome Peace, and the air is rent with a shout that is greater than victory. Brimming over the rim of the Bowl pour down from all sides the processions of Peace — ^Youth and Dawn and Spring, waving blossoming branches and singing a song of the beauty of sweet nature. Summer, Day and Growth follow with golden boughs of laurel, singing their hymn of praise. Evening, Autumn and Completion sing an evening hymn, which merges in the one general chant of peace as all advance with their offerings of praise, and crown Peace forever. The opening scenes of the nineteenth century episode are in lighter vein. Well may the Town and Gown riots be treated lightly, for they are things of the past. They are nothing more than comedy, as presented. There is war, to be sure, between the firemen and the footballists, and there is some attempt to suggest what a terrible thing this might be, but with the machinery at hand, and the evident refusal of the actors to take the thing seriously, there is litlle to (k) but laugh. The Burial of Euclid, of course, is but a college prank. It proves to be no more than a fairly well rehearsed performance of the Whift'enpoofs. One wonders if the boys themselves realize how important a thing it was in its day. It is good fun, which serves fairly well to relieve the sobriety of what must be, in the main, a serious performance. There is not a little of burlesque, little as it is meant so, in the next scene. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 57 This is a depiction of the Kansas Volunteers, an ante-Civil war plan to aliolish slavery, which was nipped in the bud. We have citizens of New Haven in queer, bottle-green tail coats, and flat-topped hats. The relieving effect of feminine costume is there, improving the opportunity of the strange fashions of 1856. Henry W^ard Beecher is supposed to appear and make an address. The re- cruits are escorted on their way in very impressive fashion, if one chooses to take it so. The death of Theodore Winthrop, reviving an almost forgotten episode of Yale in the Civil war, is made memorable by the earnest participation of almost the entire strength of the Grand Army posts of New Haven and vicinity. Win- throp was the first northern ofificer to fall in the battles of this war, and the scene depicts the request for his body by his comrades and its formal surrender, with full military honors, by the Confederate troops. The men in Gi'ay ai'e the product of the costumer and the stage manager, though they do their parts well, but these men in Blue, with their slouch and tasseled felt hats — they are living over again scenes that are still vivid in their memories. Their part in this scene, carried out to the last solenni detail of military exactness, makes a tremendous impression on all beholders. It is an historic event, and in it alone the Pageant repays all it cost. It is worth our while to pause here and read, from Brian Hooker's masterpiece of description of the whole Pageant, his thrilling touch of that particiilar scene : "Now comes a company of gray-clad soldiers through the western gate. They stack their rifles and lounge about with a casual air of waiting for someone. So they are, and so are we ; and after plenty of time, out come the Union soldiers on the other side, to the small squealing of one fife and the beat of two rather tremulous drums. These are no dressed-up mummers, but the very men them- selves: Grand Army men, some 200 of them; their old blue uniforms hanging loose over shrunken shoulders — and their rusty old Springfields at the carry. There is no hurrying these old fellows. Very deliberately, very professionally, with the otf-hand, almost clumsy correctness of men to whom the drill is no new lesson but the memory of an old business, they form in line facing the Southern- ers. Order arms. Parade rest. Officers to the front. And the small group with its flag of truce goes out to meet the enemy with all military formality, and to receive Colonel Winthrop 's body in its new pine eofiin. Present arms. The Confederates fire a salute. The coffin is borne back to the line in Blue. Another salute is fired. They wheel slowly into column and with arms reversed start slowly to move away. And then something happens. For ten minutes those two hundred or so old gentlemen of our fathers' times have been going through what for them was not play-acting but the very truth itself. For ten minutes they have stood there remembering; and their memory reaches out and strikes the watching multitudes like an invisible wave. As the long column plods toward the stands, the grim gray heads held high and the thin fife piping a cracked hymn tune, .30,000 people are on their feet and uncovered, not knowing why or how ; and the applause rises and swells and crackles into one deep roar! Someone whispers: 'God! look at their faces!' And we look, and read things written 58 A .MODERN IIISTOKY OF NEW HAVEN there. These men did not keep us out of war. They faced it, and brought us through on the right side. They were too proud to fight with words alone. They fought with more than words; and the tire of things we cannot understand shines on their steady faces. In all the Pageant there has been nothing like this ; for the rest was allegory and reminiscence; but this is a resurrection." There is less of imagery and more of realism in the third Interlude, wherein certain ladies and gentlemen of New Haven and the university improve the opportunity to exploit the wonderful costumes of the Civil war period. It is, as the program tells us, "a Iloopskirt Prom." Or, as the more dignitied Book of the Pageant hath it, "the Wooden Spoon Prom." It is depicted with such dignity as the cumbersome costumes compel on the field before us, and is soon over. It seems to lack something, after the previous interludes. For the fourth or modern episode the Book of the Pageant had a series of fourteen impressive panels, which were to be presented as tableaux. But the afternoon draws near its close, and if the finale is to he presented while yet the autumn sun will give life to its color, something must be cut. So the Yale Battery, the triumph of Mars which many have been waiting to see comes on. Refreshed after the terrors of Tobyhanna, trim in olive-green khaki, the soldier boys bring on their guns and go through their evolutions, ending with a salute which rattles the nerves of the timid and tills the Bowl with the smell of powder. The din of battle dies away, the faithful Boy Scouts who have been doing page duty betw^een the acts make their last appearance, and we are ready for the finale. The program has warned that any who want to hurry away must do so before this finale, because the portals will be in use by the performers for a little time after it. Unfortmiate are they who thought they could not wait. It is the climax, the summary, the ensemble, all in one. It returns to the glory of imagery, it employs the feast of color. In it shines the Light and out of it stands the Truth of Yale. The Bride of New Haven, the Mother of Colleges and of Men. herein is glorified. Throned amid lilies and attended by blue-clad figures representing the nine departments. Mother Yale is borne in, while around her throng and flow again her water-children, the Waves of the first interlude. Then from out each portal comes a beautifully gowned woman — thirty of them, representing the thirty colleges of which Yale is the mother. Then, all at once, high at the crest of every aisle of the vast Bowl, appears a wind-blown figure as if at the rim of the horizon. There is a pause as these figures spread their arms like wings. A little more, and there are po\iring into the Bowl from every portal the whole of the 7,000 who have participated in the Pageant. All the pomp, all the color, all the glory are there. They gather and gi-oup themselves appropriately, on a ]n-eviously arranged plan of effect. '"'The whole Pageant at once: all places and times together, spirit and substance, hero and jester, history and tradition and dream." The great crowd rises from its seats. Nothing must be lost of such a scene. Its like will never come again. The Bowl will see strange sights and witness brave deeds. It has wonderful times ahead. But there can be only one Pageant AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 59 therein, and this is the supreme moment of that Pageant. The multitude stands as if entranced, while slowly the mass untwines, resolves itself into a solemn march, chanting the grand old hymn of call to worship: Lord God Almighty ! Who hast blessed our fathers. Bless us and guide us by Thy Holy Light. Slowly the grandeur and glory and song melt into the portals, and presently the velvet green of the field is as quiet and serene as if it had been untrodden. So far as concerns the scene of its production, the Pageant of 1916 is a thing of memory only. The Pageant is not over. New Haven had jiarticipated generously in the main production, Ijut the city as an organization had its part. For the three days of the celebration the historic old Green, for more than two centuries a sharer in every event that had concerned Yale and New Haven, had been notably decorated in honor of the occasion. From the Liberty pole as a center, streamers of white and blue bunting extended to the four corners and sides of the lower Green. Yale and New Haven seals were set on standards all around the Green. Underneath and around the Liberty pole was a canopy or court of honor, where on that Saturday night after the Pageant a band played to some 20,000 people, while searchlights from the neighboring buildings played upon the scene. The closing event of the great occasion was next day at Woolsey Hall, when President Hadley preached the anniversary sermon. Fittingly he had chosen his text, "For we are members one of another." It was a thoughtful, con- vincing presentation of the oneness of Yale and New Haven well worthy to close this celebration. Especially did it show that the men who have honored Yale most have also honored the city most : that their highest ideals and highest service have been for the two together; that in the achievements of such men "college and city can claim an equal share and look with equal measure of pride." He dwelt not altogether in the past; he gave good advice. Admitting that there have been misunderstandings, he sought to show how they may be avoided in the future, how harmony that has less of the name and more of the fact can be attained. He dwelt on the ideal which he had preached before, of Yale and Yale men in public service. Applying this directly to the relations of Yale men and the city in which they live he said : "In order to make this spirit of mutual understanding effective and useful we must develop tlie habit of co-operation betw^een city and college. The best way to understand one another is to work together. We have been too much absorbed in our separate problems — the teacher with his teaching, the scholar with his studies, the merchant with his business, the politician with his politics. These things are a large part of life, but they are not the whole of life. The affairs of society are as important as each man's private affairs; and the affairs of society cannot be properly managed unless the men of theoiy and the men 60 A MODEKN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN of practice act together in managing tbeni. This is becoming more and more obvious as years go on. Questions of public education, of public administration and of public morality are every day coming more and more into the fore- ground. ' ' In such practical words the president of Yale recognized that the ideal had not been attained, while felicitating his hearers on the measure of harmony which the Pageant celebration had sealed. The Pageant was over ; he was draw- ing some lessons from it. Much as had been attained, it was only a glimpse of what might be. But at least New Haven and Yale had bj' this two hundredth anniversary celebration come into the consciousness that they were one, and that their future progress must at least be along parallel, not divergent lines. CHAPTER IX THE OLD AND THE NEW THE CONTRAST OF THE CENTURIES AND THE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE IT — A GENERAL GLIMPSE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW HAVEN We have seen the small and difficult beginnings of New Haven. We have seen that, ambitious as was the plan of the founders, they were content, after a few hard knocks from fate, to take what the gods sent them, and maintain their •existence. It looked for many years as though New Haven would have to be content among the minor cities of Connecticut. Through the latter half of the seventeenth and all through the eighteenth centuries, New Haven had half a dozen rivals that equalled or surpassed her in size. It was not until 1820 that New Haven positively took first place, stepping into the rank whic^i she has maintained so long. It was apparent almost from the first, to be sure, that New Haven was to be one of the most important towns of the state, whatever its size. Its rank was so impressive that Hartford was, from early in the eighteenth century, fain to share with it the honor of being the capital of the state. The establishment of the college in New Haven at once gave it a prestige as a center of education and in- fluence, a source of supply of the state's professional men and leaders. Then, with the beginning of the nineteenth centiuy, it began to forge ahead in physical size, until it became noticeably a leader in population, and for a long time, in wealth. But New Haven was never a boom town. It developed slowly, it grew steadily, not spasmodically. Conservatism became characteristic of it. Conservative it has remained until now. All through the nineteenth century, while steadily growing in strength and substance, it never outwardly startled the beholder. Those who really knew the city came to love it for its "parts" rather than for ostentatious prosperity. It was a city of traditions and history, a city content to have intensive rather than extensive growth. There were, as we have noticed, some who wearied of having their city known merely as "the seat of Yale college." Tliey longed to have other qualities of New Haven, which to them seemed more important, bi'ought to the front. They knew that the city had, and had long possessed, manufacturing institutions, for 61 62 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN instauee, qualilied to make it iuteriiatioiially famous. Ivnowledge of these was not wholly suppressed, and in the "geographies" of the latter nineteenth century, New Haven became rated as the home of the clock and the producer of fine carriages and ferocious tirearms, as well as the home of Yale. Yet New Haven had not awakened as the modernists would like to see it. Its great manufacturers and its substantial merchants, knowing within them- selves that they had substance and quality, were willing to keep the information to themselves and to a few of their people. Their business w'as prospering. The discerning took their goods. Their trade was increasing, according to their standards. Why should they ask for more .' The age of advertising had not arrived, at least not in New Haven. A chamber of commerce — and New Haven had possessed such an institution since 1794 — was a dignified commercial club to the members of those days. It held a banquet once a year, and that was suffi- cient to justify its existence. There came a time when somebody pointedly asked what it did between meals, but that was later. Such, in more material particulars, was the New Haven which woke on the morn of its 264th year when it celebrated with Yale the completed two centuries. The opening of the twentieth century had seen a different New Haven, if it had but known it. Things had come to it to make it different. The tele- phone had come. In 1878 New Haven had been the place of the establishment of the first telephone exchange in America, and its original directory of sub- scribers, printed on one side of a fairly small sheet of paper, is a curiosity to exhibit today beside the 400 pages of the Southern New England Telephone Company's big directory of Connecticut, with its over 66,000 subscl'ibers in New Haven. The electric railway had come. When, in 1892, the first electric car, un- loaded from a freight at the New Haven station, came by its own power from the station to the Green, horses drew all the cars on the few street railways of New Haven. Still, and for several years later, they were keeping a spare horse at the corner of Elm and State streets, to help the loaded Fair Haven cars up the Grand Avenue grade. That fii'st electric car, by the way, was a storage battery affair. When it reached the Green, its power gave out, and there it stuck until ignominiously moved away by horses. The experiment did not encourage New Haveii to try the storage battery system, and when it went, a year or two later, into the electric car business, it adopted the well known trolley. New Haven well remembers its first electric line, which ran from the Green out Church and down Elm, thence to State and out to James Street, ■where it abandoned the well known route for Laraberton and Ferry, going on down to Chapel. That was in 1893. When, a little later, the line was continued to Morris Cove and Lighthouse Point, New Haven opened its eyes in wonder, and the rival lines took notice. The electric light had come. New Haven by 1890 was well lighted, as cities went. Arc lights made its streets, according to the standards of the time, conveniently navigable even on a rainy night. Rut electric lights for interiors ■were still rare. Many of the public buildings, and particularly the churches. LKiHTHOUSK POINT. Xi:\V HA\EX VIEW i;)F MORRIS COVE, NEW HAVEX AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 63 were gas lighted as late as 1905 and afterward. And when in 1912 the "White Way" was agitated, making some of the central streets brilliantly lighted ac- cording to modern standards, there were business men who shook their heads. Five years later, the city took over the "White Way" as a matter of course, and has since extended it to other streets as unquestionably worth its cost in safety and business advantage. Shore expansion had come. Up to 1895, New Haven had Savin Rock — which belonged, and still belongs to West Haven. Not so long liefore that, it had meant a ten-cent expenditure to take a ride to Savin Rock, less than five miles away. But it was not a residence shoi-e resort. It was in the closing days of the century that the real development of the East Shore began. There were a few pioneei's there in those days, who thought they were hardy if they braved the mosquitoes for three months in the summer, but professed to get enough advantage to make up for them. Now Morris Cove is a ward of New Haven city, filled with cottages all the way from the Palisades to Lighthouse Point, with many side streets well developed, and a large part of the former cottagers living there all the year. The We.st Shore now seems to be a part of New Haven, though most of it is in Mil ford. In summer time, it is a part of the greater New Haven, and many of the residents of the city have handsome shore places there. Some are tempted to, and many do, live there all the year. But it is more to the point that expansion has come to New Haven itself, centrally. It was not long after 1890 that the name "Westville" began to mean something besides far Whalley Avenue, and Martin Sti-eet was renamed "Edge- wood Avenue." Edgewood Park was not, but the ride out Edgewood Avenue into Westville, when the new trolley line was opened, was like travel into a newly discovered country. In the somewhat over two decades since, Westville has become the most important suburb belonging to New Haven. It has preserved its own individuality in many respects, and has its distinct school and social life, but it is a convincing proof of how New Haven has outgrown its former boundaries. Industrial expansion had come. The "important factories" which in 1890 could almost be counted on the fingei's of two hands, if one's memory were good enough, had become over half a hundred ma.jor concerns, well known abroad, if not in New Haven. It was frequently being remarked by the observ- ant, indeed, that New Haven was not getting full credit for its impoi'tance as a manufacturing center. ilost important of all, New Haven had startlingly changed in population. The 2.3,000 addition to its number between 1880 and 1890, and the almost equal increase by 1900, were not additions of "native stock." The 40,000 foreign born, and the 43,000 native born of foreign parentage, which were found in 1910, had been coming. In 1892 there were Italians enough in New Haven to raise money for a fine statue of Columbus on Wooster Square, and shortly after that it was estimated that a fifth of the jiopulation of New Haven was Italian. At that time they constituted, however, only one in fifty or more nations and tribes to he found distinctly represented in polyglot New Haven. 64 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Did the city adequately appreciate all these changes ? Apparently not. Some of them had been too rapid for it. It knew it was growing and changing, but it did not think it essential to catalogue its progress. Not all the people recog- nized it as progress. Like all conservative cities. New Haven had some citizens who regretted many features of the change. They were contented with the old order. They were not especially enthusiastic over the new. The old elms sulHeed them. For the new ideas they did not especially care. But the new ideas were bound to come. The old elms, as we may later obsei've, were not l)ound to remain. The date of the renaissance is difficult to set. It began gradually, probably about the time of the Yale Bicentennial. New Haven got some of its new vision from that. Leaders in thought and vision followed up the advantage. Yale's policy of participation helped. The Chamber of Commerce came out of its century's dream, and that helped more than anything else. The Civic Federa- tion, the Business Men 's Association, the Publicity Club, all joined in the effort. New Haven had come into a new era. Now it came to consciousness of the fact. II What is this New Haven of contrast, the New Haven of today? It is a city profitable for comparison with the crude center of the colony, or even with the smug, unconscious New Haven of the latter eighteen hundreds. It is a city which impresses the beholder who comes from without more than it does the accustomed beholder who lives within. A distinguished engineer, a few years ago, called New Haven, as a port, the key to New England. Here, at length, is a center of New World commerce, a railroad center, a potential shipping center, such as Theophilus Eaton, even with old London in his vision, never conceived in the wildness of his dream. Here is the water gateway to the busiest freight section of the East beyond New York. Here is the water outlet for the intense New England manufacturing section, immensely important now, having far greater possibilities for the future. Much of this is in the future, no doubt. For the present here is a city esti- mated to have 175,000 people, in the center of a district whose facilities easily reach 200,000 more. Within a radius of a hundred miles are upward of ten millions of the people of this country. It has more industries than any other city of Connecticut or southern New England, and some of them, at this par- ticular time, are of immense magnitude. It has a greater variety of products than many cities several times its size. Railroads, centering here, radiate to New York and Boston, and to all the important manufacturing and supply and trade centers of New England. It has steamboat lines which supplement its railroad facilities. It has a harbor that is the admiration and despair of many a city of the South and West that does three times New Haven's business. To make it, the city encircles a bay that runs in nearly four miles from Long Island sound, and is almost a mile and a half in width. It has not anything like a uniformly navigable channel, but much has been done to deepen it, and there AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 65 is a field for much more effort. The chauuel uow existing is from 300 to 400 feet wide and more than twenty feet in depth, allowing vessels of large draught to reach the docks. Improvements in both channel and dock facilities are being constantly made. New Haven of today is a clean city, with well paved and well kept streets, with hundreds of miles of modern, uniform cement sidewalks. It did not always boast of these things. Up to 1909, a policy of mistaken economy had retarded street pavement until the city's needs had got ahead of it, and the miles of uneven, unsafe, archaic brick sidewalks were far more conspicuous than the comparatively short stretches of the modern type. But New Haven had a permanent paving commission made up of men with good ideas, and about that time the city adopted the policy of giving it a free hand. Discarding all the wrecks and failures of the past, the commission decided on two, or at the most three types of pavement as sufficient for the city's varying needs. For the streets of heaviest traffic, wood block. For streets of moderate traffic, asphalt, either laid on new foundation or laid over an old foundation of substantial macadam. For other streets, tar-bound macadam as a general type. The improvement in sidewalks is a monument to Frank J. Rice, mayor of New Haven for seven years. When first inaugurated in 1910, he pledged him- self to seek, among other things, better sidewalks. He tried to accomplish many things, and did accomplish numerous notable ones, but one of the most conspicu- ous, if not the most important was the more than 200 miles of the best type of sidewalk which he caused to replace brick or broken asphalt in the city he loved, and to whose service he gave up his life. The city is comparatively clean because of a custom inaugurated in 1908 by the Civic Federation, known as "Clean City Week." It usually coincided, at first, with the Easter vacation in the schools, and the service of the pupils, boys and girls, was enlisted in the effort to use their influence to the end of clearing back yards, vacant lots and obscure streets of \insiglitly or unsanitary refuse. In addition, the boys were enlisted as inspectors. They visited all back yards so far as possible, all vacant lots and other repositories of rubbish, and reported the condition of those whose owners had not responded to the public appeal to clean up. At the end of the week another inspection was made, and progress, if any, reported. Meanwhile, the city had done what it could. In espceiall.y stubborn cases, the aid of an ordinance was invoked. In 1916 the cit.v took over this work, and carried it on through the schools. Volunteer citizens visited each school on the Friday before Cleanup week, pi-eaching the gospel of consistent cleanliness, not neglecting to emphasize its high advantage. The results have been evident and abiding. Almost every moderate sized city is called by its enthusiasts a "city of liomes. " New Haven has never very conspicuously made this claim. It has been, in recent years, a city of much building, largely of residences, in addition to many notable public and business edifices. The gap toward Westville, by either way of approach, has been almost entirely filled up. Residences have spread out almost to the city limits in the Yale Field direction. Two notable Vol. I 5 66 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN iuhtances of tliis etieet are often meutioued. Somewhere about 1900 the people at the west end of the city iwere alarmed because Roger Sherman School was placed so far beyond them, in the far edge of the residence district. Now the residences have spread so far and so numerously beyond it that the city has been compelled to make the Barnard School, w'hich stands for its part on "the far boundaries of civilization, "' draw off some of the district's surplus school population. In 1899 the people of the College Street Church, on selling their building to Yale University, were so daring as to select for their new building a site on far West Chapel Street, at the corner of Sherman Avenue. In a sense, it was in the western wilderness then. Now Plymouth Church, as the new edifice is called, is on the eastern front of its field. In other directions the population has spread out Dixwell Avenue far into Hamden, and out Prospect Street into the same town. Striking the encircling Ilamden in another direction, Wliitney Avenue is lined with comfortable homes almost continuously from its junction with Temple Street to Mount Carmel. It naturally follows that many, and prol)ably as good a proportion as in most cities, of these new buildings are what might lie called homes. Certain it is that the building and loan companies of New Haven are conservative, prosperous and sound, which tells something of the story. The habit of owning a two-family house in order to rent one part is very common, and judging by the appeals of the real estate men, very popular. The records of the savings banks, moreover, would indicate that whether the people are paying rent or buy- ing houses, they are saving money. New Haven observed utility rather than art in the building of its industrial plants. Other cities long have sought to make beauty spots of their factory dis- tricts; New Haven has not, as a rule, seen the use of it. It has followed the creed that if it produced the goods, the looks of the factory did not matter. Stern brick walls bound most of New Haven's factories and the rule is few lawns and no great amount of adorning ivy. In a word, most of New Haven's factories are outwardly old fashioned. But they are not so within, judged by their products. Manufacturing New- Haven is practically up to the times. It is a city versatile in its industries. Time was when a single, or at most two or three lines of manufacture stood out as distinctive of New Haven. In a measure that is true now, but not as it used to he. New Haven is not a brass town, not a silver town, not a hardware town — no longer a firearms town. Yet it makes, in measure large or small, most of the lines of goods which give Connecticut cities their distinctive names. A list of the things that New Haven makes would surprise many citizens, but it would not long be remembered by many of them. Let it suffice to know that New Haven makes toys as well as high class plumbers' house fittings, a large factory having recently been equipped for the manufacture of the former. New Haven makes a great many guns and explosive shells at any time — a tremendously increased number in this time of war. Biit New Haven also makes large numbers of modern pianos, and just outside the HOTEL TAFT, NEW HAVEN J AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 67 city, counted as a New Haven industry, is one of the famous pipe organ factories of America. New Haven corsets are advertised wlierever women wear stays; it is not as widely known that New Haven malies a hirge line of electric elevators. Clocks and watches are among the historic manufactures of New Haven; the city has a bird cage factory that is almost as famous iu its way. New Haven, of course, because of the inventions here of Goodyear, was one of the original rubber towns. Its extensive manufacture of automobile radiators is more recent. The list would be tiresome, but justice to the subject requires a glimpse of it. In addition to the things mentioned, there are made in New Haven folding paper boxes, cigars, candy, geometric tools, dies, sewing machine attachments, fishing reels, pliers, drop forgings of all sorts, wire in every variety, printers' machinery, hosiery and underwear, aeroplanes and airships, .spectacular fireworks of all sorts, concrete building stone, hack saws, saddlery .specialties, carriage and automobile bodies, suspender welibing, safes, silk and silk skeins. Factories for the making of these and a hundred other lines of goods fill aud overflow New Haven in half a dozen dift'erent directions. There are over 800 manufacturing estalilishments, with a capital of $12,000,000 invested in them. The endless variety stabilizes the manufacturing business in New Haven, since a dullness in one or even three or four trades has little eft'ect on the varied whole. New Haven is very far from being a one-industry town. New Haven has not followed the ideals of John Davenport religiously, but it has followed them intelligently. It has remained through all the years what it was at the first, a center of Congregationalism. Its fourteen churches of that order now include four distinct races of people not even conceived of by those who founded the sect. The gi-ound which Congi-egationalism has held in New Haven has not been without a struggle, for the city, as we may observe, has grown cosmopolitan. Not only are more than fifty tongues and dialects, repre- senting almost every country of the world, found in New Haven, but they have brought their religions. And none of the important sects which have sprung up in America in the years since New Haven's foundations were laid is without its church or churches here, unless we except that Unitarian Church which has been Boston's rebellion against the strictness of the older ordei-. The early churches clustered on the Green, which was well enougli while the city was small, and the people willing to follow the New England cu.stom of "coming to the center" to church. Those built somewhat later went only a little farther from the heart of the city. So it came about that in 1880 there were, on the Green or within two or three city blocks of it, five Congregational churches, the First Methodist Church, the leading Baptist Church of the city, the largest Catholic Church, three leading Episcopal churches, a Presbytei-ian Church and two Jewish synagogues. Ten churches centrally serving a population at that time about 63,000, was not" a large number, to be sure, hut it meant competition, not co-operation. For the population of New Haven had by that time begun to spread to distances which demanded churches in their own local- ities. A good part of it was in Fair Haven, and it had its own churches. "West- ville was a substantial community, with its ow-n churches almost from the be- 68 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN giimiug. Other outlying sections were well served by churches of the various denominations. And now the church forces of New Haven began to contend with another change to which they were somewhat slow to adjust themselves. As we have seen, a large part of the additions to New Haven's population since 1880 were from other races than those which formed the support of the original churches. The effect of this was most noticeable in the Wooster Square section, which had once been the city's most fashionable residence district. On the hai-bor side of this section the Italians especially had begun to come, and as they grew numerous and strong, they i:)ressed towards the square. They did not force out the old residents, exactly, for they had begun to move, but they pressed on tliem. New Haveners of the old line had not learned, then, what excellent substance for good citizenship then- was in these new comers. To them all foreigners looked alike, except that Italians were especially obnoxious. They moved. They left, in the moving, church buildings which not long before had held large congregations and active working forces. Instead of standing their ground, as some have done to "the glory of God and the blessing of man," these churches ''scuttled "' so to speak. Their congi'egations sold their buildings, and built elsewhere. This was true not alone of the Wooster Square section. This is only typical. But what is more important, it turned the current of church movement along the lines of least resistance, so to speak, all over the city. The churches no longer sounded imperative bells to call the people to worship. (There are comparatively few church bells in New Haven today, in fact.) Long since had the roll of the drum from the tower of the Meeting House on the Green lost its commanding power. The churches felt forced to follow the commanding move of the people, which was well, in a way. It has worked out fairly well for New Haven. It has helped in the breaking of the city into communities, which was inevitable, no doubt. The churches have, however, taken two courses. Center and Trinity and United have stood their gi'oiind on the Green. In the case of Center, this was the only course. It was the original church. It represented, still represents, the identification of the church with the community which John Davenport established. Center Church has not become less a denominational institution. It represents, nobly, cour- ageously, the principles of Congregationalism. But it performs in many ways a comnnmity service which gives it unchallenged leadership. In the very heart of New Haven its heavenward-pointing spii'e, its noble example of the interna- tional best type of free church architecture, stand to visualize the ideals of the church of God in the New World. In the heart of New Haven's people it stands, for many ages and man,y races and many generations have found within its walls the spirit of brotherhood, the ideals of a social service above any church or race or creed, which their souls have craved. Ably led, the mission which Center Church performs is for the saving of the people who have followed the paths John Davenport's pilgrims trod. In other ways not less noble and inspiring, some of the other churches have stood their ground. The notable example, in the Wooster Square district, is AND EASTEKN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 69 Saint Paul's Episcopal. This fine old church, placed in that part of the city to serve those of its faith among the old families of New Haven whose homes were around Wooster Square, faced the parting of the ways about 1900. Its people had in large part removed to other parts of the city, some of them remote. Those of other lands, other races and other languages and religious faiths had crowded around it. It must decide between the course which at least two other churches in the vicinity had taken, of selling its building and starting anew in some other part of the city, or of remaining in its place and becoming what has since come to be called institutional. This meant, in more ideal terms, that if it stood its ground, it would serve the people as it found them, in their midst, and in other ways than merely by its formal services on Sunday. It meant that it would, all in tlie spirit of its Master and Lord, serve mankind in many ways not included in the original New England conception. Saint Paul's chose the latter course. It stood its ground. It kept nn in the even tenor of its fine old Church of England ritual, so far as concerned its formal services. It was served, then and since, by some distinguished leaders, and more than once seekers of bishops have turned their eyes in its direction. Rut its people were loyal. Some of the most faithful of its supporters and workers caught the inspiration of the new opportunity. Saint Paul's remained, and served the people. Not only were the excellent facilities of the church's parish liouse devoted to the social center needs of the people of the district, but their attention was attracted in a conspicuous way by the opening of a neighborliood house around the corner, in the heart of the foreign section on AVooster Street. There were amusement and instructional opportunities which appealed to the residents of the neighborhood. There they had a place to gather, to read, to play games, to indidge in athletic sports. Boys' clubs and girls' clubs, men's and women's organizations, were formed for them. To them religion was made a natural, an appealing thing of life. And the people of Saint Paul 's led the way in minister- ing to their needs of guidance and instruction. Here in this neighborhood house, to make the service intensely practical, was opened one of the city's milk supply stations, where in the summer the poorest might get pure milk for the saving of the babies, and have friendly advice and help for the proper feeding of their children and the conduct of their households. In a somewhat different way, Davenport Cliurch at the coi-ner of Wooster Square took up the same work. Its people abandoned it, in a sense, in 1909, but they went to Center Church. That clmrch took the Davenport building and carried on there a work that would have greatly surprised and enlightened him from whom the clmrch was named. It was settlement work, witli the definite churcli organization as a center. With an Italian pastor at first — New Haven still re.ioices in the work which tlie Rev. Francesco Pesaturo did there — later with a pastor specially trained for work of this sort. Center Church has main- tained here a home, partly religious, partlj^ non-sectarian, for the Italians of the city. Those of non-Catholic and Congregational beliefs join the church, and their children attend the Sunday school. Others, particularly the boys and 70 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN youug meu of the ueighborhood, are affiliated through non-sectariau boys' club or Boy Scout or other social center work, lu this department of the service of Davenport settlement Allen B. Lincoln of Center Church was for years a leader of power and influence, and never will New Haven cease to benefit from the seeds of good citizenship, of sturdy manhood, of true brotherhood, of under- standing of the best that is in America, which he sowed in the good soil of the well disposed youthful minds which came under his influence. Otiier fhurehes have joined in a similar way in the needed work of teaching American ideals to the multitude from other lands who make up so great a part of the population of modern New Haven, notably the Church of the Redeemer in its Welcome Hall work on Oak Street. This church, by the way, has also yielded to the change caused by New Haven 's expansion, and is about to establish itself in a new home at the corner of Whitney Avenue and Cold Spring Street. Its fine old edifice at Orange and Wall streets, where the Rev. Jonathan Todd and the R^'V. Watson L. Phillips and others made it a power, has been disposed of to another church which was forced to yield to the changing character of the city. Trinity Gei-man Lutheran Evangelical Church, formerly at the lower end of George Street. Sn the expanded New Haven has today churches which conveniently serve all its residence districts, while its center is still well supplied. It has eighty- two churches in the city proper, with a dozen more which are so closely affiliated with New Haven's interests in general as to properly belong to the city. The single denomination of 1640 has grown to twelve. The Roman Catholic denomi- nation has seventeen churches, doing consecrated service in religion and edu- cation. The Jewish church has its six synagogues, maintaining not only the worship of its faith and order, but serving the whole community in many useful ways. New Haven has not depended on Yale University for its reputation as an educational center. Independent of Yale, there has been made here a notable record among the towns of the state and of New England. New Haven not only has a good system of education ; it has a difl'erent one whose difference consists in the fact that it is better. It makes no empty boast of this ; it makes no boast at all. for it has, as will be later shown, the substance in evidence. Aside from Yale University, whose nine departments serve every higher educational need, New Haven has one of the best of the state's training schools for teachers. In the substantial building at the corner of Howe and Oak streets Arthur B. Morrill and a corps of teachers with splendid ideals of the profession to which they have devoted their lives, perhaps the most vitally important of the profes- sions, are annually sending out to the schools of New Haven and of Connecticut a hundred young women whose work is to be for the saving of the state. New Haven has a high school remarkable in its history, more remarkable in its recent development. Long ago it outgrew the Hillhouse building on Orange Street, and went to its new edifice on York Square — the only private park in New Haven. The rapid development of the city's school requirements made it a question, for several years, whether a single central institution, with its uni- AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 71 forinity of result, would not need to be saeriticcd to a demand for more room. There was a struggle between those who wanted to keep the high school one and those who would divide in districts. The outcome was not a victory, exactly, for either side, but a compromise by which the central plant is enabled to serve not only the city but a good deal of the suburbs. Here — not to quote figures which constantly change from year to year — is an institution containing more students than the average of American colleges, equipped at present, considering all its departments, as well as any high school in Connecticut and surpassed by few in New England. For it is four schools in one. In the high school building proper the usual work of a high school is carried on. In the Boardman Manual Training School bixilding are the manual and scientific portions of the high school and the whole organization of the apprentice shops (the trade school, itself an institution in respect to which New Haven leads the country). Re- cently, an added building has been erected to house the commercial school, which makes the fourth distinct department of the New Haven secondary education system. In fifteen wards. New Haven has fifty-two graded schools, where a force of between 600 and 700 teachers instruct the nearly 30,000 children of the city — children, seemingly of every race and origin e.xistent. Yet so excellent is the system that from the "melting pot" is turned out annually, by way of grammar or high or normal or trade or night school, much of the pure gold of satisfactorily trained and understanding citizenship. It is needful here, in tracing the causes which shape the New Haven that is, to mention only a few of the moral forces of the city aside from its religious and educational systems. Not even a sketch of the development of modern New Haven can omit the associations for the Christian culture, on broad and non- sectarian grounds, of the city's young men and young women. The Young Men's Christian Association, with more than half a century behind it, has had, as have most associations dating as far back as that, its struggles for existence. When it ambitiously assumed responsibility for a modern association building about 1900, it took a burden which staggered it. It suffered from the mistakes of management that are inevitable to such an experience. It was not until 1914 or thereabout that the association came into its own, and was able to give its full attention to the saving of New Haven, without having to worry about what it should eat and wear and burn. Standing today firm in the confidence and support of the substantial people of New Haven, it is performing, as justification for their support, a work of formation of character whose value cannot be described. A similar experience of struggle has been the lot of the sister organization, the Young Women's Christian Association. The demands of its work, as the city grew, constantly went ahead of its resources. It has long needed an ade- quate building — which it will get some day. Meanwhile, with the facilities it has, it is doing an indispensable work for the young women of New Haven, especially those who need, for a longer or shorter time, what may stand in the place of home life and influence. 72 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN New Haven has iu its modern time many organizations, ambitious to attain many ends. Churches and educational forces maintain societies to the end of the improvement of the religious, the moral or the social life of the city. Not infrequently they have been found duplicating each other's work, getting in each other's way. It was the thought that something might be done toward harnessing and harmonizing all this effort, that was a part of the idea in forming the Civic Federation. Elsewhere the history of this institution and the names of the persons who made it will be told. Let it be mentioned here as a force in the peculiar formation of the modern community we are considering. There was so much to be done in New Haven when the awakening came. There were evils to be contended with — moral, social, physical. There was need to build up a harmonious civic spirit. The town was disjointed, spread in cliques. There was need for a ennnnon force to hold together its workers of good will, in which neither race nor sect nor creed should separate them. They should be united in a common task. The Federation would find the ta.sk, it would gather the workers, it would set them at work. It would act as a clearing house, as it were, of the organizations already at work. It would assume the role of guide, counsellor and friend of them all. Something of all this has been accomplished. But the federation never found a rope quite long enough to hitch its wagon to that star. It was able, nevertheless, to do a lot of good, to exert a positive and lasting influence on the whole community in some of the directions it sought. It has found tasks enough ; it has found many workers. It has done not a little in getting them together. But, to repeat a common excuse, "New Haven is peculiar." It was a good while set in its ways. The fedei-ation did not find all of the organizations, espe- cially some of the old ones, ready to follow. It found, for instance, that the Chamber of Commerce assumed much credit for its age and standing, little ac- complishment as it was able to show for its years. And it may live to confess that what stirred it up and set it out on a new career that accomplished something for the city, was the activity of the Civic Federation, It is worth mentioning here that, finding that in many departments of activity they were following the same paths, the committees of the chamber and of the federation joined hands, and met in joint session. The result to New Haven was substantial, though not always tangible. It was, in general, an awakening. In more directions than in the chamber old and dormant forces were set to work. The city government itself saw where it could improve. The charter which New Haven put into operation in 1900 was a distinct advance, and some sixteen years later another attempt was made to secure, this time, a truly modern charter by the standards of today. That attempt has not yet arrived at success, but it is on its way, and it knows whither it is going. So in many forms the result has come. New Haven has better government, better streets, more regular building lines, better forms of central architecture, better theaters and cleaner forms of amusement, with some of the objectionable features of the old eliminated ; it has better living conditions, it has fewer flies and mosquitoes, it has fewer temptations to young men and young girls, it has AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 73 greater safeguards arouud its juveuile and other delinqiieuts, it has a better jail, it has better conditions in a hundred ways, because of the Civic Federation. To mention at present but one other modern moving force in New Haven, the Chamber of Commerce's day has been in this awakening time. Founded in 1794, it slumbered longer than did Rip Van Winkle, but its awakening- was more to the purpose. Perhaps it is just as well not to assign a date, but it was about 1906. It went after the people first. From a membership of 200 or thereabout it went to 800 in 1909, and to 1,200 five years later. It is still moving on. The Business Men's Association had then been founded for some time, to perform the well known and stereotyped functions of such organizations elsewhere. The Publicity Club was founded in 1910, with the avowed intention to "boost New Haven." It did its work so well that the chamber a few years later saw the virtue of a triple entente, and the three organizations w-ere merged in one, each, however, retaining in large measure its distinct membership. The chamber has had some notable banquets since its awakening, and at least two of the Presidents of the United States have at different times addressed gatherings of more than 1,000 of the leading men of the city in the great dining room of Woolsey Hall, but it has done a lot "between meals." It has boomed New Haven in everj- legitimate way, largely by quietly but insistently emphasizing the good points existing here, largely omitting those merely hoped for. It has been discovering the good points of New Haven, and advertising them. It has missed no opportunity of "putting the best foot forward" of the town, diplomatically and courteously serving as host to all bodies of visitors, financing, through com- mittees of its members, many conventions which would bring large asserablages here, enabling New Haven in every way to make the best of itself. Such are a few of the high lights of the New Haven that is, as the twentieth century grows toward the close of its second decade. It is not the complete New Haven. There are many details in the picture, some of which are to be filled in later. New Haven is not ideal ; it longs to be. It has men of vision, with ambitions for it. Some of them achieved, in the first decade of the century, what is too important as prophecy, even though yet unfulfilled, to be omitted from a modern history of the community. What that is it will be the attempt of the following chapter to tell. It is a story of the "City Beautiful." the New Haven that would be if it were to be made over from the viewpoint of this century. CHAPTER X THE IDEAL NEW HAVEN A REVIEW OF THE RESPECTS IN WHICH THE REPORT OP THE CIVIC IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE SUGGESTED THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CITY George Dudley Seymour has beeu known as the father of the '"City Beauti- ful" as applied to New Haven. It will appear that he deserves a somewhat more exact definition of the work he has done in pointing the way for New Haven toward the ideal in niunieipal development. He was not the first, per- haps, of New Haveners who wandered in the beautiful paths of the Old World, to desire that his own city might be developed somewhat in proportion to its possibilities as those cities have beeu. lie was not the first, it may be, of the New Haven observers of what American cities much younger than this have achieved in the direction of municipal beauty, to wish that this pioneer city of America might be developed in harmony with its traditions and historical importance. But be was the first, it seems, to match his hopes and faith with works. No one knew better than he how hard it was to "start New Haven." But never- theless, he boldly attacked the task. It was in 1907 that Jlr. Seymour embodied, in a series of thoughtful and most carefully elaborated articles in one of the New Haven newspapers, somewhat in detail, with some illustrative views of the city as it was, his "City Beautiful" plan. The phrase caught, but the people did not take it very seriously. It would cost money to change New Haven over in that way. Just then, let it be explained. New Haven was drawing near the close of a disastrous — as it proved — period of attempt to see how low the tax rate could be kept, to the utter disregard of things that needed to be done in the city. Schools and streets and especially New Haven's wonderfully potential but undeveloped park system, had suffered. But the people had conceived the notion that it was a great thing to refrain from spending money. They politely laughed at Mr. Seymour's expensive tastes in making over a city. "City Beautiful," repeated by those who but partly sensed what it meant, caught up l)y others who knew nothing at all about it, became something very like a joke. ]\Ir. Seymour took it good naturedly, but be did not in the least lose his grip on the thought. He had accomplished, for the time being, what he desired. He had got the people to talking about a better New Haven. At least it had dawned upon some of them that somebody thought the city could be improved. He published, in the New Haven newspapers of June 5, 1907, an "open letter," 74 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 75 proposing certain very defiDite thiugs, the first of which was a mass meeting of the citizens to consider proceeding ou a citj- improvement plan. As a result of that letter, or at least following its publication, Mayor John P. Studley called a mass meeting in Colonial Hall on the evening of June 19. It was largely attended, and the discussion showed encouraging interest in the subject dis- cussed in the letter. This resolution, offered by Henry C. White, attorney, and seconded by Burton Mansfield, attorney, was approved by several prominent citizens in appreciative speeches, and then passed unanimously : "Voted: — That a committee be appointed by the Mayor, of which he shall be a member ex officio, to include one member of the Board of Aldermen, one member of the Board of Park Commissioners, and nine other citizens, to employ experts to prepare a plan for the improvement of the city of New Haven, if after con.sideration they deem this course advisable ; to procure, by appropriation or otherwise, the money necessary to pay the charges and expenses of such experts, if employed; and to bring any plan which may be made to the attention of the government and people of the city, with the committee's recommendations in regard to such plan ; said committee to have power to add to and fill vacancies in its membership." Within a few days, pursuant to this resolution, Mayor Studley appointed this "New Haven Civic Improvement Committee" of twelve members: Hon. Rollin S. Woodruff, Hon. John P. Studley, George Dudley Seymour, George D. Watrous, William W. Farnam, Frederick D. Grave, Max Adler, James T. Moran, Frederick F. Brewster, Harry G. Day, Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr., Harry H. Townshend. Meanwhile, as a further part of the work of preparing the mind of New- Haven for the plan, this course of lectures was given, open to the public without charge, in the Trumbull gallery of the Yale Art School. It had been suggested and was partly arranged by Prof. John F. Weir : December 3, 1908, Mr. Frank ^liles Day, president of the American Institute of Architects, "Civic Improvement in the United States;" December 10, 1908, Mr. Cass Gilbert, A. I. A., S. A. R., "Grouping of Public Buildings;" December 17, 1908, Mr. John M. Carriere, A. I. A. (of Carriere & Hastings), "Civic Im- provement as to Parks, Streets and Buildings;" January 21, 1909, Mr. Walter Cook, trustee of the American Institute of Architects, "Some Considerations in Civic Improvement;" January 28, 1909, Mr. Frederick Law^ Olmsted, Jr., A. S. L. A.. "Parks and Civic Improvements;" February 4, 1909, Mr. Charles Howard Walker. A. I. A., "Embellishment of Cities." The discriminating and the true seekers after progress improved this opportunity, and had their reward, but they were not discomforted by much crowding. Meanwhile, the work had been financed, according to the terms of the resolution, by ninety-five citizens, and New Haven waited for the appearance of the report. It came on September 26. 1910, in the shape of a handsome, finely printed, attractively illustrated octavo volume of 136 pages. And all of its press matter was good meat. One wonders how many of the people of New Haven have ever 76 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN read it, how many of them do not even yet know of its existence. Yet it is the law and the gospel of the "City Beautiful," the code of rules on which, as fast as New Haven advances in real civic improvement, it must proceed. As such, the report itself is legitimate history. An attempt will be made to condense here the essence of the recommendations of the report. II As a basis for the reconniiendations there was a statement of the present con- ditions and tendencies. By a diagram it was shown that not only has New Haven been growing at a steadily increasing rate, but that many of those now living will see the completion of the process by which it is being transformed from the pleasant little New England college town of the middle nineteenth centurj', with a population of relatively independent, individualistic and self- sufficing householders, into the widespread urban metropolis of the twentieth century, the citizens of which will be wholly dependent upon joint action for a very large proportion of the good things of civic life. The accompanying diagram showed the population growth of New Haven from 1850 to 1910, with parallel growth-curves of certain larger cities. The climax of the showing was that if New Haven follows the experience of the other cities similarly situated, it will have a population of some 400,000 in the year 1950. And the end of the twentieth century, we were somewhat sensation- ally told, might see a population of a million and a half centering in the New Haven Green. It w-as desirable, therefore, to remodel, to build, to plan with that possibility in view. There was a second diagram, less theoretical, charting the composition of New Haven's population in 1910. It showed that the city had obtained about one-third of its increase in population through immigration. That the Irish, though still predominating among the foreign born of 1900, were actually de- creasing in numbers, while the more recent immigrants from southern and east- ern Europe bade fair soon to overtake the older sources of foreign population and probably to increase materially the total percentage of foreign born in the city. Moreover, the birth rate of the Italians and Russians was strikingly higher than that of the earlier immigrants, that of all the immigrants was higher than that of the native born, and that of the native born of foreign parents was greater than the rate of births among native parents. Therefore it was clearly evident that the percentage of old New England stock in the population was progi-essively diminishing. People of the old New England stock still to a large extent controlled the city, and if they wanted New Haven to be a fit and worthy place for their descendants, it behooved them to establish conditions about the lives of all the people that would make the best fellow citizens of them and of their children. New Haven was summarized as a town of many industries, a local distrib- uting center, a local coastwise shipping port, an educational center of national importance. Its conditions were such that "people here can work hard and AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 77 enjoy life.'" The iufereuce was that New Haveu could afford to do what was reeomiuended. lu the lifetime of the present generation, the city has changed from a New England country town, in which one could in a short walk, and under com- fortable elms, cover the space from center to suburb. It is now a widely spread city, said the report, becoming centrally congested, yet so spread as to furnish the street railway company with 31,599,4:53 fares a year. Yet not only have the old streets been left unwidened, but new ones show no plan to match changed and prospective conditions. For the people themselves, especially the young, there had been provided no recreation facilities. These were but hints of what the distinguished planners (the names signed to the report were Cass Gilbert and Frederick Law Olmsted) were going to propose. As to New Haven's financial ability to adopt their conclusions, they said further: '"So far as appears on the face of the figures, there seems to be no reason why New Haven shoud hesitate, on the score of financial difficulties, to undertake a liold and farsighted policy in needful public improvements, provided the work is done without extravagance, waste or corruption." The report then proceeded with mention of the kinds of improvement most needed. It is worth knowing that the first of these was, in the opinion of the distinguished experts, a new railroad station. The railroad should have a better s.ystem of freight yards, on filled land seaward, to give New Haven more room. It should provide more sidings for the factoi'ies. On the marshes to the east of the Quinnipiac seemed the best place for those. New Haven Harbor, instead of occupying a minor position, should be brought up more nearly to its possibilities. New Haven should control more of its shore properties (a suggestion then and since woefully disregarded). New Haven should have wider main thoroughfares, because of the increasing traffic on them. This was something to which to look forward and plan. But two things were to be looked after at once: The widening of Chapel Street; the building of a proper approach to the station. The fact that two principal arteries of street ear traffic cross each other at grade, making serious hazard and delay, suggests the need of a subway some- where from the northern approach on Whitney Avenue near Grove Street, passing under the center of the city and emerging south of George Street. There was an extended discussion of street and building lines, with many general suggestions. The proper width of sidewalks to roadways was defined. The required width of streets when trees are to be preserved was set. The standard width in various European cities was given. The city was advised to conserve its trees, bury its wires and suppress its advertising signs. There was some very impressive figuring as to the cash value of well nourished shade trees. As to sewage disposal, while the report did not go deeply into the matter, some practical suggestions were made, one of which was that New Haven have one channel for its large but harmless flow of surface water, which might be 78 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN open, and other covered channels for its sewage. For the rest, the report sug- gested that the city study hard on a problem that is peculiarly its own. New Haven thought it had a fine system of parks in 1910, though it admitted a shortage of developed playgrounds. With the kindnes.s of a wounding friend, Messrs. Gilbert and Olmsted proceeded to treat these parks as if they were only crude beginnings. Great stress was laid on the fact that parks and playgrounds, to be good foi anything, must be brought to the people; the people who need them most will never go to them, at least not far. "Within easy walking distance of every home in the city," is the rule. This refers to what the report called "local parks." The fine mountain and landscape gardened parks are for driving and long-distance pedestrians and show. The' local parks are for the people. New Haven needed more of them, and of playgrounds. Chicago's plan of a park within a half mile of every house was mentioned. A map of New Haven showing great black areas unenlightened by parks in the far western, eastern and southwestern sections, wa.s shown. There were unkind remarks about the ridiculous microscopic "playgrounds'" of our schools. The report then proceeded to toll what might be done about it. something like this. First, to decide upon the general locality within which the local park is needed, to examine carefully the assessed valuations of property within the locality, and to select (tentatively) one or more sites which seem promising as to location and cheapness. Then, second, to obtain options on such of the land as it seems possible to obtain reasonably. Third, to ask publicly for the tender of lands for park purposes in the locality, and to hold public hearings thereon. And finally, guided by the information secured, to take steps for the securing of the land needed by condemnation proceedings. Something is said about the desirability, in sections where buildings must be crowded, of crowding them to some purpose ; that is, of so grouping them as to give a common court, and it is suggested that this might be a plan for .some unbuilt portions of the city. In closing this part of the subject, there is this touching reference to the "jjlaygrounds" of some of New Haven's schools: "Provision for this in New Haven up to the present time has apparently, been almost wholly ignored, as indicated by the table on the next page, which shows that the children, instead of having a provision of thirty or forty S(|nare feet of space in which to play, are in some cases crow'ded beyond all reason, merely dumped out and herded between classes or scattered after school." The city was complimented for its wisdom in having secured so much land in East and We.st Rock parks, Edgewood and Beaver Pond pai'ks, but was respect- fully reminded that it ought to get more without delay. It was hinted in this con- nection that the New Haven Water Company is more acquisitive and exclusive in its monopoly of land and scenery than the adequate protection of the water- sheds demands. The authors were keen on the need of the public for parks. It appears that they did not know- the New Haven Water Company, the demands on its system and the success it has had in providing a satisfactory water sup- ply, as well as do some of their fellow citizens. So the report did, in its specific suggestions, advocate not only the getting AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 79 hold, iu some way, of Lake Saltoustall watershed, Lake AVhituey shores and reservation, Lake Wiiitergreeu watershed aud Maltby Ridge Parkway, but of Allingtown Ridge and Allingtown Hill, Greist's Pond and Cherry Hill, Monto- wese aud Eoxou parkways and Peter 's Rock Reservation. These are iu the outer circle of park additions. There was in the main praise for the system of imier parks which we now have, aud suggestions of the sort which the park commissiouers have been car- rying out as fast as they could get the money. There were recommendations for further acquisitions, such as Springside Valley, Pine Rock, Highwood, Win- chester lakes and Winchester Parkway, and the advice, already adopted, to get the Mill River marshes. It was suggested that considerably more area be .secured in the vicinity of the Quinnipiac basin, in the direction of East Haven and Branford, at Morris Cove and at Savin Rock, in cheerful disregard of the fact that many of these suggestions — and in fact others all the way back — refer to lands entirely out of the New Haven jurisdiction. Some of the specific suggestions for improvement "'in the heart of the city" must suffice for completing this digest of a highly important report. A beginning is made at the Green. "The churches should be restored to their original appear- ance." (Center has already taken the hint.) There should be a public comfort station; an elTort has been made to secure this, but in vain. The band stand should be rebuilt; we gather that the present one isn't dignified. There is a suggestion out of which has been evolved the present "mall" at the lower end of the Green. There should be some control of the height of the jDublic build- ings around the Green. Some .space was given to plans for a plaza at the new railroad station, and to the elaboration of the approach to it. Then there was talk of a widened Commerce Street, of a new armory, of a Temple Street subway, of a "bee line" avenue from the station to College and Temple. A wave of economy has since swept away most of these thoughts. The remainder of the principal .suggestions may be thus summarized : Widen Orange Street from Crown to George, passing it tlirough the Second Regiment Armory. Extend Union Street at each end. Widen and extend Kimberly Avenue, with considerable reference to West Haven. Raise and widen Edgewood Avenue and extend it through Westville. (This has in part already been done.) Widen Water Street to at least double its present proportions. Eliminate the Belle Dock grade crossing and widen or replace with a new one Tomlinson bridge. CHAPTER XI NEW HAVEN GREEN ITS ORIGIN, OWNERSHIP AND PRESERVATION INTACT — ITS HISTORY AND ITS DEVELOP- MENT — ITS RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, CIVIC AND OTHER USES Probably all parts of the woods looked alike to that group of settlers who landed from the boats of the Hector on the banks of the West creek. If they could have looked forward a few years, or even a few months, they would have gone through the forest for a half mile or so to the northeast of where they came ashore, to find a spot for their first Sunday worsliip. In short, they would have located the center of what was afterward to l)e the Green, and holding their first public worship there, have made the succession unbroken. But it was getti)ij, late on Saturday when they got their goods ashore, and the shadows of the Sabbath were upon them. So they were fain to gather around their pastor and teacher the next day, as it turned out, under a fine old oak that was not far from the bank of the creek. It may be that they worshipped there on several Sundays of the summer that was just opening. They had no better place for some time. It may not have been so many months after that first worship that the Green was laid out. Henry T. Blake confidently says that it was in June or July of the same year that John Brockett laid out the city. We have already seen how he surveyed his nine equal squares, and made the Market Place their center. That, of course, was a mere survey, for all the tract was untouched wilderness, but work was begun in clearing and building at once. As one of the first needs was a place of worship, and as it had been decided that this was to be on the Market Place, we may assume that its lines were early defined on something more than paper. The Green as we know it now is an almost exactly square plot sixteen and five-hundredths acres in area, about 840 feet to a side, and little more than two-thirds of a mile around. It may be that John Brockett 's survey was wholly accurate, but it was easy, in the 132 years before the Green was actuall.v fenced in. for the lines to become displaced. At an^- rate, we know by measurement that the College Street side is twenty feet shorter than the Chapel Street, and ten feet shorter than the Elm Street. 80 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 81 It is hard in our time to get the point of view of the Davenport colonists in laying out this square, and reserving it to the purposes they did. They called it the Market Place, and we know so little of their meaning that this does not convey an adequate idea. It was not to he a park, for the modern conception of a park had not dawned. It was not to be a "common" after the manner of Boston's, though they had lately come from there. Probably the clearest idea of what they had in mind is given in the quotation which Mr. Blake makes in his "'Chronicles" from Rev. Dr. P'rancis Bacon's civic oration on May 30, 1879: "A place for public buildings, for military parades and exercises, for the meeting of buyers and sellers, for the concourse of the people, for all such public uses as were served of old by the Forum at Rome and the 'Agora' (called in our English Bible 'the market') at Athens, and in more recent times by the great square of St. Mark in Venice: or liy the 'market place' in many a city of those low countries, with which some of our foiuiders had been familiar ])efore their coming to this New World." All these ideals and more the "Market Place," the Green, tlie public square, the common, if you will, has served in its three hundred years. And more, for these founders of New Haven were of a very independent sort, who proposed to found a church-state-university — undreamed of trinity — such as the Old World had not known and the New World had not conceived. A study of the ends which the Green has served, more particulai-ly in its first two centuries, but hardly less in recent times, will convince that one could hardly find in all this land sixteen acres condensing moi"e of unfolding life and tradition and history and destiny than here is held. Here, as Mr. Blake eloquently says, "six generations educated their children and buried their dead." Here, as the heart and soul of the community that was to be, the first edifice for the worshiji of God was builcled, and here it was to remain through the centuries for the worship of God and the service of man. Here was to be the political and civic forum of the people, and here it has been until now. Here was to be the New World field of Mars, and here have, as a matter of fact, from the seventeenth centurj' to the twentieth, gathered the soldiers of this community for their training, for their reviews, for their start for tlie duty of "making the world safe for democracy." Here was to be the education campus, and here in very truth it has remained, though the great university has established its own hard by. Here was to be the site of temples of justice and of legislation, and for two centuries and a half the Green was not without a court house or state house ; while their visible form is gone, their memory still remains. Here was to be a market place, and for that the Green literally was used for a considerable part of its early history. The Market Place meant more, however, than a mere place of barter. It was a social center, a field where the people should gather for fairs and gala days, a rallying ground for the children, and these the Green has been. Here, finall.y, was to be the place of burial, and here, indeed, for almost two centuries after its estab- lishment, "the rude forefathers of the hamlet slept." In a word, it can safely 82 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN be claimed as the institution which, more than anything else, makes New Haven unique among the communities. The character of the Greeu, its integrity and even its existence, have not been maintained without a struggle. But to this end its peculiar ownership has materially contributed. Mention is frequently made of the "Proprietors Committee," and its origin is of interest. The wealth that was in the Daven- port-Eaton party, when it lauded, was not evenly distributed. Some few were the capitalists of that £30,000 or thereabout, and they became the landholders. "The Free Planters," as they were called. The original nine squares which John Brockett laid out, the tract later puchased from ilomauguin, the sachem, and the much larger purchase made still later from Moutowese — all these were held by the same "Free Planters." The Market Place, of course, was included in these. The other lands were dispersed, in time, to private ownership. Tlie Market Place alone remained in their holding. Later they were called "the proprietors," or more formally. "The Proprie- tors of Common and Undivided Lands," of which, naturally, there were for many years other tracts than the Market Place. In 1810, by authority of the General A.ssembly, a "Proprietors Committee" of five, independent and self- perpetuating, was created to hold the Gi-een and such other property as might properly be classed with it. That body still exists, and is the proprietor of the Green. It is. as New Haven has more than once had occasion to know, the bulwark of its liberties as far as the Green is concerned. It is worth recalling that when New Haven became a city in 1784, its first charter contained a surprising provision giving the city power to exchange the upper part of the Green "for other lands, for highways or another Green, and to sell and dispose thereof for that purpose." It goes without saying that this power was never exercised, but the provision is interesting. It may be an indi- cation that in that earl.y day there was a tendency on the part of the people to take the Green and do with it as they pleased. New Haven has not wholly got over that tendency yet, but there is hope that it will. Mr. Blake, who is a good lawyer, concisely remarks that the provision in the old charter "was cer- tainly extraordinary, and of course totally invalid." It never reappeared after the first revision. The growth of New Haven and the creation of conditions never conceived of when one-ninth of the original city was devoted to the Market Place, has made a tremendous pressure on the Green. Here is a piece of central real estate whose monetary value is set at $.3,500,000. The traffic which passes one corner of it was at one time, liefore New Haven took steps to divert some of it, as heavy as that at any street comer in America. New Haven has outgrown the old width of the streets which surround the Green, which were not, considering that their projectors expected this to become a commercial metropolis of the New World, measured with a prophetic eye. Not once nor twice have the "prac- ticalists" of modern New Haven cast envious eyes on the Green as a traditional and useless adornment occupying space some of which might well be used for purposes of necessary traffic. But against every such suggestion or effort the AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 83 proprietors of the Green, undoubtedly supported by the majority pulilic senti- ment of the city, have firmly stood. The most they would concede — and that, in the opinion of many, was too mueli — was the removal of the fence at the busy Church and Chapel street corner, and the paving of that part of the Green as a sort of concourse, which relieves the pressure and affords more easy crossing for those who pass from one trolley line to another. Thus a sort of "nibbling" process has begun at that corner, which may become serious if it goes too far. New Haven will have reason to remember the experience of 1917 as a result of the effort to encroach on the Green in another way. The multiplying motor car had la-ought about a use of the Green of which the makers of the Market Place little dreamed. That part of Temple Street which passes through it had become a popular parking place for automobiles. At times there would be a solid line of them all through the Green, on each side of Temple Street. The result was some congestion, and authoritative opinion said that there was need for more room. In front of the North Church and for a little distance to the south of it, the .street had some time previously, and for some reason (without authority, it appears) been widened several feet. The motorists and their friends now proposed to extend that widening all the way to Chapel Street, and also to add a .slice on the east side of the street. The result, as it appeared, would have been, not so much to widen the street, as to make possible the continued parking of cars there without interfering witli traffic. The people would have objected to any encroachment on the Green for any purpose but they more than objected to an encroachment to .serve the convenience of a few of the citizens, and they said so so strongly that the board of aldermen, after the mayor had once vetoed their act widening the street, receded from their position and forbade the further parking of cars on the Green. It was said by as good a lawyer as former Judge and Governor Simeon E. Baldwin that no action widening the street through the Green would in any case have stood in the courts. In all respects New Haven has stood against encroachment on the Green. Much as the city has needed a waiting room and shelter for the thousands who daily transfer at the Green corner between the various lines of street railway cars, the proposal to build it above the surface on the Green has been resisted from the first. It may be that eventually, observing more closely the largeness of the plan which its original makers had for the Green, there will be a yielding in this respect. II The settlers took New Haven as they found it. The sheltering harbor, and perhaps the natural location between the sentinel rocks, had attracted them. They were not terrified, if they knew, by the fact that a considerable portion of the point between the two creeks that emptied into the harbor west of the Quinnipiac was ordinary swamp. Neither did it prevent John Brockett from making:- the Market Place the center of his symmetrical nine siqaares that it was largely a swamp. The place where the pilgrims put their first church would 84 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN uot, by our standards, be L-onsidered a favorable cliureh site. .So we have to picture tlie Market Place of 1640 as a sandy, grassless tract to the northwest of the Meeting House, with rough stumps of trees between the forest survivors on its partly cleared area. But more dismal was the prospect from the front of the Meeting House. There, where the trees had been cleared off, their stumps stood out of just a plain, unrouiantic swamp, where the "peepers" peeped to herald the spring, wiiere the frogs croaked later and where the mosquitoes grew at every favorable opportunity. Out of that swamp, at the southeast corner of the Ma)'kel Place, a sluggish brook started on its way, ueeessitatiu-.; a foot bridge over it to pass along what was later Church Street, but was then "Th'' Mill Higliway" as it started northward. There were two causeways across the marsh of the lower Green, one coming from "Mr. Davenport's Walk," the private wa.v fi-om the rear of the pastor's house on lower Elm Street, and the other coming just where Governor Eaton would be likely to enter the Green in coming from his tine residence across the wa.v. There was a stockade, if we ma.v believe the most careful authorities, around tlie outside of the nine squares, and each of the other squares had its paling, but the Green enjoyed the doubtful distinction of having not even a railing to mark its boundary lines. Where the Green ended and Church or Chapel or College or Elm Street began was a matter for guessing. It was, in one sense, much of a "common." It liad its common and constant uses. On Sunday, the great day of the week, the roll of the first and the second drum, calling the people to worship, sounded from the turret of that great, square, cheerless first Meeting House in the exact center of the Market Place. Tliere the people gathered, earlier in the morning tlian tlie present luxurious church hour of eleven o'clock, we may well believe, since they liad to sit through a two-hour prayer and a two-hour sermon in addition to long expositions of the Scriptures, and deliberately "lined" hymns, and get through by noon. After an hour for some refreshment and warmth, which most of them got in their houses, it seems probaltle — this was before the da.ys of long journeys to the church — they reassemliled for a sei'viee very like unto the first. The chiUlreu, ranged on tlie pulpit stairs or along the sides of the room, must have yearned to look out on the pleasant scener.y of the Market Place, a wicked- ness for wliich they were sternl.y reproved, no doubt. In the short winter days, the closing numbers of the afternoon service must often have been in the dusk, or worse, and tlie people picked their way liomeward in the dark, having very decidedly "made a day of it." Yes, the people did use their Green on Sundays, and in a way niatei-ially different from its use now on a summer da,^■, when the uHiltitudcs i-est on the ]iark l)enches or on the grass, largely unlieeding tlie call of the churches. There were other sojourns on the Green in tliose days even more unpleasant, however. Governor Eaton meted out stern justice to the offenders brought l>efore him. and ruled tlie people with as stern a hand on the other six da.ys as Pastor Davenport did on tlie seventh. The stocks and the pillory were familiar features of the landscape of the upper Green, nearl.y opposite where Farnam Hall now stands. They were seldom witliout an occupant, following Governor Eaton's AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 85 court sessions. The "Gaol" stood nearly east of them, close by where now runs the walk which emerges from the Green at the corner of College and Elm. It had its frequent sojourners, too. There was a Watch house hard by it, for with the Gaol and the pillory and the stocks and an occasionally used whipping post, that part of the ilarket Place was a busy spot a good deal of the week. \Ve may suppose that this was as attractive a spot for the more or less idle youth of the town, and for all the youth and some of the elders who could get a spare moment to see the show, as some of the "movie"' theaters further down town now are. In appearance the old ]\larket Place changed but slowly. Tiie old stumps wore away with the years, the swamp gradually filled. But we may imagine that up to the end of the seventeenth century there was little definite improve- ment. The ^larket Place was for use, not for ornament. New Haven was having sufficient difficulty in maintaining its existence. When the colony legislative body met in New Haven, it used the old S(|uare Meeting House in the center of the Green. It was in 1719 that the first state house M'as built, on the northwest corner, nearly opposite the present Battell Chapel. It was not until 1769 that the Pair Haven Society built the predecessor of the present North Church, and still later that tlie first Trinity Church was built. Long before this, soon after the original Meeting House was Iniilt, in fact, there was a cabin sehoolhouse near where the North Church now stand.s — that was where Ezekiel Cheever had his brief educational career in New Haven. It seems to have been John Davenport's plan to keep the school as a feature of the Market Place, but that use of the square declined nnieh earlier than the others. This first state house, later used for a county house, was still later Tised for a town house for several years, being taken down about 1785 or 1790. It seems to have been about 1759 that the first positive attempt was made to beautify the Green. A row of trees planted all around the square flourished so well that they were making a good showing twenty years later. The efl'ect of the thus beautified Green was such tliat it is said to have been largely instru- mental in inducing the remark of General Garth, wlio led the British invasion of New Haven in 1779, that the city was "too pretty to burn." It sounds like a fairy tale, but if there is any truth in it, the New Haven of that time had reason to appreciate its Green. This planting of the Green with shade trees was a definite part of the begin- ning of the work of James Hillhouse the elder, and of the Rev. David Austin (later known as the founder of Austin, Texas) to make New Haven the "City of Elms." We hear of other inner rows of ti'ees on the east and west sides of fhe Green which they planted in 1796. More trees were planted in 1808, just which seems not wholly clear. But it is probable that about this time was started that Temple Street archway which was the pride of the "City of Elms" in the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. In 1839 the common council oi'dered 150 elms and maples planted on the Green. There seems to have been at least one definite attempt to make the Green a raai-ket place in tlie literal sense. In 1785 a Market House was built on Chapel 86 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Street at the southeast corner. The boundary lines were indistinct as late as that, and there is reason to suppose that this occupied a part oi' the Green's surface. But there were other markets more conveniently situated, and there is no evidence that this one had a prosperous existence. Apparently it was discon- tinued after a few years, and soon disappeared altogether. The Green was first fenced in 1800. That fence was of a type which came, perhaps in imitation of New Haven, to be characteristic of the village green in all New England towns. Squared and pointed posts supported a double row of those square rails, set with the edges upward, the whole painted white. That, it appears, was the orthodox green fence. Wooster Square had one like it, as we shall see. This fence stood until 1846, when it was replaced by the present stone posts and iron rails. The fence did not keep out the foraging horses and cattle, which continued to be pastured on the Green until August, 1821, after which the custom was discouraged. But the Common Council thought it necessary in 1827 to direct the committee in charge of the pulilie square to prevent horses and cattle from feeding on the Green. The swamp did not disappear all at once, and as late as 1799 there was too much water there, evidently, for permission — or perhaps it was an order — was then given to make water courses for carrying off the water. "It was more or less boggy until after 1820," Mr. Blake briefly remarks. From the time the first member of the Davenpoi't-Eaton party passed away- until 1797 the original Meeting House churchyard was in the Green back of Center Church. In the course of that 160 years the city of the dead easily became a large one. It was plain enough that unless the Green was to be devoted wholly to that purpose, some other burial ground must be found. Grove Street Cemetery was opened in 1797, and there probably were few burials on the Green after that. There surely were none after 1812. In 1821, or thereabout, most of the monuments were removed to Grove Street Cemetery. In 1849, the Dixwell monument was erected in the rear of Center Church. Street lights, as we know them, distinctly belong to the modern New Haven, The streets were lighted by gas until about the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury ; the Green was fir.st lighted by gas in 1855. When New Haven changed to electricity, the Green shared in the change. Of the "Great White Way" the Green got only the reflected light, though on not a few special occasions in the early part of tlie twentieth century the Green has been brilliantly and artistic- ally lighted, as on Fourths of July, and times of welcome to distinguished visitors. The lower Green, with the Liberty pole in the center, lends itself very favorably to that sort of decoration, and many times in recent years the Green at night has presented a scene of beauty long to be remembered. Of course the orthodox green everywhere has to have a "Liberty pole." This does not happen so, but is the definite result of the activities of a society known as the "Sons of Liberty," which came into existence at the time of the Revolutionary war, and made it its business to see that every town had a Liberty pole. The Green got its pole in 1775 or 1776, but the British soldiers who visited the town three or four years later probably saw to its taking down. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 87 even if they did spare tlie towa from burning. The pole was restored soon afterward. Public wells were an institution in the old New England town, and New Haven had its share, on the Green. There have been live wells on the Green in its time — all of blessed memory now. Two of these were tire wells, and did not .imouut to much. Another served for a considerable time. The fourth was the familiar old "'town pump" of a century, at the corner of Church and Chapel. The oldest well was dug nobody knows when in the vicinity of the old ' ' gaol. ' " Probably it slaked the thii-st of many sufferers, some of them in the pillory or the stocks, perhaps. It was closed somewhere between 1840 and 1850. The two fire wells stood, the first about 1797, at the corner of Chapel and Temple streets, and the other in 1819 near the corner of Elm and Temple streets. They w-ere usually dry, we are told. Perhaps this was from the drain of fire use, but it is more likely that they did not strike those unfailing springs which fed the swamp of old at the lower corner of the Green. They disappeared long ago. The well so many have known, for whose demise so many mourned, was dug in 1813 at the corner of Church and Chapel streets. Its familiar canopy and three-handled pump were erected in 1878, though the working parts of the pump must have had occasional renewal in the almost constant use it received for more than thirty years afterward. For the last two decades of the use of this well New Plaven 's size, and the increasing contamination of the soil and the spring sources, were such as to make its water decidedly dangerous to use, but the people, scorning typhoid or anything like it, clung to the dear old pump. Its water was cool in summer, and they liked it. Many pitchers came to its fountain in the 3'ears of its existence, even to the last. At length the city, despite protests, discontinued it in 1913. ^Meanwhile, the Bennett fountain's classic Greek temple, a gift of the late Philo S. Bennett, was erected at this corner in 1908. It never enjoyed the popularity of the well, for its stream is reservoir water. A "bubbler," fed from the same source, now stands near where the old pump was. Not so many people knew of the fifth well, and many of these have forgotten it. In his last term as mayor, about 1907, it seemed good to the Hon. John P. Studley to sink an artesian well at this corner, not many feet from the old pump. At a considerable expense, he drove a pipe down about 100 feet, and got a good flow of water. No pump was ever attached to it, for it was demonstrated that water from so large a spring would be worse contaminated than water from the old one. and the well was some time ago covered up. Ill In more senses than is commonly realized the Green has from the first been the heart and center of the life of New Haven. It was so in 1640, when the 300 or thereaboiit of Davenport's little company gathered from their nine squares with their 144 acres to worship on Sunday at the Meeting House on the Market Place. It is so in 1917. when a city of perhaps 175.000 people, living spread 88 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEAV HAVEN over 12,000 acres, comprising some fifty nationalities, sends all sorts of its people on Sunday either to worship in the churches on the Green, to rest on the park seats in the shade of its trees, or to stretch with their wives and children on its grass. These are the obvious uses. It has in its time served many purposes, and serves them now. Its utility and sentiment and historical and community im- portance do not in the least diminish with the years. It was from the first, as we have seen, a religious center. The original church has had three edifices there. The third, the noble Center Church which we see today, was erected in 1813. Trinity Church's handsome edifice, the second in its history, was built in 1814. The present North, or United Church building, standing near the site of the Fair Haven Church, also was erected in 1814. There was another church on the Green — two of them, in fact. It is familiar history, of course, that the original building of the First Methodist Church stood on the Green. There was more or less of an unpleasant looking askance, as late as 1821. of the old Congregational churches toward the Methodists, but there seems to have been no opposition to the erection of a church of this denomination there. It was probably because there was more room there — the old town house and prison and the other marks of crude penal practices, had long since dis- appeared — that the northwest corner of the Green was chosen. There the Methodists erected their first building. No doubt it was an old story, familiar to au earlier generation, which Mr. Blake delightfully revived in his "Chronicles," about what happened to this church when it was fir.st erected. The sinful pretense of the building they had planned seems to have filled the souls of the Methodist brethren with many misgivings. As we see it in the pictures, it was a square, bare building, without anything like a spire, looking for all the world like a barn except for its liberal supply of windows. Yet the brethren feared it would be too decorative. And the officiating elder prayed, we are told, that if it was not in accordance with Divine will the four winds of heaven might level it with the ground. The brethren might have been wiser in their generation, for they seem not to have completely finished the braces. And the very next day the wind arrived from heaven in the shape of the celebrated gale of September, 1821, and it was entirely sufficient. It laid the bricks of the edifice as flat as before they had even .seen mortar. The brethren appear not to have accepted this exactly as an answer to the prayer, or even as a warning against sinful display. Perhaps they compared it with the ornate churches in the center of the Green, and did some thinking. At any rate, they at once began to relay their bricks in the same spot, and finished the rebuilding a year later. There was another dedicatory prayer, but it is said to have been more caiitious. This building stood iintil 1848, when the people changed to their present building and site. It is noticeable that no compunction existed then against choosing a good type of architecture. The Green has always been, as it was intended to be, a political and civic forum for the community. It never served, as the faithful of the Davenport AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 89 party are said to have expected it to serve, as a gathering place for the people on Christ's second coming, but many a gathering in which his patriotic soul delighted has it seen in its three hundred years. Whenever the people would gather, there they have found room. Independence days have found mighty multitudes there of those who, though of many lands and tongues, became one on its free soil. The Green has always been the arena of free speech — too free speech, it has seemed at times. All political parties have been permitted to present their arguments there. Though New Haven and New England were against him, and though the young men of Yale hovered around and more or less positively voiced their disapproval, Mr. Bryan repeatedly spoke on the Green' in his tours preliminary to his defeats. Hiram Johnson presented there in 1912 the claims of Mr. Roosevelt. It has seen many stirring scenes, heard much fervid eloquence, and still remains to serve as a gathering place for such of the people as would hear any message of citizenship. In a distinct and conspicuous sense, the Green has been an educational camj)us. John Davenport, it may be, would have erected his college on the Market Place, if he had achieved it in his time. It was not to be then, and when it did come, it was for sufficient reasons to be elsewhere. Even Daven- port 's more primary educational system did not long flourish on the Green. The common meeting ground of all the people was to serve the community's educational ends more broadly. It had, to be sure, the first schoolhouse in New Haven, built very soon after the first Meeting House. Hopkins Grammar School - was there, too, and served through fifteen decades of the colony's struggling educational beginnings. We find, moi-eover. that the first town library, about'' 1661, was housed in this first school building. The building remained for some time after that, and the Green apparently was regarded as the place of educa- tion, at least until some time after the appearance of Yale in New Haven. Yale has from the beginning had direct relations with the Green. It was in the old Meeting House on the Market Place that the General As.sembly of 1701 confirmed the charter prepared by James Pierpont and his associates. It was on that same I\Iarket Place, in the fleeting House or in one or another of the succeeding state houses, that the General Assembly passed most of the otlier acts vitally affecting the progress of the college. It was in Center Church that the college, up to the time when Woolsey Hall was completed soon after 1900, held its annual commencement exercises. There still the scholastic procession forms which annually proceeds to Woolsey Hall. There the students of the college attended church until well on in the nineteenth century. New Yale's first im))rcssion of old Yale is generally gained from the Green, and many a stiident dweller on the east side of the old cpiadrangle found inspiration during his four years, from the view his windows afforded of the fine old square. There the students have been wont to gather when they would "gambol on the Green," and there have been gatherings of them there, as we have seen, that did them less than credit. But Yale continues to have a more or less sentimental interest in the Green, and feels, Avithnut challenge from the people, a sort of joint pro- prietorship. 90 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN For two centuries the Green was the seat of judicial tribunals, and still is, in a sense. Such judicial standing as the old gaol, stocks, pillory and watch house, had, was there maintained at the very first, though Governor Eaton, it seems, had his seat of office in his imposing house on Elm Street. The Meeting House, being the only adequate public building for almost all of the first cen- tury, served as the state house as well, when the legislature met in New Haven, up to 1719, when the first state house was built near the coi-ner of College and Elm streets. It served until 1763, when the second, as we have seen, was erected on Temple Street, between the first Trinity Church and Center Church's predecessor. It disappeared in 1828, to give place to the last state house which the Green saw, built in 1831. It stood, as many of the residents of New Haven well recall, on the slope to the westward of Center Church. Its use as a state house was discontinued, of course, when New Haven ceased to be the joint capital, but the sentiment of New Haven and the architectural dignity of the building preserved it until 1889. There are many who wish it had been pre- served longer. The not generally regretted tendency, however, has been to keep the modern Green clear of buildings. All of New Haven's chief judicial and legislative buildings have always overlooked, and still overlook, the Green. The Green has served as the "ge"neral training ground" of tlie colony days, the military field of later times. There were gathered and drilled such forces as New Haven furnished for the help of its neighbors in the Indian trouble days before the Revolution. There the "minute men" rallied. There, on an occasion which New Haven is not permitted to forget, the Foot Guards were drawn up after their victorious encounter with the selectmen and the receipt of their supply of powder, and received pastoral admonition and spiritual speeding on their mi.ssion from the Rev. Jonathan Edwards. It was on the Green, that is, in Center Church, that the citizens met in 1779 to devise ways and means to defend the town against the British invasion that was on the way. It was there, probably, that the British invaders issued their futile proclamation of their king's sovereignty over everything in sight. It was there, certainly, that they received their impression that New Haven was "too pretty to burn." It was on the Green, ten years later, that the exultant people gathered to welcome the nation's hero of the war, and its first president. General Washington. In was on the Green, when three-quarters of a century later the clouds of the Civil war lowered, that the defenders of the T^nion met when making ready to go to the battle front. It was there, in the half century following, that New Haven held all its military reviews and demonstrations. It was never a field more seeming martial than in the thrilling months following the American recognition of war in 1917, when college men and townsmen alike drilled there daily in preparation for the service of their country on a foreign field. The Green has often afforded a meeting place for the children, in jubilees, Sunday school gatherings, meetings of school children, folk dances and the like, in this respect fulfilling the mission of the Old World market place. Two notable occasions of the sort were the Children's Jubilee, on July 23, 1851, when AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 91 fourteen Sunday schools assembled on the Green after a short parade ; and again on October 8, 1916, when the Green was the objective point of the gi'eat Sunday school parade which was a part of the advertising convention of the New Haven Publicity Club. At that time fifty Sunday schools of New Haven and vicinity, with over 5,000 in line, paraded the principal streets of the city with floats and banners, and afterward gathered on the Green to sing, listen to addresses and receive banners of award. For several years the children of Lowell House and the playgrounds gave an annual exhibition of drills and fancy and folk dances on the Green, and few American cities have seen finer sights than these groups of children, presenting on this New World field of democracy some of the scenes familiar to the market places of the Old World. The Green in New Haven has been the model for many of the daughter towns • of the New Haven district. Guilford has a green almost as large, and as much of an institution in the town. Madison's green is its civic center, for generations the pride of the town. East Haven, West Haven, Branford, have their dis- tinctive if less imposing central squares. It would be interesting to know how many towns there are in New England, particularity in Connecticut, which got their inspiration from the Green at New Haven. For this is a peculiarly New- Haven institution, almost as peculiar to the town as are East and West Rocks and Yale University. It is with reason that the town regards it with peculiar pride, and jealously guards it from encroachment. CHAPTER XII NEW HAVEN'S PARK SYSTEM ITS MODERN DEVELOPMENT FROM EAST AND WEST ROCKS — THE INTERESTING SYSTEM OF CITY SQUARES New Haven had tlie (ireen, strange as it may seem, fnr almost two centuries and a half before it had a pulilie park. It had Wooster Square, a smaller imita- tion of the Green, for more than fifty years, but it never thought of it as we in these days think of a park. Perhaps the existence of these and other public squares, creating the impression that the city was well supplied with breathing spaces, delayed rather than helped the beginning of an adequate park system. The New Haven of 1880 had only sixty-three thousand people. It was a com- modiovis city, for that number, and they seemed to have plenty of room. The conception of the twentieth century public park had not dawned, at least not upon New Haven. Nor is it less surprising that when New Haven went into parks, it went in with a rush. The two notable landmarks. East and West Rock, which had dis- tinguished New Haven for three centuries and more, were the inspiration. Per- haps the idea of making them public parks did not dawn all at once. The good work was started in 1880. when the city received the gift of eighty-seven acres ad- joining East Rock. Gifts of money to the extent of twelve thousand dollai-s were received from public spirited citizens, and with that money East Rock was purchased from the then owner, the late Milton J. Stewart. It is a popular tradi- tion that he found the money just sufficient for the erection of the twelve identical and unlovely tenement houses, which for thirty-five years thereafter desperately clung to the edge of State Street next to the meadows near Mill River, and were commonly known as "Stewart's Folly." Anyway, he built them, and the story is that they did him little good. They passed from hand to hand, and from one stage of dissolution to another, until in the course of human events and park progress East Rock itself extended to them in 191.5. A short time afterward, the city erased the last of them, and poetic justice was complete. Several hundred acres were inehided in the first purchase, but it lay prac- tically idle in the hands of the city for several years. East Rock's summit was accessible to the good climber, and he was well repaid. But the attention of the 92 vyj^^ ^.■^n-^^ptt-f ,. ■' ^ viumv •' ^i«fWiiiiur: . r^I.v5=Nti* ^ •3^V — '^1 JUDGES' CAVE. OX WEST KU( K. NEW HA^•EX. WHEKE SOilE OF THE REGICTDES WERE HIDDEN -^rnnfi^ir^^M ilM^jH ,. ,!«*t. ^ . -.^^^r -. . , :f j^*»*<--~ -^SHHifl MHMHfefi9BS!9HBSSilHl£^4;w "? '^ ; ; "^vy«7.jiiBJ^^^^^^^^B '^C"* ^ S^K^ j^^^ffiff.^; n-yig if } 1 ' ''-^l Cs a ~^;-- i=4^- f ■ - ' . , .. " '■-<>■ '---» V . .->--> art,. ilM-- ■'. ,.rr*l Eicasr ^p>- ^^■j kP ^^^^^^^I^^K^ ' ^SMB ■'^PB ^^^^^ ^8! Hi. CELLAR AT GUILFORD IX «"HICH GOVERNOR WILLIAM LEETE CONCEALED THE REGICIDES CWFFE AND WHALLEY IN 1661 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 9S city in general was little attracted. The park project, however, had good friends. Henry T. Blake, who has made the Green historic by his "Chronicles," had the vision, and earnestly advocated the development of East Rock Park. He was ably seconded by others, chief among them Henry F. English of the present park commission. They kept the matter before the public until they secured funds for the laying out of a drive to the summit of East Rock. Next came the decision of the city to erect its soldiers' monument at the summit. There it was completed in 1887, at a total cost of $.50,000, and stands a.s a landmark that accents the notaljle eminence, verily — "First glimpse of home to the sailor, as he makes the liarbor round. And last slow, lingering vision, dear to the outward bound." It memorializes, with its bronze tablets bearing their names, the soldiers and sailors of New Haven who died in the great wars between 1766 and 1865. East Rock rises sheer 363 feet above the New Haven plain at its foot, and this shaft of granite tops it for 112 feet more. Bj' gradual additions the extent of East Rock, as the first and now the largest of New Haven's parks, has grown to 423.05 acres, and it embraces not only the whole of East Rock and Indian Head adjoining, but reaches over a broad strip of wood and meadow on each side of Mill River, extending from AVhitney Avenue and Lake Whitney on one side to Orange and State streets on the others. It is approached by drives from Whitney, Orange and State streets and the Ridge road. There are now within it six miles of footpaths and nearly seven and one-half miles of drives, three of which wind from different entrances easily toward the summit. Thus easily reached — two electric railwa.ys take those who cannot walk the two miles from city liall to the entrance of the park — East Rock Park is a favorite public resort at all but the hottest and the winter seasons of the year. Aside from the well kept drives and paths, and some lawns and a few flowers around the monument at the summit, nature has been mostly undisturbed, except over at that spot near the State Street entrance known as the "Zoo." There a miscellaneous and growing collection of animal and bird life is kept on exhibition, eompi-ising a number of bears, some guinea pigs, hares, peacocks, pheasants, guinea hens and bronze turkeys. This collection proves very popular with the public. From the brow of the rock itself lies the city spread out, a near view for all who care to see it. To the southward are the hai'bor and the Sound, with the white sand cliffs of Long Island looming up on a clear day. To the east and northeast are some glimpses of North Haven, with the "Sleeping Giant" always stretched in the distance. And the Hanging Hills of IMeriden are visible lie.yond, at times. It is a view that well repays the climb, and never grows old for the real admirer of New Haven's distinctive scenery. Next in size, next in age and doubtless next in importance is the twin park of West Rock. New Haven was well committed to the park business, and had East Rock well in hand, when it acquired the greater part of West Rock. Here, with the additions that have since been made, are 281 acres of historic ground. 94 A MODEKN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN For West Koek, iu addition to its natural advantages of elevation and scenery, gets its interest from the fact that at one end of it is that split boulder known as "Judges' Cave." Whether or not there was in 1661 anything there that could properly be described as a cave nobody now living knows. But it is pretty certain that in those days West Rock was a fairly inaccessible spot, 'perhaps fortified by wild beasts as well as by bad climbing against any minions • of the second Charles who may have come hunting the judges who condemned the first. Today, this cleft in the rocks might casually screen a man from sight, but liardly would effectually conceal him from a persistent hunter. It has, of course, been a constant subject of public curiosity. To stimulate some historical accuracy in the observation, the Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars recently erected a handsome bronze tablet on the face of the boulder, recording the fact that here in 1661 Goffe and Whalley, two of the regicide judges, were reputed to have found temporary refuge from the officers of King C'harles. Some time before that, however, some protection from the vandals and relic hunters was found necessary, and a substantial and not easily surmounted iron fence now requires the curious to observe the rock at a distance of at least six feet. West Rock, at its summit, is 410 feet above the level of the Sound. The view it gives of New Haven and the surrounding country is different, more varied and by many considered more attractive than that from East Rock. There is that same view of the Sound and of Long. Island, except that in the nearer distance the city and the harbor stretch out more in detail, and there is added the attractive part of modern New Haven known as Westville. There is also, to the north and northwest, the lordly sweep of the Woodbridge Hills. West Haven looms toward the southwest, and Lighthouse Point, \vith its white old shaft, tips the eastern edge of the harbor. It is easy, looking off over the city, to pick out the points of interest, with the Taft Hotel always as a range- finder. And to the east is the plain and hills of the west and northwest part of Hamden. West Rock Park has three miles of romantic drives, besides a convenient numlier of footpaths, by which it is approached from Whalley and Springside avenues. It is three miles from the center of the city, but electric cars help the weary. Here also nature has not been marred by attempts at art, and there are considerable areas of original woodland. New Haven's "show park," as it may justly be called, is Edgewood. On, either side of the West River, at a point where some years ago they straight- ened the river into the shape of a canal, the city has over 130 acres of meadow and knoll. It is at the extreme western end of the city proper, and about two miles from city hall. Edgewood Avenue, on its way to Westville, runs through it. For the better part of half a mile, leading from toward the center of the city, is a broad parkway, or mall, shaded by a double row of elm trees. It reaches entirely to the park, and is now a part of it. The entire street Is built up with fine residences. The original or upland part of the park, which was acquired in 1891, is laid out in lawns and borders of modern or old fashioned flowers. In one corner AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 95 is a fine old oak tree, witli spreading, drooping branches, wliere tlie children love to play, and their parents love to sit on the circling benches and take in the shaded breeze. In the opposite corner is a children's playground, with swings, flying rings, see-saws and other paraphernalia. Down the bank toward where Chapel Street runs out past the Yale Bowl is an artificial lake, where black and white swans sail grandly, and ducks stand interestingly on their heads, while they pull worms out of the bottom. Then the park strikes the river, and it.s meadows make a straight course on either side toward Whalley Avenue. There is a good supply of fine drives. The late Felix Chillingworth was in a sense the father of this particular jiark, and was the urger, while serving on the Board of Aldermen, of much of its development. He was also instrumental in the digging of the "Chilling- worth well" at the east end of the park, and to it many pitchers came in the days when water from springs under the growing city was deemed safe for drinking purposes. The park also contains a most attractive rose garden and arbors, and its floral attractions arc steadily heightened as the yeai-s pass. [t IS the most accessible of the larger parks of New Haven, in one of the best of its residence districts, and naturally is visited by more petiplc in the year than are any of the others. Its name comes from that which "tiio master of Edgewood, " Donald G. iVIitehell, whose home for decades was in the south- western part of Westville, give to his estate and the surrounding region. In the New Haven of thirty or forty years ago there was a section that did not then look as though it would soon be an ornament or advantage to the city, t'l .say nothing of being good residence territoiy. It was the "slaughter house district" at its northwest corner. Here was a low sand plain where was the .slaughter house that provided the city with meat in the days before the western packing houses took all that responsibility. Stretching for a mile or so beyond it was an area of swamps and ponds, habitat of the beaver in the earlier days, habitat of the mosquito in any days. The whole region, in fact, was productive of mosquitos and flies if not of malaria. At the time when New Haven 's park development really began, it was in crying need of redemption. The upper part of the old slaughter house section was first taken, and more as fast as it might be improved. It was an expensive task, and the park depart- ment has never been over-supplied with funds. But gradually the waste has been reclaimed, and through gift and purchase the park, which was no more than a name for many years, recognizable as a park only on the maps, has assumed impressive proportions and appearance. There has been of late years the double purpose of building a park and eliminating one of the worst mos- quito-breeding territories in the city. The swamps and mar.shes have been drained, the underbrusli of the wooded parts has been cleared up, and new trees have been set where trees were needed. In the older part, the section now assumes the appearance of a park, with something like walks and lawns. There are football and baseball fields and general provisions for a playground. The total area now held here by the city puts Beaver Ponds into the first class of 96 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN New Haven's parks, with about 120 acres. It is the purpose of the city to considerably increase this area. Beaver Ponds Park, which now stretches from the junction of Goffe and County streets all the way to the Ilauiden line, is in a section of the city which is bound to develop and increasingly need a park. It has almost boundless possibilities, for the work which has been done so far has been mostly of the necessary sort, and the ornamental development of this large and somewhat diversified area is yet to begin. So much for New Haven's woodland and inland parks. It is a seaside city, and might be expected to have some notable marine parks. It seems to be the fate of seaside cities not to appreciate their possibilities. It is New Haven's misfortune, which it shares with most of the New Haven county coast towns, that it has permitted private ownership and enterprise to monopolize some of the best of its shore, of which it has none too much. New Haven has, nevertheless, some excellent seaside and waterside parks, most of them capable of extended development. "Oyster Point" they used to call it in an earlier day. Now that point of sand past which the channel of West River finds its tortuous way out to the harbor is "City Point." It is at the foot of Howard Avenue, an excellent residence street. On the southeastern side of this is Bay View, a finely developed marine park of over twenty-three acres, which the city acquired in 1894. It has wide and sloping lawns, and in the midst of it is a pretty lake basin, while shrubbery and trees, and seats enabling the wayfarer to rest in the shade and view the sea, add to its attractiveness. There is one drive which gives a good opportunity for seeing the park and the view. Only a block away from this park, on the West River side of the Point, is another tract which should be taken with it. though the park department is pleased to cla.ss it with city S()uares. That is the Kimberly Avenue playground, of seven acres, which is yet in an undeveloped state. It has great possibilities as a seaside playground, though bathing facilities are unfortunately lacking from both this and Bay View Park. Around the older part of the harbor district of New Haven has grown a con- gested residence district, largely inhaliitecl by citizens of foreign origin. No section more needs breathing spaces. Here, running from tlie center of Water Street out to the harljor front. Waterside Park does its best with its 171/4 acres. In 1892 the city began the laborious task of filling in the mud flats to make this park. Now it has a good surface of firm land, permanently protected by a sea wall, with seats and walks and a good start of protecting trees. There are play- grounds for the children who abound in the district. From the water end, one gets an excellent idea of what the busiest part of modern New Haven's harbor looks like. Halfway down the east shore of New Haven harbor there is an eminence whose basaltic elifiPs jut sharply into the water. It is called, of course, the Palisades. Commanding a sweep of the whole mouth of the harbor, its strategic advantage did not escape the authorities who felt the necessity of protecting AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 97 New Haveu from iuvasiou. Here they built a fort, which they named iu honor of Nathan Hale. This was especially developed at the time of the Civil war, and the old earthworks built at that time are there still. There ai-e about foi'ty-uine acres. This is territory varying from low meadow to the cliffs of the Palisades, Of this the New Haven park department holds and has developed about thirty acres. This is territory var.ying from low meadow to the cliffs of the Palisades, wliich are directly on the water front. Fortunately, this tract includes some of the best sandy bathing beach around New Haven, and here the city has erected a considerable number of public bathing houses, whose facilities are improved up to and beyond their limit through the bathing season. In many ways. Fort Hale is one of the most fascinating of the city's parks. A short distance due northeast of here, at the southern point of the eminence which constitutes ''Fair Haveu Heights," is a point where it seemed to the patriots of New Haven in 1812 there ought to be a fort to repel British invasion. They threw up and armed their earthworks, and named it "Fort Woostsr, " after Gen. David B. Wooster of Revolutionary fame. The grass-covered ruins of the old fort show there today, and it gives name to Fort Wooster Park, a highland tract of seventeen acres, giving an almost ideal view of the Sound, the harbor and New Haven. Beacon Hill is an eminence whose opportunities well repay the short dim!) from where the trolley line passes on Woodward Avenue, or there are excellent drives running all through the park. Much of it is well wooded, and there has been some attention to landscape improvement. Just beyond where the old Yale boathouse used to squat on the flats as Mill River crossed East Chapel Street, there is a triangular plot of land called Quinnipiac Park. A few blocks beyond, the Quinnipiac River comes down to meet the harbor, and this is a sort of cove which comes in to meet Mill River. There are only eleven acres of it, being limited by Chapel Street, James Street and the harbor, but it is in a congested district that greatly needs a park. For the most part it is used for playground purposes, with little effort to develop any scenic effect, but there are seats where the weary can rest and get the harbor view. They used to be able to watch the Yale crew paddling around in the cove and coming to and from the boathouse. Now they see them at a little distance around the new Adee boathouse. Fair Haven proper is as yet inadequately provided with parks, but it has an excellent foundation for one in Clinton Park, the newest development of the system. Here are twelve acres, extending from Atwater to North Front Street, and having a frontage of 1,300 feet on the Quinnipiac River. It is just opposite the point where the stream swells to a lagoon or bay half a mile wide, making a body of water beautiful for view, excellent for boating and iu all respects attractive. The Quinnipiac up to this point and beyond is i-eally an arm of the harbor and scoured by the tides, so that here is a body of clean salt water, excellent for bathing as well as boating, and having a good beach. Clinton Parkway, a tree-shaded green covering the space between the inner sides of Peck and English streets, and extending eight blocks w'estward from the river to Ferry Street, makes a most attractive approach to this park. The 98 A MODERN HISTORY OP NEW HAVEN Clinton Playground, covering the square bounded by Clinton Avenue, Maltby, Grafton and Chatham streets, is only two blocks south of the parkway. II New Haven has nineteen city squares, counting everything. Most of these, from the central Green down, were included in the jurisdiction turned over by the city to the park department on January 1, 1912. The Green has already been described. Next to the Green, in age and general importance, is Wooster Square, bounded by Chapel, Academy, Greene and Wooster streets. When it was opened in 1825, it was in the heart of the fashionable residence section of the city. It was a second Green, with its almost five acres similarly laid out, neatly fenced, probably with the same square-railed type of fence that seems to have been thought good form for greens. The stone posts and iron rails have displaced the white rails some time since. The square today is in the heart of the district occupied by New Haven's 35,000 or more people of Italian blood. It is adorned by an excellent statue of Christopher Columbus, which was presented to the city by its Italian citizens to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his great dis- covery. Joeelyn Square is a nice little miniature green of 2.60 acres occupying the city block between Walnut, Wallace, Humphrey and East streets. It is equipped with playground apparatvis, and serves an important purpose in one of the older crowded portions of the city. .Trowbridge Square is a bit of land between Cedar, Carlisle, Portsea and Salem streets. It measures 0.83 of an acre, and is equipped with some swings and other playground apparatus. A breathing spot in a congested district. Of the nature of the Green in their origin, and dating back to before the establishment of the park system, are the two Broadway squares. They are triangular bits which come in where Broadway spreads like a fan into Goffe Street, Whalley and Dixwell avenues. One of them has a small soldiers' and sailors' monument, in granite. Together they contain 0.87 of an acre. An irreg\ilar spreading of Goffe Street, between Foote and Orchard, makes a grass plot of 0.75 of an acre, which affords a playground to children and is known as Goffe Square. Hamilton Square is a long, narrow, enclosed strip on Hamilton Street, be- tween Locust and Mj'rtle. It contains 0.55 of an acre. Monitor Square is a handsome, fenced-in bit of green at the point where Derby Avenue leaves Chapel Street, the triangle between these two streets and Winthrop Avenue. It is adorned by, and in fact was created to shelter, the distinguished Bushnell-Ericsson memorial, erected to commemorate the service of Cornelius S. Bushnell, a son of Madison and New Haven, in making financially possible the building of the historic "Monitor." The square has 0.3.3 of an acre of ground. A minute bit of green at the triangle of Henry, Munson and Ashmun streets is called Henry Street plot. The surveyor says it contains 0.02 of an acre. SOLDIERS' MOXL.MIONT, KAST ROCK I'ARK. XEW HAVEX I AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 99 Temple Square is where the electric cars swing down the grade from Whitney Avenue and presently find themselves on Church Street. It is bounded by Whit- ney, Temple and Trumbull, and measures 0.14 of an acre. Kimberly plot is another microscopic triangle containing all of 0.02 of an acre, at the junction of Kimberly Avenue and Lamberton Street. State Street plot, just twice as large as the above, is a little strip on State Street, at the junction of Lawrence and Mechanic. Away out near No. 1 Chapel Street is 0.06 of an acre of spare space between Ferry and Houston streets, so the city turfed and curbed it and called it Ferry Street plot. Clinton Parkway and Clinton Playground, already described, are parts of Clinton Park. They contain together 6.1 acres. Kimberly Playground has already been mentioned in connection with Bay View Park. It contains seven acres, irregular in shape, and imperfectly de- veloped. It has great possibilities, when filled and properly graded, for athletic use. Edgewood Parkway, counted for 4.4.5 acres, is a broad and handsome mall which leads westward for several blocks as an approach to Edgewood Park, and is now a part of it. Sherman plot, of 0.0-3 acres, is another convenient triangle, at the point where Sherman Avenue begins in conjunction with Winthrop Avenue and Oak Street, which it was more desirable to turf over than to pave. Defenders' Scjuare is as near an approach as it was possible to make to a hi.storic spot. It is only 0.64 of an acre in area, but it is near the place where the defenders of New Haven did their best to withstand the British invasion of July 5. 1779. It was not from the view of the threatening cannon which stood there, with its determined gun crew, that General Garth got the idea that New Haven ought to be spared for its beauty. In 1906 an effort was begun to secure an appropriation from the Legi.slature for help to build a monument to these defenders. A plaster model, in miniature, of the proposed group, which was placed in the lobby of the capitol at Hartford, received the compliment of being called by President Luther of Trinity, who was fir.st a state senator in 1907, "a six-legged monstrosity." It is a modification of that gi-oup of three men, in life-size bronze, which now adorns Defenders' Square. Here, in all, is a park sj-stem consisting of ten public parks, with a total area of something over 1,074 acres. To it are added nineteen city squares, which include the central Green and the two playgi-ouuds, and increase the ai'ea to 1,111.03 acres. They are well distributed over nearly all sections of the city, so far as the limitations of the situation permit. They include some of the most unusual city parks in New England, an equipment of which no city of New Haven's size need be ashamed. The city squares alone, which include the im- mensely valuable central Green property, have a real estate valuation of $•3.676.03.5. The parks themselves, not being subject to taxation, have not recently been appraised. CHAPTER XIII NEW HAVEN'S CHARTERS HISTORY AND PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT FROM 1784 TO 1917 — CONSOLIDATION OP TOWN AND CITY AND THE HOME RULE ACT — RECENT REVISION EFFORTS Charter making, as a science, is modern. The charter, or more correctly, charters, which served as the legal foundation of New Haven in the years from 1784 to the end of the nineteenth century were framed mainly on the constitu- tion idea. They did not, at least at the first, conceive of the city as a business institution or corporation. Nevertheless the city was made a corporation by these charters, and gradually acquired, in spite of this idea, a body of laws fitted for business management. Some stud,v of the development of these laws foi'ms an instructive background for the understanding of the modern city. If the original founders of our New England cities had not been so ready to conceive of the city as necessarily limited in area, a condensed portion of the town within which it was included, considerable trouble might have been saved in later years. Yet it seemed and probably was necessary, in forming the City of New Haven out of the somewhat rambling town that New Haven was in 1784, to be concise and constricted. So it was that the original bounds of the City of New Haven, as limited by the charter, read narrowly to us today. The western boundary was high-water mark on the east side of West River; the eastern was high-water mark on the east side of the harbor (continuing up Mill River as a boundary line, presumably) ; the southern a line running from City Point to Lighthouse Point; and the northern a line from Neck Bridge to the Whalley Avenue Bridge over West River. This, leaving the separation from Hamden somewhat indistinct, made the original New Haven a somewhat re- stricted, "chunk" of land with the Green, as at the first, pi-actically in its center. But it was in other respects that the first charter really was primintive. Per- haps the idea of the mayor continuing in ofSce without further election was not altogether wrong, but it surely was wrong to make the General Assembly the power to determine his tenure of office. Four aldermen and a common council of not more than twenty, were elected, and they were real city fathers. For observe some of the things they were required to do : Choose jurors, lay out highways, be the city court for the ti-ying of civil and criminal cases, and to 100 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 101 legislate by-laws for such matters as markets and commerce within the city, streets and highways, wharves, anchoring and mooring of vessels, trees planted for shade, ornament, convenience or use, and their fruit, trespasses committed in gardens, public walks and buildings, sweeping of chimneys and prevention of fires, burial of the dead, public lights and lamps, restraining geese and swine fi'om going at large, defining the qualifications in point of property of the mayor and the aldermen, fixing penalties for anyone elected to office and refusing to serve, determining the mode of taxation. It was an admirably condensed charter, albeit crude. It lasted thirty-seven years without radical revision, and it is not a little surprising that in that period it seemed necessary to the people of the city to make only nine amendments, most of them such as were inevitable 4o the gi'owth of the developing city. The revision of 1821 seems to have been at the motion of the General Assembly rather than due to a feeling in New Haven that a radical change was necessary. A uniform charter was passed for the cities of Hartford, New Haven, New London, Norwich and iliddletown. In each case it defined the territorial limits of the city (and New Haven's was not, so far as appears, then changed). It provided for annual meetings in each city to choose a mayor and four aldermen, but the former was still to hold office at the pleasure of the General Assembly. A com- mon council of not more than twenty was also elected annually. There were also other elected officers, and various provisions necessary to the management of a city, the whole being a decidedlj^ more modern document thaji that whieli New Haven adopted in 1781. In the next thirty-six years there were twenty-six amendments to this charter, the first important one limiting the term of mayor to one year (though the General A.ssembly still had the right to remove him sooner). At the same time there was an effort to do something for the defining of street and Iniilding lines. There were steadily developing provisions for the fire protection of the city. A provision'was made in 1843 for dividing the city into wards, but for some reason was repealed the following year. Wards were established, however, in 1853. Each was to have one alderman and five eouncilmen. In 1856 there appeared a public worry lest something should be done harming the integTity of the Green, for it was provided that there be no erection of any building on any of the public squares, even if the Proprietors' Committee did authorize it. Six wards were provided by the charter of 1857, each with an alderman and four eouncilmen. The municipal officers were somewhat as now elected. The Court of Common Council elected the street commissioner. Great and arduous duties w'cre still imposed upon this court, though of course it needs to be remembered that the population of the city was then only 3fi,000. I\rany de- tails lately ad.justed liy ordiiumce were still the concern of the comnion council. It had also to arrange for the municipal appropriations. The city was developing fast, however, and eleven yeai's later it seemed necessary to make another revision. ^leanwhile, there had been twelve amend- ments. In this period the population of the city had so run over the edges as to make legislation for the town, and the beginning of confusion necessary. 102 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Six of the aiuendmeiits concerned the town, one of them providing for two outside wards, each with its alderman and four eouncilmen. In 1860 was incorporated the Westville School district, which still is a kingdom of its own. The city was glad enough, however, to have in 1861 the help of the town in the erection of a city hall. The revision of 1868 re-defined and slightly changed the boundaries of the city. It was bounded on the east by Mill River ; on the north by Hamden ; on the west by Dixwell Avenue and the east bank of the West River to Oyster Point, tlieii up by high-water mark to Tomlinson's liridge. This was reappor- tioned into six wards. At the same time it was decreed that aldermen and eouncilmen should sit as separate bodies. Then also was created a board of finance, a road commissioner and boards of fire and police commissioners, the police department being at the same time definitely created. It appears also that at this time the fire department was exalted (though perhaps some of the members did not so regard it) from a volunteer to a paid status. This charter was duly amended in the following year, and it was found necessary to make a revision in ninet.y-three sections of it. It was then made a crime for an alderman or a councilman to accept a fee for his vote; the mayor was given veto power. But of chief importance were the sections changing the provisions as to the City Court, and further raising the salaries of mayor and city officers, which had been elevated only the previous year. To obviate the necessity of a revision every time this popular change seemed desirable, it was therewith provided that a two-thirds vote of the common council might increase salaries. Then followed ten years very busy with amendments. No less than fifty, most of them of a routine nature, were adopted before the revision of 1881. One highly important one, in 1872, was the establishment of a board of harlior com- missioners, of five persons appointed by tlic governor. This act also defined the limits of New Haven harbor. A board of health was established for New Haven in the same year, consisting of six persons, three of them physicians, to be ap- pointed by the mayor. In 1872 the Borough of Fair Haven East was incorporated out of the Town of East Haven (for the Quiniiijnac liad until then been the eastern lioundary line of the town'). It is interesting also to note that in this busy legislative year a ferry was incorporated to run from "a convenient point in the City of New Haven to Lighthouse Point. ' ' The increase of the number of wards of the city to ten came in 1874. Also the common council was authorized to divide the wards into voting districts. It was at tliat time that the time of the city election was set for the first Monday in October, the term of office being two years. All appointments were to lie "yea" and "nay" by the common council. Tlie chairmen of the existing com- missions were at that time made ex-officio members of the board of aldermen and council, but could not vote. The city was divided into twelve wards in 1877, and the time of election was changed to the first Tuesday in December. The number of voting districts was increased to thirteen shortly after. It liecaino necessary in 1878 to do some legislating for the Borougli of Fair AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 103 Haven East, aud from time to tiiiio\ver was beyond computation. He was one of the seers of our time, and even nt)w it is impossible, for lack of adequate perspective, to appreciate the greatness of the work he did. There was a brief pastorate following, the intensity of whose personality, and the tragedy of whose ending, took deep hold on the hearts of the people of the church and of New Haven. Rev. Artemas Jean Haynes came, as so many of the recently called pastors of New Haven have done, from service in the West, though he was in New England when his call reached liim. For seven, years he grew into the hearts of the people of New Haven through his church and com- muity work. His great .soul was too broth'erly, too sensitive to human need, to resist any appeal for the wonderful help he could give by his earnest counsel, his helpful presence or his eloquent words. He bore up well under the burden.s he carried, however, only to mysteriously meet his death by drowning in a Cape Cod lake in the summer of 1908. Since 1909 the church has been served by the Rev. Robert C. Denison, who came from Janesville, Wis. He has worthily followed the path of service, both of the church and community, trod by his predecessors. Many are the calls on the time and effort of the pastor of the Ignited Church, sometimes seemingly more than a less than superman can meet, but Mr. Denison spares not himself. A man of fine sympathies, of clear vision, of devoted purpose, he is making a place in the heart of a city of great opportunities which will give him something more enduring than fame. The third constituent member of the United Church, the Third Congrega- tional, was the next of the churches of this denomination to be formed in New Haven. In 1815 the three churches on the Green (Trinity making the third) were the only churches in New Haven. But in the ten years following there was UNITED CHURai. NEW HAVEX. ORGANIZED IN 1742 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 115 a considerable growth of population at the eastern side of the city. Wooster Square had just been laid out, and it seemed to the Congregationalists that there was need for a rhureh in that section. So the Third churcli was orgaiiized, and until it could get on its feet, met in the Orange Street lecture room of Center Church. This was in 1826, and soon after a building was erected at the corner of Chapel and Union streets. The Rev. X. W. Taylor, D. D., a professor in the Yale Divinity School, supplied as pastor for the first few years, but the Rev. Dr. Elisha Lord Cleaveland was the first pastor, from 1833 to 1866. Somehow the vicinity of Wooster Square did not at that time prove a favorable spot for Congregationalism, for the congregation abandoned its building to the stock- holders (along with the debt) and came up to worship in Saunders" Hall at the corner of Chapel and Orange streets about 1839. Then they built again, on Court Street, the building which about 1856 we find occupied by the Jewish Congregation Mishkan Israel. For the church seems to have prospered better for a time in its uptown location, and thought it must have a better site. It secured the money to build again in 1845 the edifice on Church Street, betv^-een Chapel and Court, which, abandoned by the Third Church in 1884, was after- ward for some years used as a public library, and was, after lieing given up by that institution, torn down to make room for the Second National Bank Building. But there were too many churches of the same denomination around the im- mediate center of New Haven, and th<> residence area was moving away from the Green. So the Thiril Church did not find ade(|uate support in its newest location, and after some decades of unsncressful struggle gave it up. There was room for those of its members who still wished a central place of worship in the North Church, and the union was made in 1884. Rev. Stephen 1>. Dcnnen, D. D., was its last pastor, from 1875 to 1884. There was a minority in the Third church, when its comparatixely m-w build- ing at Chapel and Union streets was abandoned, who still held to the lielief that the city needed a church in the Wooster Square district. After a year or two they managed to get control of the building, and renamed it the Chapel Street Church. This was the beginning of the Church of the Redeemer, which grew to be one of New Haven's strongest Congregational churches, but not in the Woostei- Square section. It was aliout 1869 when, after having been served for brief terms by a number of pastors, this church sought what was then a com- paratively new portion of the city, the corner of Orange and Wall streets. There it completed a new building, from the size and excellence of which one must .iudge the church to have had considerable financial strength at the time. The year after the new church was completed the Rev. John E. Todd came to be its pastor, and for twenty years, from 1870 to 1890, with a short break when failing health forced his temporary retirement, he took a leading place among thp pas- tors of New Haven, and gave his church a like standing in the city. In 1890, when Dr. Todd finally resigned the pastorate, the i-liui'di made another popular and progressive move by calling the Rev. Watson Lyman Rhil- 116 A ilODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN lips, who was destined for the next (iiiartcr of a century to be one of the powers in the Congregational pulpits of New Haven. Masterly as a preacher, earnest and aggressive as a worker, and an energetic participant in every form of gen- eral eomnnmity activity. Dr. Phillips won and held a high place in the esteem of all the people of the city. He resigned from the pa.storate at the end of 1915. This church also, in the latter years of Dr. Phillips's pastorate, had felt the expansion urge. The church population was expanding; the churches had i-e- mained centralized. The Church of the Redeemer, in a distinctly central loca- tion, felt need for the support of those who had moved nearer the edges of the city. So its members resolved to begin their next pastorate in a new field. Pur- chasing a property at the corner of Whitney Avenue and Cold Spring Street, they made plans for the immediate l)uilding of a temporary parish house in which to worship until they could complete a new edifice, and called to their pulpit the Rev. Roy M. Houghton, who took up the work in 1916. He ener- getically attacked the task of reconstruction, and by the end of 1917 he had seen the $90,000 for the building of the parish house part of the new church equip- ment practically all pledged. Then he felt the urge of the great strife across the seas, and applied for a release from his duties to take effect April 1, 1918, so that he might join the growing group of New Haven pastors who were serving the army in France. The church reluctantly, though patriotically, granted the release. The building which the Church of the Redeemer occupied for nearly fifty years, at the corner of Orange and Wall streets, was in 1916 sold to the Trinity German Lutheran Church whose place of worship was formerly on lower George Street. There were from early times a few colored people of the Congregational faith in New Haven. For a long time these were included in the membership of the United Church, but about 1829, their number having grown to a respecta- ble strength, they chose to have a church of their own. This was at first the Temple Street Church, and had its building, which some time since disappeared, on Temple Street south of the Green. There the Rev. Simeon E. Joeelyn served the people from 1829 to 1836, and was followed by the Rev. Amos G. Beeman. The Rev. Andrew P. :Miller was pastor from 1885 to 1896. In 1902 the Rev. Edward F. Coin came to the pastorate, and has remained until now, having won by Ids high spirit of devotion, his earnest and able woi'k and liis admirable char- acter a high place, not only in the hearts of his people, but of all who know him in New Haven. It ceased some time ago, however, to be the Temple Street Church. The center of the colored population of the city some years since became Dixwell Avenue and its vicinity, and in 1886 this congi'egation built on the lower part of Dixwell Avenue, and became the Dixwell Avenue Congrega- tional Church. Tlie Fair Haven Chun-h that was named after the Village of Fair Haven, now the Grand Avenue Congregational Church, was founded in 1830, the out- growth of the natural demand of the j^eople of that part of the town for their AND EASTEKN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 117 own place of religious worship. It erected its own building, and soon grew to a strong church. Its present dignitied aud ample edifice, dating from 1854, sufficiently testifies that as early as that it was able to command considerable resources. Its first pastor was the Rev. John Mitchell, who remained from 1830 to 1836. Rev. B. L. Swan served the church for the next nine years. Then suc- ceeded the notable pastorate of the Rev. Burdett Hart, whose eminence and abil- ity gave the church a first rank among the bodies of its order in New Haven. He was pastor from 1846 to 1890, and was succeeded by the Rev. James Lee Jlitchell, just out of Harvard, young aud decidedly original in his ways. His was a vigorous and popular pastorate, and especially won the young people. It closed in 1901. The Rev. Isaiah W. Sneath came to the church in 1904, and for eight years was the beloved and successful leader of this growing congregation. He was succeeded in 1912 by the Rev. WiUiani C. Prentiss, a young man of devotion and power, who has ably carried on the growing woi'k in this important portion of the town. The year 1831 dates the organization of a church whieli, though small in its beginnings aud for .some years inconspicuous in the fellowship, was destined to have an important part in the later religious development of the city. There are none living now who remember the ilission Church, as it was calletl. which started with twelve meniljcrs. who met in the Orange Street lecture room of Ceuter Cluirch. The develo])nient of this congregation was, however, rapid. The following year it had changed its uame to the "Free Church," not, it seems, in any spirit of rebellion against the established churches. By 1833 the member- ship had increased to fifty-two, aud having outgi'owu the lecture room, it had moved to Exchange Hall, at the corner of Church aud Chapel streets, for wor- ship. There the people remained for three years, until they could complete their fii-st house of worship, on Church Street, near George. When they went to that in 1836, they changed their name to the Church Street Church. That building the congi-egatiou used for twelve years, but it seems not to have wholly sufficed. For the congregation steadily grew, so that a new aud larger edifice on College Street was planned. This was the College Street Church, and this name the organization took when it moved there in 1848. For half a century the church remained in that building, prospering and doing a valuable work in the upbuilding of New Haven. There had been a varied suc- cession of pastors. There were several "acting pastors" from 1831 to 1837, hut the fii-st "settled pa.stor, " who came that year, was the Rev. Henn- G. Lud- low. He remained until 1842. The Rev. Edward Strong, D. D., in his time one of the influential pastors of the city, was settled over the church from 1842 to 1862. The Rev. Orpheus T. Lauphear, who succeeded him, remained only from 1864 to 1867. and for two years following the church was without a settled pas- tor. The Rev. James W. Hubbell, who was installed in 1869, remained until 1876. He was succeeded by the Rev. Henry S. Kelsey, who was an "acting pastor" for the eight years. In 1884, with the iiistiillatioii of the Rev. William W. :\rcLane, the church 118 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN entered on its modem period. He was to remain with it for over a quarter of a century, and in his time, and largely due to his progressive influence, impor- tant changes were to come to the church. It was soon after he came that the centrifugal population movement in New Haven really began. There were more churches within a quarter of a mile of the Green than there had ever been ; there began to be fewer people. Dr. McLane was not long in seeing the point. He foresaw an inevitable change in the location of the church. The population of the character which this church served was growing westward. The progressive church must go in that direction. The short of it was that when, in 1898, Yale University made the College Street Church a handsome offer for its building. Doctor McLano urged its acceptance, and the majority of his congregation agreed with him. That building, used by Yale for the next twenty years as Col- lege Street Hall, was disposed of by the University when its new building for the School of ^lusic, at the corner of College and ^Yall streets, was completed in 1917. Meanwhile, the College Street Church had purchased a site at the corner of Chapel Street and Sherman Avenue, and proceeded to build, on the rear of it, a parish house. There it worshipped until the church, tlie corner stone of which was laid on the 1st day of January, 1901, was completed. AYith this completion, or before, the church changed its name to Plymouth Church, and its growth in the new location and new building was rapid. Doctor ^IcLane resigned the pas- torate at the end of 1910, and the Rev. Orville A. Petty was called in the fal- lowing year. He proved an attractive and progi'essive pastor, and the church continued to grow rapidly. In 191.5, when the Connecticut National Guard was called to the itexiean border, he was appointed chaplain of the Second Regi- ment. Returning after four months' leave of absence from his pulpit, he re- mained with the church until the summer of 1916, when he was made chaplain of the 102d Regular Regiment which was created out of the First and Second regiments of Connecticut Infantry. He is now with the regiment, somewhere in France. His congregation parted from him with deep regret, — for he had become greatly beloved in his six years of service, — but in a patriotic spirit of sacrifice. He was given indefinite leave of absence, and his salai-y partially con- tinued. The Rev. James S. "Williamson became acting pastor. There was no Congregational Church in Westville until 1832, though some time before this there must have been a strong settlement of church-going people on that side of the West River. Up to then, however, they had followed the rural custom of "driving in" to church, probably to the Green. The Rev. Joseph E. Bray was the first pastor, from 1832 to 1834. After him the pulpit was "sup- plied" for the next eight years. From 1842 to 1846 Rev. Judson A. Root served the church, and then there were three years of supplies. In 1849 the Rev. Samuel H. Elliott came to the church, and was its pastor until 1855, when he Avas succeeded by the Rev. James L. Willard, who made this church notable for one of the long pastorates of New Haven. He was a native of Madison, a man of tliorough learning, a powerful preacher and a beloved pastor. He made BENEDICT ME.MOIUAL I'HESHVTEKIAX (HI KIH. XKW HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 119 this eluirch iu "Westville oue of the first-rauk churches of New Haven. Ad- vanced years caused his retirement iu 1893, after a pastorate of forty-eight years. The pulpit was filled in the following decade by Rev. 0. R. Howe and Rev. Henry Davies. Then, in 1903, came the Rev. Frederick L. Davis, who remained until 1908. The present pastor, the Rev. Clair F. Luther, came to the fhureh the same year, and has ably maintained and advanced its traditions and service. In a large way he has been a part of New Haven's civic as well as religious life, and has always been found willing to aid in every community effort. To his own people he has been a faithful pastor, whose fine ideals have nobly led them on. In 1838 began the history of the first Congregational Church of New Haven to follow the star of westward empire. For at that time. Park Street was on the frontier, and there was organized, with forty-nine members, the Park Street Church. But moving with the tide of residence, it was found another block out four years later, now with 150 members, and called the "Howe Street Church." There it erected its first edifice, at the corner of Howe Street and what was then Martin Street, now Edgewood Avenue, and there it remained for thirty years. Its house of worship conformed to the prevailing New England type of that time, and though less pretentious than the "ancient" churches on the Green, was considered notable for what must, because of its remote western location, have been considered a country church. But New Haven's growth was westward, and this progressive church was bound to be on the ci'est of the wave. Sometime before 1872 the church had increased to a then notable size, having in excess of 200 members. They realized that they must have a larger building, and determined that it was d.esirable to place it still farther westward. So the present edifice was built at the corner of Chapel and D wight streets, and the church was renamed the Dwight Place Church. There it has rested from its westward progress, and been content to serve and grow in an important and sterling residence part of the city, while the city has grown on so that another Congregational church finds a busy mission beyond it. The church is now the largest Congregational body in New Haven, and one of the largest in Connecticut, having close to 1,000 members. The first pastor of the church, in the old Park Street days, was Rev. Leicester A. Sawyer. He remained in the pulpit, however, only from 1838 to 1840. Then the Rev. Abram C. Baldwin was pastor until 1845. Mr. Sawyer returned for nearly two years after that, but only as a supply. From 1847 till 1852, or until nearly the middle of the Howe Street period, the pastor was Rev. William De Loss Love. In 1861 the Rev. John S. C. Abbott, since widely kno-«Ti as a historian, came to the pulpit, and i-emained until 1866. It will be noticed that at a later time he was pastor for a few years of the Second Church of Fair Haven. After a brief interval of supply Rev. George B. Neweomb came to the church, but was only acting pastor for the next ten years. He was succeeded by Rev. Thomas R. Bacon, whose pastorate extended from 1880 to 1884. Three notable men have served the church in the modern period, perhaps 120 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN its jjeriod of greatest progress and influence. Rev. Justin E. Twitchell, D. D., came to the church in 1885, and for thirteen years ministered to its growing congregation, beloved by his church and honored throughout the city. He was succeeded in 1899 by the Rev. William W. Leete, D. D., an earnest pastor, an active and efficient organizer and a strong preacher. He retired from the pastorate in 1914 to became field secretary of the Congregational Church Build- ing Society, and shortly afterward was succeeded by the Rev. Harry R. Miles, who has ably continued the high service of this important church, and entered into the esteem of the whole community of New Haven. He also has gone to Y. M. C. A. war service. The second church of Fair Haven, founded when that section beyond the river was East Haven territory, had its start in 1852. While yet it was an infant, an untoward rivalry arose with a new church a little nearer the city. This was the so-called Third ChurcJi of Fair Haven, of which Rev. William B. Lee was pastor. It lasted only a year, however, and its members went back to the second church. The fir.st regular pastor of the second church was the Rev. Nathaniel J. Burton, who was with it from 1853 to 1857. There then followed a series of notable men : Rev. Gurdon W. No.yes, from 1861 to 1869; Rev. John S. C. Abbott, widely known as a writer, from 1870 to 1875; Rev. Richard B. Thurston, in 1875 and 1876; Rev. Horace B. Hovey, 1876 to 1883; Rev. Erastus Blakeslee, 1884 to 1887; Rev. D. Melancthon James, 1887 to 1903. He was followed by Rev. Robert E. Brown, who in 1910 was called to the large Second Congregational Church of Waterbury. The Rev. Harris E. Starr came down from Mount Carmel to succeed him, and was in the midst of a most successful pastorate when this country entered the war. The great need for spiritual ministry on the battle front seized him, and he went out as a chaplain, taking from New Haven one of its most respected and useful pastors. Early in the new century the name of this church was changed to the Pilgrim Church. Among the churches which old Center has mothered is Davenport. That was started as a chapel on Wallace Street late in the 'fifties. A few years later it had a chapel on Franklin Street. Its next move was to Greene Street in 1864. Ten years later its congregation was able to build the Davenport church, and a period of great prosperity followed. Its pastor for a few years before that had been Rev. John W. Partridge, but soon after the erection of the new church came Rev. Isaac C. Meserve, and for twenty-four years he had one of the livest and most progressive churches in New Haven. It was a church popular in the best sense, a church of workers, earnest and true. Following Doctor Meserve was the eight years' pastorate of the Rev. George Foster Prentiss, in his time one of the most notable of the younger ministers of the city. He was succeeded by the Rev. Jason Noble Pierce, just out of the semi- nary, who remained from 1906 to 1908. By that time the church had come seriously to feel the removal from its district of a great many of the people who had formerly supported it. The Rev. Ernest L. Wismer .succeeded AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 121 Mr. Pierce in 1908, hut in the following year the church gave up the struggle, and its people voted to unite with Center. Center Church did not give it up, however. It has been continued as an Italian Congregational body. The Rev. Francesco Pesaturo was its pastor for several years, and did a noble work there. When he went to New Britain, he was succeeded by the Rev. Philip M. Rose, who has been equally successful. Howard Avenue Church was organized in 1865. A few years previous to that there had been what is now recalled by older residents as the old South Church on Columbus Aveniie. In Civil War times, or just before, this church split on the familiar rock of the slavery qiiestion, and a part of the members were waiting for such an opportunity as the Howard Avenue Church presented. The old South Church buildiiig, by the way, subseijuently went to a Catholic congregation just being founded in that district, and is now the Church of the Saci'ed Heart. The first pa.stor of the Howard Avenue Church was the Rev. Orlando H. White. After a succession of brief pastorates, we find Rev. William J. Mutch there from 1887 to 1907, who was succeeded by the Rev. J. Edward Newton from 1908 to 1912. Both were able men and devoted pastors. TTnder the former the church saw progress and prosperity. The latter led it when it was facing the familiar problem of what to do when all the people move to another part of the city. Rev. Albert L. Scales came in 1912 and left in 1917. The present pastor is Rev. Peter Goertz. Humphrey Street Church, in its beginnings of 1871, was another mission of Center Church. As far back as that Humphrey Street was, churchwise, on the frontier. Its first pastors were Rev. R. G. S. McNeille, 1871-1872; Rev. R. P. Hibbard, 1876-1879; Rev. John A. Hainia, from 1879 till his death in 1880; Rev. Stephen H. Bray, 1883 to 1887. Rev. Frank R. Luckey came to it in 1887. He was young and the church was young; so were its people, in large part. It was an inspiring combination. In those days the motto of "all the church in the Sunday school, all the Sunday school in the church and everybody in both" was adopted and made good. In a later period, this church also suffered from the condensation of churches in its locality, and the removal else- where of many of its people. But the faithful pastor held his ground. He still serves the church, and is now the dean of the Congregational pastors of New Haven, a position-in which they cheerfully hail him as a leader. The Taylor Congregational Church, at the corner of Shelton Avenue and Division Street, was established about 1873 as a mission of Center Church, and has been, in recent years, much under the wing of the mother church. It has had some prominent and faithful pastors, but they have not always been sup- ported bj- such numbers as to encourage a minister. The first was the Rev. Henry L. Hutehins, from 1873 to 1880. He was followed by the Rev. Newton I. Jones, who remained for three years. The pastor from 1883 to 1885 was Rev. Daniel W. Clark, and Rev. John Allender served the church for the years succeeding 1885. The chureli has been without a settled pastor for the past two vears. 122 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Congregationalism founded in other lands has been notably reflected in New Haven. Aside from the Italian Congregational Church which Davenport has become, there is the Swedish Emanuel Church on Wooster Place, between Chapel and Greene streets, established less than two decades, and the Danish- Norwegian Evangelical, of about the same age, located at 226 Cedar Street. The pastor of the former is Rev. C. H. B. Petterson, and of the latter Rev. Eiel S. Eielsen. A branch of the Italian Church is now conducted at 59 Oak Street. There was a Ferry Street Congregational Church, founded in 1887 on upper* Ferry Street, near the point where the railroad crosses. At one time there was sufficient congregation so that a fair sized building was erected. The pulpit was mostly supplied from the Yale divinity school. But it had a precarious existence, and gave up tlie ghost about 1900. Since then the building has disappeared. II It does not profit now to recall the spirit of opposition to the estal)lished church of England in which the first churches of New Haven were founded, except as a background. It was freedom to wor.ship God as they pleased which the early fathers sought, but when they had obtained it, they were not minded to extend it to others, least of all to their ancient eneinies of that church whose bishop of Londlishcd as a mission ehapel of St. Panl's, in what was the southern edge of the city. It later Iniilt at Davenport Avenue and Ward Street. It has bravely striven to uphold the faith and worship of its order in a locality which has lost most of its English population. It has lieen led by a long list of faithful men, many of its pastorates being brief ones. Rev. Philip Mariett was rector from 1898 to 1902, and the present rector is Rev. Harold Johns. New Haven's most distinguished high chun-h, an able member of its galaxy of fine Episcopal churches, is Christ Church on Broadway. It dates back to 1856, when it was founded with Rev. Joseph Brewst<»r, father of the present bishop of the Connecticut diocese, as its rector. He gave the church an excellent start and high standing through a service of twenty-si.x years. Retiring in 1882, he was succeeded by Rev. George Brinley Morgan, who remained with the church until his unfortunate death by accident in 1908. Rev. Frederick Merwin Burgess followed him, and ably carried on the work for four years, when he succumbed to the tremendous liurden of the church's work, and terminated wliat promised to be a most brilliantly useful career. The present rector is Rev. William Osborn Baker. (iraee Church on Blatehley Avenue in Fair Haven was established in 1871, and has had a suee^ession of rather brief pastorates. Among the men who have led it are Rev. John W. Leek, Rev. Peter A. Jay, Rev. John H. Fitzgerald, Rev. Herbert N. Denslow, Rev. Elihu T. Sanford, Rev. F. R. Sanford, and Rev. George A. Alcott^ the present rector, who has ably served the church siuce 1906. Forbes Chapel of the Epiphany, on Forbes Avenue, is a mission of St. Paul's. It is now ministered to by Rev. Robert Bell. St. Andrew's Chapel at Shelton Ave- nue and Ivy Street was a mission of Trinity, but now it has an independent organization, and is ministered to by Rev. W. E. Morgan. All Saint's Chapel at Howard Avenue and Lamberton Street, under the direction of Trinity Church, has Rev. William P. Williams in charge. CHAPTER XV NEW HAVEN'S CHURCHES (Concliuled) THE EAELV AND LATER GROWTH (JF THE METHODIST CHURCHES THE BAPTIST CHURCHES THE GREAT RECORD OP THE CHURCH OP ROME THE JEWISH CON- GREGATIONS AND THEIR LEADERS — THE VALUABLE GROUP OP YOUNGER CHURCHES If the original plnireliman of the Davenport school looked askanee at the arrival of the Church of England, they did more than that when the ilethodi.sts appeared on the scene. Their origin was suspected, their ways of worship were to them objectionable. Moreover, in 1789, when their first scattering representa- tives appeared, tliey were so few in number as to fail to .secure respect. But tolerance had entered New Haven in the century and a half of its existence, and the MethodLsts, who previous to that time had depended on occasional offices from circuit preachers, were suffered in 179.5 to organize their first church. But when they sought a central place for a building, they met with difficulties. " So after worshipping liere and there for the first two years, they were content with the purchase of the building on Gregson Street previously used by the then extinct Sandemanian Church. Here, the record tells, they were more or less disturbed, at the first, by certain of the rowdy element, who had a notion it was popular to "bait" the Methodists. They prospered after a fashion, nevertheless, so that in 1807 they |)ut up theii' first liuilding. This was what was long known as the Temple Street Church, on the east side of Temple Street south of Center — later used by the fiivst colored congregation, and still later by a Jewish congre- gation. Here, in a building unfinished and narrow, they worshipped for the next fifteen years. The experiences of this congregation, when in 1821 they erected their build- ing on the Green, and rebuilt it the following year, have been told elsewhere. They did a fine M-ork in that liai'c old building, however, and justified to men in New Haven the way of God as they interpreted Him. So did they prosper that in a few decades they found it desirable to erect a new l)uilding, which out- wardly was more in keeping with the city's improving architecture, at the corner of Elm and College streets. As remodeled to the present date, it is without and within one of the finest of our church buildings. 12t5 AND EASTEKN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 127 In its century and a quarter tlie ehurt-li lias been sei-ved by a long line of able men — many of them, in the days of short pastorates. Now its ministers seldom remain less than five years. In the past two decades its pastors have been Rev. Charles P. Masden, Rev. Gardner S. Eldridge, Rev. Henry Baker, Rev. Francis T. Brown, Rev. Elmer A. Dent, who at the close of his pastorate was made a district superintendent, Rev. John W. Laird and the present pastor, Rev. W. H. Wakeman. The second ]\lethodist Cburcb founded in the New Haven district seems to have been that at Westville, to which is assigned the date of 1815. It was the outgrowth of the demand of settlers in that important part of the town to have their own community life. It has done a sterling work, and has been presided over by many able men. Some of its recent pastors have been Rev. Wil- liam McNieholl, who was there in 1896, and Rev. L. H. Dorchester, who led the church for 1913 and previous years. The present pastor is Rev. William H. Mitchell. Methodism was inevitably well represented among the colored brethren early in the last century, and we find their oldest church to have a record now ap- proaching a century in length. What was formerly the John Wesley Church on Webster Street, now the Varick ^lemorial, with a recently erected building on Dixwell Avenue, dates back to 1820, and has an honorable history. Its present pastor is Rev. H. McElroy Stovall. Fair Haven also was early represented in Methodism. Its East Pearl Street Church dates from 1832, and was started on Exchange Street. Some of its recent pastors have been Rev. R. T. ]\IcNicholl, Rev. Edgar C. Tullar, Rev. George Benton Smith and Rev. G. E. Warner, who now occupies the pulpit. A second African ^Methodist Church dates shortly after the original one. It is the Bethel on Sperry Street, founded in 1842. Its pastor is Rev. William H. Lacey. Grace Methodist Church on Howard Avenue is another of the old churches of the city. In a section not now strongly Protestant, and somewhat oversup- plied by Methodist Churches, it has done a good work and kept the faith. Its present pastor is Rev. H. M. Hancock. There was a George Street Methodist Church on the south side of that street, almost at its lower end, in 1853. But that locality was rapidly changing from residential to commercial, and it presently disappeared. The German Methodist Chiirch on Columbus Avenue has a history dating from 1854, and has nobly upheld the faith of Wesley among the people of Luther. The latest of a long line of faithful pastors is Rev. Herman Blesi. Summerfield Church was started in 1871 in a carriage shop in Newhallville, they tell us. It built at Dixwell and Henry in 1875, and its present building twenty years later. Rev. R. L. Tucker at present ministers to it. Howard Avenue Church was established in what must have been in 1872 the isolated oyster community of Oyster Point, since dignified to City Point. It has since served its community well, though changing conditions have been 128 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN somewhat against it. Its recent pastors have been Rev. Robert J. Beach, Rev. John "W. Mace and Rev. Daniel Dorchester, Jr. There was a Methodist group who, previous to 1882, erected a building at the corner of Chapel and Day Streets. There was another on Davenport Avenue. That year they united, and in 1883 built what we know as Trinity Church at George and Dwight Streets. Since then this has been one of the leading ^leth- odist churches. Some of the well remembered and honored pastors of the past twenty years have been Rev. B. F. Kidder, Rev. H. Frank Rail, Rev. "W. H. Kidd, Rev. John W. Maynard, Rev. Hubert B. Munson and the present beloved Rev. Arthur H. Goodenough. The gap between New Haven and East Haven was being so well filled by 1886 that a church was demanded at ""Four Corners," and the Methodists seized the opportunity. St. Andrews Church serves a new and growing com- munity. Its pastor for several years previous to April, 1918, was the Rev. John Lee Brooks, who then resigned to enter Y. M. C. A. work in Hartford. Rev. F. C. Tucker was assigned to the church in 1918. Almost the newest ilethodist Church is Epworth, built in 1892 out in the growing section of Orange Street. It has grown to one of the strong congre- gations of its city. Some of the men who have served are Rev. Duane N. Griffin, now of Hartford, who was pastor in 1896, Rev. Benjamin M. Tipple, who was pa.stor in 1898 and the years following, Rev. E. Foster Piper and Rev. E. S. Neumann, at jiresent with the cburch. The First Swedish Church, at 6.) Park Street, is a recent addition to Meth- odism, but prospering. It is in charge of Rev. Fridolph Soderman. Recently a third has been added to the group of A. M. E. churches, St. Paul's U. A. M. E. Church on Web.ster Sti'eet. Its pastor is Rev. Joseph H. Chase. II The tirst Bapti.st congregation appeared in New Haven in 1816. when twelve disciples of this faith started pulilic worship in the building on the east side of Church Street which Trinity had just abandoned for its tine edifice on the Green. Their preacher was the Rev. Elisha Cushman. They did not long remain on Church Street — perhaps the ])nilding was larger than they needed at that time. At any rate, we find them shortly afterward worshipping in the lodge room of Amos Doolittle. on College Street north of Elm which "Old Hiram" Lodge of Masons had recently occupied. Here they worshipped vuitil 1821. It seems that they had an ambition to get a site on the Green, and accounts are con- fusing as to whether they ever received the permission. At any rate, they did not build there, but went toward the then popular section of Woo.ster Square. Their first building was at Chapel and Academy streets. Then, for some reason, they moved up to the State House for a time. Then they built again on Chapel Street near Olive. Meanwhile a second Baptist Church had been formed, which built on the south side of Wooster Square. In 1845, three years after this, the CAL\AKV BAPTIST CHURCH, XKW HANKX lw?wiii(iii(iiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiimMiiM AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 129 two congregations united in tlie Wooster Square building. This eliureh was nearly destroyed by fire in 1871, but restored and enlarged the following year, and was the place of an active church body until 1903, when the First Baptist yielded to the common pressure, and changed its location to the corner of Livingston and Edwards streets, erecting one of the most attractive buildings in the city. Many distinguished men have served this church. The first pastor was Rev. Henry Lines, in the days previous to 1821. Rev. Benjamin M. Hill was with the church from 1821 to 1830. One of its ablest leaders of the early period was Rev. S. Dryden Phelps, who was pastor from 1845 to 1873. Some of the pastors in the years following were: Rev. J. M. Stitier, Rev. "W. H. Butrick, and in the later period, Rev. John H. Mason, Rev. E. C. Sage and Rev. Frederick Lent, who has led the congregation in its new location, and greatl.y developed the church. The second Baptist Church to be founded was Lnmanuel, which the colored brethren started in 1856. It has had a prosperous existence ever since. Its best years have been in it,s home at Chapel and Day streets, which it purchased from the Methodists in 1882. There it has had two distinguished pastorates, those of Rev. A. C. Powell and the Rev. David S. Klugh, who 1ms ably led the church since 1909. In 1868 the German Baptists established their church at George and Broad streets, and have done a quiet but valuable work there ever since. Some of their pastors have been strong men in the New Haven fellowship, notaljly Rev. Otto Koenig and the present pastor. Rev. Julius Kaaz. "The church of a thousand welcomes." Calvary Baptist Church calls itself in these days. For two decades it Jias through its location as well as through the spirit of its leadership and following, occupied a prominent place in the life of New Haven. It was founded in 1871, and its ample building at Chapel and York streets was erected soon after. In the late eighties it was destroj-ed by fire, but was restored in even better form. It has been led by a line of remark- able men. Previous to 1888 its pastor was Rev. T. S. Samson. Then Rev. Edwin M. Poteat was pastor until 1898, followed by Rev. George H. Ferris, 1899 to 1905, Rev. Donald D. Munro, 1905 to 1911, Rev. John Wellington Hoag, 1911 to 1916, and since then Rev. James MeGee. The Grand Avenue Baptist Church was founded in 1871, and has vigorously represented that creed in Fair Haven. Some of its recent pastors have been Rev. E. C. Sage, who later went to the First Church, Rev. Charles B. Smith and Rev. C. M. Sherman. The church was without a regular pastor in 1917. Nearly the newest but at present one of the most vigorous of the Baptist churches is Olivet, founded in 1904 on Dixwell Avenue. It had a struggle for the first few years, but came into its own in 1914, when it completed a new and handsome building on Dixwell Avenue .iu.st north of its .junction with Shelton. The present pastor is Rev. George C. Chappelle. Two Baptist churches of recent origin complete the list. They are the Vol. I 9 ]30 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Swedish Church, founded in 1882, now located at 100 Lawrence Street, of whicli Rev. Nathaniel C. Edwell is pastor, and the Italian Baptist on George Street, whose present pastor is Rev. G. Basile. Ill By the end of the first third of the last century New Haven had become used to innovations in church population, and had a little outgrown that pro- vincialism which would have limited the churches of the cities to those of the Congregational order. The beginning of immigration which followed 1820, being mostly from Ireland, inevitably brought with it a demand for Roman Catholic churches. There were none of these, however, until after 1834. Previous to that time the Rev. James Fitton. coming here from Hartford, ministered occasionally to those of this faith, but there was no church. By 1834, however, there must have been a large number of Catholics in the city, more than enough for one church. They were grouped largely in the Second, Third and Fourth wards, or the southwestern part of the city. There accordingly, in the year mentioned, a building called Christ Church was erected at the corner of Daven- port Avenue and York Street. It was so crowded at its dedication that the loft containing the organ fell, killing two persons. In this building the first Catholic Church of New Haven held its services for the next fourteen years. In 1848 it js^as burned. The character of its support and its locality, had considerably changed in the meantime, and when a temporary building was erected to replace this church, it was located on Church Street, and was named St. Mary's. This seems to have been used, however, for more than twenty years, while prepara- tions were being made for an edifice which should befit the important center of Connecticut Catholicism which New Haven was destined to be. This was the new St. Marj-'s Chui'ch on Hillhouse Avenue, sometimes incorrectly called "the cathedral," which was completed in 1875 at a cost of $150,000. It was then and still is the finest church building in New Haven, and atlequately serves a.s the central structure for the people of this faith. "Within this period five other churches had sprung up in various sections of the city. On the site where the first Christ Church had been burned was in 1858 erected St. John's Church, which has remained and flourished there ever since. Eight years before this, the older part of Grand Avenue had rc(|uired its own church, and St, Patrick's was built. In 1865 another congregation had acquired what w^as built as the South Congregational Church on Columbus Avenue, and had made it the Sacred Heart Church, At least that was the founda- tion of the commodious edifice which now stands at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Liberty Street. St. Francis had been erected in Fair Haven in 1867, and a year later so many German Catholics had come to New Haven that they had their own church, St, Boniface, at 229 George Street. And not long after that Westville established its own church. So we find the New Haven of twenty years ago with nine Catholic chiirches. ST. MARY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, NEW HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 131 the growth of the first half century of foiuidatioii. Over them presided priests whose names are still familiar to New Haveners. The Rev. John D. Coyle was at St. John's, as he is today. Rev. John Russell wa-s at St. Patrick's, where he had been since 1883, and where he still is. Rev. Joseph A. Sehaele, the present pastor of St. Boniface's, was there in 1918, and had been since 1872. Rev. Michael ^IcKeon was then, as now, pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart. Rev. P. M. Kennedy was at St. Francis. Rev. Hugh F. Lilly presided over the large force of St. Clary's. This original church has since 1885 been in charge of the order of the Dominican Fathers, and its pastors change more frequently than do those of the other churches. The Rev. Peter Lotti was at St. Michael's in 1898, the Rev. Joseph Senesac at St. Louis, and the Rev. Jere- miah Curtin at St. Josei^h's in Westville. A review of some of the names before that brings to remembrance some which were familiar and honored in New Haven only a little earlier. They were Rev. ilatthew Hart and Very Rev. James Lynch at St. Patrick's, Rev. Hugh Carmody, D.D.. and Rev. John Cooney at St. John's: Rev. P. A. Gaynor and Rev. Patrick JIulholland at St. Francis; Rev. J. A. Mulcahy and Rev. Michael McCune at Sacred Heart. Every one of these names means years of priceless experience to thou.sauds of faithful Catholics in New Haven. Ten years more, and in 1908 we find the nine churches grown to fourteen. There were few changes in the pa.storates, except that new men had come with the new churches. Rev. E. J. Farmer was at St. Mai-y's. Rev. Robert J. Early was at St. Peters, one of the new churches. Five years ago, the number of churches had gi'own to sixteen. Today there lare seventeen, six of them having their accompanying parochial schools, while St. Mary's has both a school and an academy. The list of churches in 1917, with their dates of establishment and their present pastors, is as follows : St. Mary's, originally Christ Church, founded on Davenport Avenue, in 1834, now on Hillhouse Avenue. Pastor, Rev. J. P. Aldridge, O.P. St. Patrick's on Grand Avenue, founded in 1850. Pa,stor, Rev. John Russell. St. John's on Davenport Avenue, founded 1858. Pastor, Rev. John D. Coyle. St. Francis on Ferry Street, founded 1867. Pastor, Rev. James J. Smith. St. Boniface, German, George Street, founded 1868. Pastor, Rev. Joseph A. Sehaele. St. Joseph's. Westville, founded 1872. Pastor, Rev. John J. McGivney. Sacred Heart on Columbus Avenue, founded 1875. Pastor, Rev. Michael McKeon. St. Louis, French, East Chapel Street, founded 1889. Pastor, Rev. C. H. Paquette. St. Michael's, Italian, Wooster Place, founded 1890. Pastor, Rev. Leonardo Quaglia. St. Joseph's, on Edwards Street, founded 1900. Pastor, Rev. A. F. Harty. 132 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN St. Peter's, on Kimberly Avenue, founded about 1900. Pastor, Rev. Robert J. Early. St. Stanislaus, Polish, End and State streets, founded about 1900. Rector, Rev. Anthony Mazurkiewiez. St. Anthony's, Italian, on Washington Avenue, founded 1903. Pastor, Rev. Bartolomeo ]\Iarenchino. St. Rose's on Blatchley Avenue, founded 1907. Pastor, Rev. John J. Fitz- gerald. St. Casimir's, Lithuanian, St. John Street, founded 1908. Pastor, Rev. Vin- cent P. Karkauskas. St. Brendan's on Carmel Street, founded 1909. Pastor, Rev. John J. McLaughlin. St. Michael's, Rutlieuian Greek, on Park Street, founded 1910. Pastorate supplied. These seventeen churclies, as their number stood at the end of 1917, indicate something of the large population of this faith in New Haven, and of the great- ness of the work done. Their membership, which of course includes the young a.s well as the old in their parishes, is doubtless larger than that of the other churches combined. Tliey have some of the finest of the church buildings of the city, their architecture being always dignified and appropriate. They are a tremendous force for community good, holding in churchly ways and to church ideals many of the people, old as well as new, who without them might drift and lower their standards. They are served by faithful men, many of whom have entered heartily into the community life of their adopted city, and all of them are a worthy contribution to its citizenship. IV • There have been representatives of the Jewish faith in New Haven at least since 1770, though it appears that not until 1840 was there a group sufficiently large to form a "congregation." In that year, when the first authoritative records kept by any of the local congregations begin, a company of twenty Bavarians formed themselves into a liody for the worship of their fathers' God in their fathere' way. In that group, as we get the record, are some names which New Haven recognizes and honors now, such luimes as Adler, Lehman, Lautenbach and Ullman. The story of the formation of that first congregation is not ven- comjiletely preserved. From various .sources, including newspaper accounts, we learn that in 1846 this congregation dedicated to their purpose a hall on the fourth floor of the Brewster Building. Shaar Shalom, "Gate of Peace," is the name given to this congregation by one historian, though it is otherwise mentioned as Mish- kan Shalom, Tabernacle of Peace and ^Mishkan Israel. It is supposed, however, to have been a secession from the first group of Bavarian families. The last name is the one which it has held in the seventy years since 1849. It had forty- FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST S( I EXT 1ST, NEW HAVEX iUSHKAN ISRAEL SVNAi.ni,! K. M-.W 1IA\ EN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 133 nine members then. About that time there was a union of Mishkan Shalom and Mishkan Israel under the latter name. For six or seven years after 1849 the habitation and the achievements of this congregation are hazy. It does not appear that in that time they had any synagogue of their own other than rented halls. It was in 1856 that the con- gregation acquired the building on Court Street, below Orange, which had just been vacated by the Third Congregational Church. There it worshipped until 1896, when it built the Temple on Orange Street, the twentieth anniversary of whose occupancy it celebrated in 1916. The records of this congregation show a succession of men who have been trusted and honored by all their fellow citizens of New Haven, as well as by their brethren in being made presidents. Among them, in the days previous to 1872, are .such names as Jacob Thalmon, Israel Bretzfelder, Isaac and Abraham Ullman, Meyer Kahn, and Isaac Williams. In the musical history of the syna- gogue appears prominently the name of ilorris Steinert, who became master of the organ and the choir when the former was introduced in 1863. The names of the earlier rabbis have not been completely preserved, but it is agreed that Rev. B. E. Jacobs was the first. In 1864, and until 1873, Rabl)i Jonas Gabriel served the congi-egation. In his period there were other innova- tions as nota-ble as the introduction of the organ and choir just before he came. They stopped segregating women in the synagogue sei*viee in 1864, instituting the family pew. In 1873 Rabbi Judah Wechsler succeeded Rabbi Gabriel. In his time the religious school wa.s instituted, and the women foiuid their place in the active institutions and work of the synagogue. There were also radical changes in the ritiial. He was succeeded in 1878 by Dr. Kleeberg, a learned man, a power- ful leader, recognized, we are told, as the strongest man who up that time had led the congregation. In 1893 Rabbi David Levy was called from Charleston, and devotedly served the congregation — as well as hundreds of other friends whom he made in the city — for the next twenty years. Of him his successor feelingly remarks: "The simplicity of the sei'\'ices, the reverent decorum, the punctuality of the members and the modernization of the religious school are but a few of the lasting effects of his services for a period of twenty years. In 1896, under the spell of his enthusiasm, together with that of loyal workers whose names are well known, the corner stone of the present synagogue was laid in January, and in March of 1897 this building was dedicated as a house of God." Rabbi Levy was succeeded by Rabbi Louis L. Mann, whose fine scholarship, true humanity and earnest enthusia.sm have already endeared him not only to his cougi-egation but to all men of the brotherly spirit in New Haven who have come in contact with him. The congregation looks forward, under his leadership, to one of its most useful periods. Some of the presidents of the congregation in the modem period indicate most clearly the excellent following which the rabbis have had. Some of them — KU A MODEKN lllSTOKV OF NKW HAVEN to nuMiti.m only a tVw— iiro M.«os Mann. M. Sonnenborg. -Moritz Spior. (.'harles Kloiuor, Max Aillor and Harry W. Aslior. Mishkan Israol has for tliroo ilocados boon roeoguizod as the leading and most progrossivo synngoguo in Now Havon. but tlioro is a nobU> body of snialler con- grogations, sonio of whioh have found their strength in the following tlioy have roeeived from a strioter interpretation of the traditions handed down from the falhei-s, Oliief of thoin is the Congregation IVnai .laoob. whioh in 181-i left its old plaoe of worship on Temple Street for a now and handsome building on (^eorgi^ Street, between College and High. Its pivsident is TI. Kesnik. Six other eongregations, all of them of the order called '• orthodox. "' uphold the worship and traditions of Israel in various parts of tlie eity : Congregation B'nai Soholm, })S Olive Stivet, President. Joseph Kaiser; Congregation Reth llaiuedrosh llagodel U'nai Israel. U> Rose Street. Tresident Jlax Ri>soff : Congregation Biekur Cholim H'nai Abraham. 21 Factory Sti-oet. President David Levy: Congregiition ilgni David. 1() Pradley Stivet. President Miehael Givert^: Congregation Shaivi Toure. 55 York Street. President II. Kosenlvrg: Congregation Shevith Aehim, 10 Faetorv Stivet, Pivsident L. lAniiie. There has Iven a l^nivei"Sj\list Cliuroh in Xew Haven since 1850. and it has had an honorable history. Tlunv has not. however, appeaivd to be a tendency to incivase of adhoivnt« of this faith in this city, and with the exoeptiou of a few yeai-s in this period, when tlieiv was a second church, this cougregatiou has been by itself. It had its unpleasjint experiences in former yeare, no doubt, with a class of Christians who deemed themselves "evangelical." and some othei-s not. but it has survived by deserving. The tii-st pastor of this Church of the Jlessiah. as its name is. was the Rev. S. C. Bnlkeley. aud in the begiuuiug of the modern period Rev. W. F, Diokerman led the people. For the past eleven veal's Rev. The^idore A. Fischer has lH>en its pastor, and has occupied in the couimunity a position of t^tccm givatly exceeding the comparative size of this church and denomination. Then^ aiv six Lutheran eougn>gations in the cit.v. ranging in date from Trinity German Lutheran, established in 1S65, to the Fii-st English Lutheran, starteti in 1902. The tirst mentioned worshipped for many years on lower George Street, but as ahvady told, when the Church of the K4.Hieemer left its house of worship at Oranjrt^ and "Wall streets in 1916, it sold to this church. The pastor is Rev. Arnold F. Keller. The others in their order aiv: German K\-angelical Lutheran Zion. 1SS3, pastor. Rev. Julius C. Kretzman: Swctlish Evangelical Lutheran Bethesda. ISSo, pastor. Rev. Carl H. Xelson: German Evangi^lioal Lutheran Emanuel. 1S90. pastor. Rev. Henry W. Toight : Trinity Danish Lutheran, 1S97, pastor. Rev. P. Christian Stockholm; First English Lutheran. 1902, pastor. Rev. John E. Ainsworth, Xew Haven's only Presbyterian Church dates from 1S86. and has had in that CHURCH OF 'I'llK \IKSSI.\II. CNINKHSAUST, NKW HAVKN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 135 time but one pastor, Rev. F. A. M. Brown, D.D. It erected soon after its foundation a parish house on the south side of lower Elm Street, and there it worshipped until 1907, when it completed a handsome building. The church occupies an important position in the religious life of New Haven despite its apparent loneliness. Two Advent churches liave been established in New Haven to serve this peculiar but not numerous ]>ody of the faithful. The Second Advent Church, of which Rev. James A. Osborne is pastor, is on Beers Street, and the Seventh Day Advent Church, under the leadership of Rev. Sidney E. Norton, meets at 68 .Brewster Street. Christian Science has a live organization in New Haven. Formerly there M-ere two churches, but when in 1907 the First Church erected a handsome edifice at the corner of Winthrop and Derby avenues the two combined, and are doing a strong and progressive work. For several years past New Haven has had one Church of God and Saints of Christ, more conveniently kno^Mi as the Mormon Church. It is led by Elder William A. Blount. I CHAPTER XVI NEW HAVEN'S SCHOOLS THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENT CONSTITUTION— THEIR EXCELLENT EQUIPMENT, FORCE AND OPERATION MISCELLANEOUS AND FRn'ATE SCHOOLS As an ancient centei* of education, as the pioneer in its state and one of the pioneers of the nation, New Haven holds an unchallenged claim. It has this place today, not wholly because of its excellent equipment of modern colleges and schools, but because of a group of educational forces which nuike it still as nearly unique as it was in the beginning. Already we have seen how close the school was to the head of the plans for an ideal state which the first founders had. We have traced their high-inten- tioned, though somewhat disastrous, efforts to make the school the handmaid of the church. It is through these that New. Haven has the record of offering to the people the first free school of Connecticut. There was in that the germ of the common school, though the idea which might have developed from it was, to our modern conception of the school function, a strange one. That plan was interrupted, and. it came about that for a good many years the distinctively common public school idea was partiall,y displaced bj- the grammar or semi- private school. The school started under the tutelage of Ezekiel Cheever, con- tinued after his departure by more or less effective teachers such as the young community could furnish, gave New Haven all the educational service it had for twenty years or so. Then it was eclipsed by the result of the will of Governor Edward Hopkins, of which we have already heard. The property disposed by the will of Governor Hopkins was not distributed till 1660. From that year dates New Haven's oldest school, which has been continued without a break to this time. There are a few older schools, but the fact that Hopkins Grammar School has been continued for over two centuries and a half in the town where it was founded, and its distinguished list of graduates, make it one of the most notable educational institutions of the country, and indicate something of the prestige it has given New Haven. Of late years New Haven has developed so excellent a public high school, and such a multitude of private college preparatory schools have arisen all over the east, that Hopkins Grammar School, which is primarily a preparatory school 136 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 137 for Yale, has had a trying competition. The age and bareness of its historic building on High Street, and the pressure of Yale's expansion in that direction, have caused its removal to an excellent building at 1209 Chapel Street, which is used as dormitory and recitation building combined. There it is continuing its excellent work and its unbroken history. In 1914 Arthur Burnham Wood- ford, who had been its rector for a number of years, retired, and was succeeded by George Blakeman Lovell, who had for some time previous been a member of its faculty. But not only was the seventeenth century the day of private schools, but in large measure so were the eighteenth and nineteenth. New Haven has had other distinctive schools, which have given it wide fame. Hopkins always headed the list, but there was the Laneasterian School of John E. Lovell, established in 1822, and following for thirty years a remarkable career during which it graduated many of the men who made the New Haven of their day. The feature of the Laneasterian s.ystem, as most persons by now have forgotten, was the^ employment of the older pupils to teach the younger. It seemed to work well under so excellent a master as Mr. Lovell, and appealed to some of the other educators of New Haven. The influence of it was felt to the extent that it was tried in several of the public schools of New Haven about the middle of the last century. It seemed to have its recommendations of econ- omy, and it worked very well at that time, but it depended much on the domi- nating spirit of the master. In those days of small numbers in the schools, when they were simply country schools on a little larger scale, it had some educational advantages. By the standards of edncalion which have for some time prevailed it is, of course, hopelesslj' primitive. There were other notable private schools in that earlier period. One that cannot even yet be forgotten was the Russell Military School, known formally as General Russell's Collegiate and Commercial Institute on Wooster Place. It belonged to the time when Wooster Place was the fashionable center of resi- dence, culture and to some extent of education. It was the city's only military school, and its fame, in its time, spread far. It was somewhat later than that, when Mrs. Sarah L. Cady's West End Institute, a fashionable and able "finish- ing school" for girls (perhaps they did not use that term in its early days), became famous and made educational prestige for New Haven. The modern development of New Haven's public schools began, one may judge, about 1860, when first the high school was established. Its location was at the first near corner of Orange and Wall streets, where the building named from James Hillhouse was erected by the city in 1871. It was a small beginning. But the building was an ambitious one by the standards of that time, and in it for the next three decades some of the best educational work of Connecticut was done. Little could the founders of that high school in the '60s foresee the time when New Haven would have a high school with a membership larger than the average American college, with a force of teachers considerably larger than Yale College had at the time. 138 A MODERN HISTORY OF xXEW HAVEN Large as it is, the high school of today is only proportional to the public educational system of New Haven. A glimpse of it is impressive in many ways. This city of perhaps 175,000 people is served by a high school which really is four schools in one. There is the high school proper, with its college prepara- tory, classical, scientific and English courses; there is the manual training school, with its scientific and general coupes; there is the commercial school, soon to have its own separate building, with the varied courses which the business college teaches; there are the Boardman apprentice shops, with their classes in shop work, 'domestic science and the trades. To this, doubtless, should be added the evening high school, which is yearly coming nearer to the presen- tation, in necessarily somewhat abridged form, of all the advantages which the day schools oft'er. This high school lias a force of principal and six heads of departments, with a student counsellor and a special principal in charge of the afternoon sessions. There is a force of 114 teachers for the three departments, besides the Boardman apprentice shops, and for tliese there are, in all, twenty-seven teachers. In all departments of tlie liigh school there are this year 4,007 pupils. These taper down l)y classes, from 1,412 in the first year class, 1,002 in the second year class, to 738 in the junior class and 644 in the senior class. This last figure will represent, approximately, the number in the graduating class. There are 178 pupils in the aiiprcntice shops, better known as the Trade School. There are sixteen post-graduates. There is a group of buildings in the high school system, and it is bound to be greater. When the great building on York Square was erected in 1903, it was expected to be ample for the school needs for years to come. AVithin less than ten years it was foixnd hopelessly inadequate to accommodate all the pupils at one session. It was planned to accommodate 1,562 pupils. It now has. as we have seen, over 4,000. Though an addition accommodating 768 pupils in its six- teen rooms was made in 1914, it was still necessary, as it had been three years earlier, to resort to the expedient of double sessions. First the first year class was made into an afternoon school, and by 1917 it was found necessary to divert 150 of the .second year pupils to this school. At the end of 1917 the superin- tendent reported that the building had acconnnodated in the previous year 2,500 pupils, which he considered its limit. The remainder of the 4,000, of course, were in the Boardman Manual Training School Building on Broadway. Here the manual training courses are taken care of, as well as the commercial department. A new building for this department has been planned, but its construction is delayed. The greater portion of the Boardman building is occupied by the pupils of the Trade School, who need more room in proportion to their number. So the problem of New Haven's growing high school has been solved for the time. The division of the high school into local parts in different sections of the city, which seemed at one time inevitable, has been, at least post- poned. It has been hoped to still further postpone it by the formation of what AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 139 is called the Junior High School. This is a separate school consisting of grades seven, eight and uiue; that is, the last two years in the grammar school and the first in the high school. This plan, discussed at some length by the super- intendent in his last annual report as the most feasible means of relieving the high school pressure, was expected to be tried out, possibly in the present year. The plan intends the establishment, in all sections of the city, of a sufficient number of these junior high schools to perhaps permanently relieve the pressure on the central building. The grammar and primary grades of the city are now served by forty-seven buildings, in addition to the schools at the New Haven and St. Francis orphan asylums. In them are 614 classrooms, with a total of 26,139 seats, to take care of a .school registration of 27,242. The total number of teachers, including the entire high school force, the teachers in the grammar, primary and kindergarten grades, and the supervisors and assistants, was in 1917 820. The largest school in New Haven is Hamilton Street, with thirty-one rooms' and 1.523 pupils. Greene Street, at the corner of Wooster Square, comes next, with nineteen rooms. 942 pupils. Ivy Street, at the corner of Ivy Street and "Winchester Avenue, comes third, with 882 pupils. These are among the older schools of the city. There are fourteen other schools each having the full eight grades, ranging from 860 down to 158 pupils in number, and in age from the historic Lovell School, built back near the middle of the last century, to Bar- nard School, opened in 1913, out on the western edge of the city. Two schools, the Dixwell Avenue, with five rooms and 164 pupils, and the school of St. Francis Orphan Asylum, with eight rooms and 384 pupils, have only seven grades. Seventeen have only six grades. These are mostly in districts, some of them congested, where pupils are pi-one to leave school early. Three schools in the Wooster Square district. Dante, Fair Street and Wooster, stop with the fifth grade. Eight have only four grades, these being mostly subsidiary to larger buildings in their district. The New Haven orphan asyhim school, being restricted to children quite young, has only two grades. The schools of New Haven offer a most favorable field for the study of the process of race amalga- mation which means so much to New Haven. They reflect, at the same time, the nature of the city's changing citizenship. They moreover give reassurance, as has elsewhere been said, to those who fear that the task of making the raw material into Americans is not being well performed. In these schools forty-five different nationalities are represented. They are American, Armenian, Austrian, Australian, Belgian, Bohemian, Canadian, Chinese, Cuban, Danish, Dutch, Eg^-ptian, Engli.sh, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Negro, Newfoundlander, Norwegian, Philippine, Polish, Portuguese, Pru.ssian, Rumanian, Russian, Scandinavian, Scotch, Serbian. Shetland Islander, Slavonian, South American, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss, Syrian, Turkish, Welsh and West Indian. Of the 27,029 children in the schools, 8,115, or less than one-third, may be called American. Italv, not America, heads the list of nationalities with 8,576. 140 A MODEKN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Theu follow American, 8,115 ; Russian, 4,486 ; Irish, 1,304 ; German, 926. There are half as many Russians as Americans. Yet the mixture in the schools seems hopeless. There is only one school in the city, the Dante, which is practically a school of single nationality. Of the 437 there, 434 are Italians, two are Americans and one is Russian. Italians largely predominate in seven other schools, having from 58 to 97 per cent. These are Woostef, Fair Street, Hamil- ton, Greene Street, Washington, Ezekiel Cheever and Eaton. In nine schools, out of a total registration of 6,009, 4,725 are Italians. In four schools, Zuuder, Hallock Street, Webster and Serantou Street, Russians predominate, having a registration of 1,352 out of a total of 2,432. There are marked shifts of this population as well. Schools in the old Welch district, which were once largely Russian, now have a lai-ger number of Italians than Russians. These are Cedar Street, Prince Street and Welch. But of these two nationalities together there are 1,633 children out of a total of 2,235. The Italian seems to be universal. In every school in the city he is represented by from five to 1,294 children. The Russian, how-ever, is almost as widely dis- tributed. The American manages to be represented in all but one of the schools of the city, the small Greenwich Avenue School. In the last three years, the number of Americans in the schools has increased 1.3 per cent, the Italians have increased 13.5 per cent, the Russians have increased 11.9 per cent, the Irish have decreased 16.1 per cent, the Germans have decreased 30.7 per cent. There are other changes. Of the pupils now in the schools, 1,754 were born abroad. But this is 1,642 fewer than for 1915, and 571 fewer than for 1916. This may be accounted for, perhaps, by the recent checking of immigration. In the High School there are thirty-one different nationalities. A little less than half the total, or 1,822, are Americans. II The New Haven school organization now consists of a board of education of seven members, appointed by the mayor, a superintendent, three a.ssistant superintendents, a secretary of the board and an inspector of school buildings. The members of the board, at the beginning of 1918 were: Leo H. Herz, presi- dent of the board ; Henry A. Spang, H. ]M. Kochcrsperger, Dr. George Blumer, Mrs. Percy T. Walden, William A. Watts and Joseph T. Anquillare. Frank H. Beede has been .superintendent for the past eighteen years, succeeding Calvin N. Kendall in 1900. The change from the system of supervising principals to assistant superintendents was made in 1912, and had the immediate effect of demoting, at least as to responsibility and salary, three of the veteran prin- cipals and able educators of the school system, whose work had deserved for them a better fate. The present assistant superintendents are Junius C. Knowl- ton, Claude C. Rus.sell and John C. McCarthy. George T. Hewlett is the sec- retary of the board, having ably served since 1903, when the late Horace Day closed his labors after a service of forty-three years with the board. The in- spector of school buildings is Dennis J. Maloney. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 141 The present principal of the High School is Charles Kirsehner, a native of New Haven, a graduate of the school and of Yale, and an able executive and educator, proved so by his service in the most trying period the school has so far known. The heads of departments are: Classical, Alfred E. Porter; Com- mercial. John D. Houston ; English, Susan S. Sheridan, one of the veteran teachers of the school; Mathematics. Arthur E. Booth; Modern Languages, Thomas P. Tayloi-. Janet M. Purdue is the student coimselor, and Ralph Wentworth is principal in charge of the afternoon sessions. The Boardman apprentice sliops, now forming a vitally important depart- ment, not only of the Higli School, but of the whole New Haven system of education, are now directed by Ralph 0. Beebe. This school, popularly known as the Trade School, was established in 1913. and has, under wise foundation and careful administration, made a record which has given it high distinction among schools of its clas-s in the country. It was planned, not on the model of any other trade school, but solely for New Haven's needs. Its central purpose was to offer, to the large and rapidly growing numlier of New Haven boys and girls whom the urge of economic necessity was driving into gainful occupations as soon as the law would permit them to leave school, aid to choice of the kind of work for which they were best adapted, and a direct fitting for that work. It was to serve the further and not less essential purpose of offering an inducement for a year or two years of further continuance in school, with the general edu- cation and training that might -accompany the special education, of hundreds who were liesitating between school and Avork. and liable to choose the latter in following what seemed the line of least resistance. The school was opened with Frank L. Glynn as director. Under his experi- enced and progressive leadership, it at once took high rank among institutions of its sort. There was at first opposition to it from organized labor bodies, who suspected its effect as inimical to them. But discreet management has substan- tially overcome this opposition, and all workers in all trades in New Haven now pretty well understand that the school will be a great help to the proficiency of their lines of work. In 1916 Mr. Glynn was called to a larger work in "Wisconsin, and Robert O. Beebe, who had for some years been the assistant of Major Hewlett in the office of the Board of Education, was made director. He has shown a broad conception of the opportunities and purposes of the school, and has excellently developed its courses. The school functions now through twelve departments, each representing an important trade or vocation. The one regularly containing the greatest number of pupils is the department of machine shop practice, in which forty- five boys are learning by actual work in well equipped machine shops to do practically expert machine making. Their work is not merely practice. There product is finished and salable, and finds a market, as well as, in some cases, an actual advance demand. The income from this source alone makes a material reduction in the cost of running the school. Next to this the most largely at- tended branch is the girls' department, in which thirty-three pupils are learning 142 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN dressmaking, millinery and cooking, as well as housekeeping and the highei branches of domestic science. Twenty-three boys are in the drafting room. Twenty are in the woodworking trades, which are a practical preparation for all branches of carpentry and cabinet making. The electrical department has seven- teen pupils, and teaches with practical experience all the leading branches of applied electricity. There is a printing department, which had nine pupils last year. This teaches practical printing, including the use of the linotype machine, a good machine and an instructor being constantly available. This department prints many of the papers and pamphlets used by the educational board and the schools in their work. There is a class of seven in pattern making, a class of seven in plumbing, of five in book binding, and of two in forging. This was the first trade school in the country to open a department for the teaching of painting and decorating. In that class there were ten boys in 1917. The mem- bers of this class have done much of the work of this sort for the department of schools whenever new rooms were opened or it was necessary to redecorate old ones. As an instance, the last report of the Board of Education said: "On November 9, 1917, the Board of Education held its first meeting in the new offlees in the old county court house. The work of refini.shing these offices was largely done by apprentices from the Boardmau apprentice shops." Other reports within the past few years have shown that all the finished niatci-ial produced and the work done liy apprentices from this school either brings in or saves the city money amounting in the year to between $15,000 and $16,000, a very appreciable portion of its cost of maintenance. Once in three months the department in salemanship of the school enrolls a class of twenty-five members, composed of salesmen or women from depart- ment stores, who are given efficient instruction in this essential art. At present the number of those seeking instruction in the apprentice shops, especially in some departments, exceeds the accommodations, and as soon as the completion of the building for the commercial school takes this department out of the Roai-dman Building, these vacated rooms will be made available for the apprentice shops. The school is run on the plan of any industrial institution, from eight in the morning till five in the afternoon on five days in the week, and even the Saturday session is now being extended to all the day. It is kept in session practically all the year, with the exception of part of a month in the summer. The evening department, an increasingly important one, is now open for the full six nights. The Saturday afternoon and evening sessions are held to accommodate evening school pupils for whom there is not room at the regular evening se.s.sions. The evening schools of New Haven have changed in twenty years from being merely missionary to definitely practical in their character. There is still the familiar irregularity in their attendance, so that figiares of registration are unsatisfactory and in a measure deceiving. But schools which at first were run as social centers, where those who took the notion might come and go practically as they pleased during the evening school session, now have taken on the char- AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 143 acter of practical, efScient schools, with a definite course and required work. Their season is comparatively short, but each year tliey grant formal diplomas to those who complete the required course, and have their regular graduation exercises. In the past year the demand for entrance to some branches of them has been such that a registration fee of one dollar was demanded in the High School and in the Boardman apprentice shops, as a guarantee of good faith and serious purpose. In the past year classes have been conducted at the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and the prediction is officially made that the time may come when evening and continuation schools will be eon- ducted in all the large factories. Some of the most important of the instruction in the New Haven schools is directed by supervisors, each with his or her specialty. New Haven was one of the first cities in the country to establish the teaching of vocal music in all its grade schools, and the work done in that department for fifty years by him who came to be the loved "music ma.ster, " Prof. Benjamin Jepson, attracted national attention. Beginning with 1864, he developed a training system which left its mark for the better on every pupil that passed through the schools. He was able to make singers of only a few, but he gave those few an invaluable start, and he improved all. The city's schools became famous for their musical instruction, and it was always possible to raise at short notice a chorus of from fift.v to two hundred school children to sing on any public or patriotic occasion. Professor Jepson, at times in his career as music supervisor, conducted singing classes in many of the towns around New Haven. He also developed an excel- lent .series of school music readers, which is still in use in many of the schools of the country. His work in the New Haven schools is continued by Supervisor William E. Brown, with two a.ssistants. The present plan not only develops chorus singing to the highest practicable point, but gives some degree of attention to individual singing wherever it seems desirable. It also provides instruction on the violin to many pupils of the schools — as many as 300 from the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades in 1917. In the High School choinis work is especially developed by boys' and girls' glee clubs, and instrumental ability is encouraged by a high school or- chestra under competent instruction. New Haven has made a most valuable feature of the teaching of drawing and art in its schools under the supervision of Almond H. Wentworth. The work is so conducted that even in eases where there is not the slightest natural inclination in this direction, the mind of the pupil is arrested and fixed for a time on this subject, and at least something is accomplished in the teaching of good taste and an appreciation of the beautiful. In some school systems penmanship may have become a lost art, but not in New Haven. Supervisor Harry Houston has found just the points in which penmanship is practical even in these days of typewriters and mechanical book- keeping, and dwells on these points in his direction of writing. His own skill and knowledge of the subject, developed in a series of school copy books which 144 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN many schools of New England have adopted as standard, have given him an almost national reputation in his specialty. Henry J. Sehnelle, the present supervisor of physical training, has developed his practically new department to a most significant degree. Something more than just perfunctory school drills are given to the children. They are given a practical groundwork in the art of good living, in the fundamentals of good health. Under his direction leagues in baseball, football, basketball, track and field sports have been organized in many of the schools. School yard play is supervised, and the teachers are made competent phy.sical instructors. Even the men principals have been enthused to the point of personal participation in competitive sports. Sewing has become more and more of a practical and applied subject of late years in the schools, particularly under the present supervisor. Miss Jennie R. Messer. Important instruction is given in things which every woman needs to know, and given in such a manner that it has its lasting effect. There are othei' leaders in the New Haven schools for the past twenty years who should be mentioned, though they have been identified with no specialty. Frank J. Diamond has been in this period principal of the Greene Street School, and no teacher in New Haven has done a more valuable work just where the tide of alien population has flowed strongest. In a school of 927 pupils, where 82 were born abroad, and 735 are of Italian parentage, with eighteen other nationalities besides American represented, he and his loyal corps of teachers show a composite product of true Americanism that is a credit to their work and a reassurance to all who tremble at the effect of the alien strains in our national blood. In another way, and with a different problem, Sherman I. Graves at Strong School in Fair Haven has done as valuable a work. No teacher in all our schools has finer ideals than he; none loves better the community of his adoption. It was his dream to make this school a transforming community center. He had made it a wonderful school when fire in 1911 destroyed his beauti- ful building, but his hopes rose with the new one from the ashes. He has not been able to do all he hoped to do. Untoward events have worked against him. But the discerning know the worth of his faithful work. His school also is a melting pot. with twenty-one nationalities among its 514 pupils, but fine is the gold it turns out. The third of a trio of strong men wrestling with gi-eat problems is David D. Lambert at Truman Street School, with 838 pupils in his charge, 122 of them born abroad, 281 of them Russian, 169 of them Italian, eighteen other races represented, only 227 of them called American. He also has faithfully, quietly, hopefully worked on. If he had no other reward than the sight of the results he is accomplishing for the future of New Haven, he might well be content. Perhaps the best tribute to teachers and pupils alike is a glimpse, in this time of national crisis, of the unusual activities of the schools. In every instance teachers have been loyal. There has been no hint of enemy propaganda, though nearly all races are represented among the teaching force. Under such an in- spiration, the pupils have been as loyal. They have worked, in and out of AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 145 school, for the commou cause. The boys have cultivated war garcleus and farms, and the girls have sewed and knitted for the Red Cross. There has been com- mendable activity and hard work in the raising of money for various purposes. The last report shows that i|fl88,720 worth of Liberty Bonds have been pur- chased in the schools. Thrift stamps to the amount of .$13,912 were taken. The contribution to the Y. M. C. A. was .$6,288, and 416 joined the senior and 3,004 the junior Red Cross. There were given $3,850 from the High School for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Library Fund; $1,321.28 altogether for the relief of French children, for the Knights of Columbus Fund and for Red Cross seals, and $477.18 for various other causes. Over 20,000 knitted and sewed articles have been given. The school gardening has been faithful, intelligent and en- thusiastic. And by no means least if last, eight of the male teachers of the High School have left their work to enter the war service of the United States. Mention has elsewhere been made of the gradual development of the use of the school buildings for other purposes and at other times than the sti-ict school hours. School buildings have been opened, not only as community centers, but for (lances, for Red Cross activities, for lectures on food conservation and good citizenship, as study rooms in congested districts, where home advantages were lacking to the pupils, for the use of exemption boards and as polling places. This last use marks one of the greatest improvements in political procedure that has come to New Haven in the past two decades. The attendance at the New Haven schools has from the first more than kept pace with the building facilities, notably so in the High School, as we have seen. With fifty -six buildings in all now at the command of the department, the attend- ance has been taken care of very well for the past year, without the addition of more buildings. But more are in progress. Plans and specifications for a com- mercial school building, accommodating 2,000 pupils, have been x>repared, and contract awarded and work begun, but for various reasons it has been halted. The city has also purchased a site for a new building in the Webster district, at the northeast corner of Howe and Oak streets, where a building will be con- structed a.s early as practicable. Ill Mention has elsewhere been made of the New Haven State Normal and Training School, a part of New Haven's public school system, though maintained by the state. It was established, as one of the state's teacher training schools, in 1900, and under the guidance of Arthur B. Morrill and an excellent corps of teachers, has since been contributing materially to the raising of the standard of common school education in Connecticut. Working in conjunction with the State Board of Education, the normal schools of Connecticut have steadily been seeking to replace the untrained teacher, throughout the state, with the graduates of these schools. As the quality of training given in these schools has risen with every passing year, this effort has resulted in an increasing success, Vol. I 10 146 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN and all but a ver.v few of the schools of Connecticut are now supplied with graduates from either the Williniantie, the New Britain, the New Haven or the Daubury school. Of these institutions the greatest success should be expected of New Haven, because of its location in a great center of education, and because of the valuable aid it gets from the New Haven schools. Four of the schools of the city, located near the norma] school building, were set apart as "model" schools, the state paying the excess salary necessary to secure superior teachers in all their rooms. To these schools all second year pupils of the Normal School are sent on alternate months, and given practical experience and criticism in teaching. The result is as nearly an experienced product as it is possible for a mere school to turn out. The City of New Haven has the first selection from each graduating class, choosing from the New Haven pupils as many of those of highest standing as it needs to fill prospective vacancies in its schools. But the school exists to supply country as well as city vacancies, and country schools need the graduates most. So it is the especial effort of some of the teachers to enthuse the pupils with a love for the country school, and an appreciation of the opportunities for original work and high influence which it offers. It shoiild be noted that this laudable effort has not been without its marked success. In many respects Westville has preferred to keep its own identity, and not the least of these is in its school management. Of the almost 37,000 children of school age now in the whole town of New Haven nearly 2,000 attend the schools of Westville. The district has three handsome and modern sehoolhouses. The Edgewood School, which takes care of the population of the newer portion of Westville, is on Edgewood Avenue, not far from the point at which it ci-osses West River, and is, ai>pai'ent!y. in the very edge of the Westville district. But the district extends to the east of the river, and apparently well into the city. It is a well built and finely appointed building, a ci-edit to the district. The L. Wheeler Beecher Memorial School is the newest of Westville 's build- ings, situated far to the opposite edge of the section, on the upper part of Blake Street. It has seven rooms, and is in every way a modern building. The Frances Benton Memorial School takes care of most of the older part of Westville. and has eight rooms. It adequately completes Westville 's excellent outfit of schools. But the section is growing fast in population, and Westville knows that it will have to provide more schools at no very distant time. William F. H. Breeze is at present the Westville superintendent. The number of children attending the public schools in the year 1917 was 27,005. Besides these 4,18-1 were reported as attending ])rivate schools. Of these a very large percentage were, of course, in the ])arochial schools, of which there are seven: Sacred Heart, St. Boniface, St. Francis, St. Mary's Academy and St. Mary's Parochial School, St. Peter's Parochial School and St. Rose's. There are three other principal private schools, most of them for younger children, doing excellent work. Of these the best known are the Gateway School, ST. FRANCIS Kd.MAN ( A I IKM.H rill |;( ||. s( IKiHL AND Ki:( TdKY. XI'AV IIAVKN ST. FRANXIS ORPHAX ASYI.L'^I. XEW HAVEX AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 147 concluoted bj- Miss Alice Reynolds; Miss Mary S. Johnson's and the Barnes School. The Hebrew Institute does an excellent special work. Some twenty years ago, when the physical culture movement first became popular, Dr. William G. Anderson, directoi' of the Yale gymnasium, started a gymnastic training class for young ladies. It soon grew to a size which de- manded a gymnasium of its own, and Doctor Anderson built one on York Street. About 1907 it outgrew its quarters there, and Dr. E. Herman Arnold, who by this time had taken the business over from Doctor Anderson, the Anderson Gymnasiitm Company having been formed, moved it to a house which had been purchased near the corner of Chapel Street and Sherman Avenue. Here the enterprise 1 lossomed out as the New Haven Normal School of Gymnastics. Siuce that time the company has acquired five buildings on the Chapel Street and Sherman Avenue sides of this corner, and has built a large gymnasium, dining hall and dormitory besides. It is said to have a high standing among the schools of this iii.ture in the country, training young women to be physical directors, and its graduates are in great demand. The excellent instruction given by Joseph Giles, in his school in the Insur- ance Building, is remembered by some whose educational course was finished only a few years ago. Of tutoring schools New Haven always has, because of the presence of the university, an abundance. Of these the most important is the University School, which George L. Fox, long a well known New Haven educator, conducts. The Booth Preparatorj^ School, and the Rosenbaum School, which has departments both in New Haven and Milford, are among the other schools of this class. There are two notalJe private music schools, that of George Chadwick Stock and the New Haven School of Music. Of business schools New Haven has some progressive representatives. One of the leaders, now making great strides in education of this sort, is the one formerly known as the Yale Business College. At the beginning of this period, when the chief advertisement if not the chief function of a business college was to teach flowery penmanship, R. C. Loveridge made the beginning of its fame. It prospered as the Yale Business College luider various managements, and about 1907 it came into the hands of Nathan B. Stone, an able teacher and a good organizer. In 1916 he changed its name to the Stone Business College, and has continued it as a complete school of sterling business education which is a credit to its name. The Butler Business School, conducted for some years in the Y. M. C. A. Building on Temple Street, has had a long and honorable existence, and grounded hundreds of young people in efficient business practice. It is now conducted by Sidney Perlin Butler. The Connecticut Business University has been for several years conducted by Henry C. Tong, and is doing excellent work. The Stebbing Commercial and Secretarial School, in the Chamber of Commerce Building, has also a large business, and is said to be filling an excellent purpose in fitting for its specialty. CHAPTER XVII NEW HAVEN'S LIBRARIES TARDY APPEARANCE OF A PUBLIC LIBRARY, AND ITS EARLY HISTORY — ERECTION OF THE NEW BUILDING THE PUBLIC LIBRARY'S BRANCHES AND USE We raa.y imagine that the greater part of the reading of New Haveu previous to the opening of the nineteenth century was done by the students and graduates of Yale College. At any rate, the college library was made to suffice the com- munity up to that time. There seems soon after to have been a sufficient demand for books to promote the establishment of private societies for the purchase of books which their members used in tuni. This was the crude formation of the private library. There were two of these in 1815, the Mechanics' Library and the Social Library. The members of the latter were very strict in their interpre- tation of literature, for by their constitution no "novel, play or tale" could be purchased e.xeept by a three-fourths vote of the members present. The two liliraries together had a collection of books numbering 1,300 volumes. In 1826 tlie Young Men's Institute, another private library, was formed, and still exists. It has a strong foundation and support, and an excellent popular library, fitted to what its patrons believe to be their needs. Its location is at 847 Chapel Street. It has 27,438 volumes, and its additions in 1916 were 764. Its librarian is Abigail Dunn. Under the impression, as are most of us, that the public librarv is a long established New England institution, we learn with some surprise that in New Haven it runs back only thirty-two years. Nor wa.s New Haven so comparatively backward, for Bridgeport is the only city in the state that had one any earlier. The position taken by New Haven was that Yale University, with its notably large library, .supplied all the needs not met by the private institutions. So the situation might have stood much longer than it did, had not New Haven found a library benefactor, and one, strange to say, who had but recently come to dwell in the city. Philip Marett was a Boston merchant who had accumulated a fortune in the Ea.st India trade, and when he was reidy to retire, showed his great dis- crimination by choosing New Haven as the place for spending his leisure years. His coming was about 1852, and from the beginning of his acquaintance with the 148 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 149 city he never ceased to marvel that such an intellectual center as New Haven had no public librarj- after the manner of Boston. He took no consequent action for fifteen years, however, but in 1867 he drew his will, disposing of a fortune of $650,000. Of that he gave one-tenth to the City of New Haven in trust, its income to be u,sed "for the purchase of books for the Young Men's Institute, or any public library which may from time to time exist in said city." Mr. Marett died in 1869. but it was eleven years later before New Haven did any- thing looking toward the active improvement of the opportunity which he had opened. In 1880 Henry G. Lewis was mayor, and he took the bull liy the horns. That year be called a meeting of the citizens for the purpose of starting a public library, that being the obvious action necessarily precedent to the utilizing of a fund for the purchasing of books for such an institution. At that meeting $1,600 was pledged, and citizens donated 300 books for a start. The city wa-s asked to furnish quarters for the library. The Court of Common Council, ac- cordingly, graciously accepted the offer "to establish and maintain a free library," and granted the use of a room or rooms in the old State House for such a purpose. The old State House in 1880 was not in a condition to make it ideal for library use, but it was at least a local habitation. Mayor Lewis at once appointed a committee to go ahead, making the number encouragingly thirteen. The committee determined to undertake the raising of $100,000, by dividing the city into districts, and setting 400 canvassers at work. We may imagine that this ta.sk was a much greater one than that, thirty- five years later, of securing two and one-half times that sum for the New Haven Orphan Asylum. At any rate, the effort seems to have netted at the time only $5,535 — in pledges only. However, the committee went ahead, put their 300 books in a room in the State House, and opened their library, with George Douglas Miller as librarian. But that was a ridiculously small collection for the time, and the most of the readers in the community, we may imagine, preferred to pay a little for the greater facilities of the Young ]\Ien's Institute. At all events, financial troubles came, and the required money came not. so the effort was abandoned after an indifferent year or so, and the precious 300 books were turned over for safe keeping to the New Haven Colony Historical Society. It was nearly five years before anything more was done. In 1885, mere pride moved some of the citizens who realized that it was a shame for a city of 75,000 people, with a library fund at its disposal, to be without a public library. Perhaps nothing would have immediately resulted, even then, if the Young Men's Institute had not precipitated matters. It had a claim, it will be re- membered, on the ]\Iarett legacy. So to avoid complication, its directors voted to appoint a committee of five to confer with a city committee on the feasibility of turning the institute library over to the city, on condition that it be made a free public library. The Court of Common Council was petitioned to appoint such a committee, and Councilmen Burton Mansfield, George D. Watrous, Fitzpatriek and Tuttle, and Aldermen Whitney, States and Goebel were chosen. The com- 150 A MODERxN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN itiittce seeurcd the authorization of a bond issue of $100,000 for the library pur- pose, and a sub-committee was appointed to complete the deal with the directors of the Young Men's Institute. But the matter hung fire for a year, and no tangible results appeared. Meanwhile, A. Maxcy Hiller of the Council drew up aud had passed a reso- lution inquiring why the contract had not been made in accordance with the Institute offer, and the president of the Council appointed Mr. Hiller and Councilman J. Rice Winchell a committee to answer the question by investiga- tion. They saw President Pardee of the Institute, and learned that a contract was being drawn up, and would soon be presented to the city for acceptance. It was presented several months later. It provided that the Young Men's Insti- tute should lease all its books and property to the city for ten years; that the city should pay all the cost of maintaining the library; that the Y^oung Men's In.stitute should have a majority on the Iioard of directors; and that the contract might be renewed or dissolved at the pleasure of either party at the expiration of the ten years. There were reasons why this did not seem to the Council a good plan for the city. Some discerning members saw wherein this fell short of tieing a free pnl)lic library. The outcome was that the Council amended the contract so as to provide that if the Young Men's Institute turned its propcrt.y over to the City of New Haven, it should be permanently, not for a term of ten .years, with a string attached. Whereupon the directors of the Institute withdrew their offer and contract, and voted that their library should continue to be a private in- stitution. Such it is up to the present time, serving an excellent purpose and doing a good work for those who sufficiently appreciate a good library to pay a small annual sum for its privileges. But this did not get a free public library for New Haven. The matter had been sufficiently agitated, however, so that public sentiment warranted the Council in going ahead with the matter, which it did, under the leader- ship of Councilmen Hiller and Winchell, to whom due credit should be given. The fonner at once introduced a resolution providing that the city establish a free public library under the statute laws, and it was passed with an amend- ment that the number of directors be ten. Therewith went an appropriation of $13,000 to start the library, and the thing was really begun. The first board of directore, appointed by the Hon. George F. Holcomb, who had succeeded the Hon. Henry 6. Lewis as mayor, consisted of these men : His Honor, the Mayor, James N. States, Charles Kleiner, Charles S. Mersick, Josepii Porter, Prof. Charles S. Hastings, Burton Mansfield, Hon. John H. Leeds, Frank L. Bigelow and Cornelius T. Driscoll. Mr. Leeds was chosen president of the board, and Burton Mansfield secretary and treasurer. Willis K. Stetson was cho.sen librarian, and has continued to sei've up to this time, an honored period of thirty-two years, for this foundation was laid in 1886. The matter of site was the first problem. The old State House was about to he torn down. The New Haven Colony Historical Societv, which had the G r; B t < AND EASTERxX NEW HAVEN COUNTY 151 few books, had then no facilities which it could offer the city. After some search, rooms in the Sheffield Building on Chapel Street, between Orange and State, were decided on as most available, and the directors took a ten years' lease of them. There the library was opened to the public on the 21st day of February, 1887. Its begiiuiing was small, but its prosperity has ever since been continuous. There is abundant evidence that New Haven appreciated its long delayed free library privilege. But it wanted also a building. The days of second-floor libraries, in rented rooms, were past. So within two years we find the directors deciding to take advantage of the deferred privilege of a $100,000 bond issue to secure the building. The Chapel Street quarters, we are told, had become wholly inad- equate, I)ecause of the demand for library privileges. There seems to have been little serious thought of building, however. That would take time, and there was the now abandoned Third Church Building, admirably situated, and offering facilities which could be made available at the expenditure of a com- paratively small amount of time and money. The property was purchased by the city in 1889. The purchase price was $71,000, and good .judges estimated that at that time it was worth at least $90,000. It had not, of course, depre- ciated any in value when nearly thirty years later the city disposed of it jointly to the United States Government and the Second National Bank. The govern- ment building and the bank building together take up the space of the old library. In this remodeled church building, which, all things considered, made a good library building, the New Haven Public Library found a home in 1891, and was opened to the public on January 2. Meanwhile, two years earlier, the last heir of Philip ilarett had passed away, and the tenth of his property was to come to the City of New Haven, "to bny books for the Young Men's Institute or any public library which may from time to time exist." The state of feeling between the directors of the Young Men's Institute and the directors of the young public library was not then, as we may imagine, of the best. The former felt that their claim in this money was too good to be overlooked, and brought suit to compel the City of New Haven to spend this money for their library instead of for the public library. The suit was not. however, fought out in the courts. The more dignified plan was agreed upon by both parties of submitting it to the decision of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. Ex-Governor Charles R. Inger- soll argued the case for the Young Men's Institute, and Judge William K. Townsend and Burton Mansfield for the City of New Haven. The .judges decided unanimously that the newly established free public library was entitled to the income of the fund, and the city has so used the money ever since. The new library was not, however, to bear the Marett or any name except that of the City of New Haven. Due credit is given to the donor of the book fund by a book plate in every volume bought with it, however. New Haven had founded the librarv, late as the action was, and New Haven had provided 152 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN the building. When the pureliase and remodeling of the old ehnrch had been completed, the library board had $4,456.28 left. It had been struggling along, in its old quarters, with an appropriation of about $3,000 a year. AVhen the library was first opened, in the rented quarters on Chapel Street, it had 3,500 books with which to supply the reading needs of a city of 85,000 people. It was necessary to send each book around the circuit three times a mouth to meet the demand. Extra books were at once purchased from an appropria- tion of $3,000, but these were inadequate. It was not until the new quarters were .secured and the Jlarett fund made available that the library was able to begin to keep up with the legitimate demands of the New Haven public. Those demands were never relaxed. The community had waited rather over- long, and the people were hungry for good reading. The circulation steadilj; and rapidly increased in the new building. It has continued to increase ever since. It has developed along other lines than the mere drawing of books. It was planned, of course, to open a reading room as soon as the building was refitted, but the directors did not anticipate the extensive use of it which im- mediately developed. As early as 1893 the directors reported that the de- mands of the public in this respect had caused them to make plans for a lai'ger reading room or rooms. The next j'ear those plans were carried out, and their extent may be inferred from the fact that $3,500 was spent. But even this was not long adequate, and a separate periodical room had to be opened the next year, what had lieen the church lecture room on the second floor being utilized. It was in 1894 that the separate children's room was opened, the library being among the first of the country in this improvement. This made possible another improvement, inaugurated the following year, namely, the open shelf plan. At that time all the shelves of the library were thrown open to the adult iisers, and they were permitted to select for themselves. The librarians reported the plan to be a success. The losses, they said, were small, and easily replaced, while the advantages were very material, both in encouraging the use of the library in the freest sense, and in the saving of labor for the at- tendants. That open shelf plan is continued with success up to the present, though the more intricate layout of the stacks in the new building requires considerable assistance from those familiar with the library, and some depart- ments are of such a nature as to nmke the open shelf plan impracticable. It is recognized, however, that there is a great gain from the viewpoint of at- tracting the public in the degree of freedom allowed in public access to the shelves. But the extent of the library had been growing also, and in 1897 more room was required. This was secured by the comparatively simple expedient of extending a floor from one side gallery across to the other in the main room, at the front part of the building. Still more room was needed in 1902, and an extensive book stack was built. It was found nece.ssary to add to this three years later, and not long after that the librarian was lamenting that the AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 153 need of a new building was very pi-essiug, and until it came the library would be increasingly crippled with its work. There then seemed be a poor pros- pect of it. The library board wa.s forced, because the city's financial demands were so growing in other directions, to live a sort of hand-to-mouth existence, and so many bond issues were demanded that there seemed no hope of getting one for a new libraiy building such as New Haven would require. The ilarett fund could be used only for the purpose of books. The New Haven Public Library was greatly in need of another benefactor. II Unexpectedly such a benefactor appeared when in October, 1906, the di- rectors received a communication from Mrs. ^lary E. Ives. It contained the suggestion that the city accpiire the Bristol property, at the northeast corner of Elm and Temple streets, and the offer, if the city would do this, to build thereon and present to the city "a handsome fireproof building for a public library." The letter further said that, if this offer should be found acceptable, a plan mutually satisfactory would be adopted, and a sum of money placed in the hands of the writer's attorne.y, George D. Watrous, "sufficient to con- stiaict a building which shall be an ornament to the city and worthy of the site." The directors did not delay. Two days later they voted to request the Board of Aldermen to provide the site for the building in accordance with ^Irs. Ives's suggestion; to inform the board that as soon as the present library building and the land connected with it could be disposed of, they would refund to the city the sum received therefor: that a committee of five be appointed to draw up a resolution of thanks to Mrs. Ives, and to present it to her, suit- ably engrossed, as a mark of appreciation of her generous gift. On Novemlier 17, it was further voted that a copy of Jlrs. Ives's letter be tran.smitted to the Board of Aldermen, with a communication representing that in the .judgment of the directors the gift should be accepted, the suggested site approved and steps at once be taken for the purchase of the property. It 'was further voted that the sale of the premises then used for a public library be attended to as soon as possible, and the proceeds applied to the payment for the new site. The Board of Aldermen two days later received the communication, granted unanimous consent for innnediate action, and unanimously accepted the gift on behalf of the city. A committee was appointed to draft resolutions of thanks, and the matter of site and sale of the present property was referred to another special committee. On December 10. the aldermen formally ordered that the Bristol property be approved as a site for a new librarj' building under the terms suggested by Mrs. Ives, and that the library directors be authorized to sell the old Third 154 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Church Building. Suitable resolutions of thanks to the donor were at the same time adopted. It seemed clear to the directors that the surroundings of the proposed building would ))e greatly improved if the city might own the space clear to the grounds of the new county court house at the corner of Elm and Church .streets, which was at the time taking form and comeliness. To do this it would be necessary to obtain the Trowbridge property, adjoining the Bristol property on the east. A committee wa.s appointed for thi.s purpose on December 26 of the same year (1906). and reported that this could be obtained for $75,000. Accordingly, tliis purchase was recommended by the aldermen. The Board of Aldermen, on February 11 of the following year, authorized the purchase of the property. The committee chosen by Mrs. Ives to secure plans and designs for the new building consisted, in addition to her attorney, George D. Watrous, of Prof. John F. Weir, Burton Man.sfield, George Dudley Seymour, Former Lieu- tenant Governor Samuel F. ]\lerwin, Mayor John P. Studley and Samuel R. Avis. Mr. Merwin died before much of the committee's work was done, and his place was not filled, ilr. Avis, chairman of the board, was chosen by the library directors. Mayor Studley went out of office before the building was completed, and was replaced by his successor, Mayor Martin. Cass Gilbi-rt of New York, eminently (|ualified as an architect, but chosen with especial appropriateness because at that time he was engaged, with Frederick Law Olmsted, in a survey of New Haven for a report on city im- provement, was appointed to prepare the designs for the new building. He could be trusted to make them fully in harmony with the surroundings, present and anticipated, of the Green. The plans presented called for a building of brick, with marble trimmings, foundation and pillars, harmonizing as com- pletely as possible witli tlw United Church on the one side and the County Court House on the other. This building was completed early in 1911, and dedicated that spring. Its marble had come from Vermont and its bricks from North Haven. It did not prove to be the showy building that some had expected, but that it harmonizes with its surroundings and fits in with the traditional architecture of New Haven' no well informed person denies. In construction it is of the highest class in all respects, and it is strictly fireproof. In the main l)uilding there are three floors and in the stack building six floors. Passing up the broad and easy marble steps one enters an imposing lobby which leads to the delivery room, forty-five feet square. On the right hand or east side of the delivery room is the reference and periodical reading room, a light and altogether attractive place where the library's reference works are arranged, fitted with ample tables and seating for patrons. The open shelf room, corresponding in size to this, is on the Temple Street side of the building. On the second floor are the newspaper reading room on one side, and on the other a room of equal size designed a.s an art exhibition room, or for a place of public assembly. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 155 One room of the greatest importance, of wliit-h tlie lil)rary management and New Haven are justly proud, is the children's room. This is a light and airy apartment on the ground tloor, with entrance from Teniple Street, designed for the special use of the children. It is 99 by 24 feet in size, making it one of the largest children's rooms in the country. In this part of the l)uilding are the books designed for the exclusive use of the children, and their reading and refer- ence rooms. This makes one of the finest and most attractive parts of the build- ing, of signal importance because of the inducement which it offers to children to use the building. If there is, as every intelligent person believes, potent educational virtue in a public library, then the children of New Haven, its citi- zens in years to come, have exceptional facilities to fit them for intelligent use- fidness. The remaining rooms of the liuilding are chiefly for administratiun purposes. There is a bindery 44 feet square, a shipping room 25 by 18, staff locker rooms and lunch room, a packing room 44 by 27, a cataloguing room 29 by 18, a conven- ient librarian's room, a directors' room 18 by 12 and several storerooms. There are boiler and engine rooms and a ventilating apparatus in the sub-basement. To the regret of all New Haven, the generous donor of this building did not live to see its completion. Mrs. Ives died during the winter of 1907-1908. The directors passed appropriate resolutions, recording their great sorrow for the city's loss of a noble citizen, and their great gratitude to her for having made possible at length a suitable and impressive home for the public library. Ill New Haven lias grown materially since this new building was finished, but the use of the lilirary has increased even faster. Ten years ago the number of books was about 70,000, and the circulation over 300,000 a year. Now the num- ber of books is 125,000, and the circulation over 500,000. The income of the library in 1909, including appropriation and incidental receipts, was $20,000. It is now about $50,000. Before the first Strong School was burned, largely through the efforts of Sherman I. Graves, its principal, always an earnest worker for the good of Fair Haven, a branch of the library was established in a room of that school. Its patronage was liberal from the first, and fully demonstrated the wisdom of its establishment. It had awakened Fair Haven to its need of library privileges in that section. It was the hope of Mr. Cxraves that when Strong School was rebuilt, it would contain, in addition to many other features, ample provisions for a library. It early became apparent that this was not to be, and the citizens of Fair Haven made other plans. About this time came an overture from the Carnegie Corporation of a building if Fair Haven would provide the site. It was not pleasing to all concerned to make any part of New Haven the beneficiary of the Carnegie Fund, it being against the natural independent spirit of the town. 156 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN but after miidi disciissiou and delay the offer was accepted. A site was secured, at the cost of $5,000, on Grand Avenue near Ferry Street, and there a building approved by the Carnegie Corporation was started in 1917. It brings great relief to Fair Haven, for the provisional quarters had long before become uncomfort- ably small. There are now four other branches. Tlie largest is in the Congress Avenue district. Westville completed a handsome building several years ago, and lias now a flourishing library. Near the end of 1916 the Winchester Repeat- ing Arms Company offered quarters for a branch library in its district, and there is a well used branch in Lowell House. The circulation in these branches for 1916 was: Congress, 60,157; Fair Haven, 51,226; Westville, 34,749; Lowell House, 13,056 ; Dixwell and the otlier branches, 4,093. The present provision for this Dixwell branch is only temporary. In this rapidly growing part of the town there will be a permanent demand for a library, with its own building. There is a substantial movement for tlie purchase of a site for a Carnegie building, and it is probable that before long New Haven will have among its branches a second Carnegie library. The school circulation, partly estimated, was 57,000 for 1916, bringing the total considerably over half a million for that year. It has shown a retarding of i)icrease since, for many persons have had other things to busy them than read- ing. The present number of card holders is not far from 38,000, and the number increases at the rate of about 12,000 a year. Fiction still has a good lead in the classes of books demanded, though it has in the aggregate fairly a majority of the vote. In the Lowell House library, where all the readers are cliildren. except for the few foreign language books read by adults, literature and miscellany is a close second to fiction, and half as many books on sociology and education are i-ead. The juvenile circulation in the main library and in the branches averages about half the adult, except in the Congress branch (an addition to Lowell House just mentioned), where it is double the adult. At Fair Haven, twice as many books of travel were read by adults as at Congress. In the main libran' the books most in demand by adults, next to fiction, were foreign books, literature and miscellany, the useful arts, and the fine arts, including recreation. At Fair Haven and Westville there was a great demand for bound volumes of the magazines. Books on sociology, including education, had a great demand at the main library, but a much greater propor- tional demand at Congress and Lowell House. A recent development of the library .service has been the opening of summer branches in July and August in four schoolrooms, Dante, Scranton Street, LoveU and Ivy. They are open twice a week in the afternoons. They have been used mostly by the children, though adult books have been included. It was not the original intention, but it was found that by affording an opportunity to the children to come to the schoolhouses in summer for reading, the library might serve a valuable purpose. The annual expense of maintaining tlie library is now approximately $50,000. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 157 Of this about $40,000 comes from tlie city appropriation, over $2,000 from fines and fees, and the balance from a number of minor sources. The Marett Fund for the purchase of books is an account by itself, and provides about $3,250 a year. There is a considerable annual bulk of accessions fi-om gifts of books, periodicals and newspapers. CHAPTER XVIII THE CIVIC DEVELOPMENT ORIGIN AND WORK OF THE CIVIC FEDERATION — OLD AND NEW HISTORY OP THE CHAM- BER OF COMMERCE — SOME CONTRIBUTORY ORGANIZATIONS I It has appeared from various facts tciuched iijion in the foregoing pages that somewhere about the dawning of the twentieth century New Haven began to have an awakening to its possil)ilities, its power and its responsibility, and consciously to grapple with the task revealed. It was not without some machinery of organi- zation that this was brought about. A community made up of able, alert, consci- entious individuals bad fallen into the fault of remaining too individualistic, and developing little of effectual harmonious effort. It had some organizations which it was not using, it needed others — or at least there were those who thought it did. Mention has been made of such organizations, of which the Civic Federation and the Chamber (if Commerce are examples. The former was the growtli of the needs of the time ; the latter was an old and partly dormant organization, whose functions had been conceived to be limited by the "customary duties of such organizations." Because the Civic Federation came first into effectual operation for the real advancement of New Haven, as well as because it was and is dis- tinctly civic ill its plan, it merits mention first in the order. It was the best and in some senses the first expression of the desire of progressive New Haven men to work together and unite others, societies and individuals, for the betterment of New Haven. There were so many things to do which, being everybody's busi- ness had become nobody's business that some tangible form of society was neces- sary as a workintr medium. The Civic Federation has proved that society. The village improvement society, common in New England and elsewhere, probal)ly furnished the germ of the idea. The things to be done were plain enough. New Haven needed better streets, better sidewalks, better housing condi- tions. It needed some attention to building lines, better sanitary regulations. Some things needed to l^e done for the improvement of the public health which somebody must agitate as a preparation for the work of the Board of Health. Conditions of which these are examples sounded the call for a society civic, not commercial, aiming for the moral and not alone for the material improvement of 158 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUILDIX(i. NEW HAVEX AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 159 New Haven. The eall liad been answered before this, but not in a united way. The city liad a number of civie societies, caeli working for its local end, and in a neighborhood way. AYlien the need for .some union of action became too apparent to be disregarded, they were loosely joined in a federation called The Associated Civic Societies of New Haven. And at ordinary times each proceeded to operate in its little circle. The nature of these societies was various. Some were civie, some were for business, others were charitable or religious, still others were of the nature of labor organizations. They were relics of the days of New Haven's rural constitution. And New Haven had become cosmopolitan, urban ; it had grown into a sense of great responsibilities and the need of united action. There were many pro- gressive New Haveners who realized that the time had come for the making of better macliinery. They agitated the matter of forming an effective and wieldy civic body. They called a meeting for sucli an end. This was on JIareh 20, 1908, at tlie Graduates' Club. Unfortunately, only three citizens thought well enough of the matter to respond, but fortunately they were citizens worth while and un- terrified by the smallness of their number. They were the Rev. Artemas J. Haynes, the brilliant and beloved pastor of the United Church from 1901 to 1908, who within five months was to meet a mysterious and tragic death in a Cape Cod lake ; Prof. Charles F. Kent, who was to be the first president of the new organi- zation, and Charles S. DeForest. They made a beginning. Other meetings, bet- ter attended, followed. The result was the organization of The Associated Civic Societies of New Haven into the Civie Federation of New Haven. The societies thus merged were not rudely deprived of their identity, how- ever. There was formed, as a sort of holding body, the Federated Council of One Hundred, presumably to represent in a way the various societies which had been merged. This council preserved a sort of existence for about three years. It was composed of representative citizens, who did good work and advertised the new organization considerably. It has been called, in reference to that time, "the right arm of the federation." Having served its purpose, it was "discharged with thanks" when the federation adopted its constitution of 1912, for no men- tion of it was made in that document. Profes.sor Kent, who was very active in the formation of the society, was made its first president. He was followed by Dean Henry Wade Rogers, then of the Yale Law school. He was followed for two years by Walter Camp, and for the past five years Dr. Charles J. Bartlett of the Medical school has most efficiently led the work. It was evident when the Civic Federation was formed that the time had come in New Haven for the employment of a permanent, paid executive secretary to secure results. The choice fell on Robert A. Crosby, and for the following five or six years he was the constant, consistent co-ordinator of all the activities of the federation. He had the highest enthusiasm for its possibilities, and under his effort it acquired an impetus which has drawn to it many of the most earnest citizens, and held their interest and support to the end of effective service. In 160 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN connection with his service for the federation, both :Mr. and ]\Irs. Crosby devoted themselves to Lowell House, a social settlement peculiar to New Haven, and their influence there will long be remembered. Many were the interests and circles in New Haven which sincerely regretted Mr. and Mrs. Crosby's departure for a larger field in New York in 1915. It was about 1910 that the federation began so to find itself as to undertake reforms of city-wide magnitude, and its showing in the seven or eight years fol- lowing was one which abundantly justified the labor of its formation and nurture. One of the first prol)loms of this class which it attacked was that of building lines in New Haven. Legal experts, such as the federation has always been able to command among its membership, had called attention to conditions which were astounding in their discouragement of anything like central symmetry of streets and uniformity of street lines. New Haven had, like Topsy, ".just growed," and shocking had become its abnormalities. Central streets showed a lack of definite- ness in their building lines which afforded the' widest range of exercise of the greed of those who were so unpatriotic as to crowd out in front of others, the true location of even the street lines was very uncertain, in some cases, and the widening of streets or the creation of uniformity in fronts or lines seemed out of the question. This was to be expected, perhaps, in a city whose roots of con- fusion went back to the indefinite old surveys of 1640. But it was found that in streets whose carving out of farm lots had taken place within two decades, the conditions were getting almost as bad. One of the first public actions, then, of the newly organized Federated Coun- cil of One Hundred was to appoint a committee consisting of John K. Beach and George D. Watrous, attorneys, to investigate this subject of street and building lines, and to return some recommendation. That committee reported early in 1909, and its report was published in September of the same year. It embodied a l)rief general statement of the principles of establishment of building lines, as defined by the courts of Connecticut. The basic trouble with the situation in New Haven, the committee found, was that a great many of the supposed build- ing lines had not been established in accordance with the fundamental require- ments of notice and assessment of benefits and damages. Others had failed to comply with the mode of procedure required by the city charter. The only way to find out whether a certain building line was or was not valid was to look up the records of its establishment — if these could be found — and discover whether or not its creators had complied with the fundamental law and with the charter. On this subject in general the report .said : "It is said that most, if not all, of the building lines adopted since the early '70s have been properly established, and that those adopted prior to that time are of doubtful validity. If this is true it would follow that the doubt in ques- tion matches precisely to those building lines which are now the most important." The report then proceeded to point out the chief points on which the impor- tance of street and building lines depend, and made five recommendations: That a systematic examination of the records of the establishment of building AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 161 Hues in the priucipal business and residence streets be made; that invalid or doubtful lines be re-established by due process of law; that new building lines, looking to the future, be established in certain streets ; that emphasis be placed on the recent opinion of the corporation counsel, a copy of which was annexed to the report, to the end of deterring the aldermen from making exceptions to established building lines; that if that should fail, such legal or other steps as might be necessary be taken to prevent further abuse in the matter of building lines. The opinion referred to was a plain statement of the law, and of the power of the city in the restriction of building lines. The Buildings, Streets and Shade Trees Committee of the federation exam- ined the report and discussed the matter in many meetings. Realizing its importance and magnitude, they arranged for joint sessions with the Town and City Improvements Committee of the Chamber of Commerce. It was agreed to follow out as far as possible the suggestions of the report, and to bring the whole matter as fully as possible to the attention of the citizens of New Haven. It cannot be said that this resulted in immediate improvement of the condition of building and street lines. Nor can it be said that they are what they should be even now. The mistakes of two and three-quarters centuries are not corrected in a decade. But it has been the work of the federation to present the facts. The facts have set some of the people to thinking, and a start has been made. New Haven has in this achievement a promise that it will do better in building lines, and the results already show on the newer streets. Some day it may. at great expense, undo some of the bad work in the central streets. Meanwhile, this same committee had undertaken to enlighten New Haven as to another evil, whose remedy must come from without. New Haven's post- ofBee, outwardly behind the times, was inwardly a menace to the health and lives of the half a hundred or more workers within, a plant from which good work in so important a task as the distribution of the incoming, and the accurate despatch of the outgoing mail ought not to be expected. It was so crowded as to hamper the workers. The ventilation was inadequate. The rooms were lacking in proper cleanliness and were effectual promoters of disease. If the city could not have a new building — and the possibility seemed at that time remote — it should have more room and better arrangement, at least better sanitary conditions, on the old site. It did not take long to find out these facts. They were promptly published in a report issued in January, 1910. 'it was a fair and effective presentation of "The New Haven Postoffice Building Problem." The effect of it was not as slow in coming as might perhaps have been expected. Washington promised a new building— after further persua.sion by citizens in and out of the federation. Meanwhile, it arranged for immediate relief in the shape of some added "wings" to the already unshapely brown stone building. But the effect of more room was fairly well attained, and there was some cleaning up inside. In overdue time the new building itself has come, though its completion has been a tediously slow process, and its occupancy is Vol. I 1 1 162 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN still delayed. It is uot too much to claim for the federation that in the realiza- tion of this consummation it has materially helped. A reform of another sort, in process at the same time, was being attempted by the Federated Council of One Hundred, working in conjunction with the New Haven Pastors' Union. It illustrated how the work of this society was bound to reach beyond New Haven. The Pastors' Union had taken the lead in the discovery that the government of New Haven County, and the manage- ment of its affairs, were not such as to meet the approval of sensible and moral citizens. The pastors believed this a matter in which the voice of the laymen should be heard, and had laid the facts before the representative citizens included in the Council of One Hundred. The result was a "Communication from the New Haven Civic Federation's Council of One Hundred and the New Haven Pastors' Union Concerning the Government of New Haven County," issued in September, 1910. It revealed many things which might not be expected to meet the approval of good citizens, in the manner of administering the affairs of New Haven County. Some of them were news to a good many citizens, though they had to admit that they were, as voters in the county, in part responsible for them. It cannot be said that there was any immediate revolution in county affairs as a result of this report. But there have not been lacking, in the years since, evidences that the people of New Haven County were set to thinking by its statements. Some other deliverances with which the federation has since followed it have served to keep the matter in the public mind, and some valuable changes in county processes are pending, as a result, it may confidently be said, of the agitation. One specific presentation, immediately following in November, 1910, was the "Report on County Affairs by the Special Commission of the Council of One Hundred." This touched on certain phases of New Haven County's .system of business and political management more definitely than did the previous document. It was the attempt to present, as fairly and free from animus as possible, county conditions as they were. What was presented, to be sure, was bound to be taken by certain politicians, particularly the county commissioners and their creators, as personal, but the investigators were unconcerned about that. The effect of the report was to show in a clear light the lack of effective- ness and economy in New Haven's present county system, and to suggest what the citizens ought to do about improving it. As has been said, they are thinking about the matter. The following January, as a result of some very careful work by the Tene- ment House Committee, of which Rev. J. Edward Newton was chairman, an excellent report on "Improved Housing for Wage Earners" wa.s presented. The survey on which this was based had been made by skilled investigators, who went through over one thousand New Haven apartments. It embodied some very specific recommendations for the improvement of the undesirable conditions found, several of which have since been worked out not only in prngi-e.ssive local ordinances but in state laws. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 163 In April, 1912, the Committee ou Buildings, Streets and Shade Trees shaped some careful and expert observations and findings into a report on ' ' The Plant- ing and Care of Street and Highway Trees." It was a timely aud needed remuider to those responsible for the trees of New Haven. The elms, once the city's pride, had been suffered to fall victims, in great measure, to their myriad enemies. The congestion in the city's center was crowding out trees. New Haven needed tree protection in its administration. It is not too much to credit the move of the Civic Federation largely with the appointment of a city forester and the adoption of a consistent and scientific plan for the care of trees and the reforestration of the city, which already shows tangible results. New Haven owes a great deal to the federation for its vigorous work in the elimination of the mosciuito and fly pest in its borders. The marshes along "West River and around Mill River and Morris Cove had for generations been the source of a plentiful supply of mosquitoes, while the whole city abounded in fly breeding places. The federation ably seconded the work of the Board of Health, in conjunction with the nation-wide campaign against the insect pests. ]\Ineh was done to enlighten the people by a report on "Mosquito Con- trol" published in March, 1913. Soon after this the State of Connecticut took lip a broad work of mosquito combat. All in all, the result has been a gradual j-eduction of the mosquito and fly menace, along with a sure education of the people, which will have the result of keeping it down. In this result the fed- eration has been, so far as New Haven is concerned, a pioneer. More specific and technical was an attempt at civic betterment suggested in "A Survey of a New Haven District," a document issued by the federation in April, 1913. It was by expert investigators, and included a presentation of the social, moral and economic phases of the life of the people in a repre- sentative section of the city. It was largely of value to the workers of the federation, but it must have been highly suggestive to a great many New Haven people who read it, of ways in which they could help their eity. It is illustrative of the thoroughness of the work which some of the departments of the federation have sought to do. Another report on "Housing Conditions in New Haven" followed the pre- liminary one, the latter in October, 1913. It had been prepared by Carl Arono- vici, director of the Bureau of Social Research of New England, for the section on Tenement House Conditions. It was technical, Irat plain. Its facts were tabulated. The conditions found were revealed by figures, and in some cases by illustrations. It should be said, however, that this report was not made public until its findings had been laid before the proper authorities, thus avoid- ing the advertising without purpose of "New Haven's shame," as the committee expressed it. And in the year which the committee held the report before publishing it, three of its principal recommendations were adopted : A tenement house inspector was appointed under the Health Board; a state housing asso- ciation was formed : amendments to the laws and ordinances were secured. To the report, as published, were appended the Connecticut statutes con- 164 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN ceruing tenement houses, as amended in 1913; a statement of New Haven's health officer "as to the report of the first year of tenement house inspection; and a presentation of the plans of the Improved Housing Association of New Haven, with a sketch of the first houses which it was building under them. It appears to have been a commendable showing of immediate results of an important survey. '•Living Conditions Among Negroes in the Ninth Ward, New Haven" was a thesis written in his course by Rev. Charles W. Burton, Yale School of Religion, 1913. It was the result of some thorough, systematic, very valuable study, and though conducted independently of the federation, that organization did New Haven a great service by publishing it. Citizens thoroughly conversant with conditions among his race in New Haven have repeatedly praised this presentation of their ease by Mr. Burton, who is now a successful pastor in Macon, Ga. One of the most thorough pieces of work done by any department of the federation was ''A Study of the Problem of Girl Delinquency in New Haven," by the Committee on Social and Industrial Conditions, of which the Rev. Robert C. Denison was chairman. The work, of t-ourse, was done by a trained investi- gator under direction and employment of the committee. With facts, with figures, with the most illuminating charts, it presented some very fundamental truths as to a condition of which New Haven needed to know. While no alarmist document, it did warn New Haven of certain steps it must take if it would arrest a very serious tendency among its younger generation, and gave a basis for some very valuable work, some of which, there is reason to believe, has since been started. The report was printed in March. 1915. In summing up. Miss Mabel A. Wiley, the investigator, made certain specific recommendations, most of which concerned the improvement of court methods in dealing with the delin- quent girl, and of the after care of the delinquent following the court stage. The most important of these were a special court for the trying of these cases, and a detention home for girls. These have since been adequately covei'ed by the establishment of the Children's Building at 291 Orange Street. For it may readily be granted that it was an outgrowth of the revelations of this report, though of course other causes contributed, that there was pre- sented to New Haven, in the spring of 1917, this completed Children's Building. It was a remodeled private residence, the gift to the city of Mrs. Percy T. Walden and her sister. Mrs. Frank D. Berrien. Hei-e, in a building admirably equipped for tlie service, juvenile delinquents of both sexes, without being so labeled, are detained and treated in the most effective way for what ails them. Here the Children's Court is held, and disciplinary schools for both boys and girls are conducted. It is one of the most effective agencies for the meeting of its juvenile delinquency problems possessed by any city of New Haven's size anywhere. In effect it is a home, inviting and humanly attractive, and those who pass under its influence are permanently helped without realizing that they have been under restraint. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COT-NTY Ifio The Civic Federation of New Haven takes justifiable pride in one of its latest achievements, the survey of the New Haven County Jail. This was nndertaken in 1916, also for the section on Social and Industrial Conditions. The com- mittee actually doing the work consisted of Dr. John E. Lane, chairman; IMrs. Charles J. Bartlett, Clarence W. Bronson, Mrs. Roliert A. Croshy and John Phillips Street. Thei-e was an accompanying supplementary report on the same subject by two experts, 0. F. Lewis, Ph. D., general secretary of the Prison Association of New York, and Hastings H. Hart, LL. D., director of the Child Helping Department, Russell Sage Foundation. Few county jails are anything like ideal institutions; New Haven's was at that time very much the opposite. There was no attempt to gloss over its glaring defects. They were shown up as they were. The findings of both the local committee and the experts condemned the jail in dispassionate but unsparing terms as constitutionally impossible. There was not so much a suggestion of blame for the management as there was a plain showing to the people of the county of their duty radically to change a system and its management, and as soon as might be to reconstruct their jail on an entirely different plan. The outcome was the appointment, by the i-epresentatives of the county in the General Assembly of 1917, of a commission to investigate further the jail conditions, with a view to suggesting a material change. The presentation of the report was too overwhelming to be disregarded. There is good prospect that in results this will be one of the most valuable of the services of the federation. Three documents were published by the federation in 1917, each the valuable record of constructive work. The first was another "Health Survey of New Haven," the second a "Voters' Bulletin" and the third a timely treatise on the "Servant Problem." Such are a few of the ajiparent fi'uits of the Civic Federation of New Haven in something less than a decade of its career, with particular attention to those phases upon which its publi.shed documents have made report. They fail, of course, to show much of the less conspicuous but hardly less valuable of the constant service of this effectual organization of the earnest, forward-looking men and women of New Haven. The federation functions regularly through sections of Sanitation, Recreation, Education, Legislation, Housing, Municipal Research, Social and Lidustrial Conditions, Household Economics, Buildings, Streets and Shade Trees, Finance,^ ilembership. Protection of IMinors, Lectures and Popular Amusements, Each section is well officered and has a good working committee, and its work each year becomes more practical and effectual. The present officers are: President— Charles J. Bartlett. M. D. First Vice Pi'esident — Thomas W» Farnam. Second Vice President — Wilson H. Lee. Third Vice President— Patrick F. O'Meara. Treasurer and Acting SecTctary— Donald A. Adams. 166 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Members at Large— Mrs. Percy T. Walden, Charles F. Kent, Mrs. John C. Sehwali, Charles S. DeForest, Miss Lina M. Phipps. Section ehaii-men. in the order of sections given above— Heni-y B. Ferris, E. nermann Arnold. JI. D., ilrs. Percy T. Walden. Harry W. Asher, ]\[rs. Henry Wade Rogers. Eliot Watroiis, Rev. Robert C. Denison. Mrs. Wilder Tileston, Walter 0. Filley, Victor M. Tyler, Livingston W. Cleaveland, Frank A. Corbiii, Frederick J. Kingsbury. II The New Haven Chamber of Commerce makes the undisputed claim to be, with not more than one or two exceptions, the oldest organization of its kind in the country. It was on the evening of April 7, 1794. so the record runs, that it was organized. .Just where that meeting was held the scribe neglected to note. The meetings for tiie first few years seem to have been occasional — being, aside from the stated annual meeting, no doubt at the call of the president. There were at least a few of the faithful, for wc are told that during the first twenty years of its e.xi.stence "stated and special meetings were frequently held, and only once — in 1801 — was there a (juorum lacking at an annual meeting." How- ever, the native hue of resolution with which the organization was launched in 1794 must have paled a little, for the scribe relates that "from 1821, at which time ;\lr. Gilbert Totten was elected president and Timothy Dwight secretary, there was a revival of interest, and during the next eighteen years annual meet- ings w-cre held quite regularly." This may not be interpreted as tremendously productive work, even during the yeai's of the revival. There was a boom before the end of the period, for at the ad.journed annual meeting held April 1, 1835, twenty-five candidates were elected to membership. Among the numlier are men- tioned Thomas R. Trowbridge, Harry Prescott and Edwin ilarble. At the next annual meeting Harry Prescott was elected secretary, succeeding Leonard A. Dag- gett, who had he'd the ofQce for ten years. "Sir. Daggett, we are told, began the record of that meeting by giving the list of the newly elected members, and t^ien added: "What was done after this I leave to my worthy sixccessor to record." ";\Ir. Prescott." writes the narrator, "proved himself to be indeed a 'worthy suc- cessor.' For forty-eight years lie faitlifully served the cband)ei' as keeper of its records. ' " But the secretary's faithfulness was not shared by all the mendiers. Even his records show that after 1839 there was a period of sad falling off in interest. For twelve yeni-s in succession, it appears, the ainiual meetings were legally warned, Init no (|unrum appeared to transact the business. The secretary remained at his post through it all. And after each of these lamentable failures he would dispassionately record, following the date in each case: "Annual meet- ing warned, lint only the secretary being present, the meeting adjourned. H. Pres- cott. .secretary." This lone fidelity had its fruits in time. On Tuesday evening. ^lay 14. 1872. he was able tn I'ccord a re il me 'ting. Jlembers and others in favor of a reoro'ani- AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 167 zatioii of the chamber met at the mayor's otifiee — Henry G. Lewis being nia\()r at that time. The mayor. Prof. Johnson T. Piatt, Edwin 8. Wheeler and the secre- tary are mentioned as the reorganization committee. They proceeded to notify all members and request their presence at the meeting to lie held at the sanu- jilaee on the following Friday evening. The work of the committee is said to have been prompt, and we have proof that it was successful in the fact that at a special meeting held the following day at the office of Atwater, Wheeler & Company fifty-seven of "our best citizens" were elected to membership. And still another special meeting came the next day at the Yale National Bank, which accepted eleven more returning to the fold. Some serious happenings had taken place in the lapse of annual meetings, as the following preamble and resolution, adopted at the adjourned meet- ing, held on Friday evening. May 7, attests : "Whereas, vacancies having occurred since the last annual election, by the death of the president, vice president and treasurer, and it being necessary and important that said offices should be filled, therefore, "Resolved, that this meeting do now proceed to the choice of a president, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Ezra Hotchkiss, Esq., of a vice president, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Enos A. Prescott, Esq., and of a treasurer, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Hotchkiss, Esq." The meeting then proceeded to elect as president, Thomas R. Trowbridge; as first vice president, James E. English ; as second vice president, Johnson T. Piatt ; as recording secretary, Harry Prescott : as corresponding secretary, Edwin S. Wheeler; as treasurer. Wilbur F. Day. "At this meeting, besides the newcomers" — this nnist be from the faithful Secretary Prescott "s reliable record — "there were some who, like Mr. Trow- bridge and Mr. Prescott, had been members of the chamber 'in the old days before the war.' " But a later historian, probably John Currier Gallagher, who was secretary for eighteen years previous to March 27, 1909, and who collected the scattering records of those earlier years, added: "Of this num- ber but one is now living. Mr. Edwin Marble is the only one of the 450 members of the chamber who can date his membership previous to the reorganization in 1872." This was written about 1909. On the day following that reorganization in 1872, which day was May 15, the chamber, at a special meeting, accepted a resolution incorporating "The Chamber of Commerce of New Haven." This was promptly passed by the General Assembly and approved by the governor — he was Marshall Jewell of Hartford— on June 11. At the meeting of May 15 a revision of the old "bye- laws" was adopted and a committee was appointed to procure the corporate seal now in use. The modei'n life of the Chamber of Commerce substantially dates from that time. The organization then came into some conception of what such a body of men can do for a city like New Haven. There was much to the credit of the chamber in the vears from 1872 to 1909, though the record of some of 168 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN it was not fully kept. Mr. Gallagher resi-ued some of the salieut features of the chamber's work in that period. Of it he says modestly : "The chamber has contributed its share of work in the establishment of the United States AVeather Signal Station here; in the freeing and rebuilding of Tomlinson's bridge; in the improvement of the harbor; in the relief of the yellow fever sufferers in the South; in devising the plan for permanent street pavements ; in the annexation of East Haven ; in the consolidation of our munici- pal governments; in the establishment of our city park system, and in the organization of the Naval Militia." Of these years much more might be written. They were years of earnest work; they were productive years. The chamber was led by good men. Such representative citizens of New Haven as Wilson H. Lee, Hon. Rollin S. Wood- ruff and Gen. Edward E. Bradley— to mention a few out of many— were its presidents. But the real awakening had not come to New Haven, and the chamber, though it helped toward it, did not serve as a rude disturber of New Haven's conservatism. The spirit which prevailed is well illustrated in the last decade of the period. New Haven was doing pretty well, was progressing and prospering, they said ; and they spoke the truth. There was nobody to answer in any aggressive way the question, why start anything? But there were those, especially in the opening yeai'S of the century, who fretted at the chamber's lack of aggressiveness. It might, they insisted, serve as a mighty welder and wielder of the united influence of the men of New Haven. It might be the agency through which they could do great things. Subsequent events have shown that they were right. Perhaps it was not with the clear thought of a new era in mind that the chamber, on March 28, 1909, elected Colonel Isaac M. Ullman president. He wa.s known as a leader in New Haven politics. He had demonstrated his ability to marshal men who would be marshaled, within his own party lines. But some questioned, though they kept their questionings largely to themselves, whether he was qualified to unite such a force of positive men, worth while, as New Haven ought to furnish to make its Chamber of Commerce a constructive force for the highest good of the city. But looking back now to that election of officers in March, 1909, New Haven has to accord to it the standing of another organization of the chamber. It marked a new era in its work, and a new era for New Haven. Along with Colonel Ullman were elected Hon. Eli Whitney as first vice president; George H. Scranton, second vice president ; Charles E. Julin, secretary ; Charles W. Scrantoii, treasurer; John Currier Gallagher, George P. Burgess, James Hill- house, Charles S. DeForest, W. Perry Curtiss, directors. The first named, Mr. Gallagher, had been the secretary for eighteen years previous, and was one of the most popular and respected citizens of New Haven. In all, it was a strong body of citizens, well qualified to undertake the new task to which they were called. The appointment of Mr. Julin was the beginning of the employment of a paid secretary to give practically all his time to the work of AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY ]6!) the (.-hamber. He has been its secTetary ever since, and though sometimes the credit for achievement is given by tlie nudiseerning to others in more conspicuous office, those who know accord liiiii much of the praise. It was a distinctly go-forward plan which Colonel Ullnian at once set in motion. The first task, naturally, was to get the men. The chamber then had a membership of a little over 500. An aggressive campaign, inaugurated at once, raised it in two years to more than 1,200. In 1917 it had grown to upwards of 1,400, and was still rising. Long before this the chamber had affiliated with itself, and counted in its membership, the Business Men's Association and the Publicity Club. It had the men, and the strength of the union was such as to make sure that others would come as fast as might be. It has for almost a decade been the proper thing- to belong to the Chamber of Commerce. The membership held partly Itecause it was set at work. There were things to be done, and the leaders were wise enough to know that an organization, like a man, grows by exercise. The aim of most chambers of commerce, merely to make the city bigger, was overlooked. The big task the New Haven chamber made its own was to make New Haven a better city in the truest ways. Per- haps the scope of the work undertaken may fairly be indicated by a list of the committees through which, a few years later, the chamber was operating: Ways and Means, Manufacturers, New Enterprise, State and Local Legislation, Public Schools and Education, Municipal Affairs, Railroads and Transporta- tion, Town and City Improvements, Harbor, Trade School, National Legislation, Membership, Real Estate, Civic, Sanitation and Public Health, Banquet, Bi-Weekly Luncheon, Public Recreation, International Arbitration, Co-operation with Scientific School, Fire Prevention and Agricultural Extension. It mu.st seem that almost everything possible to the ambition of a chamber of commerce would come naturally within the province of one or more of this list of com- mittees. The policy of keeping the same chairman for each committee from year to year has been followed, so that the most active workers of the chamber have in a sense become experts in their lines of endeavor. The period since then has been a period of accomplishment. Perhaps New Haven was readier to respond than at any previous time, but no credit may be subtracted from unitecl, consistent, hard and earnest work. It seems like boast- ing to mention even a few of the things which the Chamber of Commerce has achieved within less than a decade past, but it is a mere relation of facts. One of the most significant actions, itself a matter of preparation and effi- ciency, has been the effort to unite some of New Haven's scattered organizations under one head. The men of New Haven have at times been painfully organized. At least two or three organizations would be seeking to do the same thing at the same time. It was the work of the new Chamber of Commerce to make a beginning in simplifying New Haven organizations, at least in its own depart- ment. The New Haven Business Men's Association was a body of the familiar type for the serving of some interests peculiar to the merchants and tradesmen of New Haven as distinct from the manufacturers. The governors of the cham- 170 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN licr perceived, liowever, that they had much iu eommou, aud diplomatically brought about a coalition. In the same maimer an alliance was formed with the Publicity Club, an association of the younger luisiness and professional and advertising men with the avowed mission of "boosting New Haven." The three societies, though pursuing their separate activities and doing a distinct work, now form together the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, and weld together the strength of tlie men as is done in very few cities of the size of New Haven. Some of the results which this united force has achieved in the city within the past six or seven years have been initiated by one branch, some by another, some by all three working together. The end of getting things done has been set above pride or individual credit. And the list is an imposing one. The merest mention must suffice. The chamber unified and made dynamic New Haven's demand for a new federal Iniilding and postoffice. The results of that demand appear, albeit slowly. The chamber promoted the establislunent of the trade school, and as a result of a wisely directed effort, the city has a trade school admirably adapted to its needs, and withal one of the best schools of the sort in the country. The chamber was the force which the projectors of the New Haven Manufacturers' Exhibit, to be more particularly mentioned later, were able to use for the working out of their idea. "When those interested in helping the factoiy workers of the city to organize for their protection against tuberculosis, by means of an employees' anti-tuber- culosis association, sought to effect their purpose, the chamber was the means which they found ready. It might have been possible for New Haven to get its long-needed isolation hospital some day without the Chamber of Commerce, but that organization was able to help in changing the long struggle to a realiza- tion of the institution. The chamber has aided in anti-ice famine work, collected funds for tlie sufferers from the Salem fire, has repeatedly led "in organizing Red Cross campaigns, and in relief funds for the Belgian and other causes. The chamber helped in securing home rule legislation for New Haven. It helped achieve a modern fire-alarm system. It took up, as the modern suc- cessor of James Hillhouse the elder, the work of reforesting New Haven. It promoted the teachers' pension legislation. It lias worked for better pavements, for the use of schoolhouse auditoriums as neighliorhood centers and for public and neighborhood meetings. It has secured the placement of more and better buoys in the harbor. It has promoted the strengthening and improvement of the commercial course at the New Haven High School. It started the New Haven County Farm Bureau Association, whose benefits in more efficient farms and better farm life are already of marked evidence and high promise. It inaugurated the "Buy in New Haven" movement. These are some of the achievements of the period of the chamber's awakening. As an examiile of tlie variety and extent of the work it is doing now, it may AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 171 profit to mention some of its activities in 1916 and 1917, as reported 1)y its secretary : Secured favorable action by tlie Board of Aldermen to extend the nuniicipal dock, equip it with loading and unloading hoists, lay steam and electric railroad connections and deejien vessel berths. Worked for the new railroad passenger station of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, and promoted the underwriting of the bond issue by the company to pay for it. Worked to secure a trolley shelter for transfer of passengers between rail- road and trolley lines at the new station. Aided the state in the military census enumeration, and aided the Federal Government in securing information on industrial interests as a part of the preparedness work. Aided in home guard recruiting. Organized the Junior Fire Prevention League in the schools; gave prizes for encouragement of study by pupils in schools along that line; secured enact- ment of law to prohibit the building of dangerous fire hazards in frame tenement structures. Assisted in plans to relieve freight congestion in the interests of both the railroad and steamboat companies on one hand and the New Haven public on the other. Represented the city's bu.siness interests before the Intei-state Commerce Commission with regard to Long Island Sound steamboat matters. Brought to New Haven exhibits of wares that could be made or are made in New Haven from foreign markets, to enable manufacturers to study possible extension of their own business. Aided the navy department to secure accurate detailed information about New Haven's industries both for peace orders and for possible preparedness program. Through its committee on public health has been studying the vexatious sewage disposal problem and urging remedial action by the Board of Aldermen. The same committee secured the order for a public convenience station. It is also at work on a study of preventive measures in regard to the fly nuisance. Brought to the city the remai-kable City Planning Exhibit of the American City Bureau. Has stimulated interest in honest and efficient advertising through the Publicity Club department. Has assisted many worthy organizations working for the public welfare by permitting the gratuitous use of the chamber's hall and offices. All this, and many other features of the service of the chamber, were made possible through its excellent equipment. In 1912, the city's newest and almost its tallest building, constructed by C. W. Murdock, was named the Chamber of Commerce Building. By arrangement with the officers of the chamber, its con- 172 A MODEEN HISTOKY OF NEW HAVEN struetion iueluded au ample and well appointed hall, with convenient offices for the chamber, and there its work and service has since been done. Ill So are two sides of New Haven's recent development — the civic and the material— represented hy two of its prominent societies. There are many other influences, less conspicuous, less known, at work. Some of them have had their day and ceased to be. No sketch of the progress of New Haven in this period would be complete without mention of the New Haven Confederation of Men's Church Clubs. The men's church organization — league or men's club or brotherhood^had come to be a conspicuous feature of New Haven church life soon after 1900. By 1909 at least half of the churches of New Haven had them, and others were constantly being added. One of the most successful of these was the Men's Club of the Church of the Redeemer, of which Lucius W. Hall was for many years the earnest and successful president. Mr. Hall, blessed with a keen sense of fraternity and brotherhood, had a vision of a union of these organizations. He began with the clubs in the churches of his own denomina- tion, the Congregational. By 1910 he had twelve or fourteen of these, in New Haven and vicinity, united in a federation. Soon after that he reached out to other denominations. His persistent effort resulted, some two years later, in the formal organization of the Confederation of Men's Church Clubs, repre- senting about forty organizations in churches of seven denominations, with a united membership of not far from two thousand men. Eventually the alliance was extended to more or less closely include the men's organizations of the Roman Catholic aud Jewish churches, and it seemed possible that the church- men of New Haven might be welded into a mighty force of union for work of common interest. There was, in the opinion of many, a distinct field for union of the sort. Churchmen of New Haven regarded it with lively interest and great hope. Burton Mansfield, who before this had won the loyal following of the church- men of New Haven by his leadership in the Laymen's Missionary and the ]Men and Religion Forward movements, was elected the first president, and served for two years. He was appropriately succeeded by Lucius W. Hall, to whose earnest work, more than anything else, the organization owed its existence. Under Mr. Mansfield and Mr. Hall some excellent movements for the betterment of New Haven were started, and had the confederation been continued in the spirit of its organization, its accomplishment might have been notable. But a new body of officers, elected to succeed Mr. Hall aud his more intimate asso- ciates, in tlieir wisdom decided that the confederation had not demonstrated its claim to a separate existence, and merged it — not to emerge, it seems — in the Civic Federation. Tho.se conversant with the development of men's fraternities in the New Haven churches in this decade will testify that the confederation had a more AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 173 important aud lasting etfeet ou this feature of church progress than readily appears. It promoted the spirit of fellowship, it immensely encouraged the formation of new clubs aud the regeneration of old ones, and it started some reforms which it has beeu comparatively easy for others to bring to profitable fruitage. One other New Haven organization of noble record — also of blessed memory — • should be mentioned in this connection. The Economic Club of New Haven was a society of excellent intention, of wise guidance, of great service to the com- munity. Its plan was the familiar one, in its time, of having five or six dinners in the season, each followed by a discussion, from men of national prominence in many eases, of some important economic subject of the time. But the Eco- nomic Club lived in the days when New Haven's mind was diverted in many directions, not all of them highly impoi'tant. It suffered from lack of the appreciation which was its due, hence from lack of adequate support. Those who had carried its chief burden were fain, early in 1916, to merge its identity with the Civic Federation. CHAPTER XIX MANUFACTURING IN NEW HAVEN t SOME RESI'ECTS IN WHICH NEW HAVEN WAS A PIONEER DEVELOPMENT AND DESCRIPTION OF CITY 's INDUSTRIES New Haven is the greatest mamifaeturing city of a great manufacturing state. Changing conditions challenge this statement, but the facts may be pre- sented witli conlidcnee in their showing that, however the comparison may be in number of factories, employees, amount of capital invested or aggregate of product. New Haven has a standard of excellence, an extent of reputation, a variety and importance of manufactui-cs, which combine to make it Connecticut's greatest manufacturing city. These conditions find their causes back in the far beginnings, indeed. Ten years after the first settlement, we are told, men versed in every branch of the trades then known might be found in New Haven. Those known were few in comparison with the list today, and unfortunately no consistent record was kept, but it does not appear that New Haven had to import any workmen for any purpose. However, there was not at first much of a demand for manufacturing plants. The comnuinity was rather pastoral. But nine years after the first settlement there was a plant for making shoes, a i)lant of a size which might prop- erly distinguish it from the "cobbler shops'" of that and a later day. which made only to order. Timlier was dressed and lumber was manufactured, and beaver skins were prepared for export, soon enough after that to be counted among the early manufactures of New Haven. But all these and the other points of manufacturing interest which might have been found in the first century of New Haven's existence were of local note only. Manufacturing plants of size are the surest producers of rapid growth in a city, and New Haven's slow growth for the first century and a half of its existence seems to prove that its manufacturing development dated later than that. For that matter, that was true of most of the communities of the New World in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Before the invention of steam, only the towns which had water power facilities grew materially in mamifaeturing, and New Haven had very liniited opportunities in water power. Its scapr)rt. position made its destiny, and held it in prominence until the era 174 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 175 of modern manufacturing came. In that era, as we shall see — it began imme- diately after the close of the Revolutionary War — ^New Haven at once took a place of national prominence in American manufacturing. The familiar claim to "the greatest plant of its kind in the world," or in the country, is seldom resorted to in New Haven. Doubtless it has many manu- facturing institutions which might make it, and some w^hich do. But many New Haven factories can show (jualities so much more commending them to general confidence that there is no need of it. New Haven demonstrates in many ways that greatness does not consist alone, or chiefly, in size. There are five or six of the cardinal lines of American manufacturing which either started in New Haven or had close connections with tliis city in their early days. It has repeatedly been said that "the introduction of the Whitney cotton gin laid the foundation for the cotton industry." That Eli Whitney, who gave it the name, was, as nearly everybody knows, early identified with New Haven, and there, as early as 1793, established the first factory for the making of liis machine. Nationally, that was the beginning of New Haven manufacturing. This pioneering was followed not many years later by other contributions almost as notable to American manufacturing progress. The first rubber ever imported to this country was brought to Boston in 1800. It might not have done any- body much good had not Charles Goodyear, wizard of rubber development, been born in New Haven that .same year. It was not until forty-four years later that his genius flowered into the pi-actical manufacture of real rubber boots and shoes, but 1844, when Leverette Candee started that business in New Haven, was early in the days of New Haven or any other manufacturing. The firm of L. Candee & Company has kept New Haven on the rubber manufacturing map ever since. But considerably before 1840 New Haven was mentioned as one of the centers of the chaise-making industry in America. James Brewster, one of the founders of a family which has served and honored Connecticut in many other ways, started the carriage industry in New Haven in 1827. Other pio- neers in this manufacture came shortly after him, and despite the supposed decline in the use of the horse in the large centers of the east. New Haven has today thirty concerns rated as carriage makers. ¥Ai Whitney did not confine his contribution to early New Haven manufac- ,turing to the making of cotton gins, as we know. By 1798 he had gone into firearms out near the lake and on the road which still bears his name. And from that day to this, in every land where they burn gunpowder, the making of firearms has been identified with New Haven. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was the lineal successor of the Whitney Arms Company, though organized sixty years after it, and the industry has grown by the attraction to this manufacturing center of indejiiendent companies until now, in this time of demand for war materials, there are liere four or five munitions concerns of note. The clock industry, as we know it in New Haven today, is not as old as 176 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN some persons think, but New Haven was in it in its beginnings, and had an important part. The New Haven Clock Company was planted here in 1817, and forty years later this concern absorbed the Jerome Clock Company, so that Hiram Camp and Chaunccy Jerome, two famous pioneer American clock makers, were jointly associated with New Haven. Still another industry that had one of its oldest roots in New Haven was the making of matches. Hatches were not made in the United States until 1836, and it was several years later before machinery for their manufacture was sufficiently developed to make their production amount to much as an indus- try. E. B. Beecher of Westville was among the developers of the successful modern process of making matches, and had a factory in Westville for some years prior to the organization there of the Diamond Match Company in 1884. The importance which this concern assumed among the producers of matches in the country may be indicated by the fact that, when the match trust was organ- ized some fifteen years afterwards, it took the name of the Diamond Match Com- pany, under which title it operates today. Some of the important processes and mechanical advances which make possible the great magnitude of the match industry in these days are directly traceable to the progress achieved in New Haven. In addition to Mr. Beecher, J. P. Wright of New Haven is mentioned among the early inventors and developers of the match. New Haven is not prominently mentioned in the development of American .shipbuilding, but we know that it had a part in its establishment in New Eng- land as early as 1640. It appears that New Haven's product, then and in the two and one-half centuries after that for which it participated in the building of vessels, was mostly confined to coasting schooners, but some very notable vessels of this type were launched from New Haven yards before the industry waned here as all along the Connecticut shore. The manufacture of plumbers' and steamfitters' supplies did not noticeably develop in this country until near the middle of the last century, and not in New Haven until somewhat after that. Yet when it attained prominence, all at once New Haven was found to occupy a place in it very important in pro- portion to its size. So that by 1890 there were thirty-five factories in New Haven making plumbers' and gasfitters' supplies, hardware or machinery con- nected therewith. These had a capital of $196,450 then, and an annual output worth nearly half a million dollars. Both capital and annual product, of course, have materially increased since that time. The number of establishments of» the sort has now increased to 117, and there are in New Haven eleven factories devoted exclusively to the making of plumbers' supplies. The making of crackers, or "biscuit," an industry which became prominent in the east soon after the beginning of the nineteenth century, was early repre- sented in New Haven. In the days before the trust, the New Haven Baking Company was always included in a list of the leading biscuit baking concerns of New England. In the late 'nineties this was made a substantial part of the AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 177 National Biscuit Company, and sinue then not more than two or tliree baking companies witli any claim to national standing have existed in New Haven. New Haven could show many other claims to belong among the pioneers of American manufacturing. It was from the tir.st the abode of Connecticut Yankees, and the Connecticut Yankee is versatile. Versatility has been a promi- nent characteristic of New Haven manufacturing. There is hardly a branch of the tree of American industry that has not at some time had a less or greater representation in Now Haven. It can, in fact, hardly be said to specialize in any- thing, so wide is its range of arts and crafts and trades. II These lines gave New Haven national and international note as a manufac- facturing city. But they did not give it a di.stinctiou which made it as widely known for its industry as it was for its education. The old "descriptive geog- raphies'' always put first the fact that New Haven was the home of Yale University, and second that it was the "City of Elms"; then, apparently as an incidental, that it had "extensive manufactures of firearms, clocks and carriages." So it was up to the time of the Civil War, whose effect, naturally, was seriously to cripple most of New Haven's industries with the exception of the making of fire arms. Then, after the war, came a new lease of life to New Haven manufacturing, and at the same time a broadening of its lines of production. Immediately many new industries began to come to the city, most of which have remained and flourished ever since. But still a greater awakening came with the crossing of the boundary line into the twentieth century, or about that date. The transportation and seaport advantages of the city had their efifect in multiplying industries, and New Haven had a fair name as a desirable place of residence. Moreover, its popu- lation was growing rapidly from immigration. Labor was abundant and easily obtained. The rapidity of factory growth was not fully realized at the time, but by the end of the first decade of 1900 we find a city with at least 500 manu- facturing establishments, employing altogether over 24,000 persons, several of them having from 2,000 to ^^flOO workers each. Their products were at that time rated at more than $50,000,000 a year. The number of plants has since then grown to nearly 800, and their invested capital approaches $18,000,000. The total number of workers at the present time is difficult to get. because of immense recent additions, and the secrecy which attends the manufacture of firearms and munitions. But it is frequently estimated, and generally without challenge, that the number employed in the leading one of these firearms factories alone is as great as the 24,000 accorded to all the New Haven factories in 1908. There are three principal concerns for the manufacture of munitions, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, the IMarlin-Rockwell Arms Coi-poration and the ]\raxim Company. Vol. I— 1 2 178 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN The other lines of manufacture in New Haven have, in the main, pursued the even tenor of their way, which is steady, consistent growth. Occasionally a new line comes into the company, and it generally stays. The New Haven manufacturing area, which used to be mostly along the railroad and harbor front, has materially extended, but is still mainly confined to the eastern and northern portions of the city. Hamdeu has been invaded in several directions. Some of the large factories have run over into Whitneyville, into Centerville and notably into Hamden Plains, which because of the "Canal Road," as it used to be called, has convenient shipping facilities. The residence and manu- facturing parts of the city are still pretty well separated, and those who so desire may, but for the scream of the early morning whistles, fancy themselves living in a non-manufacturing paradise. The student of New Haven manufacturing invariably reverts to the l)egin- nings of it. when Eli Whitney utilized the power of the stream that flows from the foot of Mount Carmel for the making of his cotton gin. He was six or seven miles down on that river, close to what are now the city limits of New Haven. Right under the brow of East Rock he built his dam and his modest factory, and right there has been a factory, used for one purpose or another, ever since. The story of the cotton gin, perhaps the most distinguislied romance of earl.y American manufacture, has been often told. Connecticut cannot claim the origin of the first Eli Whitney, but from the time that he built that first factory under East Rock he and his descendants have lived in New Haven, and been very much a part of its history. Whitney was a graduate of Yale in the class of 1792. How he aftei'ward went to the South expecting to teach, how he found the place filled and was obliged to accept the hospitality of his friend, Mrs. Greene, how there he learned of the unsolved problem of the cotton-growing South, and how his Yankee ingenuity came to the rescue and solved it with the cotton-gin — these are details in a pretty ■well known tale. It might have been expected that the manufacture of the gin would at once begin his fortune, but such was not tiie case. It was said that he received in all about $90,000, which was indeed a fortune for that day. But out of that sum he had to equip his factory and pay the cost of tedious and expensive litigation to establish his rights to the patent on the cotton gin. For- tunes have been made on the manufacture of cotton gins after the Whitney model, but he did not make them. But he did not therefore die poor, after the manner of many of his lirethren of inventive fame. The Ihiited States did not disarm after the Revolutionary War; it had rather, in a .sense, to begin to arm. There was prospect of good money in making firearms for the government, and Whitney perceived it. He had begun making cotton gins in 1793, and in 1798 he took a contract to furnish 10,000 muskets for the United States Government. He did not have the monop- oly of the country for that manufacture, but he seems to have had a method of manufacture which was as radical as had been his cotton-gin invention. The other gun makers ridiculed him. it is said, because he went so far in substituting AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 179 machines for haiul labor. He was lacking in capital, too, but he seems to have been able to secure that without great difficulty. Success came without long waiting, and by 1812, as he puts it himself, he had developed the "most respect- able private establishment in the United States for carrying on the maniifacture of arms." It is interesting to know that this factory was in an important sense the pattern if not the parent of the most important firearms concerns in this part of the country. The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was its direct descend- ant, and began its career in the old factory at Lake Whitney. From it have directly or indirectly sprung the Arsenal at Springfield, the Colt Armory and Pratt & Whitney at Hartford, and the now defunct Arsenal at Harper's Ferry. It is less generally known that Eli Whitney made another important thing at the old Lake Whitney factory than the cotton-gin and the gun, and incident- ally added to New Haven's distinction as a pioneer manufacturing center. It was the very first milling machine made in this country. That was in 1818. The machine itself was a crude one, and .iudged by today's standards, of little use. There is good reason to suppose, however, that it served as an important model, and had no little influence on the manufacturing standards of its time. This quaint relic was almost lost at one time, but fortunately was rescued by the present Eli Whitney, and by him presented to Yale University, where it is now preserved with honor in the Mason IMechanical Engineering Laboratory. There must be a break, at least in continuity of control, between the industry which Eli Whitney founded and the actual beginnings of the institution which bears the name of Winchester. It is not the policy of the great arms manufactory to talk much about its business, or even about its crude and struggling begin- nings. Oliver F. Winchester, a strong citizen of New Haven and of Connecticut, who in 1866 was lieutenant governor, had started a general firearms industry in the old AYhitney factory about 1860. Strange as it may seem to us from the viewpoint of the present prosperity of every concern that can make firearms, Mr. Winchester seems to have had a struggle all through the war time. But he kept going, and in 1866 he succeeded in organizing a company for the manu- facture of a firearm that was a great improvement over the old Henry rifle. It was not intended as an army rifle. Mr. Winchester thought he saw in the still unconquered AYest a foeman, if such it might be called, worthy of the best he could make in shooting irons, and the sequel has commended his judgment. This rifle, named the "Winchester" at the start, has become so well known, not only in our West, but on every frontier and in every sporting country in the woi-ld, that "Winchester" has almost passed from a proper to a commou noun, and appi-oaches the strange distinction of losing its capital letter. In half a century the concern whose capital Oliver F. Winchester floated with such difficulty in 1866. its management passed to the second generation of his de- scendants, its stock quoted at but not for sale at *1,000 a share just before the great war. and rising to $2,500 or more a little later, had come to be a small city in itself. In 1913 it employed nearly 6,000 persons; its factories covered 180 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN over Hftv-eight acres of groimd, with twenty-eight acres of floor space devoted to inachinerv and tools. The effect of the war was to more than double this acreage and" to increase the number of buildings over fifty per cent. This is in addition to 396 acres beyond the city limits which the company controls for its powder storage and mixing houses and laboratories. Twenty-five miles to the ea.st, on a secluded -'island" or point beyond the salt marshes on the western side (if tlic mouth of the Hammonassett River, the company has a shooting range and proving grounds, where the crack of the rifle in the hands of experts who are testing the Winchester guns and ammunition sounds almost constantly the year around. Only approximate figures can be given of the present number of workers at the Wincliestcr plant. At times daring the war the factory has been worked in three eight-hour shifts a day. and it is reported that at such times as many as 8.000 persons have been employed in each shift. What will be the status of the great concern after the war is problematical, but those familiar with the organization and efficiency of this world-known manufacturing institution have little fear as to the future. It is a somewhat common impression that the wooden clock movement, fairly familiar to those acquainted with the "inwards" of antique timepieces, is the oldest type of clock. It is merely the oldest in Connecticut, and Connecticut clocks are the oldest native to this country. The metal movement was known before that in other clock making countries, but material for its manufacture was out of the reach of the early clockmakers of Connecticut, so they ingeniously made shift with wood as a substitute, using metal only for pinions and bushings. Evid(>nee is still with us. in clocks running well on in their second century, that they made a good article. It is now almost a century and a half since Elihu Terry whittled out the First Connecticut clocks in East Windsor. He moved to Plymouth later, and for all his handicap of lack of labor saving machinery, was making money rapidly for those times when Chauneey Jerome appeared at Bristol as his competitor. Bristol and its region has been one of the homes of Connecticut clock making ever since, though the Jerome interests were trans- ferred to New Haven well back in the last century. It was early in the nineteenth century that Hiram Camp, founder of the New Haven Clock Company, was associated with the Jerome industry in Bristol. It is .iust about a century since he came to New Haven and founded, in con- junction with .lerome. the industry which placed New Haven on the clock map and has kept it there ever since. For the first forty years of that time it was independent of the Jerome company, which ran a factory in New Haven, first foi- the makino- of clocks and later for the making of cases for movements which were made in Bristol. Soon after 1850, this concern got into financial difficulties, and about 1857 was absorbed by the New Haven Clock Company. Since some time before that New Haven clocks have been standard in the world of timepieces. Almost every type except the tower clock has been made here, and in recent years this concern has developed the clock-watch, or popular AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 181 pocket timepiece, to a couspicuous degree of success. These are made in a variety of grades and sizes, many of which compare most favorably with watches of the sort much more widely advertised. It is not so generally known that the American Pedometer Company, a concern which makes the best known pedometer on the American market, is a branch of the New Haven Clock Company, and that all of its output is made at that factory which occupies a large part of two sides of Hamilton Street in New Haven. The clock company is capitalized at $1,000,000, and employs upwards of 2,000 hands. Its product goes to every land of tlie world where time is regarded as anything like money, and is recog- nized as of high standard. The builder almost the world over has "Sargent" in his mind when he thinks of building hardware. Perhaps no concern in New Haven makes its city's name more widely known than Sargent & Company. It is strictly a New Haven concern, backed from the beginning largely by New Haven capital. That be- ginning was made in a small way in 1864, and has grown to impressive pro- portions. Sargent & Company is an institution that stands by itself, its group of factories a city in themselves, conveniently situated on the railroad and harbor fi-ont. In them are employed upwards of 4,000 workers, the concern being, normally, the second in importance among the manufactories of New Haven. A list of the small hardware made there would fill a small hook. Some of the more familiar lines, such as locks, latches, knobs, door checks, planes, steel squares and other tools, are well known. Of some of these there is an endless variety, but there is also a myriad of articles in small hardware made by the company which even the average worker in the institution would find it difficult to enumerate in any complete way. The rubber industry has not waned in New Haven, though the great centers of it have been mostly in other cities. Since in 1842 Leverette Candee estab- lished his factory for the making of rubber boots and shoes under the Goodyear patent, the concern which bears his name has been sticking to that line of product. It maintains its right to the title of oldest manufactory of rubber boots and shoes in the world, making every kind, style and size of rubber footwear, includ- ing special styles for all the different countries of the world where rubbers are known. Other manufactories of rubber goods, in larger variety, have come to join it in later years, of which the more important are the Seamless Rubber Company and the Baumann Rubber Company. There are now in New Haven eight concerns in all making various forms of rubber goods. The Peck Brothers & Company is another of the world-known manufacturing concerns of New Haven, and illustrates another characteristic line of New Haven- made goods. It is the leader of a dozen concerns making plumbers' supplies, and has carried this line, particularly modern liathroom fittings, as near to perfection as it is carried anywhere in the world. Some of the other well known concerns in this branch of business are the Economy Manufacturing Company, bath tubs; the C. S. Mcrsiek & Company, handling plumbers' fittings in general, and the National Pipe Bending Company, house piping and coils. 182 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Hardly auy business has so ehauged from its early form as that of carriage building. The horse may have diminished in numbers in New Haven, but still New Haven makes carriages for the country. The thirty carriage makers of the city are not all of them building mostly coaches for fours, and the stately landaulet gives place to more sprightly modern designs. But still there are coaches in use, and some of the linest of them are made and trimmed here. There are still some fine old New Haven names in the list of rotary firms. The New Haven Carriage Company is the successor of the old Brewster institution. Henry Hooker & Company and the M. Armstrong Company are names that recall the finest traditions of the carriage trade. Dann Brothers & Company continue a growing business in supplies and carriage parts, and the D. W. Baldwin firm still builds as well as repairs carriages and automobile bodies, regardless of whether horses have any connection with them. C. Cowles & Company, a firm uow well advanced in its fourth quarter of a ceutury, makes, as it has done for years, the finest sort of coach and carriage and automobile fittings and lamps. A. T. Demarest & Company, A. Ochsner & Sons Company and Samuel K. Page complete the line of distinguished leaders. New Haven holds its lead in the corset industry, with twelve factories, some of them making the world's best known lines. This industry does not date back so many decades, for it is only in recent years that coi'set making has been raised to the plane of high art, but it now employ's .several thousands of workers in New Haven, and is one of the city's most reliable industries. In the front ranks of the trade are such firms as Strouse, Adler & Company, I. Newman & Sons, the Strouse Corset Company, Henry H. Todd, the Hiekok Company and Otteuheimer & "Weil. New Haven's line of makers of machinery is a long one, including at present twenty-seven firms. Some of the best known of them as the Greist Manufactur- ing Company, sewing machine attachments ; the Geometric Tool Company, special tools; the William Schollhorn Company, pliers and nippei's; the Snow & Petrelli Company, hardwai-e and special machinery; the Hoggson & Pettis Manufacturing Company, dies, chucks and special tools ; the McLagon Foundry Company, pattern makers and iron founders; the New Haven Manufacturing Company, machine tools and special machinery ; the Rowland Machine Company, special machine builders; the Fuller Manufacturing Company, book binders' and printers' machinery; R. H. Brown & Company, special tools and machines; the Eastern Screw Machine Corporation, screw machine products. Cigar making is an important industry in New Haven, as forty-seven estab- lishments, some of them of considerable size, indicate. Some of the lirands made in them are called for in almost every large center of cigar consumption. Of course, as in every city where cigars are made, there are many small concerns which go to make up the total number. Some of the leading manufactories in this line are Frederick D. Grave and Lewis Osterweis & Sons. New Haven has its share of indu.stries which, though including few factories, are peculiar to the city. The more important of these have already been men- AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 183 tioucd. la addition, tliere are such concerus as the Andrew B. Hendryx Com- pany, widely famous for bird cages and fishing reels ; the Acme Wire Company, whose peculiar product lias made a place for it in the electi'ical world entirely beyond proportion to the length of its record on the market; the Regal Silver Company, New Haven 's lone representative in a business mostly monopolized by its neighbors ; the Lionel Manufacturing Company, in the business of making toy electric railroads; the National Folding Box and Paper Company and its half a dozen smaller associates in the box making industry ; and not less than the others, the Bigelow Company, whose big B stands for boilers the world over. Publishers are not usually included in a list of manufacturers, but perhaps the Price & Lee Company, makers of directories for over sixty towns in five states, might prop- erly be added to the makers of New Haven's fame. One of New Haven's newest factories perhaps deserves special mention. Albert C. Gilbert, only a few years ago, was a young Yale student who was helping himself through college by giving exhibitions in legerdemain in the evenings. Then he conceived the idea of making sets of magic apparatus for amateurs. By the time lie was graduated from the Yale Medical school he had the manufacturing bent stronger than the medical. He had invented a struc- tural steel toy for boys which he called the "Gilbert Erector." On leaving college he organized the Mysto Manufacturing Company, to make his magic sets and the Erector. He proved his advertising genius at the same time, and his business grew in the night. It spread fast and far, and in a few years forced him to move into one of the finest and best equipped of the modern factories of New Haven, that on Blatchley avenue formerly occupied by the Fuller Company. Tliere the A. C. Gilbert Company now makes, in addition to the Erector and Mysto sets, the Polar Cub electric fans, electric toy motors, the Gilbert chemistry oufits, Gilbert toy machine guns, toy diving submarines, Gilbert electrical sets and the "Briktor. " The inventor has recently brought out an ingenious set of puzzles, some of which he is including in many of the comfort kits sent to the far away soldiers. These are merely some of the "high spots" in New Haven manufacturing. Its variety is almost endless. The almost eight hundred manufacturing con- cerns in the city of New Haven make about 155 lines of goods, some of them, of course, making several diff'erent lines. Fourteen of the lines are i-epresented by ten or more factories each. These are : Carriage makers, 30 ; machinerv manufacturers, 27 ; cigar manufacturers, 47 : cabinet makers, 18 ; corset manu- facturers, 12; jewelry manufacturers, 12; confectioners, 14; engineering con- tractors, 54; bakers, 80: marble works, 11; medicine manufacturers, 14; hard- ware manufacturers. 25 ; hat manufacturers, 11 ; ice cream manufacturers, 11. Of the large manufacturing corporations in New Haven, 133 have a combined capital of over $17,000,000. In the district covered by this history outside of New Haven, represented mostly by Meriden, Wallingford, West Haven and Branford, there are 245 con- 184 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN cerns, representing 114 lines of manufacture. Here, also, there are many eases where one firm represents several lines. In some cases, as found in Meriden and Wallingford especially, the history of an important American industry is in- cluded in the mamifaeturing history of the towi. These will be treated at lenolh under their respective towns. CHAPTER XX THE NEW HAVEN MANUFACTURERS' EXHIBIT CONCEPTION AND FORMATION OP THE FIRST PERMANENT DISPLAY OF ITS SORT IN AMERICA — REVIEW OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL FEATURES IT PRESENTS How do we know that New Haven is a great manufacturing city ? What does it make besides firearms and eloc-ks and perhaps carriages and their parts? These are questions which miglit he asked, and if they have not always been, one of the reasons is that the manufacturing light of New Haven has been too much hidden within the four walls of its dingy factories, and beneath their low roofs. The visitor from Japan knew much of what New Haven makes before he left his land ; the dweller in New Haven has, until within the last few years, known comparatively little. For the means of advertising the manufactures of New Haven in the most sensible, natural, effective way was not discovered until a few years ago. It was in the summer of 1911 that two citizens of New Haven, each vigilant for the welfare of his city, visited Europe. One of them, George Dudley Sey- mour, was renewedly impressed with what he had noticed before in some of the Old World's manufacturing centers, the development of the permanent exhibit of local manufactured products. On the other, Charles E. Jultn, it dawned in its fullness for the first time. They talked it over together on the way back. They talked it over with other citizens after they returned. Why not such an exhibit for New Haven ? There was not, so far as they were informed, such an exhibit in America. Here was a chance for New Haven to be a pioneer, to demonstrate that it was tlie most progressive as well as the greatest manufactur- ing city in Connecticut. Here was a chance to show most effectively what it seemed difficult to impress upon New Haven people and others, that New Haven was something substantially more than the seat. of Yale University, and that its claim to manufacturing greatness was nnich more than an empty boast. Industrial fairs had not been unknown in New Haven. Many an organi- zation had given a successful show, and for a few days had a surprising display of New Haven's industries and manufactures. The people had seen and mar- veled — and gone away and forgotten. But a permanent manufacturers' exhibit would be quite another thing. It would stick until it had successfully caught 185 186 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN the attention, not only of the people of New Haven, but of all the country 'round. It took time to make the captains of industry in New Haven nestle up to the idea. But the two men who had it were able missionaries. They had the newspapers on their side. And, fortunately, they had the aid of the awakened Chamber of Commerce. There was no need to waste time, and no time was wasted. The plan appealed to President Isaac M. Ullman of the chamber, and he appointed as a committee to develop it George Dudley Seymour, former Governor Rollin S. Woodruff, Edward R. Sargent, Walter Camp, H. Stuart Hotchkiss, P^'rank J. Schollhorn and Charles E. Julin. This committee saw to it that the scope and advantages of the plan were fully placed before prac- tically every manufacturer in New Haven and the New Haven district. The response was most encouraging. It struck the practical men with the force of a brand new idea. They promised co-operation. Accordingly, a temporary organization was formed on September 16, 1911, and the following were elected directors : Isaac ]\L Ullman, Edwin P. Root, Frank J. Schollhorn, H. Stuart Hotchkiss and Harry B. Kennedy. They were appointed immediately following a well-attended meeting of representative man- ufacturers who pledged themselves to participate in such an exhibit, and the directors were instructed to secure a place and get the exhibit under way as soon as possible. In the middle of the nineties the printing house of 0. A. Dorman erected an ambitiously ample building on the north side of Chapel Street, east of what is now "the cut," or subway hy which the trains of the New Haven road pro- ceed through the city to the northward and eastward. It had not prospered to match its large building, and a few years later the building was sold to Minotte E. Chatfield. It is said now that he had at the time some thought that the building would be ideal for such exhibits, though he did not, probably, think of using it for a permanent one. He did not at once push it for such a purpose, however, but remodeled and equipped it for a place of amusement, and named it "the Auditorium." But it had not been a success for that use, its acoustic drawbacks being against it. The building was open to engagements, and the temporary directors of the exhibit a.ssociation were not slow in perceiving that it would make an ideal place for their purpose. This edifice, located at 671 to 677 Chapel Street, was ea.sily secured, its owner being as enthusiastic as anybody for the project. There the exhibit was formally opened on May 15, 1912. Meanwhile, the permanent New Haven Man- ufacturers' Exhibit Association had been formed, with these directors: Fi-ank S. Cornwell, Edward R. Sargent, Harry B. Kennedy. Frank J. Scliollhorn, Winche.ster Bennett, John J. Reidy and Charles C. Hale. They elected as pres- ident Edward R. Sargent : vice president, Frank S. Cornwell ; Treasurer, Harry B. Kennedy ; secretary, G. Edward Osborn ; executive committee, Winchester Bennett, chairman, Frank S. Cornwell and Harry B. Kennedy. So far as the exhibitors were concerned, the exhibit was a success from the 1-3 fcr- !2: ^ X S O 5?: K a? AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 187 start. A large number of the most important manufacturers of the city and of some of the towns a little outside placed most attractive displays iu the rooms. The large floor of the Auditorium was railed off into sections, and one or two exhibits were placed in each. These displays have been developed and enlarged as the business progi-essed, and have been an accurate index of the business and manufacturing growth of the city. The firms represented, most of them intelli- gent advertisers, were not slow to see the possibilities of the .show. Something over a hundred of the best concerns iu New Haven now have displays there, and the number tends to grow. The New Haven and wider public, on their part, have appeared to need educa- tion as to the value of the exhibit. Those who conceived it at the start have tried to see to that education. Their idea, and it seems a reasonable one. was that the citizens of New Haven would deem the exhibit one of the sights of their city. New Haven is annually visited by thousands from all parts of the country and beyond. Almost every member of the University has his guests each year of his stay, some of them coming from far. Many of them come with the im- pression that the University is about all of New Haven. It was evident that the exhibit might excellently serve as a corrective of this impression. It was to be an expression of the other side of New Haven which in .justice should be brought to the attention, not only of the visitors but of the people at home. It has worked out in that way, Init slowly. The Auditorium is an admirable exhibit building in all but location. Somehow, ""the cut," as the channel of the railways is called, acts as a dividing line of the current of New Haven motion. Business and trade and civic and social interests seem to center on the liither side of it, and it takes inducement and advertising to draw them to the other side. The advertising has been tried. A great signboard, easily visible from State and Chapel streets and above, calls attention to the Manufacturers' Exhibit. Once a year, or thereabout, the association was wont to have a demon- stration week, during wliieh there were special inducements, of souvenirs and the like, to visit the exhibit. These things, with the fairly constant aid of at least some of the newspapers, have served to keep the exhibit before the people of New Haven. It was, when established, the first permanent exhibit of its kind in America. It remains in a sense uniciue, though other manufacturing centei-s have been quick to sec the virtue of the idea, and have followed New Haven's example. Nothing is more effective for teaching than the visible evidence of tlie thing done. Here, displayed in one great aggregation, is what New Haven makes with its machines and with its hands. Here is the concrete evidence of the manufacturing brain of a great manufacturing city, operating through more than a century. New Haven is a center of education ; it is also a center of that characteristic Yankee ingenuity. "Made in New Haven" is a seal-motto as honorable in its way as "Lux et Veritas." There could not be a more self- respecting, unboastful way of displaying the virtues of the city than an ex- hibit of the best of its manufactured product. 188 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN The exhibit is open every week day at convenient hours, and is in constant care of a superintendent and an able corps of assistants, who are ready to direct visitors, answer their questions, explain all about t^e products and their exhibitors. All that is possible is done to make the place attractive, especially to the stranger in the city, to put New Haven's "best foot forward." There are local and long distance telephones, forty-five directories of the principal telephone lines, typewriters a ad a public stenographer. There is a writing room, and a reading room in which are twenty or more of the leading daily newspapers of the state and country, and nearly twenty of the principal trade journals. In definite ways this is made a manufacturing headquarters of New Haven, in which appointments may be made between local inannfacturcrs and their associates from other cities, or where visiting representatives of the trades may meet New Haven manufacturers and business men. All this has been the growth of time, and is only partly grown as yet. New- Haven has yet to learn to use the exhibit as it might. But the response of both the New Haven and the outside public ha.s been encouraging, in the main. Such an innovation as this was in its inception is naturally slow in its dawning. But New Haven is proud of its ^Manufacturers' Exhibit, and to those who visit the city from far and near it seems, of course, more wonderful than it does to the people at home. Judged impartially, it really is a remarkable display of manufacturing achievement. II As a fairly adequate picture of modem manufacturing New Haven is liere displayed, it is fitting to attempt in this place a sketch of some of the leading features of the exhibit. The Auditorium itself is a well made building of at- tractive business architectui'e, stretching for a hundred feet along the north side of Chapel Street only a little way below w^iere the Union Station was in the days of a generation ago. Within, it is light, airy and well adapted to the purpose of ample display of a great variety of products. The exhibit booths have been separated from each other by divisions which keep them distinct without shut- ting off the light, and yet without detracting from their united effectiveness. One of the first things for which the visitor from outside of New Haven looks — the thing of which he had heard if he knows nothing else of the city's manu- factures, is the showing of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. There it is, its big "red W" making it seen afar. Appropriately, it is conveniently placed where one should begin his survey of the exhibit. One who looks there for evidence of the company's war material will not find it. Winchester's is not, in ordinary times, a place where munitions are made. There is a large variety of sporting rifles, shotgun.s, small arms and ammunition. There are details showing .something of the long and distinguished history of the insti- tution, and something of the record made and trophies won liy its products. Considering the size of the concern, which was and is the largest employer of labor in New Haven, it is a concise exhibit, but it tells much. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 189 One of the most impressive of the displays is near by. It is that of the old and extensive manufactory which had made New Haven's manfaeturing name almost as •widel.y known as its educational name — Sargent & Company. In three large cases is shown a seemingly infinite variety of small hardware, begin- ning with locks which are "the sign of quality,'" and going through the long 'list of builders' hardware, house fittings, tools and hardware miscellany which the name of this firm makes "sterling." It is a revelation to most Xew Haven- ers, even to some of the multitude who work in one department or another of the great group of factories included under this name. Few visitors fail to find fascination in the generally attractive display of the New Haven Clock Compan\-. which is constantly changing as the company adds to its lines of modern timepieces. Knowing that the town is a "clock town," visitors from New Haven or elsewhere may hei-e learn why. There is the whole family of Father Time's servitors, from tlie stately hall-tower of grandfather to the tiny wrist or pin watch of my little lady, and all admirably displayed. Where is the son of Izaak Walton that does not know the Hendryx reel? Or the canary lover that has not sheltered her yellow pet in a Hendryx bra.ss cage? It is a unii|ue industry, peculiar to New Haven. Here is an excellent exhiliit of its whole line of products. They are standard of their sort for the world, and have done not a little to make New Haven famous. Theirs is not a small part of the interest in the general exhibit. There are few cities in New England where the Peck Brothers & Company plumbers' supplies are not known to the plumbing trade, or where the Peck trade name is not well known to householders. This firm's display is an ideally fitted bath room. It is not an exaggeration, for its like can be found in many a fine residence from here to Los Angeles on the west, and to Buenos Aires on the south. Two firms with displays sonunvhat technical, but very int<^'resting on ex- aminations are the William SchoUhorn Company and the H. B. Ives Company. The former's specialty is pliers, nipi)ers and punches which bear the Bernard patent mark, and the latter shows an attractive line of builders' hardware, high grade window and door specialties. The advertising artist says that "the sun never sets on 'Jlilford' hack saw blades; north, east, south, west they are known in every civilized country in the world." Here they are displayed, the product of the Henry G. Thompson & Sons Company, along with an interesting line of metal sawing machines, tool holders and other hardware. To say that the Barnes Tool Company just makes pipe cutters does not de- scribe much, but to see their display here of clippers, of everything from a quarter-inch to a twelvo-inch pipe is to be impressed. A few specialties are thrown in for setting. A good many residents of Xew Haven, asked at random where emery comes from, would never think of connecting its manufacture with their city. They :90 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN need to see the neatly arranged glass jars eontaining the Oriental Emery Com- pany's finished produet of Turkish and Naxos emery, with samples of the crude material. Two of the eoncerns that have made Westville famous since the Diamond :Match Company left it are the Geometric Tool Company and the Greist JIanufacturing Company. The former makes threading tools and die heads and taps of the finest type, and the latter sewing machine attachments. Each has a most illuminating display of its products, and the Greist Company goes further with a large showing of fascinating mni'hine needlework made with the things it makes. One of the firms tiiat has had a large place in New Haven manufacturing history, as we have seen, is C. Cowles & Company. It would be difficult for one of its townsmen, even knowing its history, to appreciate the fineness of its products but for such a display as it has at the exhibit. It has one of the most attractive booths on the floor, showing the refinement of carriage and automobile lighting, together with a variety of small fittings for vehicles of luxury. New Haven products are not, as one might suppose, confined to hardware; it makes good things to eat as well. Here is the most appetizing di.splay of the John T. Doyle Company — catsups, beans and pork, beef stew, soups, extracts and a constantly increasing line of conserved products of Connecticut farms and gardens. New Haven, we all knew, was a rubber town. Specifications are here in the exhibit of the L. Candee & Company. Its giant rubber boot, such as Og of Bashan might have worn had he been as big as his reputation — or it might have been one of those seven-league boots — looms up with great advertising effect. But there is a surprising variety of actually wearalile things, in all sizes of the human foot and in all colors of the fashionable .shoe, together with a few other rubber products of the company. Another rubber company of smaller size has a larger and more varied exhibit. The Seamless Rubber Company shows everything from rubber nipples to auto- mobile tires. Its display is highly interesting, as well as a most illuminating proof of the versatility of New Haven's manufactures. Still other lines of rubber are shown by New Haven's third concern in that line, the Baumann Rubber Company, which has an exhibit including rubber tubing, rubber balls, atomizers, syringes and fittings. When the honorable manufactui'ing envoys of the Japanese government were being shown over New Haven a few years ago their guides emphasized to them the greatness of this cla.ssie city's corset product. They listened as courteously as if it were not true that stays do not form any part of the costume of the women of their counti-y. In pretty nearly every other land except Japan and the land of the Zulus, New Haven-made corsets are known, l^erhaps it is not always known that they are made in New Haven. Residents of the city who would have evidence may view here, to their instruction, the display of Strouse, .\dler & Company, the Strouse Corset Company and I. Newman & Sons. The Acme Wire Company, having one of the large modern factories of New THE UNITED ILLUMINATING COllPANVS BUILDIN(i, NEW HAVEN -..SisssiMilsr aill2S£SSS===--'*- THE ACJIE WIRE COilPANY, NEW HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 191 Haven, manufactures simply magnet wires, but it has a displa.v which enlarges that statement considerably. It fills two large showcases with the fruits of its labor, and occupies a place in the exhibit proportionate to its importance. The Oven Equipment & ^Manufacturing Company is one of the less known New Haven factories, but m the light of what it has to show it merits a better acquaintance. It displays the Crawford sectional oven, and the Sentinel lim^ of automatic iron heaters. The National Folding Box & Paper Company, as even he who runs by its great factory on the train may observe, is one of the largest concerns in New Haven, and makes the claim to be the largest enterprise of its kind in the world. It has an exhibit commensurate with its importance, both in variety and attractiveness. The New Haven Truck & Auto Works has the impressive exhibit of a full grown five-ton truck, plainly a piece of good workmanship, and a convincing proof that New Haven makes motor vehicles also. John P. Smith & Company have a gi-eat showing of goods made from wire, both ornamental and useful, of which fireplace screens, tree guards, bank and office railings and wire cloth are examples. The Bigelow Company and the National Pipe Bending Company, neighlior concerns, have a joint exhibit. The former manufactures boilers of all de- scriptions, and the latter makes feed water heaters and coils. The nature of their product is such that its importance cannot be shown, except to the person technically informed in their line, in such an exhibit. They illustrate, how- ever, an important branch of New Haven manufacturing. The Day Company has an attractive booth built of its own product. For its line is metal cornices and sheet metal and copper work in general, and its edifice is a canopy that seldom fails to attract attention, and covers some of its other products. The New Haven Gas Light Company makes more things than the uninitiated suppose. Here in its exhibit are samples of gas coke, ammonia and tar prod- acts, and a line of its mechanical appliances. The opportunity is improved, also, to set forth its arguments for the use of gas for all purposes. It is a showing that never fails to hold the attention of the house owner and house- keeper. The Hoggson & Pettis Company, one of the growing and important manu- facturing institutions of the city, has an interesting line of chucks, dies, molds and similar small machine fittings that the machinist best understands. This company has since 1849 made a specialty of the designing, developing and per- fecting of tools for the special purposes of that rubber industry which has been so important to New Haven. The New Haven Manufacturing Company, makers of machine tools, display one of their "New Haven" lathes, a piece of work that appeals to the ma- chinist as a thoroughbred horse does to the horseman. It is an emphatic proof of the variety and exactness of New Haven's product. 192 A MODEKN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN The Malleable Iron Fittings Company is a Branford concern which is in many ways so allied to New Haven as thoroughly to belong to this exhibit. Its showing is a material addition to the variety and virtue of the display. It comes from a plant which stands high among its class in the United States, pro- ducing steel fittings for all kinds of high pressure service, steam and gas fittings, refined malleable iron, semi-steel castings and marine hardware. The display is well arranged and attractive. The Howards' Company does an extensive business aside from the numu- facture of fire brick, fire clay and tile brick, but these are the things which it can best show in the exhibit. It is one of the progressive concerns of New Haven, and its display is a significant one. The Eastern Screw Corporation has a showcase full of small but highly important, and to the machinist interesting things. The machinist, at least, knows that they are well made. Though the Eastern Machinery Company has a similar name it has a distinctly diflferent line, for it makes passenger and freight elevators. Its goods are somewhat difficult to show in such a place, but it has a good exhibit of the mechancial end of its business. The Snow & Petrelli Manufacturing Company has a good showing of its line of yacht reverse gears, yacht cannons and specialties. James Graham & Company make brass and composition castings, and have a display of their goods of which small boat propellers, bells, tire holders and metal hat and coat racks are varied examples. New Haven's printing and imblishing companies, as manufacturers, make a good exhibit. The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company shows its blank books, samples of its job printing and its filing cases. The Wilson H. Lee Company shows its book binding, its printing and some of its office equipment, and also keeps on file some of the more demanded of its numerous directories. Thomas E. Elliott, one of New Haven's leading engravers, has an interesting exhibit of his work. ;\Iarshall, Smitii & Company, lithographers, complete the excellent showing of the printing and publishing craft. The Century Brass Company has a neat and notable exhibit of brass fire- place fixtures, railings and specialties. George W. Hindinger shows that he makes some fireplace goods such as andirons and fenders, Init of iron, and in addition fire escapes, grills and steel gates. New Haven knows that one of its modern and progressive manufacturing concerns is the English & ilersick Company, but not everybody could say. what it makes without the a.ssi.stanee of its excellent collection at the exhibit. It in- cludes automobile and carriage lamps and fixtures, automobile fittings of all sorts, high grade locks and hinges. Most users of automobiles have heard of the flavor Radiator Company. It makes .iust radiators. We also perceive that the Morgan & Humiston Company is an (lid New Haven concern which makes sash, doors and l)linds. The Lionel Manufaeturing Company is a producer of electric tnv railwavs. And the New AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 193 Haven Jlirror and Novelty Company has a surprising variety of mirrors and picture frames. All of these are well represented. Among the rest there is a display of contrasts that well illustrates New Haven's manufacturing versatility. Dairying lias now become a manufacturing business, as the display of the New Haven Dairy Company proves. New Haven is not supposed by manj- to be a silver town, but the exhibit of the Regal Silver Company is a revelation. New Haven's piano art is portrayed by the exhibi- tion of A. G. Ely & Son. The Globe Silk \\'orks show spool and skein silks iu variety. The \Yest Haven Manufacturing Company specializes in hack saws and their machinery. Button, button, who's got the button? The New Haven But- ton Company, in lots of variety. The Sperry & Amos Company have a great showing of interior house trim and furniture. Another screw concern with an attractive variety is the New Haven ^Machine Screw Company. And the Fold- ing Mattress Company invite to rest on their tempting line of mattresses. The number constantly grows, and the seeker of sights or instruction might wander for days around the aisles of the large building learning new things about New Haven, what its people do and what are the nerves of trade whicli reach from it to all parts of the earth. A complete history of New Haven manufacturing would be a wonderful, as well as a romantic story. But this New Haven ilanufacturers' Exhibit would be needed to illustrate the work. Vol. 1—13 CHAPTER XXI THE YALE BOWL THE NEED WHICH MOTHERED IT AXD THE MAN WHO FATHERED IT — ITS CONSTRUC- TION ITS DESCRIPTION AND ITS SUCCESS — ITS UNEXPECTED RESOURCES It came to pass in the infant days of tins century that a great change had eoaie over the public attitude toward Yale sport. The days when football par- took of the nature of a burlesque performance, and young men nondescript in their gai'b and still more nondescript in their actions strove in a crude form of football on the Green — the only athletic field they had — while townsmen, if they noticed at all, jeered, had long since passed. Yale had gone out to the far western boundary of the city and lieyoiid and acquired its own athletic field. This at first was no more than a practice lot. Then, as baseball and later football developed, there were erected "bleachers,'' and afterward what were by courtesy called "grand stands." Still these were mostly for college use. The public, except through direct relation with the college, was little interested. The larger football games, which first attracted the attention of the public, were held at Springfield or New York. There was no need for anything more than a crude and limited grand stand and l)leachers for the baseball games and the minor football contests. Then came the action of the college athletic authorities decreeing that college games be played on college grounds. This meant that the Yale-Harvard game, which in the late 'nineties had been attracting increasing general interest, should be played every second year on the Yale field. The athletic management at once made plans to enlarge the crude stands, first to accommodate some such crowds as had witnessed the game at Springfield, say 20,000 people. They did not take account of the number in New Haven and its vicinity who would care to see the game. They were made to notice it by the increased demand for tickets which came every second year. The stands were repeatedly enlarged, until by 1910 they seated about 35,000 people, and engineers told the management that it had reached the limit of safety with wooden stands of that character. They were warned, moreover, that so great a mass of wooden timbers and seating, with so large a number of people, produced a fire hazard which was not to be disregarded. 194 YALE ROWT>. XKW li.W KX ST. EOIO HALL, YALE UXlVEKSrrY, XE\V HAX'EN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 195 Meanwhile, every year made the situation worse. The demand for tickets before 1900 was so great that ticket speculation became a scandal, and Yale men and others who would see the game were robbed by wholesale. Then the management adopted the plan of allotting the tickets by drawing, from applica- tions which were limited to Yale graduates only, each one being allowed a given number of seats. This was five at first, then it was reduced to three ; in the end, before relief came, it was reduced to two, and there was fear that it would dimin- ish to one, and that ticket holders would have to stand up to save room. Yale's athletic managers saw plainly that Yale would have to build some form of amphitheater or stadium, as Harvard already bad done, as Princeton was planning to do. The perplexity as to how to manage the matter of the co.st delayed action. It would never do for the University to finance the thing; it seemed a hopeless undertaking from volunteer contributions. For it was plain that no mere 50.000-seat structure would answer. The lesson of the growing demand for seats was that it must be approximately a doubling of the then existing capacity, with allowance for further expansion. The Committee of Twenty-one, a body of men appointed, at the instance of the athletic management, to look into possibilities, found that a concrete structure seating 50,000, although probably too small for future needs, woxdd cost at least $750,000, a sum which staggered the committee. In the face of such an ob.stacle, progress was slow. Jleaiiwhile, engineers were working on the problem, and it is probable that some makeshift or other would have been tried, or perhaps the mighty task of financing a million-dollar structure would have been attempted, had not a true friend of Yale come to the rescue with an idea that proved the product of genius. Charles A. Ferry, a New Haven civil engineer, graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School in 1871. always keenly interested in Yale affairs, and in close touch with some members of the committee, had become conversant with all the i-equirements and difficulties of the problem. He had examined with as little enthusiara as had the members the plans submitted to the Committee of Twenty-one, most of them hopelessly expensive designs, when something sug- gested to him a unique plan. Like all great ideas it was ridiculously simple. It was nothing more than to scoop a great elliptical hole out of the ground, throw the excavated contents up on the edge for an embankment, and lay out a foot- ball gridiron on the levelled bottom of the hole and seats all around it, rising in tiers on the inclined edge of the embankment. To this idea he applied the test of his engineering knowledge for finding out what it would cost. His first result was so suspiciously small as to make him distrust his figures. Apparently the thing could be done for only $150,000. He went over his estimates again, this time more carefully. He checked the work in every possible way. The result was not materially different. Then he lost no time in laying his estimates before the Commitee of Twenty-one. Their acquaintance with his record as a sound, hard-headed, practical and experienced engineer gave him their attention at once. But they also thought he must have erred this time. Still, the matter was worth the most careful examination. His 196 A MODERN HISTORY OP NEW HAVEN figures were there, in form that any eugiueer could understand. The others went over them. To their astonishment, they failed to find a flaw in them. Ap- parently a way had l)een found to build a football amphitheater for something less than a fifth of the cost they had been considering. But no chances were to be taken with a mere experiment. The plans and estimates were submitted to the ablest engineers, and months were spent in acidly testing them. The figures held. The plan developed no technical faults. The engineers reported back to the committee that they believed in it. The committee voted to adopt it. The Ferry vision of an amphitheater such as had never been built, and apparently never in any large measure had been con- ceived before, entered the first phase of realization. II With such a plan to arouse enthusiasm, and the financial difficulties of the task greatly reduced, it became comparatively easy to make a start. The Coni- mittee of Twenty-one, now an incorporated body with authority to make con- tracts and acquire property, with a sufficient fund for starting the work, pro- ceeded with the task. Its chairman was T. DeWitt Cuyler, Tale 74, of Phila- delphia, and its secretary David Daggett, 79, of New Haven. A few years ])revious to this time the Yale Athletic Association, finding that it would be necessary for the University's athletic activities to have more room than it was ]>ossible to get on the south side of Derby Avenue, had acquired a new tract of about 100 acres on the north side, extending along the West River between Derby Avenue and Chapel Street. Approximately in the center of this tract, where it could be approached with equal facility from Derby Avenue or Chapel Street, it was decided to build the football structure. There, early in the summer of 1913, the unprecedented task was begun. It was the breaking of ground in more sense than one. That great hole in the ground which an army of men and horses di-awing "turnpike .shovels" began to scoop out looked like anything but a football .stand. The general public, which had not been taken into the confidence of the builders, mostly looked on to scoff if they noticed at all. Nothing of the sort had ever been attempted before. The whole thing seemed in the nature of an experiment. But the engineers knew what they were doing. And the master engineer, the father of the idea, Mr. Perry himself, was personally in command. He was with the work from the very beginning. He remained with it, watching with the minutest care its every detail, until the work was crowned with success. He had good assistance, but his was the controlling mind from first to last. That great and growing hole, covering as it grew the space of twelve and one-half acres, was an amazing sight as the summer of 1913 grew old. There stood a great confusion of derricks and cement mixers, piles of tile and stone and lumber, with men and horses and machines of various sorts creeping around thetn in apparently the most aimle.ss sort of wav. That confusion lasted until AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 197 the coming of winter forced a cessation of the work. It did not clear materially when spring came again. But before the work had ceased for the winter the lower part of the structure had begun to take a shape intelligible to the eyes of one who understood the plan of the work, and that plan was not difficult to comprehend. The excavation was to be elliptical in the proportions of a football gridiron, and to extend about as far beneath the ground level as the embankment rose above it. The entrances were to be at the ground level. On each side was to be a large gateway, for football teams or vehicles. There were to be thirty portals, tunnels through the embankment, arranged at equal intervals all the way around the structure, for the entrance and exit of the thousands who should occupy the seats. The whole interior of the excavation was to be lined with a substantial plating of cement, rising in steps, to which the seats were to be bolted. The portals and larger entrances were to be floored with the same material. There was to be a cement coping between the lower tier of seats and the playing surface, and a cement retaining wall around the foot of the em- bankment on the outside of the structure. Such, in brief, was the plan. Before the work ceased for 1913, the excavation had been finished, the cement construction of the entrance tunnels was well in hand and the structure was ready for the interior easing of concrete. It was desirable to allow the winter to do its work in settling the newly exposed earth and the thrown-up embankment before going further. That embankment, as it proved, had over a year in which to settle, and then the engineers found that its depression amounted to only a fraction of an inch. It was not a structure that was going to slide or cave. The following spring, which was the fateful year of 1914, when "the great war" broke upon the earth, the work proceeded rapidly. The retaining wall was first built, and from then on the structure began to assume form, and soon after, comeliness. For the next thing was the grading, and after that the sodding of the outer embankment and of the gridiron within. All summer and early fall this grass was watered and smoothed and cared for, and by November the turf on the playing field was ready to resist even the two hours' strain of striving steel- shod feet, resulting from a championship football game. It came out of the ordeal in good shape, considering. Then there was the cement surfacing of the lower part of the interior and the placing of the seats. It was thought best to defer the cement covering of the upper half, partly to postpone the heavier part of the work and expense, partly to allow the embankment to settle all it possibly could. The apparently satisfactory working of the structure without this completion, together with the interruption of college athletics by the war, has delayed the completion of the cement casing until now. That may, possibly, be a part of the greatly increased seating arrangement which may be found necessary in the coming years. Yale's football amphitheater, as it stands at present, is a structure covering, as has been said, twelve and one-half acres. The base of the excavation is 198 A MODERN IlLSTURY OF NEW HAVEN twenty-seven and one-half feet below the level of Yale's new field. It rises a corresponding distance of twenty-six and one-half feet above the entrance level, making a total depth of fifty-four feet. Measuring over the outer retaining wall the structure is 930 feet long by 750 feet wide. From the crest of the embank- ment it is 800 by 600 feet. The gridiron and the level surface inside the seats measures 500 by 300 feet. Though the lower part of the excavation extends to a depth below ground surface at which si^rings are expected to be found, and though the location is not high ground, so carefully has the matter of drainage been planned for that never has there been the least trouble with dampness, even when using the gridiron soon after a rainstorm. The spot is in many ways a jiicturesque one. The longer axis of the ellipse points nearly north and south. To the northward, towering West Rock stands ever as a watchful sentinel, wliile in tlie western distance rise the hills and woods of "Edgewood." long the home of the patron saint of the whole neighborhood. From the "parapet" lies spread a view of the city and harbor, while in the other direction are rolling country and the Maltby lakes. The appearance of the embankment from the distance, and still more on nearer approach, is that of a fort, and to imagine that those thirty portals screen great disappearing guns is not difficult. But such considerations as these have come later. The first thought for the football enclosure was that of utility. It must seat many thousands. Sixty thousand was the builder's first idea. Tliat number was slightly increased when the regular seats were placed, and the press stand, with its accommodation for newspaper men and photographers from far and near, added several hundreds more. So equipped, the structure seemed more tlian ample for the crowd which would come that first year. But long liefore the time for the game with Harvard, it was found that graduate applications and public sale would run far beyond the more than 60,000 seats provided, and it was necessary to build 7,000 more seats around the rim. Thus the first game on the new gridiron was witnessed, all told, by more than 70,000 people. It was supposed that this large crowd was due to the novelty of the thing, and that those temporary seats would never be needed again. So, as they marred the symmetry of the upper works, they were taken down after the game. But in 1916, when Harvard played in New Haven again, the pressure was worse than ever. Not only were the upper temporary seats again placed, but extra seating was put in the space within the footliall enclosure itself. It is proliable that from 72,000 to 73,000 saw that second game with Harvard. From a Yale standpoint, it was wortliy of the multitude. Accommodation for such gatherings as this places this amphitheater in the very front rank of the gathering places of the modern or the ancient world. Of old the Colos.seum and the CirciLS Maximus surpassed it, more or less according to tradition. We have no accurate means of knowang whether they seated all the crowds accorded to them, or whether they seated them all at once. Other structures built in England or elsewhere for the accommodation of football AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 199 crowds have lield more people, liut standing, not sitting. The Yale stand seats all whom it receives, and seats them comfortably and advantageously. Other colleges in this country are planning to outdo Yale in this, but up to the present writing none has provided a structure comfortably seating so many people, and no other stadium or amphitheater approximates to the facilities for conveniently gathering, seating and safely dispersing a crowd .possessed by that designed by Charles A. Ferry for Yale. Ill The wonder of it has dawned slowly. It was at once recognized to be unique among athletic structures. ^Vhat should it be called? It was a "bowl," of course, but that term, while it might pass in slang, did not at first meet the approval of the academic mind. Stadium it was not, properly. Amphitheater was a good old classic term, but too unwieldly. Coliseum was out of the question. So for convenience they began to call it "The Bowl." It was expected to be a temporary name, but like the temporary seats, it clung, partly from necessity, more from fitness. It is interesting to look back and notice how the term has gradually taken on dignity, until "The Bowl." spoken wherever Yale football is known, has become one of the most honorable of names. So has the structure endeared itself, if such a personal description may be applied to it. to Yale men and friends of Yale near and far. The first thought for it was that it would hold the crowds, surely in safety, more or less in com- fort. It was expected, of course, that there would be a wide difference in the accommodation it gave them. Those nearest the center were expected to be especially favored. Those on the edges — at the skyline — as even the designer feared, would greatly need spyglasses. For it was to be remembered that from the rear seats at the end of the ellipse to the opposite end of the goal line was a physical distance of over 800 feet. In the old stands there were some very imdesirable seats. It must inevitably be so in the new one. But it has not proved to be so. The facility with Avhieh every play of every game could be seen from every seat has been the growing wonder of those who have tested the Bowl from all its parts. It is true that those who sit at the points nearest the side lines see the players in life size, and are able to recognize some of them without field glasses. But it has been a ciuestion whether it was better to see the game in that way than it was to have the advantage of the greater altitude and see it in miniature. There is an effect, from the upper row-s of seats, somewhat like a view from an aeroplane. And with a good glass, the doings in the center or at either end of the gridiron are perfectly seen from every one of the 65,000 seats. There is not a "blank" in the whole collection. The ease with which the greatest crowds in our football history have been seated in the Bowl, and the orderliness with which they have been dispersed, have more than met the expectations of the builders. There has never been anything like a blockade or a .iara. There is a separate entrance and exit for each 2,000 people, and seats are easy to find. When the game is over, the great multitude 200 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN goes its thirty different ways without confusion and without any appearance of mass. It is only when one sits in the great Bowl with every seat filled, with one solid lining of humanity wherever the eye can reach, that he gets an ade- quate impression of the vastness of the assemblage. That, indeed, is a sight long to remember. It is in itself a wondrous feature of every great football game. For all this, the Bowl has twice failed to hold without a strain as many as would see the great games. Of the future one can only guess, but there is every prospect that the coming years may early find it totally inadequate in seating capacity. In such an event, the designer has a plan. He would build, around and over the upper half of the seats, a structure like a theater balcony. He believes it possible to construct perhaps 40,000 more seats in such a way that all will have a view of the field, and without in any way marring the seats already there. This would, however, possibly mar the symmetry of the structure, and would of cour.se cause greater congestion of entrances and exits. But football does not exhaust the wonders of the Bowl. It has been tested in other ways, with surprising results. The open air play had been an institu- tion in many other colleges long before the Bowl was built at Yale, and it was natural tliat the new structure sliould tempt tlie trial of such a thing at Yale on a greater scale than elsewhere. It worked out in the presentation, in May of 1915, of Euripides' "Iphigenia in Tauris." Some 15,000 people from the Uni- versity and from New Haven saw the production, one end of the Bowl and gridiron being devoted to it. A stage and sounding board were erected, but there were many who doubted that, even -nnth the aid of these, any except those nearest the front would be able, in the great open space, to distinguish any of the spoken words. "What did happen seemed like a marvel. For the Bowl de- veloped the most surprising acoustic effects. The spoken word was heard with a distinctness almost uncanny in every one of the seats. This was a development which surprised the designer as much as anybody. He had anticipated nothing of the sort. He, like most others, had deemed it an impossibility that ordinary sounds should reach to the farthest seats. But it has proved that there is something about the solid consti'uction, something in, the concave formation, which makes possible the reflection of sound, distinctly and without confusing echo, to all the seats which face the stage. Again, something like a year later, the Bowl had a still more trying test. New Haven, then and now, lacked an adequate place for the production of grand opera. Everard Thompson, then the manager and promoter of all Yale athletic events and many of Yale's nmsical attractions, eagerly seized the opportunity which the Bowl offered to arrange for the production of "Wagner's "Die Walkuere," with some of the finest of grand opera stars in the east. On a rare evening in early June the production was staged, and though less than half of the Bowl was used, it was in size such a gathering as New Haven had never had before for a musical performance. And again the acoustic effects astonished all the observing. The transmission of the music was well nigh perfect. Little AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 201 of the force or shading was lost, while much was added from the thrill of the open air and the charm of a summer evening. Then there was the Pageant of 1916, the crowning glory of the Bowl up to now. The story of that has already been told. But for the Bowl it would not have been possible in anything like its triumphant success. But for the Bowl, the people of New Haven and the regions round about it would never have participated in it as they did. And nothing in its history so far has so well demonstrated the Bowl's greatness. It was a spectacle par excellence, and for spectacles, above all, the Bowl is designed. But we always return to the game; the game's the thing. For that the Bowl was built, and for that it will mostly be used, though its success for other uses suggests that many new uses will be found for it. The dedication of the Bowl, when Yale met Harvard in 1914, was a tremendous success from viewpoints of crowd and spectacle; it was a mournful occasion to those Yale men and their friends whose happiness depended on a victory for Yale. It was Harvard's privilege to light up the goal posts with red fire on the occasion of that first game, and Harvard was ready to improve it. But there came another time. Two years later, the story was different. The tables were gloriously turned, and the Bowl had a real dedication. The interruption of Yale athletics caused by the war made the Bowl a de- serted, mournful place in the fall of 1917. Or it would have been, but for the army camp hard by, and the omnipresent utility-making of preparation for war. More than once in that summer and fall the Bowl served the cause of democracy, as it had served many times before, as it will serve unnumbered times, no doubt, in the years to come. There is no gathering place within the city that has such a meaning for New Haven. In it great multitudes can be gathered, entertained, thrilled. All the football games of the seasons of 1915 and 1916, great and small, were held in it, and opportunity was given to every- body to participate. To spend an autumn afternoon in the open air, watching some hopeful football team from a smaller college give Yale some excellent train- ing for the great game — not infrequently give it a lesson in the vanity of human pride — with the thrill of a multitude attending (it is not unusual for one of the minor games,' in these days, to have an attendance of 20,000 people or more), is an experience that makes life an immensely more valuable thing. They come from the far corners of the state as well as from New Haven, some- times, to see these minor games, and all are well repaid. It is generally an ex- perience for all comers that adds greatly to the joy of living. No mention of the Bowl is complete if it omits the part which Everard Thompson, who was Yale's governor of the games, in important wa.vs, when the Bowl was built, had in its development. He approved of the design from the first. His clear eye saw its possibilities from the viewpoint of public accommo- dation. When it neared completion in the fall of 1914, he cheerfully essayed the task of filling its 63,000 seats. He did his work so well that there were more than 70,000 people ready to fill the seats before he knew it. He provided the 202 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN seats, too. To prepare and arrange tickets for 70,000 people, to get the tickets to them and get them to their seats, was a physical task of no small proportions. Mr. Thompson met it. He developed a system that has been the admiration of all who have known of it. He handled a staggering situation, and meted out justice and .satisfaction to all. Nor should mention be omitted of William V. Bedell, who took up the work when ilr. Thompson left Yale. The problem of seating and satisfying the public who wanted to see the Yale-IIarvard game in 1916 was, if anything, more difficult than at any previous time. But Mr. Bedell, in a way all his own, solved it so as to win the respect of even the disappointed. But after all, the Bowl's growing success, and its promise for the future, which is great, redound to the credit of the designer. A quiet, modest man, on whose head the years sit lightly, misses few of the events which take place in the Bowl.* All of them are a part of tlie dream he dreamed — a part of its fulfillment. He cannot afford to miss them. Charles A. Ferry admits that he builded better than he knew, but those who know him best believe that his suc- cess was due to no accident, no lucky hit of genius. It is true in more wava than are dreamed of in our philosophy that "The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight ; But they, while their companions .slept Were toiling upward in the night." •The Bowl is now the property of Yale I'niversity. On Febrnarv 15, 1918, Tliomas DeWitt Ciiyler, '74. Cliairman of tlie Committee of Twenty-one. formally handed the property, wliich np to that time had been the possession of the incorporated Committee, over to Yale. The oriijinal cost was supposed to be $?.OO.noO. but more than tliat had been expended on it up to the time of transfer. All tlic money had been secured from the subscription of graduates and others. CHAPTER XXII TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION EARLY DEVEUJPMENTS IN TURXPIKES THE MOUTH OF AN INTERESTING CANAl STEAMBOAT AND RAILROAD LINES — NEW HAVEN AND THE TELEPHONE The swiftness of our twentieth eentnry is best appreciated by looking back- ward a little. Only in that way can we understand how many wonderful things we are taking as a matter of course. In nothing is this as true as in the matters of transporation and communication. And in respect to these, there has been in New Haven's history no period to be compared with the past thirty years. Yet New Haven and its region thought thirty years ago that they had made a marvelous advance, if they looked backward. The city and its surrounding towns were wrought out of a trackless wilderness. In 1638 their isolation was so real that they deemed the territory of less than a hundred .square miles of which New Haven was the center sufficient for the making of a state. Hartford, the nearest rival, was a good two days' journey distant, while the nearest considerable i)oints to the east or west were as safely far away. But if other events had not cjuickly come in to break up New Haven's notion of sufficiency unto itself, communication would soon have done it. For communication was inevitable. Trails and bridle paths radiated in all dii'eetions from New Haven before the colony was a decade old. The people would not remain solitary. Expansion and adventure were in the air of the New World. The constant growth of new settlements, farther and farther from New Haven, made this inevitable. The people had relatives, friends, acquaintances, in the other communities. And between these points of interest there must be ways. That was the beginning of communication, and later, of transportation. The history of an older time has traced the development of this process. The trail gave place to the bridle path, the bridle jiath in turn was displaced liy the turnpike. And the turnpike was a more ambitious thing than we are wont to think. For instance, there was that New Haven-Derby turnpike, notice- able because it was the remnant of the old tollgate system which many of those now living in New Haven can remember. "When that was projected in 1798, a company was formed with a capital stock of $7,520 to build eight miles of highway, and received a charter from the legislature. It was not such a won- 203 204 A :\rODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN derful highway, either. It was a gravel roadway that made "causewa.ys" through the swamps and bridged the rivers. Road building, as we know it, had not then been imported to this country. But the road was good enough so tbat they seemed to he warranted in charging people a good, round sum for the privilege of traveling over it. Evidently the company made money, too, judging from the fact that it clung to the toll privilege until 1888. This was, in the first half of the nineteenth century, but one of a dozen or more turnpikes which radiated from New Haven, the only means, up to the coming of the railroad, of connuon travel. "Well might New Haveners, when the last tollgate was abolished, regarding tht-ir railroad and street railway and steamboat lines which established communication to and from New Haven at all points of the compa.ss, deem that great things had been accomplished, and that they had reached the truly modern age. We look back from today and smile at their notion that they had arrived. Even then, they might have considered their established telegraph, their just developing telephone, the prophecy of the electric car which was already in the air, and realized their infancy. But if we are inclined to contemn their crude development, or scorn their lack of belief in greater achievements ahead, we may well regard our wireless, our still imperfect motor vehicle, our inadequately realized flying machine, our lack of knowledge of the possibilities of electricity, our very unsatisfactory steam and electric railroads, and humbly await a day of better things, II New Haven's transportation development, up to now, has been mainly through steamship lines, steam and horse and electric railways. But before the rail- road realh- came to New Haven, before the horse railway was thought of, while j'et the steamboat was in its begiiniiugs, there came to Connecticut what has been called the "canal fever,"' of which New Haven felt very marked effects. Canals had been developed in New York State early in the nineteenth century. They had, seemingly, proved a success above all other methods of transportation. New Haven had the water outlet to the broad sea. If New Haven might have canal connection to the northward, reaching into the commercial and industrial State of Massachusetts, New Haven commerce would have a great boon. So it came about that there was constructed that interesting canal from Farmington to New Haven whose traces still remain in the city itself and in the region northward all the way to Cheshire and Southington. It has mostly been forgotten now. It hardly belongs to the period which this history covers. But there are some things about that canal which the present generation has forgotten, and they are fascinating ones. Close to a century ago it was conceived, and transportation and traveling conditions then were such as to make its possibilities appeal to the imagination. The railroad had not come to Connecticut. Good roads, as we conceive them now, were dreams only. The traveler over the highways that were was an almost constant tribute vielder. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 205 The fast post-eoach which covered the distance from New Haveu to Hartford in six hours, was the acme of speed. On the other hand, there was the broad river Connecticut, free of tollgates, alwajs, except in winter's hibernation, a smooth and convenient highway. Rivers, even handicapped by crooks and shoals, were ideal highways. Why not make one that should be straight and sufficiently deep? Such was the condition, and such was growing to be the thought, when early in 1822 representative citizens from seventeen towns. New Haven being promi- nent among them, met at Farmington and voted to make a preliminary survey for a canal and raise one thousand dollars for the purpose. The Farmington Canal Company was chartered in the following May. Though it was named for Farmington, and though it would appear that the movement started from that end, New Haven seems to have been the moving spirit in it. Indeed, there was not a little mention of it at the time, particularly at Hartford, as New Haven's scheme to rival Hartford as a river port, and have its own river reaching from the Sound up into the heart of New England. They said scoff- ingly at Hartford, it is reported, that New Haven had a plan to divert the waters of the Connecticut from flowing past Hartford, and turn them on to their own mud flats, on which, added the jester, their own shipping usually stuck fast. This canal was to run from the tide waters of New Haven harbor through Farmington to Southwick, Massachusetts, with a branch along the Farmington River through New Hartford to the north line of Colebrook — which branch, by the way, was never built. Some other featiires of the project, as laid out on paper, and never appearing anywhere else, materially add to the interest with which it may be viewed now. What was dug was a small part of a grand pro- ject. The canal was to keep on northward to the state line, there to connect with the Hampshire and Hampden Canal (also to be constructed) in Ma.ssa- chusetts. That, on its part, was to be continued northward along the west bank of the Connecticut River, crossing it at Brattleborough into New Hamp- shire, and thence, sometimes in Vermont and sometimes in New Hampshire, it was to push up till it made connection with the watei-s of Lake Memphrema- gog. From there, naturally, it would be easy to reach the St. Lawrence. New Haven was to be made a port only a little less important than an ocean terminal. The Erie Canal was to be made to look like a fishing creek. There it was — all but the money. The report of the preliminary survey was that it would cost $420,698.88. This must have been for the Farmington-New Haven part. Of this amount the Mechanics Bank of New Haveu .subscribed $200,000. The City of New Haven did not come in at the first, but later sub- scribed $100,000. The citizens of New Haven ultimately put down $122,900. Financiers in New York City, in the course of the process, had faith enougli in the plan to risk $90,000. In Farmington 12.5 shares, or $12,500 were taken. The rest, up to a total of $541,400, was made up by small investors along the line of the canal. 206 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Aud so the ditch was dug, the lieginning being made at Granby on July 4, 1825. This seemed a proper occasion for the celebration of the nation's in- dependence, and the proposed independence of all primitive and restricted means of transportation by the people between New Haven and Farmington. Two or three thousand people were present to observe the taking of the first spadeful of eartli from the ditch with suital)le ceremony. Captain George Row- land navigated a barge up from New Haven — this was a land boat drawn by four liorses. The Declaration of Independence was read, and the Hon. Jona- than E. Lyman of Northampton, Massachusetts, gave the oration of the day. Before that Governor Oliver Woleott made an address and handled the spade for the main ceremony. About two years later the last spadeful was taken out with less ceremony, and water was let into the canal at Cheshire. Even the in- credulous Connecticut Conrant admitted and faithfully recorded that "three boats and a camion"' had na^^gated the canal from the Sound as far north as Cheshire. This was late in November of 1827. Little further seems to have happened until the following June. Then, amid great glorification, a canal boat named James Hillhouse was launched at Farmington. and that far inland town seemed to have realized its dream. At the same time the father of the New Haven elms, who had also in a sense been the father of the canal, was suitably honored. He was also the first president of the comitany. By this time the rest of the digging had been completed, and there was a ditch, soon after navigable, all the way from Southwiek Ponds to Long Island Sound. The joy of the inhabitants at this cousuramation seems to have been so great that about all they would let the canal do for the rest of that yeai' was to carry excursion parties. All that sunnner its banks resounded with one glad, sweet song. The staunch canal boat James Hillhouse, plainly marked on the stern "Farmington Canal," even if it lacked the no less notable inscription "For Southwiek and Memphremagog"' which the aforementioned boat on wheels carried, made many trips up and down the narrow but gladsome channel bear- ing gay parties of merrymakers. Late that fall it seems to have occurred to those interested that it was about time to devote the expensive ditch to busi- ness, and boats carrying real freight commenced to be towed up and down. It became "the port of Farmington." Travelers came that way, and the fame of the town spread far. This was only a reflected light from New Haven, to be sure, but New Haven, being then in reality what a distinguished engineer later called it in so many words, "the key to New England," was content. So for three or four years everything went as merrily as a marriage bell with one exception — the thing didn't pay. This may not have seemed a very es- sential drawback to anyone along the line except the comparative few who liad invested money, but they began to show concern. The historian casually remarks that as early as 1828 "the company labored under great embarrassment from the want of funds, and suffered from freshets and from the work of ma- licious individuals." Funds began to fail considerably before the essential con- AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 207 struction was completed. About this time the city of New Haven came to the hoped for rescue witli its subscription of $100,000, but that did not sufSee. A financial alliance was made with the Hampshire and Hampden company of Massachusetts. In one way and another funds were found to complete the canal to Westfield, and then to the Connecticut River. But it was a new venture, and the managers lacked experience. The railroads were rivals rather than auxiliaries, and the Connecticut River still flowed on its independent way. The upshot of it all was the formation of the New Haven and Northampton Company in 1836. It took over all the stock of the Parmington Canal Com- pany, and for the following ten years struggled, with all the added capital it could gather, to make a go with the canal. But in 183S the railroad was opened between New Haven and Hartford, and in 1846 the New Haven and Northamp- ton Company was in self defense forced to obtain a charter for a railroad. It was a comparatively simple mattei- to lay rails on the towpath of the canal, and in 1848 this was clone as far as Plainville. Presently trains were running as far as Farmington, and a few years later the road was completed to Northamp- ton. Ill The short-lived canal went dry. of course, soon after the railroad came, ex- cept at points where the water would not readily run off. There it remained an intermittent waterway, according as the season was dry or wet. One idly wonders how many mosquitoes the old ditch bred in its da.v, after it had ceased to serve its original purpose. It was utilized, as far as the borders of New Haven, as a subway for the railway. But in the upper part of Hamdeu, jiar- tieularly Mount Carmel, it has been up to the present time an eyesore and at times a nuisance. The money of a few dug it ; the many have been obliged to fill it up at their own expen.se. As a canal, it is mostly gone now, but its marks remain in many places. The development of water transportation from and to New Haven consider- ably antedated the coming of the railroads. There is mention of the penetration of Robert Fulton's triumph to this port as early as 1815. Some nine years later the New Haven Steamboat Company was chartered to run a line to New York, and soon after 1824 three boats were running regularly. There was no railroad to New York until 1844. so a working agreement between the Hartford and New Haven Railroad and the New Haven and New York steamboat line was de- sirable. It was made in 1838. Meanwhile, other lines had been opened, con- spicuous among them the Starin and the Propeller lines. There was marked competition to get the comparatively few passengers of those days, so that the rate of fare from New Haven to New York fell to twenty-five cents, and even, for a short time, to half of that. This did not last long. The opposition lines either took up the more profitable business of carrying freight, or formed a working agreement. The New Haven Steamboat Company, now for a score of years and more an ad.iunct of the railroad, has been the steady, reliable means 208 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN of water trausporation to New York. Of late years it has had practically the whole business. New Haven's maritime trausporation has not tended to increase. Witli opportunities surpassing those of Bridgeport, New London or Stonington, it has remained in the somewhat narrow transportation channel of a single line to New York. Other ports have branched in many directions, notably in the matter of excursion or pleasure boats. New Haven, and this means New Haven people, have failed of support for shipping of this sort. In the nineties, there was now and then a small excursion steamer to Bridgeport, to some of the Bran- ford shore resorts or the "Thimbles," or now and then to a Long Island point. But their life vva.s short. Between 1910 and 1915 Lucien Sandei-son, as a large part of the Long Island Navigation Company, tried to maintain a daily line, for about three months each summer, between New Haven and Port Jeiferson, Long Island. He had a most comfortable and attractive vessel, the New Elm City, competent to carry passengers, freight and the far reaching automobile. But the suppoi't was, for most of the time, too slight to balance the expense, and in 1915 the venture was abandoned. "When the war came, Mr. Sanderson sold the steamer. Since then, as for some time before, the chief water excursion excitement of the people of New Haven has been the tempestuous voyage be- tween Lighthouse Point and Savin Rock. In the year 1840, there were 117 miles of railroad in the state of Connecticut, of whicli the only road touching New Haven, that running between this city and Hartford, constituted about one-third. This road was opened in 1836, hav- ing been chartered in 1833. As has been said, steamboat connection made it continuous to New York. Railroading was in its infancy, and was a somewhat precarious experiment, not cordially trusted by either financiers or travelers. This may account for the fact that not until 1844 was a line built on to New York. Meanwhile, as we have seen, the Northampton line had been hastened into existence by the canal. That was the beginning of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. The building of the line to New London followed hard after. Then there was the connection to Derby and with the Berksliire division from Bridgeport north- ward. The "Air Line," which was supposed to connect New York with Boston by such a route as the crow would take, came along shortly after. This com- pleted New Haven's railroad radiation with lines under at least six different ownerships. The amalgamation which followed was inevitable. It was about 1872 that the railroad became the "Consolidated," though the absorption into it of all the lines touching New Haven was not complete until a little after that. There was a contest for a time as to the center of this system. Between the struggles of the New York and Hartford and Boston financial interests for the honor and advantage of being the headquarters of the company its heads were fain to compromise on New Haven. In spite of all that the jealous terminals or even Hartford could do about it, it became, by almost common acceptance, the "New Haven road." There was a more than accidental or sentimental reason AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 209 for this. New Haven is the key to the system. It is an important part, and will continue and increase to be. Freight will here be transferred from water to rail eomnnication, and New Haven is the key which unlocks the ways to western Connecticut, ^Massachusetts, Vermont. Lake Champlain and the St. Law- rence, northern and northeastern New York, Boston, Maine and Halifax. So in New Haven the " Con.solidated " road — the title is mostly displaced by "New Haven" now — erected its $400,000 central office building, and will some day, New Haven hopes, erect its million-dollar home station. The railroads which this system now operates, or with which it is affiliated, have a mileage, if the Boston & Maine is counted in, of exceeding 3,000 miles. They cover every part of the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and extend through the most important part of Maine. The three states tirst mentioned have an area of 14,5.5.5 miles. Their population at present is estimated as approaching six millions of people. Of these a million or more are employed in manufacturing, the total of their annual wage is over six hundred millions of dollars, and the annual valiie of what they produce is only a little short of two billions of dollars. Most of these people, much of their prod- uct, the system of railroads which centers in New Haven is called on to move. It is the most congested, severely tried, complex system in America. Such are the facilities of this system — or such they were before abnormal conditions brought it close to paralysis with the breaking of the great war — that freight could be brought to New Haven from the farthest bounds of the nation and from other countries of North America, or distributed from the center to any part of the continent, without change of cars or rehandling of packages. iMore than a decade ago, with all the main lines double-tracked, the railroad four-tracked the line from New Haven to New York. This was followed, a few years later, by the electrification of the New York system. It was the intention to continue this in the direction of Boston, as well as to extend the four-track lines, but many plans have been interrupted in the past year or two. Among these was the electrification of some of the other lines leading out of New Haven. Nobody guesses, in these days, much about the future of railroad ownership or management. But whatever it shall be, New Haven's situation assures to it an increasingly important place in that commerce which the railroad brings. Its harbor is being steadily improved, though much remains to be done. Into and out of it go more than 45,000 vessels a year, bearing treasure worth $350,000,000. Among the items are such things as a billion and a quarter tons of coal, 220,000,000 tons of iron, 1,400,000 feet of lumber, almost 100,000 tons of oysters, 140,000 tons of miscellaneous merchandise. The railroads that pass out of New Haven carry in a present normal year approximatt^ly a billion tons of mer- chandise, rolling on 120,000 cars, and bring in about half as much. The past three decades have been the period of modern street railway de- velopment in New Haven. In 1888 there were five lines of horse railways in the city. The fii-st of these to be Iniilt was the Fair Haven and Westville, which connected the far corners of the town about 1860. That was a toilsome trip of 210 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN almost five miles, and a great achievement of local transportation. It long re- mained the important street railway of the city, and still is one of the main arteries. In the following five years West Haven became sufficiently important, and Savin Rock so attractive, as to demand a second car line. The same year a line was constructed out Whitney Avenue past the lake and on, soon after, to Centerville. It was manufacturing development that demanded this. Then came the State Street line in 1868. and the line to Allingtown, afterward known as the Sylvan Avenue line, in 1872. The Dixwell Avenue line was built a few years later. Then the ultimate seemed to be accomplished, and New Haven did nothing more with street railways, except to moderately extend these lines as the traffic demands grew, until 1891. Then dawned the electric era. The first electric line in New Haven was practically new road, though it followed the State Street line from the Green as far as the corner of State and James streets. Thence it ran down James to Lamberton, out Lamberton to Ferry and thence to the foot of Ferry. Out of this came, shortly after, the extension to IMorris Cove, then to Lighthouse Point. The first part of this road, equipped with the then successful trolley (a preliminary experiment with storage battery cars liaving proved a failure), wa.s opened about 1891. The old West Haven line, with some improved connections, wa.s about this time acquired by a company of which Israel A. Kelsey was the moving spirit. The lines already operated were electrified, and new lines were built from City Point through the center and out Winchester Avenue to the great factory. In connection with this, about 1896, the Edge- wood Avenue line was built, entering Westville over a continuation of what had been Martin Street, now renamed, all the way from its beginning at Park Street, between Chapel and Elm, to its ending at Forest Street, Edgewood Avenue. The Fair Haven and Westville soon followed after this with electrification. Its line, some years after that, was extended from Fair Haven east up through North Haven to Wallingford, where a connection had alread.y been made with Moriden. The other developments were mostly those of expansion. Fair Haven and Westville lines had been built on East and West Chapel streets before the road's absorption in the Connecticut system. The Wliitney Avenue line was extended, in 1902-4, on from Centerville to Mount Carmel, and then to Waterbury by way of Cheshire. Previous to this time a new line had been built to Derby, pass- ing by Yale Field, and in 1904-5 this was carried on through Ansonia, Seymour, Beacon Falls and Naugatuck to connect with the Waterbury line. The Con- necticut Company had absorljcd the whole system in the meantime, and soon it also took in the New Haven connections of the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company. This gave New Haven connection with Milford, Stratford and Bridgeport and the intervening shore resorts. Along the east shore from New Haven there was a line through East Haven, Short Beach and Double Beach and Pine Orchard to Branford and Stony Creek. Finally came the Shore Line Electric Railway, then and still an independent company, giving New AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 211 Haven continuous trolley coiineetion with North Branford, Guilford, Madison and the other towrus along the shore as far as the Connecticut River, running also up the river as far as Essex and Chester. One may travel now, by way of New Haven, continuously by trolley from New York to Boston. Or again by way of New Haven, he may go from New York' along the Connecticut shore to New London or Stonington, then, turning northward, go on to Boston by way of Putnam and Worcester. New Haven thus becomes one of the most important trolley centers in the east, and seems destined to grow in importance with the growth toward perfection (a growth just at present greatly to be desired) of the system of electric railway trans- portation. New Haven's trolleys connect with Bridgeport and the intervening towns ; with Watcrbury and intervening towns by two routes, via Derby and Cheshire; with ^Meriden, with Hartford, with all the towns to the northeast and east of the city. They form the pojiular and convenient pleasure and business route to and from the city, and make a large part of its life and commerce. IV But the messengers l)y water or by rail have proved too slow for this swift age. Other means of communication have materially contributed to the strength and efficiency of the modern New Haven, and in their development the city has had a peculiar and important jiart. The electric telegraph had come to New Haven, as to other eastei-n conniiunities, at about equal pace with the railroad. The Atlantic cable, which came within a few decades afterward, has an interest, if not for New Haven specifically, at least for the New Haven district, for the father of Cyrus West Field, who laid the cable, was born in ]Madison when it was East Guilford, and the Field connection with this section was more or less closely continued until recent years. New Haven had the telegraph service in increas- ing extent, and has it more than ever now. Its nerves of wires go to all the world, and are increasingly used to run its business and serve the needs of all its people. In the early development of another connuunication medium of prime im- portance New Haven had a conspicuous and continuing part. Neither Connecti- cut nor New Haven had anything to do, so far as is known, with the invention of the telephone, but here, as many well know, was established the first com- mercially operated, working telephone exchange, forty years ago. New Haven was the first community to make the telephone a reality. So common an instrument of everyday life is the telephone now, and so familiar a textbook is its directory, that the first list of subscribers of the "New Haven District Telephone Company" is to most persons a genuine curiosity. When early in 1877 the Connecticut legislature granted a charter to George W. Coy to establish a telephone company in New Haven, with a capital of $5,000, the state did not take particular notice. Plere Avas a move by some visionary. But in the first month of the following year Mr. Coy and his associates com- 212 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN pleted plans for their New Haven service, and the exchange was opened in a store on the first floor of the Boardman Building, at the comer of State and Chapel streets, on P'ebruary 21, 1878. The switchboard was less of an affair than many a business concern now has for its department exchange. There were just forty-seven subscribers, and their names were printed in large type on one side of a seven by nine sheet of paper. No numbers were attached. • The "centrals" — there must have been a force of two of them, one for night and one for day— remembered without difficulty how to ''plug in" for their less than half a hundred subscribers, and it is unlikely that the wires were very busy in those first few moutlis. It was a business institution mostly. The list included twelve residences, three physicians, two dentists, eight "miscellaneous," seven- teen stores, factories and the like, four meat and fish markets, two hack and boarding stables. It might be considered in a sense an honor roll, and it is well to record it here: Residences — Rev. John E. Todd, J. B. Carrington, H. B. Bigelow, C. W. Seranton, George W. Coy, G. L. Ferris. H. P. Frost, M. F. Tyler, I. H. Bromley, George E. Thompson, Walter Lewis. Physicians— Dr. E. L. R. Thompson. Dr. A. E. Winchell, Dr. C. S. Thomp- son, Fair Haven. Dentists— Dr. E. S. Gaylord, Dr. R. F. Burwell. Miscellaneous — Mercantile Club, F. V. McDonald Yale News, Police Office, Postoffice, Quinnipiac Club, Register Publishing Company, Smedley Brothers & Company, M. F. Tj'ler Law Chambers. Stores, Factories, etc. — C. A. Dorman, Stone & Chidsey, New Haven Flour Company, State Street, Congress Avenue, Grand Street and Fair Haven stores, English & Mersiek, New Haven Folding Chair Company, H. Hooker & Com- pany, W. A. Ensign & Son, H. B. Bigelow & Company. C. S. Mersiek & Com- pany, Spencer & ^Matthews, Paul Roessler, E. S. Wlieeler & Company, Rolling Mill Company, Apothecaries' Hall, E. A. Gessner, American Tea Company. Meat and Fish Markets— W. H. Hitchings, City Market; George E. Lum, City Market, A. Foote & Company, Strong, Hart & Company. Hack and Boarding Stables — Cruttenden & Carter, Barker & Ransom. This was a start, but not a paying one. The nature of the list of subscribers might indicate that a few of the substantial citizens of New Haven took the telephone seriously, Ijut this was not a support on which a profitable business could be maintained. Something must be done to increase the income, and the managers sent out a thousand circulars explaining the service in detail, and appealing to New Haven for support. It is related that out of that effort was realized a net result of one new contract, even at the very moderate rates then prevailing. The switchboard, which was operated at first only between six a. m. and two a. m., was in the beginning a very crude affair. Making a connection with a subscriber was not a rapid process, and when three connections had been made, that ended the extent of communication until somebody rang off. "Wire's AND EASTEKN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 213 iSusy" would have been au almost constant condition but for the fact that people had not learned how to use the thing, and conversations, compared with now, were brief and far between. Aside from this, connections were bad, the use of the instrument difScult and results often indistinct and unsatisfactory. It is almost impossible for one who knows the telephone only as it is today, with its prompt, easy and accurate service, to imagine what that primitive, pioneer system was like. But we have before us now abundant proof that it wasn't a failure. It lived because it had a mission. It won success by deserving it. And New Haven remained the scene of its development and growth. Those who had an interest in the success of the telephone as an instrument, we may suppose, carefully watched over the matter of its working in those early days, but the success of the business institution which has served the people of Connecticut for forty years is due to the ability and hard work of citizens of New Haven. George W. Coy, to whom the first charter was granted, is not easily recalled. He early associated with him Herrick P. Frost and "Walter A. Lewis, both of New Haven. But the man at the practical end in those first days was John W. Ladd. He was plant man then, and he is the only man in the company's service now who lias been with it from the beginning. He is now general claim agent. Once started, the business grew apace. It was not long before the scope of the company was enlarged beyond the New Haven district, Hartford, Bridge- port, Middletowai, Meriden and New Britain being included in the circuit. About that time it became necessary for the concern to have more adequate quarters, which it secured in the Ford Building across the street. As early as 1880 a union was made with the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the name was changed to the Connecticut Telephone Company. In 1888 the company secured land on Court Street and commenced the erection of the building which for nearly thirty years served as its central exchange and general oifices. In 1890, with a service list of 3,000 subscribers, the Southern New England Tele- phone Company was incorporated. In the course of time this became a con- stituent part of the Bell system, but it has largely retained its New Haven directorate, and almost entirely its New Haven management. A few figures of contrast may best show at once the growth of forty years and the size of the communication service which gives New Haven peculiar distinction in the telephone history of America. That single exchange of 1878 has grown to sixty-nine, from which are served the people of 695 cities, towns or villages in and near this state. The forty-seven subscribers, with their fifty stations, have grovm to exceed 130,000, who use 146,164 telephones, and make as high as 705,564 calls a day. In place of the single sheet, containing on one side all the patrons, is a closely printed volume of 420 pages, each of them larger than that sheet. There is not a town in this state, and there is hardly a hamlet, that is not reached by the universal wires. In New Haven itself, the forty-seven subscribers have grown to exceed 15,500. Of the thirteen towns historically considered here, ten have their independent 214 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN telephone exchanges. From the New Haven central district are served West Haven, Woodbridge, Hamdeu, Mount Carmel and North Haven. Orange has its central for that part of the town that is out of West Haven. Wallingford and Meriden each serve their towns. The Brauford division takes care of Bran- ford and North Branford, which includes a part of Northford, the other part o-oing direct to New Haven. East Haven is mainly limited to the town. Cheshire has its own central. So have Guilford and Madison. The $5,000 capital which seems to have sufficed the company in 1878 has grown to $12,000,000, and 1917 saw an increase of $1,000,000. The wire mileage of the company at the end of 1917 was 4:39,919, and 41,705 had been added in that year. The net income for that year was $810,733.21, of which $770,000 went to the stockliolders in dividends, leaving .$40,733.21 to he added to the company's surplus. That now amounts to $610,996.33. These outside towns arc well supplied with telephones, for it has been the policy of the company to give service at a price which sliould make it possible, to have a telephone in almost eveiy home. In the cit^ of Meriden there are 2,820 subscribci's. Walliugfovd has 1,050. That part of Orange which is strictly rural has 117, the greater number of the telephones of the town being, of course, in West Haven, which is a division of the New Haven system. The Branford exchange has 827 subscribers, taking in Stony Creek and the shore resorts, to- gether with North Branford. Cheshire has 279 telephones. East Haven lists 234. Guilford was 386 sulisciil)ers. scattered all the way from Guilford Point to the Durham line on the north, and IMadison, with an even longer stretch from shore to north end, has 317. It should be said here that nothing that has come to these towns in the last two decades, with the possible exception of the rural free delivery, has so bridged their isolation and changed their character as has the telephone. Several years ago it became apparent to the management that the company would soon outgrow even the commodious quarters built for it on Court Street in 1889. Late in 1916 work was begun on a new building adjoining the old one, and that, now completed, towers seven stories above the old building. The removal to these new quarters was effected in the early part of 1918. ]\Iany changes have come to the management of the company since those pioneer days of 1878. Outside capital has come in to some extent, and telephone experts have come from other points to handle the phenomenally growing busi- ness and meet its problems, but the management has continued to be essentially New Haven. In 1916 John W. Ailing, who had been its president for many years, retired, and James T. Moran, its able general manager, was moved up to the presidency. At the same time Harry 0. Knight, one of the ablest of the younger members of the institution, and a citizen in whom New Haven de- lights, was made vice president and general manager. The other officers at present are : Secretary and treasurer, Charles B. Doolittle ; assistant seeretaiy and assist- ant treasurer, Clinton J. Benjamin ; general auditor, Ellis B. Baker, Jr. ; chief AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 215 engineer, Edwai-d II. Everit; general commercial sm^erinteudent, Johnstone D. Veitch; general superintendent of plant, Ernest L. Simonds; general super- intendent of traffic, Frank L. Moore ; general agent, Frederick P. Lewis ; general claim agent, John W. Ladd. These are efficient means of transportation and communication, but New Haven still has dreams. It has seen, in forty years, the wonder of the telephone grow into a commonplace. It has seen the network of wires which used to he the material symbol of electric communication of telegraph and telephone almost entirely disappear — for New Haven has buried them, to the general safety and welfare. It has seen, in not more than a decade and a half, the universal motor vehicle expand from a faddish experiment to a utility. It has seen the once mar- velous wireless telegraph reduced to the plaything of a schoolboy, and one time a common thing over many of the houses of the city. What wonder if it looks forward to the time when all present means of communication shall be made flat and stale and prosaic by the airship? That, indeed, would be a much less wonderful fulfillment of promise than the fathers of the generation now young have seen in thirty years. CHAPTER XXIII THE SOCIAL EVOLUTION NEW HAVEN AND THE MELTING POT RACES REPRESENTED AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION IN THE CITY THE PROCESS OF ASSIMILATION^ IN NEW HAVEN AND THE ADJOIN- ING TOWNS New Haven was settled by good, straight, English stock. The people on the good ship Hector were not from one village, by any means, but they were in a literal sense fellow countrymen if not neighbors, and there was much less of a mixture of origin than on the ^Mayflower. They did not for many years, even for several generations, think of drawing any race lines. They welcomed to their new community all who were willing to adopt their way of worshipping God and their form of religious government. That was a stricter exelusiveness than any race lines could have made, but they did not stop to think of it. It was pretty well understood so, however, by all who would come here. The experience of the Quakers, and later the followers of some other alien beliefs, in other New England colonies was such as to warn "heretics" not to experiment with New Haven. So the seventeenth century and the eighteenth century came and went, and even the nineteenth century found New Haven a community of well de- fined Engli.sh stock. The fact that the 5,085 people of New Haven in 1756 had increased to only 8,327 in 1820 would appear to be fairly conclusive proof that most of the increase had come from home stock, not from immigration. Few thought of such a thing as immigration, in fact. Newcomers were welcome, for there was much room, and the town needed people. But few of them were strangers. None were aliens, as we have come to nse the word. There did begin, however, in the decade following 1820, an immigration movement. Our wars for independence had come to a successful close, and peace seemed ahead. Prosperity blessed the land. New Haven was in some senses the first station beyond the great New York port of entry. The real tide of Irish immigration did not begin, indeed, until after the great potato famine of 1842-44, but previous to that time a few of the lovers of liberty had found their way to this famed land of the free. Being here, it was natural that they should seek out such a truly free community as New Haven. 216 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 217 It would be the delight of the statistician to trace in detail the immigi-ant development of New Haven. It was at fii-st so gi-adual that few noticed it until they found themselves crowded by strange newcomers, found the old and once aristocratic sections of the city altered in unexpected ways. It was late in the nineteenth century, however, that New Haven awoke to the fact that it was a Babel— awoke with more or less alann. For be it known that there had entered into the New Haven society, in the course of the first two centuries of its life, a spirit of aristocracy. It had developed quite early, if one takes the trouble to trace it. It was, as we have seen, a most exclusive state which Davenport and Eaton hoped to establish and maintain. Its citizens should be only the "elect" by the religious test. The air of the place was to be made unhealthy for others. They did not, indeed, succeed in building up just such an aristocracy as that. The heterodox, as the first purists would have regarded them, did get in. Yet there is a certain pride of birth, an ancestral snobbishness wholly unbecoming the comparative youth of the country, that has become characteristic of New England. And New Haven is, despite the greater distinction in that respect which has lieen accorded to some other communities, a truly New England town. There was a certain irony, then, in the fact that New Haven was destined to be emphatically a "melting pot.'' The typically New England community, with all its pride of English origin and colonial tradition, with its presumption to a sort of Americanism which exists mainly by aid of the imagination, has come, in the past three decades, to be one of the most striking illustrations in America of the process of making Americans out of the raw material. For though of course New Haven displays nothing like the mass of the larger centers of popu- lation, it does present a clearer example of the process than can be found else- where. The background is sharper and the air is clearer. And let it be said here, to the credit of New Haven and the men and women of vision who consciously guide the making of New Englanders out of those who come here from all lands of the earth, that the process is in a conspicvious degree a success. It should also be noted, withal in justice, that not all of the prideful New Englanders have taken the change gracefully. There was, in the years before the older residents yielded to the inevitable, much scoi'uful talk of "foreigners," much disgruntled shifting of residence in the hope of getting permanently out of their zone. There has been much complaint of the mingling of "classes" in the schools, and some degree of success in the effort to establish residence districts where the superior young Americans should not be compelled to asso- ciate with these "foreigners." But those of discernment have observed that the effect of the earnest struggles for education of those who welcome their New AYorld jn-ivileges has had a stimulating rather than a baleful effect on self- sufficient young scions of the "old stock," and learned the wisdom of holding their peace. II It was not until after the census of 1840 that New Haven took what could be called a spurt in population. The census figures for both 1830 and 1840 218 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN had sliown a healthy increase. It was in 1810, it will be remembered, that New Haven's population figures first made for it the decided claim of first city of the state. The 6,967 of that year had become 8,327 in 1820, had grown to 10,678 in 1830 and 14,390 in 1810. Then, in 1850, New Haven first showed the effect of immigration. The town's 20,338 of that year included 3,697 of what the census discriminators are pleased to call foreign born. These were mostly Irish, no doubt. This proportion of aliens grew gradually, not alarmingly, as we now view immigration increase, in the decade from 1850 to 1860. The census that year revealed 10,615 foreigners in a total of 29,267. It may well have disturbed the exclusive New Englauders not a little to discover over 27 per cent of aliens in their midst. They did lament about it more or less, as we know. But of the 10,645 who had come by that time, 7,391 were Irish. They had come to escape famine, it was understood. Mere human sympathy must repress any protest at such a process of humanity. There were, to be sure, 1,842 Ger- mans and Swedes, and 1,412 of all other races— we do not now know just how many that meajit — in the city in 1860. Ten years more, and tlie proportion of the foreign born had not only slightly increased, but it had become slightly more variegated in character. There were 14.346 aliens in 1870. Again the Irish markedly led, though their increase was not material. They had, in that census, 9,601. Here for the first time we have the English and Scotch reckoned as "immigrants" or for- eigners — 1,087 of them. Of (iermans and Swedes there were that year 2,423, while the "all others" had slightly dropped to 1,235. The percentage of the foreign born to tlie total population was that year 28.2. The census of 1880 for the first time revealed in New Haven a warning of the Italian invasion whicli has in the years since disturbed a good many citizens too much. In a total which had by that time grown to 14,346 there were 102 credited to Italy. The influx from Ireland had practicality stopped, showing only 29 increase over the figures for 1870. The increase had come mostly from Germany and Sweden, from England and Scotland, which together .showed 3,160 more than ten years earlier. The unclassified had grown to 1,776. But New Haven's total population that year was 62,882. The percentage of aliens to natives was thereby lowered to 24.9 — a marked decrease. But the real Italian invasion began in the following decade. The year 1890 found 1,876 of them in New Haven who had not been born there. That in itself, however, was not so startling; the increase of Germans and Swedes had been much greater — from 2,802 to 5,514. The Irish, also, had increased their number almost a thousand, and still led with double the number of any other nationality. The English and Scotch were still sending along a good number, though their figures had dropped below the Italian. This year revealed for fhe first time the rapid influx of Russians, which in New Haven's case means the people more specifically designated as Russian Jews. There were 1,160 of them in New Haven then. The total number of foreign born in 1890 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 219 was 10,574 out of au entire population of 81,298, or a perceutago of 28.2, the equal of that of two decades later. All innnigration boomed along merrily in the deeade from 1890 to 1900. Tho Irish, to he sure, seemed to have stopped coming, and though they still led the list, had dropped their total to 10,491. The English and Scotch showed a reasonable increase to 1,912. The Germans and Swedes jumped to 6,119. This was the decade of large Italian arrival, for their number had increased to 5.262. The Russian Jews had done well, however, with 3,193. There was an impressive showing of 3.825 "'all others." The total population of New Haven then was 108,027, and the percentage of foreign to native had risen to 28.5. But the.se figures inadequately represent the population proportions of New Haven by the time the la.st census was reached. While tlie melting jtot process had been going on since before 1860, there had also been a steady increase of what is eommonlj- regarded as foreign population. For there was a population technically classified by the census takers a.s "native, but of foreign or mixed parentage," which w^as larger than the strictly foreign born population found in 1910. It is time, however, to reckon a wider variety of nationalities. The census of 1910 classifies fifteen principal nativities. It groups Indian, Chinese and Japanese, in addition to negro. Its "all others," therefore, must include some thirty other languages and dialects which were known to be represented in New Haven by this time. Other estimates, more recent than that of the census of 1910, luive been made of the number and distribution of the representatives of the races and languages in New Haven. But the census figures are the only ones that present with any satisfying reliability the comparisons desired. The so-called illiteracy restric- tion of Congress, and still more the great war, had the effect of checking innni- gration about the middle of 1914, so that figures as of 1910 are, with the excep- tion of the increase by birth rate, approximately illustrative of conditions at this writing. It will be of interest, then, to notice what the census of 1910 revealed as to the makeup of New Haven's population. There were 133,605 persons in New Haven at that time. It is known that the population of the city has grown, at least temporarily, very rapidly in some of the years since. The increase has not come from immigi-ation, but from the establishment here of certain great industries, and the enlargement of those already here, for the manufacture of war material. This increase may be assumed to be largely of what we should call "native" population. Various guesses have been made as to its total, but most of them are as inconclusive as the answers which, short of the census of 1920, will be made to the question whether New Haven still is, in population, the largest city in Connecticut. A conservative estimate is that New Haven had 175,000 inhabitants early in 1918. However, 32.2 per cent of the people of New Haven in 1910 were foreign born, the largest percentage at any time in its history. The number was 42,884. These came from various lands and tongues as follows : Austria, 1,109 ; Canada —French, 461; Canada— other, 855; Denmark, 265; England, 1,867; France. 220 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN 160; Germany, 4,114; Hungary, 473; Ireland, 9,004; Italy, 13,159; Norway, 207; Russia, 7,9S0; Scotland, 724; Sweden, 1,446; Turkey, 186; China, Japan and India, 100; all other foreign countries, 774. This totid of 42,884 must be taken with the larger number of 49,434 of inhabitants called native, but of foreign or mixed parentage. Either figure .stands in somewhat startling contrast to the mere 37,726 reckoned "native white, of native parentage," and the total of the two, 87,160, is an ominous comparison, if one chooses so to regard it, with the considerably less than half of that which still remains as native stock in New Haven. One may observe, with or without emotion, according to his degree of accurate knowledge, that a tenth of the people of New Haven were born in Italy, and that rather more than a fifth of them may be called Italian. Probably one-sixth of them are Irish, but that no longer jars the old. resident. Con.siderably more than one in each ten is a Russian, and of course the number of those of the Hebrew race and Jewish faith is considerably more than that. Recent events give a new significance to the fact that 1,109 of those found in New Haven in 1910 were born in Austria. Moreover, the number of Germans newly arrived in 1910 suggests that the Teutonic popidation of New Haven just previous to the out- break of the war was much greater than might have been inferred from the city's slight trouble with enemy aliens. The scattering nations not classified in the above list are, of course, negligible. The problem, if any problem is pre- sented, is with those peoples which have large representation. They have had a large influence on the social arrangement of New Haven, as has been indicated. Naturally, they have been gregarious. New Haven, like all cities which have felt the surging of the alien tide, has its Ghetto, its ' ' Little Italy," its "New Poland"' and its own Lithuania. The Italians, most numerous and needing the most room, are most widely separated. They are strongly rep- resented in seven of the fifteen wards, the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and Twelfth, which means tluit they prevail in tlie southern, the south- eastern and to .some extent in one of the northern wards of the city. Their stronghold is the Fifth Ward, streets like Wooster, lower Chapel, parts of Water Street, Olive, Fair and Brewery being theirs almost exclusively. ^Mention has 'been made of their prevalence around Wooster Square. The adjoining section of Chapel Street, which forty years ago wa.s one of the most exclusive of New Haven, ha.s changed its character entirely. There was a time when many agreed that it had changed for the worse, but it has come about that even some particu- lar citizens no longer despair of New Haven's Fifth and Sixth wards. The Russian, or more typically the recently arrived Jewish population, is more condensed. Lower Oak Street and a part of Congi-ess Avenue form a com- munity of their own, in large measure. Time was when sensitive citizens avoided it. Now they find pleasure, and not a little instruction, in studying it. Time was when many regarded it as a plague spot, and there are more savory and cleaner spots today. But the observant notice that these new citizens are as willing to learn and as amenable to common sense as to the laws of health AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 221 when they understand them as are many who have lived in New Haven more years. Citizens of German origin seem to have formed themselves into two groups, but even these are hardly condensed in any such manner as those of the newer arrivals. This was to be expected, for it is shown that in the case of everj- nationality in New Haven the longer the residence the greater the mingling. There is, however, a strong German representation on the western side of the Second Ward, particularly in the district of which Winthrop Avenue and George Street form two boundaries. This laps over into the Third Ward until it meets, somewhere in the vicinity of Congress Avenue or beyond, the stronghold of the Irish in the Fourth Ward. There is a large German element, less marked in area, in the Eighth and Ninth wards. This seems to be an expansion or over- flow. New Haven was never inclined, up to the time of the war, to draw any lines against the Germans. They were regarded a.s the most welcome of new Americans, supposed to make one of the most valuable of the forming elements of our citizenship. The war produced a condition most trying to these people. Always loyal in spirit to the fatherland, even if they did not wholly approve all the ways of its ruling class, they sedulously refrained from any expressions criticising its war. But on tlie other hand, realizing the worth of the country they had made their own, and their duty and del)t of citizenship to it, they were estopped from questioning its course. Their position before we entered the war was an embarrassing one ; afterward it was at times extremely critical. If they gave utterance to any feelings they might have they were blamed ; if they kept silence they were suspected. They had the sympathy of those who knew them best, and in the main the eonfidenee of the discerning. They must-await the just outcome of reconstruction. New Haven some time since lost the habit of regarding the Irish as immi- grants. The original source of increase of its population from other lands, they had grown into the life of the people through a presence of fifty years, to the extent that their alien origin had almost been forgotten. Yet the fact has to be mentioned that up to 1900 they led the nimilier of foreign born at each census, and that in 1910 for the first time they were passed, their numerical conquerors being the Italians. However, the census of 1910 showed 9,004 persons born in Ireland, almost one for each fifteen of the whole population. The percentage of Irish had not been gi-owing by immigi-ation very rapidly in the previous decades, but enough is known of the increase of this race to show that it has a great strength in the New Haven of today. In 1900 the Irish had over 30 per cent of the total foreign born population. It is a reasonable estimate that those of foreign Irish birth, and those born of Irish or mixed parentage, together make at present almost 70 per cent of the whole number of alien origin, and a very substantial minority of the total population of New Haven. The area occupied by newcomers who are classed as Austrian is about as indefinite as the classification itself. For most of those called Austrian in the census are popularly identified by other names. Prominent among them are 222 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Czechs and Slovaks and Moravians and Bohemians. Seekers of liberty, appreei- , ating fully the privilege of American residence if not of American citizenship, they have proved, in the main, loyal citizens of this country even in the great war. Their location in the city is shown most noticeably in the returns from the Third. Fourth and Eleventh wards, but so scattered are they that it is not feasi- ble to trace them more exactly. New Haven has a comparatively small number of French Canadians, found mostly in the Ninth and Twelfth wards. The sons of France itself, and of Den- mark, Norway, Sweden and Turkey are pretty evenly scattered. There is a fair sprinkling of Greeks, but not sufficient to give them a separate census classifica- tion. The Indians, Chinese and Japanese are found to be most plentiful in the First \Vard, though there is a representation in every ward except the Thirteenth and Fourteenth. The census considers the negro population by itself; New Haven in general has shown a like disposition as to segregation. Not that there is a deliberate resolve to draw the color line; there is, on the contrary, much pretense against it. But there is what amounts to a definite separation of these people by them- selves, and most of them, after a short experience with the spirit of New Haven, are resigned to what naturally appears to theui the inevitable. The Ninth, as is well known, is their ward. New Haven has no gi'ound for fearing any '*black peril," as the figures plainly show. There were in New Haven in 1850, 19,356 wliite persons to 989 colored persons. The number of so-called native born was only 16,641 to 3,697 foreign born. This indicated a pei'centage of 4.8 colored to the total population as against a percentage of 13.4 foreign born to the total population. Thirty years later the number of colored persons was 2,192 to a total population of 62,882 ; again.st this, the number of foreign born was 15,668 to 47,214 native. This was a percentage of 3.4 colored against a percentage of 24.9 foreign born. Thirty years more, and there were 3,561 colored in New Haven's 133,605 population. There were out of the same total 42,784 foreign born. This represented a percentage of 2.7 colored to 32 per cent foreign born. The colored percentage has decreased in eveiT decade, reaching its lowest point in 1910, There has been since that date the notable exodus of colored people from the South to the North due to the disturlied labor conditions caused by the war, for which no reliable figures are available. This may show a marked change in the proportions, but there seems at present no real ground for regard- ing it as serious. In any ease, the colored people of New Haven are well able to hold their course of steady progress and self respecting citizenship which has made them in the past an element of strength and value in the city's population. Ill New Haven has no genuine race troubles between colors or between tongues. It is a peaceful city. The very air is conservative. Its people dwell together in harmony. Each race and people is permitted, with a freedom that in the AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 223 large view is most remarkable, to work out its destiny. There is, or was in the days when the realization of the alien Hood first came upon the citizens of the older stock, consideralile foreboding, publicly or privately expressed. But it has not been lasting, still less has it been justified by exijerience. The many of those who deem themselves the proper heirs of the land of New Haven have stood aloof as much as might be. and their chief assistance to the situation has been in hoping for the best. But there has been a minority that has wisely directed the process of assimilation. The most important of these have been the faithful teachers in the schools, especially some of the more far set'ing prin- cipals who have served in the crucial districts in this period of change. They have met the tide of foreign invasion, standing as rocks that direct its flow. They have, to use a more adequate figure, taken the plastic clay and wisely molded it. It has been a slow process, bi;t it has been sure. Faithful work has won the victory. Never were there humans more eager to learn than the youth of the Old World, standing, as have those newly come to New Haven, in the light of the opportunities of the New. They could not have done better than to come to the sane, well organized, well officered and well equipped schools of this city. Their teachers cannot be too highly praised, but on the other hand, seldom have teachers had more thrilling inspiration. Never were brighter minds than those of the youth who were cracking the Old AVorld shell, coming into the wonderful educational light of such a community as the New Haven of the opening twentieth century. The effect has been marvelous. The schools have soundly, effectively trained these youth, and the training has reacted on the parents. It is to the schools, fundamentally and first of all, that the credit must be given for making over the elders and forming the minds of the children. There were evening schools, too, for the older seekers of learning. They were many, and of many races. New Haven found here a problem too great for it at first. The evening schools of 1890 to 1900 were crude and comparatively unorganized, but they did, with all their handicaps, a tremendously valuable work. They taught our customs, language, wa.ys and laws. Gradually they became better organized, though they could not have more faithful teachers than those who served in the early days when this was settlement, missionary, as much as educational work. The increase of opportunity has been steady, and the effect increasingly apparent. There has been along with this much wholly or partial settlement work which was worthy of note. Some mention has previously been made in these pages of the work of Saint Paul's and the Davenport branch of Center Church in the Wooster Square district, where the Italians most do congi-egate. This has been constant and consistent, and has borne its notable fruits. Welcome Hall and other church missions have done their part. There has been real settlement work at Lowell House, where lovers of humanity like Dr. Julia E. Teele and Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Crosby have lived in close touch with the people in one of the most Congested regions of the city, and served as the leaders 224 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN for an earnest and increasing group of learners of the blessed privilege of heli)ing humanity by the bi-othcrly hand. The direct work of the schools for the children came, as time went on, to be supplemented by positive corauninity center work for which the school build- ing's facilities were employed as agencies. It took time and persuasion to con- vince the conservative taxpayers of New Haven that their expensive school buildings were not serving them adequately if open no more than six or seven hours for 200 days of the year, and that they had a still greater task to do. They would not, for a long time, see their responsibility for the help of those who had newly come, even their duty of self defense in aiding them to become better citizens. But the realization came in time. The reluctant consent of the Board of Education — reluctant not because of its own failure to see the point, but because of fear of the criticism of undiscerning citizens — was secured for the opening of the school buildings on certain evenings of the month for neighborhood and parents' meetings, for entertainments which parents and chil- dren might share together, for lectures and talks on subjects concerning the welfare of the people. It was an extension of the work of the .schools, and it has had its material and growing result. Another effort, in whose promotion New Haven had a substantial share, was the extension to New Haven of the influence of the "Guides to the United States," written by John Foster Carr of New York. These were little pam- phlets, published in the principal languages of the immigrant, whose purpose was to tell the newcomer in the simplest terras and the friendliest way the things he most needed for progress toward Americanism. They were easy, practical guides to America, real helping hands. They were inspii-ed by idealism, by real understanding of the heart of the seekers of freedom and opportunity, by consecrated desire to help them, not to exploit them. New Haven had a .share in these in a double way. It received the benefit which Mr. Carr's invaluable books afforded to many of the people seeking this city from foreign lands ; and as the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution in large mea.sure financed the publication. New Haven, through a large number of its excellent women, was actively engaged in direct benefit to thousands of immigrants who went to other points. This guide-book has now been issued in five or six principal languages, and has done an incalculable amount of good in the forma- tion of worthy AiTierican citizenship. New Haven has, however, been only a sharer in the contributions to new America which has come in through the Ellis Island gates. Every town in the eastern side of the county has had its melting pot, too, in some eases more taxed than New Haven's. Detailed census figures are available only for the larger towns, but these make a significant showing. Meriden, with its 32,066 people in 1910, had 27 per cent, or 8,704 of native born to 23,217 of foreign born or foreign parentage. These were mostly German, Austrian, Irish and English, with Italy a good fifth. Wallingford, just below, had 7.367 of foreign origin to 3,758 natives. Orange, which includes "West Haven, and is in effect a AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 225 suburb of New Haven, had in all 11,272 people in 1910 ; its growth has been very rapid since, and it may have twice as many now. It is more in the pos- session of the native sons than is New Haven, however, having slightily more than half its people native white of native parents. Branford's preponderance of newcomers has been marked for years, for out of a population of 6,047 in 1910, it has 4,025 either foreign bom or native bom of foreign parents. So it runs through all the smaller towns. Guilford, iladison. North Bran- ford and all the rest have been reached by the ramifying tide. The old farms have passed and are passing out of the hands of the old New England farmers, whose boys have, in many cases, moved to the tempting city and left them, fain to give up the unhelped struggle with the land. Thrifty, hard-working sons of the Old World have come in, have reclaimed the run-down farms, have repaired the falling or abandoned buildings. But there are whole neighbor- hoods where not a farmer of the old stock remains. It is a melancholy or a cheering change, according to the eyes with which one views it. All in all, this radical change which the population of New Haven and east- ern New Haven County has undergone fails to disappoint the close observer. A dwindling native population in these communities has surprisingly held its own. To its honor be it said that, with few and unimportant exceptions, it has been able to impress its spirit on those who have come, to fraternize with them, to make them New Englanders. Something in the "rock-ribbed granite hills" has entered into the blood of those who have come. They have seen of the spirit of New England and become filled with it. The melting pot haa done its work well, and those refined by its fire are content. New England is still New England, the same, yet changed, and not for the worse, in these cities and towns. Here as nowhere else in America is revealed that wonder of the New World alchemy, which brings forth as gold tried in the fire the varied metal which comes beneath its influence. CHAPTER XXIV MAKERS OF MODERN NEW HAVEN IN GENERAL PUBLIC SERVICE— MEN OF THE CHURCHES— LEADERS IN EDUCATION COURTS AND LAWYERS — MEDICINE AND SOME OF THE PHYSICIANS — LEADERS IN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS — BANKS AND BANKERS NEWSPAPERS AND PRINT- ERS MANUFACTURERS, MERCHANTS, ENGINEERS AND OTHERS God made the country out of whic-h New Haven, the city, was carved. Men — and women — have made the town, the modern community wliieh now we view. To enumerate the makers would be almost an endless task. To tell the half of their work would be still nearer the impossible. No man may know who have deserved the more prominent mention. So one presumes not a little in selecting a few on whom the light has now and then flashed in such a way as to make it seem that they might be considered leaders in the community that is today. In large measure the story of some has been told in the chapters that have preceded, and more of it will come in the chapters to follow. The test applied is the test of service in distinguished degree. Thousands of others served as well, even made possible the cumulative service of these men who are here called the makers of modern New Haven. The work of woman is in itself so important as to require a separate chapter. No attempt is made here to be bio- graphical. This is only an attempt to give a glimpse of now and then a man as he is assigned to his place in the structure of the community. But for one man, it would be rash to select New Haven's foremost citizen. But so few are the American towns who can claim in their citizenship an ex-president of the United States that with them there can be no question. Hon. William Howard Taft deliberately and advisedly chose New Haven for his place of residence when he retired from the presidency in 1913, and has ever since been an interested, loyal citizen of the town, participating, as far as so busy a man can do, in all its activities. In public work through the Chamber of Commerce, through Yale, through other agencies, he has contributed more materially than one may reckon to the advancement of this city. And he has always been an inspiration to the observing among his fellows. New Haven, as does the nation, knows his worth. Reckoned, in his specialty of patent law, first in his city and among the foremost in his state, George Dudley Seymour is even better known in New Haven for other things. Pew men have better deserved the designation "prac- 226 KATHAX HALE STATUE ON \ALE I X]\'i:KsnV CAMPUS, XEW HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 227 tieal idealist." He has found time, apart from a very exacting practice, to contribute in more ways than any but his closest associates know to the welfare of his city. He would make it better in architecture, in plan of public places and streets, in symmetry and beauty. He would inspire in its citizens regard for true values, respect for noble traditions, true patriotism and exalted com- mon sense. He has not merely sought a "city beautiful." He has striven after a city practical, noble, healthful, prosperous in the highest sense. He has promoted ideal architecture; he has also backed a manufacturers' exhibit. When some Tale men wanted to place on the Tale campus a Nathan Hale statue of the common melodramatic type, he effectually opposed them with a plea for "the familiar Hale." And he prevailed. Then, to prove his appreciation, he at his own cost purchased the Hale birthplace in Coventry, and held it as a public memorial. The rest of the deeds he has done are not written. Most of them never will be. But in almost every truly valuable work done in New Haven in the past decade and more the searcher would find his hand. If the man who guides the feet of the stranger, who crystallizes local his- tory while it is nebulous, who makes practical in the intensest' ways the art preservative is a noble server of the public good, then Wilson H. Lee's contribution to New Haven must be multiplied by sixty-five, for he makes direc- tories for that many towns. He is proud that he is a printer, and would readily claim that as his vocation. But he is so good a farmer that he is a valued member of the State Board of Agriculture, and so good a dairyman that he has been president of the Connecticut Dairymen's Association. It's a way he has of doing everything he does in the best way, just as he does his patriotism and his public service. A few years ago he was president of the Connecticut Society of Sons of the American Revolution. His standing in the directory world is indicated by his former presidency of the American Association of Directory Publishers, and all these things indicate his standing in New Haven, and his worth to the community. Isaac M. Ullman would set himself down as a manufacturer, but though he is successful there, that seems the least conspicuous of his local activities. In the state as well as the city he is known for his participation in polities. He admits that. He knows what many citizens seem not to know, that the machinery of government will not run itself. He likes to participate in the management. It may be said of him without reproach that he has made mayors of New Haven, and has made at least one governor of Connecticut. He has always worked as •sincerely for the advancement of New Haven as he has in his terms as president of the Chamber of Commerce. He has set others at work, and led the way. When there is something to be done, from managing a city political campaign to managing a state Red Cross campaign. Colonel Ullman is the man who can do it. Mr. Ullman has cordially given to Charles E. Julin, whose prominence in New Haven is largely due to his efficient work as secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, much of the praise for .success credited to himself. Certain it 228 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN IS that Mr. Juliu's cousistent, inteUigent, industrious effort has told tremen- dously for the good of the city. He is a lawyer by education, but substantially all his practice is in the Chamber of Commerce office. William S. Pardee has high standing among the lawyers of New Haven as an authority on the city charter, and his service for the general public welfare, which in recent years has withdrawn him largely from private practice, deserves for him a high place. His contributions to local and state government, his constant thought of how he may improve the community he loves so well, his cordial good fellowship at every time— these and many other qualities make him to those who know him well one of the valued citizens of New Haven. For a generation, extending well toward the present time, Max Adler was a powerful factor in the better life of New Haven. A philanthropist in the highest sense, he constantly gave of himself as well as his money for every good cause. His fine loyalty to the faith of Israel but broadened liim and made him the friend of every faith that was sincere. Educational, industrial, financial, administrative and social circles as well had felt the touch of his brotherhood, the fineness of his spirit and the wisdom of his counsel, and all alike miss him yet. A born newspaper man, Lewis S. Welch, throwing himself with all his heart into the public service of New Haven, has in later years come to an even broader position. His work on Hartford and New Haven newspapers after his graduation from Yale gave him a sense of public opportunity, and his contri- bution to journalism in the conduct of the Yale Alumni Weekly through some of its trying years gave him a strong hold on the gratitude of Yale graduates. But New Haven knows him in these days as a man ever ready to give his best for the city, through charter or Chamber of Commerce or Civic Federation committee or any other agency that offers. New Haven may be presuming to claim Frederick J. Kiugsbury, the younger, as a participant in its community work, for his birth and business interests are elsewhere. But because of his residence he has so heartily entered into some of the activities of the city that his a.ssociation seems verv close. Especially through the Young Men's Christian Association and the Civic Federation he has given public service of great value. In 1908 there appeared a remarkable book by a man bom only thirty-two years earlier in New Haven. "A Mind That Found Itself," by Clifford W. Beers, has in the short time since proved an epoch-making work. It has proved so because it has been followed up by the inspired effort of its author, who believed and still believes in the purpose and conclusion of his book, that "what the insane most need is a friend. ' ' To tell in brief the outcome of his experience and his writing is to say that, following the foundation of the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene in 1908 and the organizing of the National Com- mittee for Mental Hygiene the year after, there have come into being societies on the Connecticut model in Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Penn- sylvania, North Carolina, District of Columbia, Alabama, Louisiana, California, AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 229 Rhode Island, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Virginia and the City of Dayton, with all their wondrous influence for the improvement of the con- dition of the insane, and the prevention of mental disease. From the university standpoint, Professor William B. Bailey 's place is with the educators. But one who knows of the work which for the past four or five years he has done as director of the Organized Charities is bound to claim him for the city. His identification with this community had for several years before that been very close in many ways, such as through the Foote Boys' Club, Lowell House, the Civic Federation and the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene. An eminent and able educator, a statistician of note, he has proved himself above all a wise and effectual humanitarian, an4 it is in no merely sentimental sense that multitudes rise up to call him blessed. An instance of a lawyer who has broadened beyond his profession, without ■disparaging that, is James T. Moran. He has brought fame to the city now as president of the Southern New England Telephone Company, but in the years before, as member of the Board of Education, as banker, business man and faith- ful churchman, he has consistently promoted the best causes in New Haven. A man of brilliant mental and executive ability, he has been a fairly dynamic force in New Haven's progress. New Haven was and is conservative, but when a man comes bearing the light of brotherhood, it welcomes him with open arms. So it is that though his coming to the city was comparatively res-ent, Allen B. Lincoln already is one of the best known and respected of its citizens. The good works into which he has entered with all his zeal are almost too numerous to mention, but among them, of course, are the Civic Federation and the Chamber of Commerce. As business manager of the annual campaigns of the Mothers' Aid Society, as occasional organizer of other campaigns of the sort, liis aid has repeatedly been sought, and never in vain. His participation in the Davenport settlement work has already been mentioned. For two-thirds of a century this city has known the sterling citizen whom ever\-body lovingly calls General Greeley, now a veteran in years as well as of war. Successful in business as investor and banker, he has devoted his wealth without stint to every appeal, and has given his own effort unsparingly besides. ]\Iodcstly avoiding ]3rominenee, he has had many important offices of civics and charity pressed upon him, and has earnestly accepted them. The term "self made man" has been so overworked that it has come to have a little touch of opprobrium. Yet if is proper to apply it to Dennis A. Blakeslee, for he has made other things than himself, and made them well. He has made his firm the leading contracting concern in the city, and one of the leaders in the county. There is hardly a town in the state or a trunk line highway that does not show his firm's work, while railroads, steam and electric, as well as many other considerable works in this and other states show its sterling mark. Their two most ambitious works of recent years are the "railroad cut" in New Haven, a fine example of engineering and concrete construction, and a section 230 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN at Kitehewan, near Ossiuing, of the Catskills-to-Manhattau aqueduct, where they competed with the best engineers of New York and other states, and showed their superiority. Mr. Blate.slee, in addition to attending to his business, has found time to serve his town, his county and his state as representative, senator and lieutenant governor. Though coming in recent years to be a leader in a city where real estate dealers abound, Frederick M. Ward has still found time for much public work, and New Haven owes much for its advancement in good directions to him. A man of high ideals, sane and practical in following them, he is a strength to more good causes than most of his neighbors know. The city^here he has his headquarters, and which has his first attention, gets only a part of the benefit of the large contribution to public enjoyment of Sylvester Z. Poll. In twenty years or so he has made a wonderful record. Start- ing in a minor way in New Haven with a small amusement house, he has gone on until he ha.s established a chain of theaters of varying types in eight cities. In New Haven he has three, the old Hyperion being the last to come into his hands. He has also one or more theaters in Bridgeport, Meriden, Hartford, Springfield, Worcester, Seranton and Wilkes-Barre. Pa. II In New Haven, city of churches, the influence of the gospel preacher as a maker and moulder is as great now, in a different way, as ever since the pilgrim days. The city has bad some men of marvelous power in the modern period. Its day of long pastorates, as we have seen, is not wholly past, though in most of the churches the present leaders are comers within a decade. Their leader- ship is acknowledged, their aid sought, in many a wofk not a little out of their lino. In the coui-se of progress, denominational distinctions are often lost, and especially the institution now called the Yale School of Religion has doft:'ed its sectarian garb, and become recognized as a broad leader. In these days this is not a little due to the strength and genius of the man who came to be head of this school about 1912, Dean Charles R. Brown. He has been called one of the ten great preachers of America. That is of less moment, however, than the fact that he is a man of rare idealism and discernment, who wins men of all creeds and ranks, and is beloved of all. However, his own church has men .strong out- side of their denomination. Doctor ]\Iaurer admirably maintains the traditions of Center. Rev. Robert C. Denison and Rev. Artemas J. Haynes have been a great pair in the old North Church. Doctor Phillips was a power for twenty years and more at the Church of the Redeemer, and had an unusual hold on all the city. Rev. Roy M. Houghton has ably taken up his work. Rev. Frank R. Luckey has for thirty years kept the faith at the Humphrey Street Church. Rev. Harry R. Miles has ably followed the work of Doctor Leete in Dwight Place Church and New Haven, as has Rev. Orville A. Petty followed Doctor AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 231 McLane at Plymouth. Rev. Edward F. Goin does a noble service for his people at Dixwell Avenue Church, and a broader work for the people of the city. Rev. Harris E. Starr, ca.st of the (juinnipiac, and Rev. Clair F. Luther, west of West River, with Rev. William C. Prentiss in the old Grand Avenue Church, make up a groi;p of strong men. The other churches have had, through men of faith and brotherhood, no less an influence in this later period. The Episcopal churces have a gi-eat quartet in Rev. Stewart Means at St. John's. Rev. William A. Beardsley at St. Thomas, Rev. Charles 0. Scoville at Trinity and Rev. George L. Paine at St. Paul's. Rev. Frederick Lent at the Fii-st Baptist is a man who commands great influence throughout the city. There have been several recent changes at Calvary Bap- tist, but they have not weakened the influence of this live, spiritual church, in whose pulpit Rev. James McGee, following such men as Hoag, Munro and Poteat, now wields an enviable power. The Catholic Church, through such vet- eran pastors as Father Coyle at St. John's. Father Russell at St. Patrick '.s, Father McGivney at St. Joseph's in Westville, Father McKeon at Sacred Heart and Father Harty at St. Joseph's in the city, has been a mighty force of com- munity blessing. From the Temple on Orange Street has radiated, in the past twenty years, an influence for service and for good that has reached far beyond the followers of the faith of Israel, through such teachers as Rabbi Levy and Rabbi Mann. The I\Iethodist Church has covered the city, and through a long list of consecrated men has worked for its upbuilding. Some among them, like Doctor Dent and Mr. Laird at the First Church, Mr. Munson and Doctor Good- enough at Trinity and Mr. Smith at East Pearl Street have entered largely into New Haven's general life. Churches numerically smaller have had, through men of good will, a part above proportion to their size. Rev. Theodore A. Fischer of the LTniversalist has been found shoulder to shoulder with the work- ers of New Haven in every task attempted, always a welcome comrade. Mr. Timm of the German Lutheran Church was for many years a participant in many public affairs, and long a valued member of the Library Board. Rev. James Grant, though denied by ill health the privilege of having his own church, has been a welcome preacher in every church, a .joy at every feast and always an uplifting power. The city will never lose the good of the long service of Rev. William D. Mos.sman as leader of the City ^Mission work and one of the founders of the Organized Charities. These men of the church are leaders now, as ever, in the universal war work. The Congregational group especially shows .just now a notalile record. Six of these ministers from New Haven and nearby are now in active sevice on the war fronts. Rev. Orville A. Petty of Plymouth went out with the One Hundred and Second as its chaplain. Doctor Maurer of Center, Jlr. Starr of Pilgrim, Mr. Houghton of the Church of the Redeemer, Mr. Miles of Dwight Place and Mr. Brown of West Haven are in the Young Men's Christian Association war sei-vice, most of them in France. In the Episcopal Church, Rev. George L. Paine has just resigned from St. Paul's to enter a similar service, and now :\Ir. Laird, lately of the First Methodist, has joined the war service. 232 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN The influence of the leaders in the Congi-egational churches made New Haven the place of a national church gathering in 1915. This was the sixteenth National Council, which brought to the city some thousands of delegates and guests from all parts of the country and beyond. A capable commitee of ministers and lay- men, headed by Rev. Oscar E. I\Iaurer, handled the arrangements, and were so well supported by citizens in general that the visitors testified that no council up to that time had been so satisfactorily entertained. Ill There is a long list of educators who have had more than a professional influence on their community. The presidents of Yale have given their first thought to that great institution, and that has been enough to take all their attention. But also, with few exceptions, they have been active citizens of the community. This has been especially so in the cases of Doctor Dwight and Doctor Hadley, presidents in the recent period. Both were born in New Haven, and their city has markedly felt the influence of each. Doctor Dwight, released in 1899 from the duties of the presidency, never ceased to the time of his death to have a keen interest in public affairs, and served the city in more ways than most of his fellows knew. The burden of the presidency in the years since would have been enough for an ordinary man, but Doctor Hadley, as is well known, is in a way a superman. His public service and interest have been national as well as local, and they have been gi-eat. Not far behind these has been Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, for many years secretary of the university, who has thrown himself into the life of New Haven with the enthusiasm of a native. Many might also be mentioned among the teachers of the university who have exerted a positive influence in the formation of the city, and contributed by personal work to its progress. Foremost among them, no doubt, is Prof. Henry "W. Parnam, in every way a live, valuable citizen. A man with very wide affiliations and constant demands on his attention, he has never failed to respond to every local appeal for his help, Prof. Irving Fisher, as busy a man in many ways, has been as assiduous in serving New Haven. Prof. Charles Foster Kent was the first president of the Civic Federation, and has participated in many church and civic works. Dr. Russell H. Chittenden, head of the scientific school, has been a loyal citizen in many ways, and the contribution of Prof. L. P. Breckenridge of the same institution has been material. Prof. Hiram Bingham has "mixed" well with the men of New Haven, always ready to lend a hand, and George Parmly Day, treasurer of the university, has participated in many good community works. The contribution, direct and indirect, of Arthur B. Morrill to the welfare of New Haven has been considerable. An educator of eminent rank, the head of the Normal school, has been an inspiration and example of good citizenship to old and young. Superintendent Frank H. Beede of the schools has never AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 23:j been a detaehed citizen, busy as be bas been, though his contribution through the upbuilding of the schools has been all that the city could ask. In this he has been ably assisted, of late years, by the associate superintendents, Claude C. Russell, Junius C. Knowlton and John C. McCarthy. Nor should mention be omitted of George T. Hewlett, since 1900 secretary of the Board of Educa- tion, who has been identified with many a public work. Charles L. Kir&chner, principal of the high school, Frank L. Glynn and Roljert 0. Beebe, successively directors of the trade school, should also be mentioned. In business education a leader who has aided the community in no small way is Nathan B. Stone of the Stone Business College. IV A community with a legal history based on such traditions as the record of Roger Sherman and James Abram Hillhouse is competently maintaining its standards in the modern time. For almost two centuries New Haven, jointly with Hartford, administered the law for the state, and provided temples of .justice. It later came to have the only school of law in the state, and from that, as well as from the standing of its lawyers, it still retains its prestige as a leader of the Connecticut bar. From the ranks of its lawyers have come three of the four governors which the city has furnished in the past forty years. It has always been well represented on the benches of state and nation, and in the present period has had a chief justice of the State Supreme Court, Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin. It now has a circuit judge in the United States District Court, Hon. Henry Wade Rogers, called from his high place as dean of the Yale Law School ; a United States commissioner, William A. Wright ; an associate judge of the State Supreme Court of Errors. Hon. John K. Beach ; one judge of the Superior Court who is a resident of the city, William L. Bennett, and another who has his office in the city, James H. Webb. New Haven, as the county seat, is now occupying its fifth courthouse since the first primitive structure on the Green was built in 1717. That building served until 1767, for the requirements of the courts were then very modest, according to our standards. The next structure, standing on Temple Street, midway between where Trinity and Center churches now stand, was bare, but it served for almost fifty years. Then the courts moved into what New Haveners of this generation have known as the old State House, on the Green west of the churches. Their requirements outgrew it before a new courthouse could be provided, and we find them using, from 1861 to 1871, spare room in the City Hall. In that period the county took active steps to provide a new building, and the result wa.s the brown stone edifice which still stands north of the City Hall. This was completed in 1873, and was palatial for those times. But soon after the new century came in, New Haven County, though in the meantime it had provided a fine building in Waterbury where some of the courts of the district were held, felt that it must have a new and adequate courthouse at the county seat. A committee appointed by a meeting of the county's senators and representatives at Hartford on February 20, 1907, found n/ 234 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN that the then existing county courthouses were not adequate, and submitted as its report a vote of the Bar of New Haven County, resolving that it approved the decision of the committee to recommend a new building. The committee and the lawyers agreed on the northwest corner of Elm and Church streets as a desirable site, and the latter appointed a committee consisting of John K. Beach, Isaac Wolfe, Harry G. Day, Henry C. White and John H. Webb to act in con- junction with the county committee. The committee for the county, appointed June 27, 1907, consisted of Hon. John Q. Tilson, speaker of the House ; John K. Beach of New Haven and Senator Dennis A. Blakeslee and the county commissioners, who then were Edward F. Thompson, Jacob D. Walter and James Geddes. About two years later John K. Beach resigned, and Frank S. Bishop of New Haven was appointed in his place. T'ae committee continued in charge of the work until the building was completed, except that James F. Cloonan of Mei'iden succeeded Mr. Thomp- son as county commissioner. Tlie architects chosen were Allen & Williams of New Haven, and the plan they submitted was similar in eft'ect to St. George's Hall in London. It was in 1909 that the work was begun, with the Sperry & Treat Company of New Haven as the general contractor. It was reported finished, furnished and ready for occupancy on March 24, 1914, at a total cost of $1,324,869.35. It surpasses any county building in the state, and is one of the finest in the New England region. Standing at a prominent corner of the Green, it makes one of the most distinguished features of the central group of architecture. Within it is sul)stantial]y and luxui-iously a]>pointed, with ample provisions for all the county courts and offices. Its distinguished mural paintings have been done, including the decorating, by T. Gilbert White, and the sculpture, wiiich includes two figures of heroic size before the building, by J. Massey Rhind. In such a home meets a distinguished company of lawyers. Tlierc were 228 of them in New- Haven in 1917. The three governors whom they have recently furnished are Hon. Henry B. Harrison, 1885-87 ; Hon. Luzon B. Morris, 1893-95 ; Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, 1911-15. The last was the first governor to be elected for a second term since the term was made two years in 1884. More recently the bar of New Haven has provided a secretary of state, Hon. Frederick L. Perry. In this period New Haven lawyers have provided two members of Congress. Hon. James P. Pigott, in 1893-95, and Hon. John Q. Tilson, who was memher-at-large from 1909 to 1913, was chosen from the Third district in 1914 and re-elected in 1916. These are not the only ones who have been called to higher office. Hon. Bur- ton Mansfield, justly honored in many circles of his fellow citizens, leader among churchmen as w^ell as lawyers, was appointed insurance commissioner of Connecticut by Governor Morris in 1893, and when Governor Baldwin wanted the right man for the place he reappointed him in 1911. So admirably has he filled the office that Governor Baldwin's Republican succes-sor continued him in it. Besides that he holds numerous positions of trust, financial and indus- trial, as well as legal. John Currier Gallagher, who succeeded Edward A. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 235 Anketell as clerk of the New Haven County Superior Court in 1907, and remained in the position until his death in 1912, had heen assistant for years before that, and was one of the honored members of the New Haven group. Mr. Anketell, on his part, had been clerk of the courts of the county for eighteen years before that, and stood high in his profession. William K. Townsend, native of New Haven, long one of the most dis- tinguished members of its legal group, was another who rose to the rank of a federal judgeship, being appointed to the United States Circuit Court in 1892. Henry G. Newton is another whose departure is so recent as to make his memory very vivid. He was one of the most respected members of the New Haven bar for over forty years, and at the time of his death had long been a referee in bank- ruptcy. His place in many relations in New Haven was a very large one. Charles Kleiner, for thirty-four years a member of the New Haven bar, has just closed a remarkable term of eight years as corporation counsel, a pei-iod in which he has abundantly justified the confidence of his fellow lawyers and citizens in his sterling character, fine legal training and careful judgment. Livingston W. Cleaveland, who though eminent in his profession, occupies an even higher place in New Haven esteem, has held for several terms the probate judgeship, and is prominent in many efforts for the common good. John P. Studley, for three terms New Haven's mayor, roimded out his public career by a service as judge of probate, and was succeeded by John L. Gilson, the present able and popular holder of the office. Roceo Terardi, one of the able younger lawyers, was for several years prosecutor in the police court. New Haven has several law firms which are notable in their history, though their individuals have been no less distinguished. One of the more prominent of these is White Brothers, unique in the fact that four generations, from Dyer White of the colonial days to Roger White, 2d, served the public as conveyancers, sul>stantially on the same site. A younger firm by far, but as distinguished in its way, is Clark, Hall & Peek, which has a statewide reputation for skill and reliability in the searching of titles. One of the most prosperous firms in these days is Stoddard, Goodhart & Stoddard, a group of strong men whose ability covers a wide range. Bristol & White is a firm now including some of the ablest members of the bar, John W. Bristol, Leonard 51. Daggett, Henry C. White and Thomas Hooker, Jr. Watrous & Day is made up of George D. Watrous, just regarded as one of the leaders of the bar, an attorney of the highest ability, a professor in the Yale Law School and a citizen of sterling worth ; and Harry G. Day, who divides his attention between eminent service in his profession and the executive guidance of the New Haven Hospital. A notable group includes men who have retired, others who have had their eulogies written. Besides Judge Townsend and Judge Newton, already men- tioned, there is Earliss P, Arvine, who rests from a useful life and service. Henry T. Blake is still active, though not in legal practice. John W. Ailing, after long service as president of the Telephone Company, has also somewhat relaxed the strenuous life. The list might greatly be extended. Seymour C. Loomis has a high standing 236 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN in his profession, but iiuds time for mucli non-professional public work. Donald A. Adams, though continuing his legal work as a teacher as well as a prac- titioner, has carried the secretarial work of the Civic Federation for two years past and done much other public service. Harry "W. Asher has an enviable place in his profession. Bernard E. Lynch is trusted as a counselor and hon- ored as a citizen. Matthew A. Reynolds, an attorney of high ability, has also served the city as a public official, notably as a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners. Eliot Watrous, in addition to a handsome private practice, is often found engaged in unpaid public endeavor. George W. Crawford occu- pies a high position among his fellows, and peculiarly and ably serves the people of the colored race, to whom he always gives wise and reliable counsel. A. McClellan Mathewson, in addition to his private practice, has rendered the community a large service, in his time as police court judge and since, in work for the boys of New Haven. For many years he headed the local council for the Bov Scouts, and his interest in the rising generation is real and constructive. In nothing has New Haven made greater advances in the recent period than in the lienefits derived from the practice of medicine. It was never backward in that respect, for in it for generations some of the ablest of American physicians have labored. But it was unfortunately true that, in the period just before the beginning of this century, the tide of wealth that was aiding the science of medicine through the schools was running stronger in almost every direction than toward Yale. And on Yale Medical School New Haven depended in great measure for its medical inspiration. The "beloved physicians" — and New Haven has had many of them — ^worked on in zeal and faith. They, have kept New Haven in the front rank. And in this time the fruit of their works appears. Friends with wealth and the love and pride of Yale have come to the rescue of its medical school. They are making it one of the foremost in the country, and greater things are ahead for it. This reacts in a direct way on New Haven. For there has been materially strengthened an alliance which has existed from the beginning between Yale Medical School and the New Haven Hospital. The leading hospital in the city, recently greatly enlarged in its space and equipment, is to have more than ever the service of Yale — the new Yale. The New Haven Dispensary, which has for forty-six years existed to serve at the lowest cost those who most need medical advice and assistance, is also to have its scope and service increased. The general medical advance has for some years reacted on the New Haven public health service, which has been reformed on modern standards. All this has been the work of faithful men who have industrioiisly applied their learning. Most of them have been identified with the trio, Yale, the hospital and New Haven. Some have branched off from this alliance to form other hospitals, and sorely New Haven has needed them. At one time, and that rather recently, this city was far behind others of its size in its hospital XKW HAVKN HdSPITAL. XKW HA\KX THK (iRADUATKS rlAH. -NKW IIA\ l-A AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 237 accommodations, and still its growth keeps up the pressure. To meet the need physicians of the homeopathic school founded Grace Hospital some twenty-two years ago, and though never oversupplied with funds, it has done an excellent work. A few years later the private institution known as Elm City Hospital, of wliirh Dr. Clarence E. Skinner was the inspiration, was started in a build- ing erected for its purpose at the southern end of Park street, and continues, under changed management, its able service. St. Raphael's Hospital, under the auspices of the Catholic Church, was founded soon after 1900, and has so well served the people that those who wish good treatment and care, seek it without paying attention to the limitations of religious creed. Of the physicians of New Haven in these days of the new development of Yale, it is natural that the dean of that school should be regarded as the leader. Dr. George Blumer has that position by right of eminent attainment, and with- out .jealousy. There are older physicians, of whom most persons would mention first Dr. William H. Carmalt, okl in practice, general and special, old also in the confidence, respect and affection of his fellow citizens. Dr. William C. Welch, of a long line of distinguished physicians, eminent in his profession, rarely fine in his personal character, devoted as are few men to the welfare of his fellows, true friend as well as reliable healer, is rounding out a long service for the people who love him. Dr. B. Austin Cheney, veteran of the war, sterling practitioner of the old school, a man -whom all New Haven honors for his personal as well as his profe.ssional qualities, completes a remarkable trio. A group of those who have finished their work is too distinguished to receive less regard. "Old Doctor Sanford" was not so many years ago one of the true type of "beloved physicians," whose presence did good like a medicine. His work is earrried on by Dr. Leonard C. Sanford, scholar, lover of nature, physi- cian of eminent attainments. New Haven still remembers with gratitude and tears Dr. Otto G. Ramsey, brilliant surgeon, sacrifice to the demand of the people which his skill created. A multitude of those whom he served for the pure love of humanity still grieves at the untimely ending of the work of Dr. AVilliam J. Sheehan. Dr. Jay W. Seaver, though his work was mo.stly with the university in an official capacity, was long a resident of New Haven, and many friends recall his work with tenderest memories. Two who stand out as surgeons maintain ably the high standard set by that department of healing. Dr. William P. Yerdi has demonstrated a skill which has spread his fame far beyond the bounds of his connnunity. Dr. William P. Lang, younger, with already an enviable reputation for eai-eful, skillful work, is coming to fill a large place in the needs of New Haven, and to be demanded in many other communities. There is a group of notable specialists, from whom, in incomplete justice, may be selected Dr. Oliver T. Osborne, Dr. William C. Wurtemburg, Dr. Henry W. Ring, Dr. John E. Lane and Dr. Allen R. Diefendorf. Dr. Stephen J. Maher, also a specialist, has made a place for himself of int<>r- national as well as state and local eminence by his study of tuberculosis. This has justly placed him at the head of the state commission, in which position he 238 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN is doing a work for the healing of humanity and the lengthening of life which this generation will inadequately appreciate. Dr. Charles J. Bartlett, whose work at present is largely with the Medical School, has in recent times served New Haven in other highly important ways. His work as president for several years of the Civic Federation has already been mentioned. His service for New Haven's health in connection with the health department covered several years, and its fruits are abundant. In this couneetiou it should be said that, though his name appears less prominently in the reports, the contribution of Dr. C.-E. A. Winslow of the University to the same cause is not a small one. And Prof. Yandell Henderson, through the Medical School and through his frequent pub- lic service in such causes as charter revision, is a citizen not to be overlooked. Dr. Nicola Mariani is a physician whose appeal is naturally to the Italian people, and who delights to serve them. But not a few iu New Haven know him as a gentleman of the rarest breeding, a man of high public spirit, as well as a physician of skill. Dr. Isaac N. Porter is recognized iu the fraternity as of eminent ability, and though his practice is mostly wnth his own people, there are not a few of all races who, seeking healing, are fain to disregard the color line. New Haven had 218 physicians in 1917. Each has his place, and many who regard him as the best in the city. But no list would be complete without such names as those of Dr. C. Purdy Lindsley. Dr. William P. Baldwin, Dr. Arthur N. Ailing, Dr. Leonard W. Bacon, Dr. Henry P. Sage, Dr. E. Reed Whittemore, ■ Dr. Gustavus Eliot, Dr. Edwin C. il. Hall, Dr. Burdette S. Adams and Dr. E. Herman Arnold, the last further distinguished by his conduct of the New Haven Normal School of Gymnastics. VI In many directions have citizens of New Haven lu'ought honor as well as service to their city. The shortest path to fame, oftentimes, is by way of poli- ties. There already has been some mention of the contributions which the legal profession has made to politics and government. Its three governors in two decades do not, however, exhaust New Haven's list. The business ranks con- tributed one governor in Rollin S. Woodruff. Prom 1907 to 1909 he was the state's chief executive, one of the most independent, upright and forceful gov- ernors of the past two decades. Previous to that time he was lieutenant gov- ernor for a term, and still earlier he was state senator. In New Haven he ha-s been president of the Chamber of Commerce, and one of the city's foremost business men. The most distinguished New Haven tigure in national politics in this period was doubtless Hon. Nehemiah D. Sperry, now resting from his labor. His work in New Haven as a builder, public officer and postmaster belongs to an earlier period, but from 1895 till 1909 he was congressman from the Second dis- trict, and performed at Washington the crowning service of a useful career. New Haven was not the birthplace of Hon. John Q. Tilson, who in a way has (t)XXKCTKLT SAVIX(;S BANK. Xi:\V HA\ KN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 239 come into his place, but he. aftei- being member of the State Legislature and speaker, is in this time of war performing a notable service as congressman from the New Haven district. A sterling citizen, whose longest work in New Haven has been as a manufac- turer, occupied the mayor's chair in 1897-99. The biographical works of the time are silent about Frederick B. Farnsworth, because he wishes them to be. It is liis way. He didn't please the politicians when he was mayor, which means that he pleased the people. He has always lived a plain, rugged, public serving life. He has .succeeded in his business, and is now able to sit back and watch for opportunities to do good. His eyesight is keen, and he seldom misses one. That the general public so seldom knows of it is. perhaps, a tribute to his dis- creet ability. There was another mayor for a brief time wiio deserves better than per- functory mention. When tragedy removed ]\Iayor Rice from his place in 1916, Samuel Campner was president of the Board of Aldermen. Automatically called to the mayor's chair, aft.erward confirmed in the office by legislative act, he performed a difficult task with a fidelity, a modesty and an ability that earned for him the enduring gratitude of the discerning, though they were too few to re-elect him. New Haven had, in the sc<^ou(l decade of the twentieth century, a demonstra- tion of the possibilities of citizenship whicli was at once pathetic and inspiring, an example of public service which was both thrilling and tragic. New Haven is a democratic city, but the office of mayor has usually gone to some man of well recognized prominence, either in public affaii's or in politics. When Frank J. Rice was named for the office in 1909. he was knuwn mostly as the popular president of the Young lien's Republican Club, a manager of some large cen- tral properties for a prominent real estate owner, a former member for several terms of the Board of Councilmen. He came to the chair of mayor a plain, simple, sincere citizen, with the desire to serve his city uppermost in his mind. He made no promises except the com- prehensive one to do his best. He did, however, outline a few of his plans. One of them was to give New Haven some better sidewalks, and that, though one of the least of his achievements, is characteristic of his administration of city affairs. He found the sidewalks of ancient and billowy brick, of cracked and crumbling asphalt, of unfinished gravel. In less than six years he had, against indifference, prejudice and selfish opposition, given New Haven more than two hundred miles of modern concrete sidewalk, and accomplished this simply by keeping at it. For almost seven years Frank J. Rice gave of his best to serve New Haven. It should have been eight full years, but he wore out before the end of his time. In the truest, highest sense he spared not himself. He took his office and his opportunities seriously — too seriously— perhaps. He was never satisfied unless a problem was solved in the best possible way, unless the veiw best appointment was made, unless he could give his most intense attention to every subject. He responded to every call the people made upon him. He grew into the heart of 240 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN the people. They re-elected him in 1911 by a plurality of 2,029. He gave them another term of unselfish service. In 1913, a definitely democratic year, he was again elected, by a plurality of 1.201. In 1915 the city broke all records by re-electing a mayor to a fourth term, and the mayor wa.s Frank J. Rice, this time by a plurality of 2,013. Bv the time New Haven had really come to know and appreciate Mayor Rice it lost him. Too late his friends found they had been asking too much of him. Too late his political critics hushed their clamor when they found they had worried his sensitive spirit to the breaking point. Jilidway in the first year of his fourth term he broke under the strain, and though for several months he made a brave elfort to rally, he came back no more to the desk in City Hall where he had so faithfully done the greatest of his life's work, and on January 18, 1917, his brave spirit rose to the land of his eternal ideals. It was seven days later, in the course of an address before an association of Yale alumni in another state, that President Hadley went out of his way to, pay to Mayor Rice what, taken in its settings, must be considered a remarkable tribute. He was speaking on the ideals of public service which Yale teaches, and had mentioned the union of New Haven and Yale in the gi-eat anniversary Pageant of the previous fall, when he said: "The mayor of New Haven did not participate in this celebration. He had done much to help in the earlj' stages, but at the time when it came he was on his death bed — dying in office after having honorably served the city for several terms. He was not a Yale man, but with each successive year of his ofSce he under- stood Yale better and worked more actively with us. \Vith the announcement of his death came a message from the city asking if the funeral might be held in Yale university. On Sunday last thirty thousand citizens of New Haven, of every nationality, lined the streets to see the body of the chief magistrate borne from the City Hall to Woolsey Hall, and then to its last resting place. Thus was celebrated the last scene in the drama w-hich commemorates the coming of Yale to New Haven. The Pageant had a worthier epilogue than human hand could have written." VII There were in New Haven at the beginning of 1900 ten banking institutions, the outgrowth of a single bank started in 1795.* There are as many now, of the same class, but their arrangement is somewhat different. Then eight of these were national banks, centrally located, of the familiar sort. Now there are only five national banks. Of the survivors, one is a combination of three banks and another of two. To make up the number, there are a state bank and four trust companies, one of which is a combination of two. In 1899 the ten banks had a combined capital of $4,014,800, and surplus and profits of $1,922,913. Now the ten institutions have capital amounting to * The banking data are necessarily of 1917. FIRST NATIONAL BANK, M;\\ ilA\ I;\ THE UNION AND NEW H.WEN TRUST UU-MPANV, .NEW HA\ EN l\ AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 241 $4J75,000, and surplus and profits of $4,457,392. The oldest and now the largest is the New Haven National, combination of the old New Haven National, the New Haven County National and the City banks, with capital of $1,200,000 and an equal surplus. Its president is Ezekiel G. Stoddard. The present First National is an amalgamation of that bank with the Yale National, effected in 1917. It has a capital of a million dollars, and surplus of $650,000. Thoma.s Hooker, of the old Hooker family, one of the leaders in New Haven's banking develop- ment, is president. The bank next in strength is the Second National, which occupies the finest banking and ofifiee building in the city. It has a capital of $750,000 and a surplus of $700,000. Samuel Hemingway, another of the fore- most bankers of the city, is its president. The Merchants National Bank, now well established in the old Ford Building at the corner of Chapel and State streets, which it has made into a modern banking house, has capital of $350,000 and a .surplus of $250,000. Its president is Harry V. Whipple. The National Tradesmen's Bank, of which George Jl. Gunn. of ]Milford, is president, has a fine banking house on Orange Street, capital of $300,000 and a surplus of $400,000. The single state bank is the Mechanics, a strong and growing insti- tution, which in 1910 completed one of the fine bank buildings of the city, on Church Street. It has a capital of $300,000. surplus and profits of $458,709, and William H. Douglass is chairman and vice pi-esident. The active president is Frank B. Frisbie. The old Union Trust Company was the pioneer of that sort of institution in New Haven, and for some time held the field alone. Early in the nineteen hundreds the New Haven Trust Company was formed, and in 1909 completed a fine banking house on Church Street; Within two year.s after that it formed a combination with the older institution, and is now the Union and New Haven Trust Company, of which Eli Whitney is president. It has capital of $650,000, and surplus and profits of $663,429. The People's Bank & Trust Company, formed soon after this union, aims to be a popular institution, and does an excellent service. It has capital of $50,000, and surplus and profits of $132,077. Its president is Joseph E. Hubiuger. The other trust companies are the outgrowth of the banking needs of ex- panding New Haven, and account as well for the consolidation of some of the central banks. Tlie Broadway Bank & Trust Company was founded in 1913 to serve the business men of the western and northern parts of the city. It has capital of $100,000, and John B. Kennedy is its president. William M. Parsons, who about the time of its founding retired from the Chamberlain Furniture and Mantel Company, is its secretary and treasurer. The other trust institution is the American Bank & Trust Company, founded a year or two later to serve business Fair Haven. It has capital of $75,000 and a surplus of $3,177. Its president is Myi-on R. Dunham. There are three savings banks, all of them of maturity and standing. The oldest is the Connecticut, but the strongest is the New Haven, while the National makes a substantial third. Nineteen years ago they had combined deposits of 242 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN $18,278,458. Last year the combined deposits of these three were $44,391,254. The trust companies, with the exception of the first, have savings departments, and the combined deposits of the six banks are $45,540,726. The New Haven has $21,062,000, and its president is Lewis H. English. The Connecticut Bank has $18,644,926; its president is Burton Mansfield. The National has $4,684,328. The three trust companies together have savings deposits of $1,149,472. About 1914 there was founded in New Haven a bank on the Morris plan, backed by some of the soundest and ablest business men. It is a popular loan institution, but an investment bank as well, and its management and prosperity have demonstrated that it fills a needed place in New Haven finance. It has a capital of $100,000. John T. Manson is its president, and Judson D. Terrill its secretary and manager. New Haven has never been an insurance center, but it has been represented in that business since its early years. The Security (fire) Insurance Company has had nearly a half century of confidence and prosperity, and now has a capital of $1,000,000. with a surplus of $836,745. Its president is John "W. Ailing. New Haven's Building and Loan Association is a conservatively managed and prosperous institution, with assets of $359,727. Its president is F. L. Trowbridge. The oldest of the public service institutions is the New Haven Gas Company, founded in 1847. It now lights and heats, in addition to New Haven, the towns of Branford, p]ast Haven, North Haven, West Haven, Hamden. Orange and Milford, including all the neighboring shore resoi'ts, a total population of more than 185,000. It has an authorized capital of $10,000,000, and its outstanding capital is half of that. Its president is Charles H. Nettleton, a re.sident of Derby, but aside from him its directorate is composed of New Haven men. George D. Watrous being vice president. The New Haven Water Company was incorporated in 1849, by New Haven men, to serve the city with water. It has been conducted so honestly and ably that it stands for all the country as one of the best arguments against the public ownership of utilities of this sort. Eli Whitney is its president and treasurer, and has for many years been in large measure its genius, though the company owes much of its standing to the able management of David Daggett, who was its secretary for many years previous to his death in 1916. From eight great reservoirs, holding in the aggregate three billions of gallons of water, the com- pany serves now the needs of New Haven, East Haven, Hamden, Branford, Milford, We.st Haven and some contiguous territory. Its high pressure service is from the pumping stations near Whitney and Saltonstall lakes, from which the higher ground in its territory is supplied. The other service reservoirs feed by the gravity system, but some of the largest are storage reservoirs. In addition to the two lakes mentioned, water comes from Wintergreen and Maltby -XATIOXAL SAMMiS liAXK. XKW ILWEN MKCHAXICS BANK. XKW HA\'EN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 243 lakes, from Fair Haven, and the three reservoirs in Woodbridge, Sperry, Daw- son, and newst of all, Lake Watrous, partly in Woodbridge and partly in Bethany. The company's authorized capital is $5,000,000. The United Illnminating Company, a utility of comparatively recent origin, is a consolidation of companies in New Haven and Bridgeport, and chiefly serves these two cities and the towns between, though it now reaches in all directions from the cities. It has a capital of $3,000,000, and James English of New Haven is president. In the center of a great railroad system. New Haven is greatly influenced by the railroad and the men who make it. Two of the constructive presidents of the road in the modern period have been Charles S. Mellen, who had his residence here, and Howard Elliott, who though too Imsy in his brief term to spend much time in New Haven, proved a good citizen. Many other prominent officials of the road have lived in the city, and participated in its activities. Two who have especially .joined in its life have been Vice President Edward G. Buckland and Lucius S. Storrs, president of the Connecticut Company. The old-time tavern long ago has disappeared, but the modern hotel which has come in its place has much to do with the making of a community. New Haven, in the pa.st ten years, has seen two of its old hotel landmarks go, one the "Tontine," which stood at the corner of Church and Court streets, razed to make room for the new postoffice, and the other the "New Haven House" of more than a generation. The latter is replaced by New Haven's superior mod- ern hotel, the Taft, eri'cted in 1911, and securing its name from otn-ious sources. Louis E. Stoddard had as much as any New Havener to do with its financing and erection, but ilerry & Boomer, a well known hotel management firm, has contributed materially to the reputation it has as one of the best hotels in New England. At the gates of the new railroad station that is to be the Gardes several years ago reconstructed the old hotel which William H. Garde made famous in 1896 and the years following, and his .son. Walter S. Garde, is conducting there now one of the best appointed and managed hotels in the state. VIII New Haven has had newspapers ever since 1755, when a publication whose name and substance seems to have been lost was established. It w^as so good as to die at the age of nine. Only two years later, in 1766, a small newspaper with the large name of the Connecticut Journal and New Haven Post Boy was established. That, by evolution to the Journal and Courier and the Journal- Courier, is today edited by Colonel Norris G. Osborn. The Courier, as New Haven calls it. has since 1880 been published by John B. Carrington and the Carrington Pulilishing Company, though the coming of Colonel Osborn in 1907 brought considerable new- capital into the concern, and gave the paper a new spirit and new life. 244 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN The New Haven Register was founded by Joseph Barber in 1812, and for more than half a century was known throughout New Haven county and the state as a staunch organ of the Democratic party. The party left it in 1896 to follow after Bryan, and later, under a changed ownership, it became independently Republican. It became a daily in 1842. Not far from that time it passed into the hands of Minott A. Osborn, who made it one of the leading newspapers of Connecticut. It remained in the hands of him and his son until 1895, when a stock company was formed which purchased the family's interests. Colonel Norris G. Osborn remained as its editor until 1907, when he went to the Journal- Courier. The New Haven Palladium was born in 1828, a Whig in politics, a Repub- lican when that party was formed. It departed this life in 1911, leaving many friends to mourn it. Between those years it had an honorable and valuable existence, being as ably edited, perhaps, as any newspaper has ever been in New Haven. Something of its quality is indicated by mention of such names of its editors as James F. Babcoek, Cyrus Northrop. A. H. Byiugton, later consul at Naples, Colonel William M. Grosvenor, Abner L. Train and Amos P. Wilder, afterward consul-general at Hongkong. The ITnion, New Haven's original one-cent newspaper, was founded by Alexander Troup in 1871. Originally appealing to the class called the work- ingmen, at times in its career reputed sensational, it has lived down all its false reputation, and taken its place in even rank with other newspapers of New Haven. Alexander Troup, long one of New Haven's valuable citizens, made it a power in his time, and his sons have still further advanced it. It has been Democratic for the most part, and its editor was a close friend of William Jen- nings Bryan. The Morning News was born of a composing room strike in 1882, and for sixteen years lived a somewhat precarious existence. It had, however, a high standing at one time, under the ownership of Professors Baldwin and Henry W. Farnham, who made it the high expositor of political reform. But for six years a city of 90,000 people had six newspapers, and it was too many. The Morning News met the inevitable fate of the overcrowded. About 1891 the Republicans of New Haven felt that they needed a party newspaper in the evening field, and founded the Evening Leader. Colonel Charles W. Pickett was made its editor, and continues in that position until now, though there have been various changes in ownership. It continues to be a Tlepubliean newspaper. About 1910 its name was changed to the Times-Leader. The Saturday Chronicle was founded in 1902 as a weekly review of New Haven politics, society and special events. It has been a well published, well conducted journal in many ways, but it has not been especially prosperous. For several years Clarence H. Ryder published it, but in 1912 Leo R. Hammond, who had just resigned the Palladium to its fate, took over its management. It is now the official organ of the Civic Federation. New Haven has five scientific or technical journals, two each of Italian, BKOAIJW AV BANK AND TRl'ST (X>MPAXV. NKW HAVKX NEW HA\"EX S.WIXGS BANK. NEW HAVEX AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 245" German and labor newspapers, and nine Yale publications. Not all of these are exclusively of interest to the college. The Yale News, for instance, the oldest college daily, is a newspaper of value to the whole community. It was first issued as a four-page, nine-by-twelve sheet in January of 1878. No names ac- companied the publication as a guarantee of good faith, but it is known to have been projected liy Frank V. 3IcDonald and Herbert W. Bowen, 78. The former was a man of independent means and independent spirit, disapproving of certain college secret societies, and it was pretty well understood at the time that he started the News for the purpose of guying the senior societies Skull and Bones and Scroll and Keys. The position of the News was stated in a two-column article published in March of its first year, which began: "We have been asked what motive we could have for such a relentless persecution of senior societies. What is the use of grinding them so unceasingly?'' The article then proceeded to give emphasis to what was conceived to be the undemocratic characteristics of the society system and the consequent injury to the great body of students. But this was a passing phase of the News, interesting as it is in connection with its foundation. Within two months the founders had turned the paper over to S. M. Moores, now the Hon. Morrill Moores, member of congress from Indiana, who ran it under his own name. In the forty years since it has had a sometimes strenuous but always progressive existence, and today it is not only the oldest but the best college daily published, a newspaper model for those who would publish most in least space. The Yale Alumni Weekly was founded in 1891, and Pierre Jay of '92 had as much to do with its founding as anybody. It was intended, as a weekly edition of the News, to gather up especially good bits of college information and pass them on to busy graduates. Lewis S. Welch took the management in 1896, and published the Weekly for the following ten years, shaping it gradually to its present useful form. The Yale Publishing Association, which then took it over, has with Edwin Oviatt as editor and George E. Thompson as business man- ager developed the publication into most admirable form, in which it finds increasing favor with Yale graduates and many others. Both are sons of New Haven, and among its most useful citizens. Mr. Oviatt performed in 1916 a historical and literary service for which Yale and New Haven must increasingly praise him, in his book "The Beginnings of Yale," a work of immense value and a well told story. Mr. Thompson, who has shown himself a manager of high ability, is unsparing of himself and his time in many forms of public service, having recently been made treasurer of the Young Men's Christian Association. The Yale Review, a quarterly now published by the same association, is a siirvival in name only of an earlier magazine, and is now in its eighth year under the new management. It has in that time taken a high place as a maga- zine of international importance, of whose production New Haven is justly proud. The "art preservative" in New Haven antedates the newspaper only by a year. It has a long and detailed history, full of ups and downs, but the fittest of those who have made it have survived. Early newspapers, and demands 246 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN of the college for printing, furnished the business for a score of concerns which in the century following 1754 had their day and ceased to be. The oldest present firm is Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, which dates substantially from 1851. The men who have made it a great institution in our time are Cornelius S. More- house, a printer of the highest skill and finest ideals, a contemporary and friend of Tiieodore L. DeVinne, and George H. Tuttle, son of the original Tuttle of the firm, now its head and manager. This firm, with a wonderful record of achievement, ranks high among the printers of America. Another printing firm of more than state importance exalts New Haven in the publication world. Its progenitors began to print directories in New Haven a.s early as 1840. Price, Lee & Company, now incorporated as the Price & Lee Company, was organized in 1873 as a publishing firm. A strictly printing firm, the Price, Lee & Adkins Company, was organized in 1889. The publishing name i-cmains tlie same today. Tlie printing house was reorganized in 1915 as the Wilson H. Lee Company, which reveals the name of the man who for nearly forty years has made the business in both departments. The house now issues forty-one directory publications, which serve about sixty-three cities and towns in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire and New York. Another of the old firms, engaged in newspaper making, is the Carrington Publishing Company, which for more than half a century has issued the Journal- Courier. It has a history going back to 1852. New Haven has forty-six printing houses at present, some of them long estab- lished, but more of them of recent growth, though doing, for the most part, the good work which the standard of tlie leaders requires. Among these leaders are the Whaples-Bullis Company, Van Dyck & Company, the Tuttle Color Print- ing Company, the Ryder Printing House, the Ilarty Musch Press, S. Z. Field and Bradley & Scoville, the last being also blank book maiuifacturers. IX Great among the makers, in a city whose manufactories are so important as are New Haven's, are the men who make those industries and direct their course. Not a few of these men, much in every work for the city's advancement, have repeatedly been mentioned. The genius of the gi-eat Winchester industry for man.y years, a Ijusiness man to whom it owes nuich of its growth, is Thomas (!. Bennett. Though now out of the active management, his work is well con- tinued in these days by his son, Winchester Bennett. To Henry B. Sargent is naturallj' and righth' ascribed much of the success of the great firm with which he has since 1871 been identified, but his work for the welfare of New Haven has been broader even than that. Walter Camp's activities have touched New Haven at many points, but he has given first allegiance to the clock making firm which Hiram Camp had so great a part in founding. No less valuable a citizen is Edwin P. Root, who has a large part in the carrying on of this business, but finds time for many New Haven activities besides. He has been in the clock SECOND NATIONAL BANK, NEW H-WEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 247 business since 1877. His interests are varied, and not the least of his service for New Haven is as director of the Public Library. The Acme Wire Company, which within a short time has had a wonderful development, and is now one of the leading industries, owes a large part of its success to the personal executive ability as well as the capital of Victor M. Tyler, its president and treasurer. Next to him Edgar L. Hartpence, its masterly general manager, has had much to do with raising it to a concern employing almost a thousand men. Both are citizens whom New Haven values for many other reasons. The work of Max Adler and Isaac M. Ullman in developing their great industry, and their part in the upbuilding of New Haven, are well known. Henry L. Hotchkiss and H. Stuart Hotchkiss have been powers aside from their connection with the city's rubber industry. Howard E. Adt, one of the geniuses of the Geometric Tool Company, is a citizen whoju New Haven prizes highly, while Percy K. Greist of the Greist Manufacturing Company has been foremost in many efforts for the good of New Haven. John B. Kennedy, conspicuous for high citizenship, patriotic leadership and banking ability, makes it his principal business to direct the English & Mersick Company, makei's of lamps and car- riage hardware. Andrew R. Bradley, George P. Smith and Theodore R. Blakeslee are the men behind New Haven's leading confectionery industry, and all are citizens of service and progress, ilr. Bradley recently passed from earthly activities. Mr. Blak 11 K'lis .\ii:_\i(iiMAL ]ji;i;Aia. aikkiiH' .\ AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 287 verj' early. But they did fe^l a sort of community spirit as early as 1728, when by petition of the people in the three villages and the act of the general court the "North Farmers" lands were set off as a parish of the town of Wallingford. Thus they gained their religious independence. For their civil they waited un- til 1806. The town so formed had the same boundaries as the old parish of Meri- den. The City of IMeridcn, which is confined mainly to the section of old known as Pilgrims' Harbor, that is, the valley of the brook, was not incorporated until sixty-one years later. It has, however, had in its half century a record of re- markable achievement and progress. Wallingford, the mother, kept ahead of the child — if ileriden may properly be called the child of Wallingford, for several years. Wallingford and Meriden had together, six years before the separation, 3,214 people. Four years after Meriden came to stand by itself, it had 1,249 people — was, in fact as it appeared, no more than a husky country town. In the next thirty years it had increased only 631. Not until the census of 1850 did it pass Wallingford. Its progress after that was rapid, a good index of the importance of, its manufacturing and general industrial development. It had more than doubled in the next decade, and by 1870 had become 10,495 — that being the first census after it became a city. In ten years more it had almost doubled again, in 1890 it had grown to 25,423, in 1900 to 28,695. Its century, or soon after, found it a city of 32,066 people, and it is in 1918 estimated at approximately 35,000. We have, then, the old town and the new city, whose history is very ancient and interesting, whose modern development, even, is very recent. It is known far and wide as the "Silver City." The development of the manufacture of goods from silver and similar metals gave the city its fame, to be sure, but it should be noticed that among the thirty-two lines of manufacture and l20 factories which make the industrial Meriden of 1918, silver is only one and its factories are only nine. Its manufactures at the present time are feeling the universal inflation, but Meriden, less than most of the larger cities of Connecticut, is subject to a present feverish activity which may be expected to die down after the present flame has passed. Its prosperity is substantial, like its people. Its foundations as well in manufacturing as in citizenship, religion, education, finance and archi- tecture, rest on the "seven glad hills." The town which was formed from the parish of Meriden early in the last century had its own church and a few scattering schools. The city that now rises has two Congregational churches instead of the one, and in addition five Baptist chxxrehes, two Protestant Episcopal, four Methodist Episcopal, seveii Roman Catholic, three Lutheran, one each of Universalist, Jewish, Peoples' Undenomi- national and Christian Science. As auxiliaries to these are the City Missionary society, the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations. The town of Jleriden has the modest area of 10,473 acres. In the center of it, a municipality wholly surrounded by country, is the city of Meriden, an ir- regular octagon, approximately two miles wide and two miles long, composed of five wards. The Town of Meriden had in 1916 a grand list of $24,582,884, all but 288 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN about two millions of it being within the city. Without the city limits agriculture continues to be the principal industry, the growing city serving as a promoter of prosperous market gardens and dairy farms. The city has a low tax rate, only eight and three-fourths mills in 1916. Meriden is a most accessible city. On the main line between Springfield and New Haven, it has frequent service from the railroad. That rocky and winding railroad which some years ago wandered from Cromwell across to Waterbury still has a station in the city, though it is hardly regarded, locally, as a public service utility. Meriden 's most generally used transportation service, however, is electric. That part of the old :Meriden and Waterbury line which is between Meriden and Middletown was some years ago electrified, and is now run a.s a swift suburban service between the two cities. It swings from Meriden north- east through AVestfiefd in the town of Middletown, and enters that city over the tracks of the line to Berlin, which has also been electrified. Southward an electric line runs to South Meriden, Tracy, Yalesville and Wallingford, and westward and northward there is a winding line which runs through to New Britain by way of Milldale, Plantsville, Southington and Plainville, connecting for Bristol, Lake Compounce, Waterbury and New Haven. There is also a line to Berlin. The town has postoffices at Meriden, Station A and South Meriden, with ten sub stations. ]\Ieriden has five public parks, two of which will compare favorably with those of any city in the state. The planners of the city did not find room for a "green," but there has been since 1880, near the center, a breathing space of fifteen acres — City Park. It is a handsome and well kept public square, beauti- fully shaded and attractive. It has been, moreover, a foundation. Central in Meriden 's park system is the name of Walter Hubbard. There is hardly an institution or a good work in Meriden in whose foundation or con- struction the searcher will fail to find the hand of this man, who for more than half a century was in a large sense Meriden 's leading citizen. But great as was his part in the city's industrial foundation, material as was his work in many other ways, he did no nobler or more lasting service than his part in making this park passible. So it stands to exalt his name — a thousand acres of commanding height and delightful woodland and meadov, in numy ways Connecticut's greatest park. It was Walter Hubbard, too, who in 1901 purchased the greater part of what is now Brookside Park, extending for three-quarters of a mile along both sides of Harbor Brook, named it and gave it to the city. It is a beautiful spot of .shade and ponds and grass, another of the notable parks of the state. Bradley Park, in the southwestern part of the city, is another breathing space, and provides relief from the heat, and the blessing of green grass for a congested section. Hanover Park in South Meriden has been a commercial en- terprise, conducted first by the Meriden Street Railway Company, later by the Connecticut Company. It is an amusement resort of the somewhat common type, but has many attractions and serves a useful purpose. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 289 Merideu had its disastrous fire, oiih- a jear later than Chicago's great con- flagration. Perhaps, for a city of only 10,000 people, a fire loss of $150,000 was as serious as Chicago's thousand times that. That was the point at which Meri- den turned from the volunteer to the paid fire system. The city now has a fire service composed of one truck and five hose companies, with motorized equip- ment of the latest type and the most efficient fire fighting agencies. In connection with this the city has its own very adequate water supply system, whose con- struction was commenced in 1867. An excellent gravity supply of water is secured from sources in the Hanging Hills, and to meet the great factory needs there is a pumping station across the border of Berlin. Meriden now gets its water from four large reservoirs, so situated as to grade that they sufficiently supply fire, factory and residence needs for all altitudes in the city. Jleriden's sewer system is in its character a model for larger cities. At first it may have seemed a misfortune, now it should be viewed as a blessing, that no large water course was at hand to give the cheap and easy means which many cities so negligently and shortsightedly adopt for the disposal of their sewage. Meriden was compelled to find another way. To be sure, when it commenced its sewer system in 1892 its problem was a comparatively simple one. The system employs broad irrigation and filtration, the sewage being, by a considerable feat of good engineering, siphoned beneath the bed of the Quinnipiac River and con- veyed to filtration beds on the desert below South Meriden. This plant, con- structed at an original cost of nearly $150,000, has been extended as the city's ne«ds have increased, until it has cost more than double that. These are but significant indications of the way the .young city of Meriden has met all its physical problems as they have come up. It is a competent, efficient community, controlled by men of character as well as of substance. It is in many ways a typical Amei'ican city. In many ways, as we ma.y discover, it is a decidedly original one. CHAPTER XXIX MBRIDEN (Continued) CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, CIVIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS — MEN WHO HAVE MADE MERIDEN, PHYSICIANS, LAWYERS, LEADERS IN LOCAL, STATE AND NATIONAL LIFE I Meriden is lightly reckoned, by some who know it supertieially, a community where the material is uppermost. Such an opinion diminishes in direct propor- tion to the care with which the town is studied. As the young town and the younger city are found, on examination, to have roots in the depths of colonial history, so the supposed mere industrial community is revealed, with real under- standing, as an edifice of character and fineness. Sometimes they speak of New Haven as the city of churches. It would need to add half as many to its present number to have as many in proportion as Meriden. So, on through the list, it will be found that in schools, in public institutions, in civic and social advantages, Meriden is more than able to match, jaroportionately, its older, larger and more pretentious neighbor and mother community. Meriden, too, has the ancient church of the fathers. Back in the days when Center Church was alone in its glory in New Haven, where only here and there a church of the Pilgrims stood at the oldest points of settlement around the county and the stat^, the First Church was founded in Meriden. That was in 1729. The five or six hundred people who had by this time settled on the now divided Meriden and other farms did not so much mind the long journey to attend church in Wallingford, but they had begun to feel their community im- portance, and a separate church was an achievement, even if it was a responsi- bility. They did not, however, take their church as far north as the vicinity of Jonathan Gilbert's old time tavern, on Meriden farm. They came south to Pilgrims' Harbor, and built on Meeting House Hill. It seems, moreover, that they built somewhat before they were fully organized, for the date of the church is given us as 1729, while the date of the building is set at 1727. There were fifty-nine persons who formed this body, and began separate wor.ship under the leadership of Rev, Theopbilus Hall, though there were some temporary preachers before him. The churcli liad grown in numbers and strength so that in 1755 they needed a new building, and this was erected on Broad Street. The third edifice was built in 18.30, on the same site. It was the noble building which still, after re- 290 Courtesy of H. Wales Lines €>•. WALT1:R HUBBARD ilEMoKIAf. CHAPEL. MERIDEN Courtesy of H. Wales Lines 0'», FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MERIDEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 291 peated alterations which have not marred its distinguished areliitec-ture, serves Center Church. For in 1848 there was a division of the people. Prosperity and population had come to Meriden in the period just before that, and the church had so increased its membership that it felt the need of a new and larger build- ing. This was erected, in 1846, on Colony Street, half a mile from the old site. But something arose which caused a difference of opinion among the members. Most likely the then familiar question of the abolition of slavery had something to do with it. At any rate, something like half a hundred members withdrew and formed the Center Church. The old building on Broad Street was vacant, and they secured possession of it. There they have remained and worshipped ever since — they and the new worshippers who have come in the changing process of seven decades. The first pastor of the First Church, Rev. Theophilus Hall, remained until his death in 1767. At the time of the division Rev. George "W. Perkins was pas- tor, serving the church from 1841 to 1854. It was from 1866 to 1868 that the brilliant Rev. William H. H. Murray, famous son of old Guilford, more famous "Adirondack ilurray," was pastor of this church. The Rev. Asher Anderson, who came to the church in 1890, was in the dozen years of his stay one of the best known and popular Congregational clergymen of Connecticut. Since 1902 Rev. Albert J. Lord ha.s been pastor, and the church has advanced to a position of even more positive religious leadership in the community. It was incorporated in 1893. Today it has almost a thousand members, and is one of the strongest churches of its denomination in the state. It was a notable example of New England church architecture wliich the sep- arating few who formed Center Church secured iu 1848. It was and is one of the best specimens in Connecticut of the jnire Doric edifice, its most prominent rivals in this section being the old North Church on New Haven Green and the distinguished old Congregational Church in Madison. Set on a hill, preserved within in harmony with its appearance without, it is an inspiration to worship and to service. It was Rev. Ashabel A. Stevens who came to lead the seceders who formed Centeif Church. He remained with them until 1854. Rev. James C. Wilson was pastor from 1892 to 1896, being succeeded by Rev. John H. Grant. In 1911 Rev. Thomas B. Powell, previously assistant pastor of Plymouth Church of New Haven, and later at Livingston, ^Montana, was called. His winning and self sacrificing leadership has greatly built up the church, which now has a member- ship of approximately 500. Under previous pastors the people had kept the church appointments within in harmony with its dignified architecture. The bare old windows had been replaced with leaded glass of colonial pattern, and the decorations had been made to conform to the Ionic type of architecture. ;\Ir. Powell found a fine old church building, but his experience had taught him that the modern church needs something more than an audience room by which to serve its community. The only approach to chapel or parish house was the basement, which after the manner of many New England basements had been 292 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN fitted up as a "lecture room," and had to serve for Sunday School, prayer meet- ings and all social gatherings. Moreover, the problem of securing a place on which to erect a parish house, if the church was ready to build one, was difficult. The building stands ou an extremely steep side hill, so steep that the basement, and even the rear of the sub-basement, stand out of ground. No available land for another building was found in the vicinity. Anything in the nature of a lean-to would spoil the architecture of the church. So Mr. Powell suddenly decided to make a virtue of the church's difficulty and necessity. First, he "dug out" the basement. That is, he so excavated at its sides that, except at the front, it is completely a daylight room. Then he ex- tended the sub-basement under the whole building. So he had, beneath the church, what was virtually a parish house of two stories. This was rearranged, redecorated and in general made into a modern auxiliary church building. At a cost far beneath that of a separate building, with the maximum of convenience and without in the least marring the symmetry of its fine structure, the Center Church had an efficient parish house. In this work, which the pastor inspired and directed, the people have supported him amply with enthusiasm, hard work and funds. The second of the churches of ^Merideu, also founded when the community was still a part of the town of Wallingford, is the First Baptist, organized in 1786. Adherents of the Baptist creed, scattered all over the town of Wallingford and the parish of ^leriden, previous to this time worshipped at some convenient place midway between the two towns. This combined congregation was for some years led by Rev. John Merriman. His death in 1784 seems to have been in part the cause of the formation of a separate church. Two years later the Baptist Church of Meriden was formally organized. It had but twelve members at that time, however, and they did not feel able to support a pastor, but followed "elders" for several years. One of the first of these was Samuel ]\liller, who for some time conducted the worship as a layman, but was ordained a minister in 1806. As the church 's first pastor he served until 1829. It was during his pas- torate that the church's first building was erected, about 1801. After several short pastorates, the church called Rev. Harvey JMiller, son of the first pastor, in 1838. He in turn was succeeded by Rev. D. Heniy Miller, D. D. It was dur- ing the pastorate of the former that the present fine colonial type church building was erected. Other pastors of note who have served the church are Rev. W. G. Fennell, for eight years from 1892. and Rev. Burtt Neville Timbie, the present pastor. The next of the Baptist churches to be organized was Main Street in 1861, an offspring of the First Baptist which has now outgrown the mother. There was worship in a chapel building until the church became strong enough to erect a substantial edifice. This it did in 1867-68, the same being its present fine brick and stone home. This church was called the West ]Meriden Baptist until 1881, when it adopted the present name. The society was incorporated in 1886. Eight pastors led the church for the first quarter-century of its existence, from Rev. Courtesor of H. Wales Lines C". ST. JOSEPH'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, MERIDEN ST. ROSK KOMAX CATHOI.IC CHURCH. MERIDEN ST. STANISLAUS ROilAX CATHOLIC SCHOOL, MERIDEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 293 E. M. Jerome, who .was with it iu its foiuuliiig days, to Rev. Edwin "\V. Husted, who served it for the years following 1891. The pastor at present is Rev. J. W. Miisson. The other Baptist congi-earations in town are the Olive Branch Snnday llis- sion, of which Warren J. Parker is superintendent, the German Baptist, founded in 1873, whose pastorate was vacant iu 1917 ; the Swedish Baptist, established 1887, Rev. Alfred Engdahl, pastor; and the Italian Baptist, founded in 1910, of which Rev. Joachim E. Parella is pastor. When St. Andi-ews, the oldest Protestant Episcopal Church iu Merideu, was established, Cheshire had been separated from Wallingford only nine years, and Jleriden was still a part of that town. Cheshire, from early times a center of Episcopal faith, was sponsor for the new church, and for .several years furnished it with leadership at long distance. The church wa.s founded in 1789, but for the first thirty-five years it had no resident rector, depending on missionary service from Cheshire and Wallingford. In 1824 the Rev. Ashbel Baldwin settled as its rector, and in the following sixty years the church had fourteen rectors. In 1885 the Rev. Arthur T. Randall came to the church, and ha.s since remained. Now in the fourth decade of his service, he is rounding out a remarkable period and enviable position in the community. The church's house of worship, erected in 1866, is one of the city's fine examples of architecture. All Saints' Episcopal, one of the younger churches of the city, was organized in 1893, and the same year its admirable church building was erected on West Main Street. Its rector then, and for several years following, was Rev. E. Sprague Ashley. He was succeeded by Rev. I. Newton Phelps, and the present rector is Rev. Francis S. Lippitt. The First Methodist Church of Meriden, whose building is at East ^lain and Pleasant streets, dates its organization from 1844. It has had a useful and i)ros- perous career, and some men of power in its pulpit. Some of the notable ones of the recent period have been Rev. John Rhey Thompson, who was its pastor from 1889 to 1894, Rev. F. B. Stockdale, and the present able leader. Rev. Victor G. Mills. The South ^leriden Methodist Church, now presided over by Rev. Archi- liald Treymaine, was founded in 1851, and for several years the two churches together served all the Methodists in the town and city of ileriden. But in 1885 growth and expansion had made a third seem desirable, and Trinity Church was formed. Its first pastor was the able Rev. William F. ^larkwick, later pastor of the St. John Street Church at New Haven, and some of the others have been Rev. Duane N. Griffin, now of Hartford, Rev. B. S. Pillsbnry and Rev. Frederick Saunders, the present pastor. The latest of the Methodist churches, which has been doing a good work since 1890, is the Parker A. ^I. E. Zi(in, of which the pastor is Rev. Clarence A. Gooding. The first of what is now a strong galaxy of Roman Catholic churches was St. Rose's, founded in 1849. It has six associates now. Faithful missionary work by Father J. Teevins preceded tlie foundation, but ill health obliged him to forego his right to be its first pastor. Rev. Hugh O'Reilly came to tlic leadership. 294 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Faithful and able men since him who have guided the church to valuable service havi' been Rev. Thomas Quinii and Rev. Paul F. :\IeAlenny, and the present Ri'v. .lolui Neale. LL. D. This is one of the strong Catholic parishes of Connecti- cut, doing an excellent work through the church, a convent and parochial school. Following its leadership, St. Laurent's French Catholic Church, of which Rev. A. Van Oppen is now pastor, was organized in 1880, the Church of the Holy Angels in 1887. Of this the first pastor was the Rev. R. F. :\Ioore, and the present is Rev. L. A. Guinan. The other churches of this faith, in the order of their founda- tion, are St. JIary's German Catholic, pastor. Rev. Nicholas F. X. Schneider: St. Joseph's, pastor, Rev. John T. Lynch; St. Stanislaus, Polish, pastor, Rev. John Lotiis Cepa : Our Lady of :\Iount Carmel, Italian, pastor. Rev. Domenieo Rieci. Meriden has three churches of tiie Lutheran faith, the first, St. John's Ger- man Lutheran, established in 1865. It is today a growing and useful church, with one of the handsoiuc luiildings of the city, at the corner of Liberty and Norwood streets. It has been led by several men of marked ability, among them the Rev. S. F. Glaser, who is at present its pastor. The other churches of this order are Immanuel German Lutheran, established in 1889, pastor, Rev. Paul A. Kirsch, and the Swedish Lutheran, founded the following year, whose pastor is Rev. Olaf Lnndgren. St. Paul's Universalist Church was organized in 1863, and has done valuable work under several pastors, of whom the latest is Rev. Thomas H. Saunders. There is in the city one synagogue of the Jewish faith, founded in 1892. S. Kennedy is the president of the congregation. For some years there was a Seventh Day Advent Church, but that has now disappeared, and in its place there is a People's LTndenominational Church, of w-hieh Rev. C. H. Reimers is the leader. Meriden has also one Christian Science Church. Back of these churches, or possibly as mediums through which their [leople may work, are the City Missionary Society, and the McAU Auxiliary. The former society has ilrs. George W. Haywood as its president, and the city mis- sionary is Miss Margaret Burns, ilrs. LeGrand Bevins is president of the McAll Auxiliary. ileriden has an equipment of public, semi-public and private schools of which, regardless of age, any city of its size might be proud. A central high school of distinguished architecture, constructed some twenty-five years ago at a cost of $100,000, cares for th« secondary educational needs of city and town, and seventeen grade and district schools in six districts, together with seven parochial schools, care for the rest of ileriden's 7,700 children of school age. In these there is a force of 159 public school teachers. Ten of the public schools have the full eight grades. In detail, the educational ei|uip7nent of Meriden, as it stood in the fall of 1917, is as follows: Superintendent of Schools — David Gibbs. High School— Principal, Francis L. Bacon: a.ssistant principal. Ivan G. Smith. Thirtv-two teachers. CILWECTR'IT SIHOOL FOR JidYS, .MKKIUEX Courtesy of S. Wales Lines Co. JIERIUEN HIGH SCHOOL AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 295 Church Street — Principal, William E. Gardner; seven teachers. Columbia Street — Principal, Edna il. Harris; five teachers. East — Viola Lacourciere. East Grammar — Principal, Frank P. Denning; ten teachers. East Primary — Principal, Minnie Lallj', two teachers. Franklin Street — Principal, Au^ista A. Fischer; eight teachers. Hanover — Principal, Nellie E. Simons; five teachers. King Street — Principal, Jennie D. Wood ; nine teachers. Lewis Avenue — Principal, Cornelia A. Comstock; eight teachers. Liberty Street — Principal, Anne P. Foskett ; six teachers. North Broad Street — Principal, Jlrs. Nellie F. Russell ; eight teachers. North Colony Street — Principal, Minnie S. Wiles; seven teachers. South Broad Street — Principal, Margaret Hickey; eight teachers. Southeast — Esther P. Gardner. West Grammar — Principal, H. Eugene Niekless; nine teachers. West ]\Iain Street — Principal, Anna T. L. Burke ; eight teachers. Willow Street — Principal, Katherine H. Curran ; four teachers. Supervisors — Music, G. Frank Goodale; Drawing, Maude E. Simpson; Physi- cal training, George Baer; Penmanship, W. R. Stalte; Domestic arts, Hazel Harmon ; Manual arts, Frederick Landers. The members of the school committee were : Charles F. Rockwell, chairman ; Dr. Alfred A. Rousseau, secretary'; Burton G. Lawton, treasurer; Harold G. Hall, clerk; Lewis E. Clark, ilichael F. Kelley, Henry Dryhurst, Oscar L Dessiu, Frank L. Billard. Edgar J. Perkins, Denis T. O'Brien, Jr., Dr. Cornelius J. Ryan. Thomas J. Shanley. This public educational force is supplemented by seven parochial schools, as follows: Immanuel German Lutheran Saturday School; St. Bridget's Convent (St. Rose); St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Graded School; St. Joseph's; St. Laurent's French Catholic: St. IMary's (St. Rose) ; St. Stanislaus. Tliroughout the state ileriden has a mention it does not altogether enjoy as the home of the Connecticut School for Boys, which some will still persist in calling the "Reform School." This, like Middletown's possession of the Con- necticut Hospital for the Insane, is made a matter of much thoughtless and meaningless jibe. In the first place Meriden is not at all responsible for the school in (jnestion, and in the second place it is in these days an institution in which to have pride, not shame. Since 1851 ileriden has had this institution for the restraint if necessary, the training in any case, of minors who reach a point of delinquency or a height of so-called crime which requires imprisonment imder the law. In recent years the Connecticut Reformatory at Cheshire has taken over the most difficult classes of these minors, and the school at ileriden has become more strictly a training school, with a higher character of inmates. It is at present under the .superintendency of Charles M. Williams. It is a school for the making of the boys so far as may be useful, well equipped citizens, and it is largely fulfilling that purpose. 296 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Meriden is a city of fraternity and sociability, if one may judge from the number of social and fraternal organizations. In round numbers there are 155. These include eight lodges of the Masonic order, eight lodges of Odd Fellows, nine courts of the Foresters of America, three lodges of the American Order of United "Workmen, four lodges of the Knights of Pythias, three councils of the Knights of Columbus, two lodges of the New England Order of Protection, two conclaves of the Heptasophs, thre« councils of the Royal Arcanum, two lodges of the Knights of Honor, four divisions of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, four councils of the Catholic Women's Benevolent League, Meriden lodge of Elks, Captain John Couch branch of the S. A. R., Ruth Hart and Susan Carrington chapters of the D. A. R., four temperance societies, Merriam post of the G. A. R. and its Women's auxiliary, a camp of Sons of Veterans and of Spanish War Veterans and Eaton Guard Veteran associations. The principal social clubs, of which there are twelve, are the Colonial Club, the Highland Country Club, the Franklin Club, the Cosmopolitan Club, the Franco-American and the French- American Country Club, the Motor Boat, the Rifle and the Wheel clubs. ilerideu has a live and well e()uipped Young Men's Christian Association, organized in 1865, with its own building on Colony Street. It serves the com- munity, through its young men and its old, ideally. A. E. Boynton is president, and the general secretai-y is V. V. Roseboro. The city also has a well supported Young Women's Christian Association at 30 Crown Street, now under the di- rection of Mrs. Emily J. Youngs, who is president and general secretary. Public library development, slow in many of the older towns of the state, was not so tardy in Meriden. There was a library as early as 1796, and from that time on the needs of the community were fairly well met. The public library, as now known, was started in 1895, and in 1900 Mrs. George R. Curtis offered to erect a building in memory of her late husband, George Redfield Curtis. The present fitting and artistic building was completed in 1903, giving ]\Ieriden a home for a library that now numbers 23,983 volumes. The president of the board is George H. Wilcox, and the librarian Corinne A. Deshon. It is a monu- ment to the life of a man and the broad generosity of a woman. Another Curtis Memorial, a loving tribute to Lemuel J. Curtis, is the Curtis Home for Children and Old Ladies, a commodious and very comfortably appointed institution at 380 Crown Street. It is one of ^Meriden's noblest and most useful institutions. II No one disputes the claim that :\Ieriden has a city hospital unexcelled liy any New England city of its size. It stands for the united generosity of a large number of the city's men and women of means. The list of incorporators pays tribute to some of them : E. J. Doolittle, N. L. Bradley, John C. Byxbee, Robert H. Curtis, Rev. J. H. Chapiii, George H. Wilcox, Isaac C. Lewis, H. C. Wilcox, George R. Curtis, John Sutliff, Charles Parker, Seth J. Hall, Eli Ives, Levi E. ST. .lOSEPHs SCHOOL. :M):Rini".x ilKRIDKX HOSPnWL. MKRIDKX AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 297 Coe, Walter Iluliliard, H. Wales Lines, William F. Graham, Abiram Chamber- lain. It is a roll of honor. That was in 1885. In the years since the hospital, keeping pace with all needs, has done a great work. The president of the board now is Edward Miller. Most of Jleriden's thirty-three physicians have at one time or another parti- cipated in the work of the hospital. It is a distinguished group. One may safely put at its head, for none names him but to praise. Dr. Jere D. Eggh'ston, for approaching forty years not only a dependable physician in Meriden, but very much in the city's life in every way. Dr. Edward T. Hradstreet, one of the dis- tinguished family of Thomaston Bradstreets, graduate of Yale and Columbia, has also for nearly four decades been an honored citizen of ^Meriden, whose work for the community has been even broader than the saving service of the physi- cian. He is a large participant in the work of Gaylord Farm, has since 1901 been the town's medical examiner, and is in every way a thoroughly useful force in the life of the community. Dr. Edward AV. Smith and Dr. Elbridge W. Pierce are men of long practice and high standing in the town. Dr. Frederick P. Griswold, of Connecticut birth, JIayflower descent and eminence in his jirofes- sion, joined by marriage with one of the old families of Madison, is an honored member of a fine group. One of the younger men in ]\Ieriden and in his profes- sion is Dr. Harold A. Meeks, whom Connecticut owes to New Jersey, of an old Knickerbocker family, is making a great place for himself in tlie esteem of Meriden. And there is Dr. Joseph A. Cooke, born in New Haven, since 1899 a resident of ^Meriden, who is rounding out a period of useful service in his pi'ofession in the position of chief magistrate of the city. Jleriden has one of the state's sanatoria for the treatment of tuberculosis. Formerly it wa.s a private sanatorium, known as Undercliffe, but under the super- vision of the commission it is merely the Connecticut State Sanatorium. Meriden has for some years, however, had an independent interest in the combat with tliis disease, and did some excellent work at Undercliffe, backetl by local supjiort, before the state took over the institution. Practicing at long distance in all but the minor coiu'ts. ilerideirs group of lawyers — there are about nineteen of them now — have won for themselves honor in the New Haven County Bar Association. Some of them are veterans like George A. Pay, long in practice in Meriden, state senator in 1871, for some years a partner at New Haven with Judge William L. Bennett, now of the Superior Court, whose work here ended a few years ago. Or Iiis brother. Prank S. Pay, who has been judge of the police and city courts and city attorney, and in various other ways honored in Meriden. James P. Piatt, who has achieved the diflieult task of making himself a high place on his own account despite the competition of a distingni.shed father, is no less an honored member of the Aleriden group since he was promoted to the Ignited States District Court. Albert R. Chamber- lain, rising in the law, is rising in the comnuniity as well, and bids fair to be as much a factor in the life of ]Meriden as was his father, (iovernor Chamlierlain. Patrick T. O'Brien, son of New Britain, trained under Judge Hennev of 298 A MODERN HISTORY OP NEW HAVEN Ilai'tford, has become recognized as one of the ablest of the attorneys of Meriden ill the recent period. Of him it has been said that "he is faithful to his clients, fair to his opponents and honest to tlie court." It is a good picture of him and of an ideal lawyer. Besides that he is prominent in the highest fraternal circles and a hard worker for his city's welfare. There are George L. King, who has been prosecuting agent for the county, and Henry T. King, able lawyer and park commissioner, both of them prominent in legal circles. Willnir F. Davis, for successive terms corporation counsel of Meriden, and prominent still as a counsel for some of the city's large corporations, is among ^Iorders. Though less than five miles from a large and busy city, though it has what amounts to a city within its town limits, Orange is still the unspoiled countiy town. It is governed from West Haven — but West Haven pays the bills. It also furnishes much of the business for Orange. Orange has its own life, and with it is well content. It has its own sterling citizens, some of whom rank high in the honor and work of the state. They do not deserve, and doubtless never did, the unenlightened stricture of the East Guilford father of the Rev. Erastus Scranton, who is said to have flippantly remarked that "'Erastus is preaching the gospel to the ever- lasting heathen of North ]\Iilford. " The name of Woodruff, for almost two centuries associated with Orange, has more than ever a leading place there. In the very center of the village is the seed growing farm of S. D. Woodruif & Sons, employing a large force of men, and producing reliable farm and garden seeds and supplies. The head of that firm is the Hon. Watson S. Woodruff, who has run the gamut of the local offices, been state senator and still occupies a prominent position in polities. Robert J. Woodruff, attorney, has liis office in New Haven, where he has been prosecutor in the court of common pleas, but he has always lived in Orange, where he has a fine residence, and an interest in the seed firm. One of the institutions of the Orange of today is the model dairy farm of Wilson H. Lee — Fairlea Farm. Some dozen years ago Jlr. Lee, with foresight of the part the farm was to have in the public appreciation and service of this time, purchased a farm in the heart of Orange. There he established a plant for the producing of milk on scientific j)riiipipl^s, with the application of the same exact business methods which he uses for the making of a perfect city directory, or any product of the printer's art. He has demonstrated, more con- clusively, perhaps than any man in Connecticut that farmi:ig, at least as far as the producing of milk goes, can be made an exact science. He not only raises milk of an extremely high quality, but he raises it in an excellent way — and he makes the process pay. Tributes to his success are the demand for and the price paid for his product, and the fact that his dairy is recognized as one of the finest in America. ^Moreover, experts come even from other countries to study his system and methods, some of which were distinctly original with Mr. Lee. He has succeeded as well with other branches of farming than the raising 312 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN of milk. In short, with Fairlea Farm he is performiug a wouderful service for the agriculture of the state, a service which he supplements by his work through the state board of agi-iculture and the farm bureaus of this and other states, whose work he has had gi-eat influence in promoting. As for Orange, he has done more to "put it ou the map" as a town of fine fanning possibilities than any farmer it has ever had. ^lany others, seed of the sterling old North Milford stock, make the Orange of today. Names like Clark and Russell and Treat, Andrew and Baldwin and Stone, are still conspicuous in the town. :\Iingled with them are patronymics like Pucilio and Farino and Cuzzocreo, Ceretto and Linquist and Logidice. The farmers taught in the Old World are competing with those taught in the New. The social order of the old town changes accordingly, becoming thereby more truly democratic. Orange, though West Haven spreads from the entrance of West River to the harbor down to the point of Savin Rock, is not without seacoa.st. Between Savin Rock and the beginning of Woodmont there are over two miles of shore front, today well occupied by the summer dwellings of those who seek the sea, with now and then a residence of one whose love for the sea is not wholly a summer fancy. Oyster River Point, Merwin's Beach and Burwell's Beach are communities with which the Orange we have been obser\'ing has little in common, to be sure, but they are, in their way, important parts of that town. In the far western part of the town, along the Housatonic River, is a .section which has possibilities undeveloped. Rough and in large measure unsettled, an area of hills and rocks and woodland, it is the most picturesque part of Orange. Lovers of nature have found it in the pa.st, and wall continue to find it in the future. The lower Housatonic, approached more commonly from the Hunting- ton side, is a river second to none in the state and ranking w-ith the best in New England for beauty and commercial value. Some day when state or federal authority redeems our water courses from the pollution which destroys their value and poisons those whom they serve, Orange will have no small part in the redemption and no small pai-t of the interest. CHAPTER XXXII WEST HAVEN THE SEPARATE COMMUNITY ON THE NEW HAVEN SIDE OP ORANGE WHICH HAS GROWN INTO A NEAR-CITY ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMUSEMENT RESORT, SAVIN ROCK I Geographical convenience, the accident of West River, made West Haven a jjart of the Town of Orange instead of the Town of New Haven. It was from early times more naturally identified with New Haven than with any community to the westward. It is hardly four miles from New Haven Green to the green in West Haven, and it was easy and natural that thei-e should he an overflow from the city in that direction. Moreover, we have good evidence that the eaili- est settlers on the west hank of West River came from the direction of the larger community. But one is prone to forget that the bridges of today did not exist in 1695, or even a century later. The settlers found their way across, for at low tide West River is fordable even well toward its mouth. But going back and forth was not so simple a matter. So it was inevitable that the pioneers should from the start shape themselves into a separate community. They were farmers at the beginning, and what became West Haven was early "West Farms." It was that till almost 1800. Shortly later the name of West Haven liegan to be used, and has held. For up to that time, it seems, there was little serious thought of including West Haven in the town of Orange. Rocks and hills divided North Milford from West Farms, and the people saw little of each other. If the citizen of either village in 1800 had been asked to prophesy as to town organization, he would most likely have said that there was destined to be a town of North Mil- ford and another town of West Haven. But the two communities together, it will be noticed, contained only about 1,200 people when Orange was incorporated in 1822. Of these the large majority, no doubt, were in West Haven. Orange needed West Haven, and the natural boundary of the West River prevailed. So the present geographical arrangement fame about. But Wi-st Haven kept right on growing by itself as if nothing had happened. The year 1695 is .set for the first begiiniings of independent settlement at West Farms. Such names as George Lambeiton, Thr)mas Stephens, Thomas .■n;{ 314 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Painter, the Benhains, the Wards and tlie Chirks appear among the pioneers. The marks of their biulding are plain to he seen yet around the center of West Haven for with their usual accurate sense of the most favorable location, they settled around what is now the green. The framework of that early community history is the history of the churches. In the parish days, before West Haven became a part of a separate town, the church had by law a positive authority of government. It was the community center and received more proportionate attention than now. And as usual, it was in this case the Congregational Church that led the way. The settlers had not been by themselves in West Farms more than two score years before they felt able to form their own church. Their feeling coixld not have been unjusti- fied, for whereas other parishes of the sort found themselves unable to support their own pastor for several years after church organization, AVest Farms seems to have done so from the start. The church was formed in 1715. and the first pastor, Rev. Samuel Johnson, came at once. In fact, the church was able to erect its own building as early as 1719. It was not, like some of its contemporaries, a church of long pastorates in its early days. Between the close of IMr. Johnson's pastorate and 1870, a period of some 140 years, nine pastors served this church. Then came the pastorate of Rev. George Sherwood Dickerman, native of ilount Carmel, which continued from 1870 to 1873. After him was Rev. Norman J. Squires, with a pastorate as unusually long as the pastor was himself notable, from 1881 to 1914. Rev. Albert R. Brown came that year, and remained until the spring of 1918. He went to Y. M. C. A. service on the war front, his departure being on leave of absence fi'om the church. As pastors came one after another, so did buildings for the cluuvli. The first was erected in 1719, and must have seemed, by the time it was replaced in 1852, pretty ancient and primitive. In 1859 this was burned, and was replaced in the following year bj- the present example of the New England church archi- tecture of the time. It serves the congregation's purpcses well, especially since the completion of its ample and unusual parish house in 1916. This edifice, ad.ioining the church, was built at a cost of $35,000, and is one of the best appointed and equipped church auxiliary buildings in the New Haven district. Beginning beneath the main floor, there are commodious dining rooms and a modern kitchen. On the main floor there is a large audience i-oom. with gallery divided for class rooms. And on the upper floor there is a gymnasium to delight the heart of all who have faith in physical exercise as an aid to religion true and undefiled. Christ Church, said to be the oldest Episcopal church in the state, now occu- pies a stone edifice, of architecture dignified and attractive, which also stands in the center of West Haven, an outward adornment to the community as the service for which it stands is an inward adornment. Its foundation dates offi- cially from 1740, but it is said to have been as early as 1722 that Rev. Samuel Johnson, the first pastor of the neighbor Congregational Church, became con- ST. LAWRENCE KOitAJS ( ATHULIC UIlUKtll, W KST UA\ KX MASONIC BUILDING, WEST HAVEN AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 315 viiieed tliat no man L-ould be saved by Congregationalism alone. He proceeded to work out his faith in West Haven. How early the first building was erected is not clear, but there was surely a frame meeting house — though it was not permitted to call it that — by 1740. As to rectors, in the period between Mr. Johnson's work and the coming of the Rev. Edwin S. Lines in 187-4 there were no less than twenty-eight diiferent rectorates. Mr. Liues was with the church but five years, going on to New Haven in 1879. In 1886 Rev. Hobart B. Whit- ney was rector, and since 1909 Rev. Floyd S. Kenyon has been in charge of the growing work. Christ Church also has just completed a model parish house. The West Haven Methodist Church dates only from 1870, being organized with Rev. C. W. Lyon as pastor. It has done a useful, aggressive work and pros- pered from the first, growing with the rapid growth of West Haven. In 1916, under the leadership of Rev. William Redhcft'er, it completed a new building on Second Avenue, which is a substantial addition to the church equipment and public architecture of West Haven. The present pastor is Rev. Charles E. Barto. St. Lawrence is the Roman Catholic church of We.st Haven, and is now ministering to large congregations, with a fine building and good equipment. West Haven continued to be, as to Catholicism, a part of the Milford parisji up to 1876, when St. Lawrence was established. It has had a succession of able leaders. Rev. James McGetrick came to the church in 1909, and was with it for six years. Rev. John Fleming served for a year, being followed in 1916 by the present pastor, Rev. Francis M. ;\1 array. Its nearness to New Haven makes West Haven the more independent in some wa.vs, and one of them is in respect to schools. It has an excellent school sys- tem, directed by Superintendent Edgar C. Stiles, who has demonstrated him- self a superior educator and director. The central borough district has a com- plete graded system, with a principal. Miss Clara Sutherland, and fifty-six teachers. Outside of West Haven, Orange has the North School district, with an equipment of seventeen teachers, and the school in the County Home at Allingtown, where four teachers care for the children. West Haven was incorporated as a boi-ough in 1837, only fifteen years after the establishment of Orange as a town. Tliis early incorporation in part explains the independence of the borough of the town of which it is supposed to he a part. The rest of the explanation is in its size, which has steadily and rapidly grown in proportion to the size of Orange. Today West Haven has at least 13.200 of the 15,000 people of the town. This is almost three times the size of the borough in 1900. The rapid growth, the considerable size of West Haven, and espeeiall.v certain peculiar problems which require a strong government, have for some years past impelled some of the citizens of the borough to consider its incorporation as a city. There was a faction, more in evidence formerly than now, which believed the simplest solution would be consolidation with New Haven. But those who took that view never approached a ma.jority. The inde- pendent spirit of West Haven invariably prevailed, and will prevail. Some day, jirobably, tliere will be a City of Orange, ^leanwhile. there is a positive. :jl6 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN increasingly self confident, well governed borough of West Haven. Its people live, many of them, in New Haven for business purposes through the day, but tliey are loyal to the place of their homes. The borough has its well equipped fire department of five companies, its competent police system, and is gradually getting what it has long needed, a sewer system. West Haven's industry started when the community was young, and grew up with it. As early as 1853 the West Haven Buckle Company was a promising concern, and has continued up to this time, now employing fifty people, and capitalized at $17,000. In 1876 the Parmelee Piano Company, of which the late Henry F. Parmelee became the head, built a factory on lower Campbell Avenue. Later, under a partly changed ownership, it became the Mathushck Piann Com- pany, aiul put out an instrument that won a wide and favorable reputation. A dozen years ago the business was discontinued, and the factory, with the excep- tion of a brief use for automobile manufacturing, remained vacant until S. R. Avis & Sons took it over in 1914 for the manufacture of gun barrels. They now liave $100 000 capital, and employ over 300 people. George R. Kelsey formed the American Buckle & Cartridge Company in 1883, and Israel A. Kelsey was its president and treasurer in 1890. New Haven makes a somewliat unsuccessful effort to claim the Hall Organ Company, which has a wide reputation as a maker of church organs, but as a matter of fact its factory is in West Haven. Other strictly West Haven indus- tries are the Alderhurst Iron Works and the Yale Iron & Stair Company, orna- mental and structural iron work ; the Sanderson Fertilizer & Chemical Company and the Connecticut Fat Rendering and Fertilizer Company, fertilizers; Walter R. Clinton, gasoline engines; the Cameron Manufacturing Company, automo- bile parts; the West Haven j\Ianufacturing Company, hack saws and frames; the Western Electric Company, telephone supplies; the Wire Novelty ^Maiui- facturing Company, wire novelties; John Wilkinson, confectioner}'. West Haven has one financial institution, the Orange Bank & Trust Com- pany, with a savings department. It is capitalized at $25,000, and has savings deposits of $326,929. Its president is Watson S. Woodruff. II Many years ago there was, at the point where the broadening mouth of New Haven harbor curves inward to make a shallow bay to tlie east of Oyster River and Bradley Point, a lonely rock, or group of rocks. In those days of its first discovery it was wholly or partly covered by a growth of living green. The newcomers from the Old World immediately saw that the juniper shrub which made the rock evergreen was like to what they had known in old England as "savin" — the Sabine herb of the ancient Latins, as indeed it is allied to it in family. How early this was called Savin Rock one cannot say, but the liistories tell us that General Garth and his red coated invaders' landed at Savin Rock in 1779. Probably the rocky cliff had a more than incidental interest to the early SA\'1X RUCK. NEW IIAVEX AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 317 settlei-s of West Farms. It was their lookout to sea. There the "breaking waves dashed high" in winter or in storm. Savin Rock wa.s a landmark. But it seems to have be^n from New Haven that Savin Rock really was dis- covered. To confess the truth. New Haven had and has rather poor picking of sliore front close at home. The harbor front has been a muddy, shifting thing rather than a bathing beach, and for some decades past the discharge of sewage has made it woi-se. The seeker of inviting seashore had to go well down toward the mouth of the harbor. And somehow the west sliore was the first to be dis- covered. Traveling down that shore, the first point that seemed to have anything to satisfy was the old juniper-covered rock. So it came about, gradually at first, then with a ru.sh, that Savin Rock was New Haven's amusement resort. As early as 1867 the street railway reached West Haven center from the city, and a few yeai-s later the demand of pleasure seekers had extended it to "the Rock." For tliirty years more the summer travel to that shore grew steadily, but slowly, Merry-go-romids came to the aid of nature. The peanut man came to hear what the wild waves were saying, and to make a penny by his wares. Other aids to amusement of the primitive type appeared. Bathing facilities were developed, though to make bathing attractive on almost any of the beaches near Savin Rock nature ne^ds a great deal of assistance. Savin Rock became popular, and people sought its breezes increasingly as relief from summer heat as the size of the city grew. Looking back now, it seems that this era of development ought to be disre- garded. For the real making of what is now known as Savin Rock came with a rush soon after 1900. The slow growing amusement resort had located itself, not precisely at the Rock. Init on the flat a little to the ea.st of it, wliere the sea- ward view leaps over mud flats which seem at low tide to make walking all the way to Long Island feasible. But it wasn't with the seaward view that the exploit- ers of Savin Rock especially concerned themselves. They worked on the theory that the average plea.sure seeker would find a lot more fun in spending his money to ride on flying horses, in shattering his nerves on a "dip of death" or a "'shoot the chutes" than in listening to the less expen.sive voice of the mur- muring sea. It wasn't all theory, either, for these promoters had received their education at Coney Island or Far Roc'kawa.v. They would make Savin Rock a Connecticut Coney Island, and gather many shekels. They have done it. That was the time when the "White City" sprung up in a night, as it were, with its wonderful electric tower and its crystal mazes and its chutes and its numberless side shows and, presently, its moving picture theaters. Space within its gates was only for the elect of the concessionaires — those who would pay high. And it was at fir.st expected that the people would also pay high .just for entering its charmed portals — and give up all the rest they had except their carfare after they got in. But the scheme didn't work to perfection. For there were enterprising amusement promoters who found it cheaper to get space in the grove and on the streets outside the charmed city, and there they put up flying horses and Ferris wheels and Old Mills and soda 318 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN and pop-coru aud peanut stands. Then there were started daily band concerts in the park ontside the White City. And a good share of the public was content to stay outside. So the gates of the White City were made toll free, and the people go in and out as they will, and spend or not, as they please. But most of them please to speiul somewhere. Savin Rock is the ilecca — the term is not used loosely or merely figuratively — for summer multitudes not only from New Haven, but from Bridgeport, from the allied cities of the Derby region, from Naugatuck and Waterl)ury, ]Meriden and Hartford, and from all points to the eastward. It's a great place to see summer life, and still more favorable for study of the high art of separating man — not to mention woman — from his money. This summer flood has made no small police and fire and excise problem for We.st Haven. It has not always been solved in the best way. But with experi- ence the borough authorities seem to improve. However, there is obvious need for more powers and some improvements that only a municipality can have. West Haven suffers from Savin Rock ; it also profits from Savin Rock. The lat- ter condition is so positive that nobody is likely to volunteer much aid in help- ing West Haven meet its difSculty. CHAPTER XXXIII WALLINGFORD E^\ELY LIFE OF THE MOTHER TOWN OF MERIDEN AND CHESHIRE — ITS CHURCHES, SCHOOLS AND SOME OP THE MEN WHO HAVE MADE IT On the eastern bordei' of New Haveu Couuty, just above the point where the boundary line of the county turns eastward for five miles to take in the towns of Guilford and Madison, is an irregularly shaped town of 37.4 square miles. It was called Wallingford when it was set off from the New Haven tract in 1670, from "Walling-ford in Berkshire County of Old England. Today it has a popula- tion estimated at more than 12,-500 people, of whom upward of 10,000 are included in a borough district which occupies about a twelfth of the area of the town. In that borough is the dynamic force of Wallingfoi'd — its manufacturing force. For Wallingford, older than ]Meriden, wa.s independently one of the important points of origin of the silver shaping and plating industry, and retains one of the largest independent silver plants of America. There are some indus- tries of note outside the borough limits, but in the main the part of Wallingford which lies outside the borough is farming country, good and well improved. Less positive in its natural features than the towns to the south and north of it, Wallingford has its unmistakable character of topography. It has the grandeur of the shadow of Mount Carmel, which rises clear to its southern bor- der. At its far eastern point it has in Besick Mountain a height almost as great — 700 feet, on account of which, partly, the Air Line road had to belie its name and make a detour into Durham through Reed's Gap, as it leaves Wallingford. It has diversifying heights all over its .surface, except where at the south it slopes off toward the plain of North Haven. And through it from north to south flows the Quinnipiae River, there a substantial stream, with possibilities of water power which have by no means been neglected. Today it is an agreeable com- bination of manufacturing and agricultural community, an example of New England 2)luck, enterprise and prosperity in their most commendable forms. Colonial Wallingford was a territory of distinguished size. For it was a large part of that second New Haven purchase from the Indians, which ran, as it was roughly described, ten miles north and south along the Quinnipiae, and extended about eight miles east and five miles west from the river. Original Wallingford, therefore, included the territory from the North Haven and Bran- ford upper lines northward to that east and west division of Meriden which 319 ;520 A MODERN HISTOK-Y OF NEW HAVEN was the "Masou and Dixon line" between the colonics of New Haven and Hart- ford, and westward from the eastern boundary of the county to beyond the western side of Cheshire. Meriden was carved from this territory in 1806, and Cheshire was taken in 1780, leaving still a town of substantial size. It had 2,325 people after the second parting. That number did not "boom" in the following decades, but showed a steady, consistent growth which is like Wallingford. By 1850 it had become almost 2,600, but such was its centralization that its people. felt the need of forming a borough government. This they did in 1853, making Wallingford the sixth borough to be formed in the state. The colony of New Haven was just entering its fourth decade when it sent out the pioneers who made Wallingford. That first year, which was 1669, they called the place "New Haven village." Only a year later the legislature incor- porated it as Wallingford. That pilgrimage, like the first, was led by a minister, Rev. Samuel Street, and he and his followers brought with them the spirit of church dominance that prevailed in New Haven. Thirty-eight heads of families were in the pai'ty, and there was .a systematic allotment between them of the land then included in the township, each getting six acres. These names have lieen preserved, not only in the histories, but in the making of a noble town of the true New England character. Not a few of them were substantial members of the Davenport-Eaton colony, coming over on the Hector or arriving soon afterward. Among them is the name of Thoma,s Yale, father of Elihu, and we understand from that why Yale as a family name is more con- spicuous in Wallingford than in New Haven. There was also the Eaton name, still found in Wallingford. Hall was represented by two families, and has lost nothing in the passage of tlie years. In the course of that progress has come tlie Lyman Hall who signed the Declaration of Independence as one of the dele- gates from Georgia. Abraham Doolittle, Samuel Cooke, John Broekett, Nathaniel and Jermiah and Zachariah How, John Merriman, Nathan and Samuel Andrews, Sanuiel Munson, Eleazur and John Peck, are a few of the others to make up the fonndei-s, or, as they were formally called the "planters," most of them well represented in the town toda.y. They were Puritans, and religious worship was the center of the community. But they seem not to have hastened, as did John Davenport's followers, to the building of a meeting house. In Rev. Samuel Street they had a faithful leader, and they were for several yeare able to find places in their homes where they could gather. So it was not until 1675 that the church was formally organized, and tliree years later that they decided to build the fii-st meeting house. That, when completed, was but a bare building twenty-four by twenty-eight feet, of the very primitive type. The fact that seven years previous to this, in 1671, the planters were taxed to secure funds to provide an ordained minister would indi- cate that the work of Mr. Street ceased before that. He was the first of a line of distinguished pastors, including such men as Rev. James Noyes, in the years from ]789 to 1830, Rev. Edwin R. Gilbert, from then till 1874, Rev. C. H. Dickin- son. 1886 to 1893. Rev. John J. Blair. 1894 to 1903. Rev. John Burford Parrv POSTOFFICE. WALLIXGFORD HK.H St H(MiI. JHILDIXG. WALLIXOFORD AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 321 came to the church in 1911, and for six years thrilled the people of the congrega- tion and community with his splendid and inspiring leaderehip, leaving regret- fully at the call of the large Hope church in Springfield. Rev. Edwin G. Zellars has succeeded him in favor of the church and community. Primitive as it was, the first church building served for almost a century. In 1771 it was replaced by a much larger one of three stories, which for almost another century was the ''First Church of Wallingford" in more senses than one. In 186!) this was replaced by the present noble l)uilding on ]Main street, an example of the best of its type of New England church architecture, and a credit to the town. The beginnings of the Church of England worship in Wallingford go back to 1729, but it was nearly three decades later that there was an Episcopal church building. Meanwhile, the small number of Episcopalians in town had shared with their brethren in North Haven the "Union Church" on Pond Hill. The first building in Wallingford was in 1758, and had the distinction of what was doubtless the first church organ brought to Wallingford. With all other Episco- palians the Wallingford people suffered the setback which the Revolutionary war brought to their form of worship, and it was well toward the end of the cen- tury before they got on their feet again. What is now known as St. Paul's, the outgrowth of that church, is now occupying its fourth building, its present digni- fied and churchly structure having been erected in 1869. The rector is Rev. Arthur P. Greenleaf, who is also in charge of the church of St. John the Evan- gelist in Yalesville, the only other church of this faith in town. Baptist beginnings were also found very early. The attitude which the ■'orthodox" church took toward that faith must have made their path thorny in 17o5, unless Wallingford was more liberal than most other Connecticut com- munities. But though their church was organized at that date, 1817 is given as the date of the foundation of the First Baptist, whose spire now pierces the sky in the center of Wallingford. This steeple, however, was not added until 1847. It still holds, presumably that bell which Lord Wallingford of England gave to the church in 1817. The pastor in 1917 was Rev. W. T. Thayer. There is a Baptist church at Yalesville of which Rev. C. W. Longman was pastor in 1917, and a Hungarian Baptist in the borough, organized in 1914, whose pastor is Rev. Michael Fabian. The start of Methodism in Wallingford is comparatively recent, and the first church to be organized was not in the borough, but in Yalesville. It is called the First Methodist and was started in 1867. There is also a First Methodist in the borough, organized in 1895. The pastor of the former is Rev. William C. Judd, and of the latter Rev. John Moore. As with many of the other denominations, Catholicism had its beginnings considerably before there was strength for a church. It was in 1857 that a church was organized and a building erected on North Colony Street, that being the building which was found in the path of the memorable tornado of 1878. Rebuilt in 1887, it is now the Most Holy Trinity Church, of which Rev. John H. Carroll 322 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN is pastor, one of the strongest churches in Wallingford. The St. Kazimir Polish National Church was organized in 1915, and is doing a good work under Rev. Joseph Solstyiak. One of the live congregations of Wallingford todrfy meets in the Advent Church, of which Rev. Henry Stone is pastor. Incorporated in 1880, it has for almost four decades been doing an able work in the community. There is a Hungarian Reformed Church, of which Rev. Bela Kovacs is pastor, and a single synagogue of the faith of Israel. Early Wallingford had the -'church on the hilltop"; the "schoolhouse i)i every valley" followed not far behind. In 1719 there were three schools, the minimum number, it would seem, for so scattered a community as the then undivided town was. They were open to the service of the parents of the town only on payment of a fee, and gave the crudest sort of instruction. Neverthe- less, they were the foundation for the six grammar and six district schools which the town has today, in addition to its handsome High school. The esti- mated value of the plant is now a quarter of a million dollai-s, and $60,000 is the annual expenditure for the free education of Wallingford 's 2,872 cliildren of school age. John W. Kratzer is superintendent of schools and acting principal of the High school. Wallingford has a private school, college preparatory for boys, which has won success by deserving it — and the 'success is marked. The Choate School now has a wide reputation for high class and thorough instruction, and its loca- tion is in many respects ideal. Its head master is George Clare St. John, with a corps of eighteen assistants. Wallingford has a federal building of unusually attractive architecture, com- pleted at a cost of $95,000 in 1913, and standing at a prominent point on South Main Street. For securing it so soon, and securing so tine a building, Walling- ford thanks first Senator Orville H. Piatt, and second its own honored citizen, Charles 6. Phelps, formerly his secretary at AVashington, now the secretaiy of the ilanufacturers' Association of Connectieiit, always an active worker for the good of his beloved town. A postmaster and assistant, four clerks, seven local and three mounted earriere distribute from this center Wallingford 's mail to borough and town. Its age as a borough by this time has given Wallingford effective experience in municipal management, and there are few communities in the state that are better governed. Nearly a decade ago it attacked in earnest the problem of per- manent paving, and has now to show for its intelligent effort upwards of ten miles of asphalt, brick, tar and water bound macadam pavement, an ef(uipment to be matched by few boroughs of its size. It has a motorized fire department, consisting of a chemical engine company, two hose companies, a hook and ladder and a volunteer company, of which the chief engineer is John J. Luby. There is a municipal water supply plant, constructed in 1882, which conducts water by gravity, mainly from Pistapaugh Pond, four and one-half miles east of the borough, and Lane's Pond, the two together having a capacity oi nearly HOIA" TRINITY I HlKrH. \VALLIX(;F()i;l) AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 323 600,000,000 gallons. There is also an auxiliary pumping station of a million gallons' capacity. The borough has its publicly owned electric light and power plant, of which it is highly and justly proud. John E. Martin was warden of the borough in 1917. Wallingford has an adequate number of banks which for efficient manage- ment, substance and security are the match of any. The First National, with a record of over thirty-five years behind it, is capitalized at $150,000 and has a surplus of $50,000 more, over 800 accounts and deposits approaching half a million. In its foundation and management have been associated some of the most substantial men of Wallingford, such as Samuel Simpson, W. J. Leaven- worth, the late Judge Leverett M. Plubbard and Frank A. Wallace, the present head of the R. Wallace & Sons Manufacturing Company. The Wallingford Trust Company is the youngest of the banking institutions, with $50,000 capital, well ec^uipped to do a trust and savings business. Its president is Lewis M. Phelps and its secretary and treasurer C. Leslie Hopkins. The Dime Savings Bank, in existence since 1871, is a conservatively managed but most successful institution which well testifies to Wallingford 's thrift. By the last report it had deposits of $1,698,250. Its president is Henry H. Peck and its treasurer Edwin C. Northrop. Wallingford, beautiful for location, has been chosen as the site of the masonic Home of Connecticut, which is delightfully situated on the west hills of the town, where a fine building was completed in 1897. It now has several additions, and grows with its requirements. The wards of Connecticut Masonry could hardly have better surroundings or management. One of Wallingford 's state-famous institutions is the Gaylord Farm Sana- torium, which serves all New Haven county as a private place for the treat- ment of tuberculosis. Originally due to the initiative of Wallingford people, its excellent management ha.s attracted service and gifts from many wealthj' persons of county and state, and under the skillful direction of Dr. David R. Lyman it is reckoned the state's best private institution of the sort. Wallingford has a well equipped and attractive public library, established in 1881, and conducted by the Ladies' Library and Reading Room assoeia- ton. of which ]Mrs. G. Frederick Hall is president. The library had 13,717 vol- umes in 1917, and has substantial additions each year. Its librarian is Miss Minnie E. Gedney. There are some forty-six fraternities, societies, clubs and similar organiza- tions. Among them are four bodies of the Masonic order, three of the Odd Fellows, four courts of the Foresters of America, two divisions of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, one council of the Knights of Columbus, one aerie of the Eagles, one trilse of the Red Men, a lodge of the New England Order of Pi'o- tection, one of the endowment rank of Knights of Pythias, one of the Royal Arcanum, Wallingford Grange, three temperance societies and Arthur H. Dut- ton post, G. A. R., with its woman's relief corps. There are two prominent clubs, the Wallingford Club and the Wallingford Country Club. 324 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN In a commuuity which for years has made it a conscientious custom to cele- brate the nation's birthday in a sane and thoug-htful manner, one expects tviin patriotism as a matter of course. Wallingf ord 's Fourth of July events have become widely famous. So, in the crisis of war, Wallingford has never been found wanting. It is through hundreds of soldiers, sailors ^nd other war workers carrying on its share of the nation's great struggle with all its heart. It has had its one military company since 1871 — Company K of the Second regi- ment that was. At times in its existence it has been known as the Wallingford Light Guard, but in all its history it has been composed of good soldiers. They are good soldiers still, honoring their state at the front. The company went out in the fall of 1917 under the command of a captain from another town, hut witli Lieut. Dana T. Leavenworth of Wallingfoi^. And Wallingford can never lack distinction among the towns of America in the war so long as it is remembered that Major Raoul Lufbury, premier of .'American airmen on the fighting front, owns the town as his home. It is forty years since Wallingford 's calamity, as great as it was sudden, made it nationally famous at a cost too dear. There are thousands living in almost all parts of tlie country who instantly associate the name of Wallingford with "the great tornado of 1878." Even compared with the now familiar tor- nado or cyclone of the' western plains, this held and .still holds a bad eminence. The valley in which the borough lies is especially subject to violent summer storms. With hardly more than the usual warning, at 6 :15 on the evening of Friday, August 9, 1878, a rushing, twisting blast of wind, followed by torrents of water, swept southeast across the town. 'It visited especially wlmt had been "the community" section, but did not wholly miss tlie center. It was over in a minute and a half, though the deluge lasted for ten or twelve minutes. When it had pa.ssed, twenty -nine persons were dead (another died within a day or two), thirty -six were more or less seriously injured, and thirty or forty dwell- ings, with an uncounted number of barns and smaller buildings were unroofed or laid low, while two or three times that number were more or less damaged. The largest building destroyed was that of the Most Holy Trinity Catholic churcli on North Colony Street, which was wholly demolished. It was a ter- rible experience for a town of 4,500 people, and Wallingford shudders over it vet. ' , THE MASONIC TKMin.l-:, \VALLIX(;Fl)KI) CHAPTER XXXIV WALLINGFORD (Concluded) MANUFACTURING AND INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF AN IMPORTANT CENTER OF THE SlLVEll FABRICATING ART, AND ITS PRESENT-DAY PROGRESS This structure of two centuries and a half was not achieved without labor, and Wallingford prides itself that it is a community of workers. Whether in the busy central borough, with its driving wheels and smoke-pennanted chim- neys, or in the fringe of communities which industrial plants make about it, or in the setting of prosperous farms which encloses the whole, Wallingford beats with honest, intelligent industry. It is proud of that. It exults in the fame of what it produces. For whether it be a Wallingford peach or a Wal- lingford spoon or a Wallingford apple, it is a goodly product, in which the user rejoices. There is little chance for precedence in this dual fame of Wallingford. If tlie farmers of Wallingford began to get crops in 1670, the wheels of the miller began to turn by the .side of Wharton's Brook in 1674. The manufac- turing of the first century and a half, of course, before the days of modern demand or transportation, was of the primitive nature which is shown in other Connecticut towns away from tide-water, but it had a certain steady progress from the beginning. That old grist mill right, first used by the town, transferred by the town to William Tyler in 1707, a century later passed on to Charles Yale, then transferred to Samuel Simpson in 1835, was the beginning of the .silver industry of which- Wallingford, in a very true sense, was the origin and center. Yet Wallingford is not at all exclusively a silver town. Of the twenty- one considerable factories found today in the town of Wallingford only seveu are devoted to the making of silver, flat ware or white metal. These, to be sure, include the town's most important plants. ,One of them alone employs almost as many people as all the other factories put together, while the seven of them have a great majority of the workers. An impressive proof, moreover, of the emi- nence which Wallingford has in the silver industry is the fact that it contains one of the most important silver factories in the country which has remained outside of the International Silver Company combination. That is R. Wallace & Sons ^Manufacturing Company. It is the descendant of the old mill afore- said, through Samuel Simpson, its purchaser in 1835, through the Humiston Mills, which he purchased in 1847, then through the partnership, formed in 325 326 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN 1855, with Robert Wallace, to the final purchase, iu 1871, of the interest of Mr. Simpson by Robert Wallace, and the formation of the present company. It was the revelation to Robert Wallace, as far back as 1855, of the possi- bilities of the metal known as Gennan silver that started him on his career. He purchased the foi-mula from Dr. Feuchtwanger, a German chemist who had just brought it to this countrj^, and threw himself with the might and the mind of a Yankee into the new manufacture. The firm which bears his name today is the summary of his success. In the largest factory of his native town, iu rooms with a floor space of over five acres, employing upward of 1,200 peo- ple — skilled craftsmen, mechanics, artists of all sorts — is made an endless vari- ety of sterling silver flat ware, hollow ware, toilet ware and novelties, silver plated ware of an even greater variety, which goes to almost every country of the world. When the International Silver Company was organized, there were in Wal- liugford three other important silver making factories. The largest of these was Simpson, Hall, Miller & Company, the outgrowth of the company of his own which Samuel Simpson formed in 1866, after Robert Wallace had purchased his interests. Shortly afterward Mr. Simpson organized the company under its present name. It is Factory L of the trust, and makes an important line of silver sterling and plated ware. Over forty years ago there was in Wallingford a Shaker community of some size, and with thrifty instinct they turned to the making of silver goods. The lake or pond iu the upper part of the borough still bears their name — Community Lake. When their diminishing numbers gave up the struggle in Wallingford and went to join forces with a community else- where, a Wallingford company, which afterward became the Watrous Manu- facturing Company, purchased their plant. It is now iu the trust as Factory P. There remained one firm, established in 1871, the Simpson Nickel Silver Company. That in turn was absorbed as Factory M. The three factories together now employ the greater part of a thousand people. There are three smaller plants, two of them of Rogers affiliation, which remain independent. The Dowd, Rogers Company makes silver plated ware and novelties. The S. L. & G. H. Rogers Company makes silver plated table ware. This is a $250,000 company, and George M. Hallenbeck is its president. The Wallingford Company, Inc., makes electro plated flat ware, employing about 200 people. The New York Insulated Wire Company, with half a million dollars capital, was established in 1884, and is the second oldest concern of its line in the United States. Some twenty years ago there was in Wallingford a Metropolitan Rub- ber Company, and in 1889 the New York Insulated Wire Company, outgrowing its quarters in Reading, Mass., moved to Wallingford and occupied with the rubber company its factory on Cherry Street. The rubber company retired from business about 1903, and since then the wire company has occupied and enlarged the factory. ' It now employs about 300 workers, and produces annually some millions of feet of rubber covered wires and thousands of pounds of insulating R. WALLACE AND SOXS' MAXUFACTURIXCi COMTAXY. \VALLIX(:;F0RD FACTORY L OF THE IXTERXATIOXAL SILN'ER COJIPAXY, '\\ALLmGFORD AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 327 tapes and compounds. It lias a market for its goods not only all over the coun- try but in the far corners of the earth, supplying leading electrical concerns as far away as Mexico, South America, South Africa and Japan. Its main offices are in New York city, and it has branches in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Japan. Its president is C. H. Wilcox of New York, and its general manager is William Poole, assisted by Walter Ilill and A. C. Brooks. Wallingford has been making fireworks for over forty years, and its M. Baekes' Sons Fireworks Company is one of the old concerns in a business iu which this country has taken a lead in the last few decades. Not only that, but it is estimated that it supplies ninety per cent, of the toy cap, torpedo and firecracker trade of the United States, and besides sends quantities of goods to Canada, South America and Australia. Its Star Brand is a familiar one to celebrators in a large part of the world. It has withal made every effort to conform its product to the requirements for a saner type of holiday explosive, and everything it makes is combined with such accuracy as to reduce the liability of accident to the lowest point. It employs some seventy-five skilled workmen, and all its ownei-s and managers live in and are prominent in Wallingford. Its factoi-y is on Wallace Street, and its officers are: Charles Baekes, president; Mi.ss Kate Baekes, secretary; Henry R. Baekes, treasurer. The company was organized in 1904, with a capital of $50,000. It has always been progi-essivc, and its lines are constantly increasing and developing novelty in the hands of experts and inventors. The business of H. L. Judd Company, makers of upholsterers' hardware, bright wire goods, metal fancy goods and such products, was started iu the late 'sixties by H. L. Judd. In 1879 John Day, now president, came in as a partner, and in 1884 the business was incorporated as H. L. Judd & Company, being sixteen years later, on the death of Mr. Judd, changed to its present form. It has grown to a capital of $350,000, and employs over 1,000 hands. Its Walling- ford plant now makes brass goods alone, but it has a wood cui-tain pole factory in East Chattanooga, Term. Its factory in Brooklyn was combined with the Wallingford shops to the enlargement of the latter. It has offices and show rooms at two points in New York city, btit remains, as it was in the beginning, a strictly Wallingford industry. It makes enormous quantities of. high grade goods, which are widely known as a famous Wallingford product. The W. A. Ives Manufacturing Company, wood boring tools, is another of the substantial firms of Wallingford, established 1830. It has a capital of $50,000 and employs a large force. Its president is C. J. Dunham. Other manufacturing concerns are less conspicuous in size, but each has its importance. Five of them create the village of Yalesville, where the C. I. Yale Manufacturing Company makes chemicals, the William Brisk & Sons Manu- facturing Company makes coffee percolators, the Charles Parker Company makes hardware, the Connecticut Screen and Cabinet Company makes cabinet work and window screens and Brown & Wilcox make cement block and artificial 328 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN stone. The Jeunin^ & Griffiu Manufacturing Company makes machinists' tools at Tracy, and incidentally makes the Tracy village. Several other industries make up the goodly company, among them being the Eastern Woodworking Company, woodwork and handles; W. J. Hodgette Paper Box Manufacturing Company, paper boxes; Paul A. Koletzke, wagons; Malmquist Brothers, die sinkers ; Oddy & Son, wagon and auto wheels ; Wilbur Company, celluloid. This is, it might seem, the substance of the borough and town of Walling- ford. But it could not live except for the agriculture which improves the town acres of which the manufacturing plants, large as they are, occupy but a little part. Moreover, Wallingford is almost as widely and altogether as favorably known for its produts of farm and orchard as for its manufactures. And thougii one might not expect to find it so, the industry of farming, on a large scale is younger in Wallingford than is manufacturing. The pioneer in the raising of peaches dates his first orchard investment only from 1880, when Elijah Hough set out 100 trees. Now, one who rides by train through Wallingford in the season finds its hillsides so glowing with the pink beauty that he wonders if nothing but peaches grows in that region. The facts are more definite. It is estimated that Wallingford raises something over a quarter of a million baskets of peaches annually, and in an especially good year the crop is much larger than that. There are now ten large growers besides Mr. Hough, with some 62,500 bearing trees, and this does not take into account some scores of smaller growers. In 1904 W. A. Henry, formerh' dean of the Agricultural College of Wis- consin, purchased Blue Hills farm, some 300 acres on the western slopes of the Quinnipiac valley, and clearing considerable acres of its abandoned land, planted them with peach, apple, pear, cherry, Japanese plum and quince trees, until about 125 acres are so set. Ten years later of peaches alone 25,000 baskets were Iiarvested. The professor testifies as an expert that Wallingford land, wliile not notably rich, is peculiarly adapted to the production of these fruits, and urges his neighbors to put more faith in their soil. There is nearby supply for starting such orchards, for in the town also is the Barnes Brothers Nursery Company, started in 1900 and incorporated four years later. It is the most extensive producer of fruit trees and plants in Ncav England, supplying fruit gi-owere in New England, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. In Fredonia and Dansville, New York, it has branch nurseries for products which cannot be economically grown in Wallingford. Its nurseries produce all manner of fruit, small fruit trees and shrubs and shade trees, occu- pying 125 acres. Barnes Brothers also have 550 acres in farm land and peach orchards. Faith in the agricultural possibilities of Wallingford is not rare, as hun- dreds of small farms testify. The town is within easy shipping distance of New York and Boston, so that in addition to the local and nearby markets, there is ready means of disposing of the product. The railroads are convenient, and the H. L. JUDD MANUFACTURING CX3., WALLINC4F0RD CXJENER OF MAIN AND CENTER STREETS, WALLINGFORD AND EASTEKN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 329 roads to the nearby towus steadily improve, while the motor truck is coming to be more dependable than the railroad. The success of Wallingford is a matter of team play rather than of individual distinction. It has contributed its share of men great in the work and counsel of state and nation. But the story of the men who make it today is told mainly in this record of church and education and industry. Names like Frank A. Wallace, C. H. Tibbits, John Day, Charles G. Phelps and Charles Backes in manufacturing; C. W. Leavenwortli, F. il. Cowles, Lewis il. Phelps and Henry W. Peck in banking; Eev. J. Burford Parry, Rev. Arthur P. Greenleaf, Rev. Edwin G. Zellers, Rev. John H. Carroll and Henry Stone in the churches; George Clare St. John and John W. Kratzer in the schools; Dr. David R. Lyman, Dr. John H. Buffum, Dr. Irving E. Brainerd and Dr. William S. Rus- sell in medicine; the late Judge Leverett M. Hubbard, Judge John G. Phelaii, Judge Oswin H. D. Fowler, Michael T. Downes and Charles A. Harrison in law ; E. J. Hough and A. T. Henry in agi-iculture — these indicate to the discerning something of the reason why Wallingford today is the substantial, prosperous community it is. CHAPTER XXXV BRANFORD ORIGINS OF AN IMPORTANT OLD COLONIAL TOWN, AND THE EVOLUTION FROM THEM OP A LIVELY, MODERN MANUFACTURING ANQ.. FARMING COMMUNITY When, in the spring of 1644, the ten-itory of Totoket was sold by the New Haven proprietors to Mr. Swaine and certain others who had lately come down from Wethei-sfield, it was described as "a place fit for a small plantation, betvnxt New Haven and Guilford. ' ' As then bounded, there were some forty-five square miles of it. and it compared well with other plantations except the very large one that Guilford was before Madison was set oif from it. And it was a goodly plantation. Branford, like Guilford, received its original settlement independently of New Haven. The New Haven colonists had land to spare, and wanted neighbors. They seem to have offered inducements to such desirable planters as Mr. Swainc and his associates from Wethersfield, and the Rev. Abraham Piersou and his followers from Southampton, Long Island, proved to be. Samuel, brother of Theophilus Eaton, had obtained a grant of tlie Totoket part of the second pur- chase from tlie Indians, representing that he wished it for such friends as he might bring over from England. He sailed away then, and on his return to England .seems to have lost his taste for the New World; at least, he did not come back, and the land remained unoccupied. There was an incident between this grant and tlie time of the actual settle- ment whose close approach to conditions changing the whole face of southern New Haven County seem to have been overlooked. The Dutch explorers were always prospecting, and within two or three years after Samuel Eaton sailed away, they entered the mouth of Branford River. There they set up stakes, and established a trading post. Then they too sailed away, and virtually they did not come back. We are likely never to get the whole story of "Dutch House Wharf" at Branford; perhaps there is nothing to tell. But something seems to be lacking of explanation why the Dutch failed to retain their sense of the natural advantages of the Branford location. Totoket, "the tidal river," was the poetic Indian name. It still remains as a place name, still is applied to that commanding cliff which stands near the bounds between what was upper Branford and what still is upper Guilford. Brenford or Brainford, a town on the Brent dose to London, was the place of 330 OLDEST HOUSE IN BRANFORD Built in 1666. Orijiinally a fort. Mado intu a lioiiso by a Mr owiUT in the Rovnhitionaiv War. ]!■ Plumli. Danirl Averill II ill till' Avcrill Kaiiiilv 11,") years. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 331 origin of some of the immigrants. So, with eventual changes, Branford it became. The settlers found their Indian associates good neighbors, the latter appreciated the white man's protection, and together they prospered. There is a fairly good record of the names of those who came down froui Wethersfield, and of those who came out from New Haven to join them. The personnel of the party that came with Rev. Abraham Piei-son has not been preserved. The reason for that is, no doubt, that the stay of the latter was comparatively brief. They had come from Southampton because they preferred the New Haven style of government. But when, in 1664, by the recklessness of Charles II in boimding New Netherlands on the east by the Connecticut River, they found themselves ostensibly in Dutch territory, while the others protested but remained, the Rev. Abraham Pierson and his followere folded their tents like the Arabs, and quietly stole away to Newark. The real leader of the Wethersfield party, who was pastor in the beginnings of the Branford church, was Rev. John Sherman. He removed to Watertown on the coming of Mr. Piereon. William Swaine, or Swain, and his sons Samuel and Daniel, Richard Harrison, Robert Rose, Thomas Whitehead, Edward Fris- bie, John Hill, John Norton, Samuel Nettleton and Edward Treadwell, were among the other members from Wethersfield. Thoma.s Morris, Thomas Lup- ton, George and Lawrence Ward and John Crane came out from New Haven. There were two other early settlers whose status is of interest. The comere in 1644 found Thomas Mulliner and Thomas Whitway on the ground. The former was something of an adventurer, described as "a restless and independent spirit." He had made his purchase from the Indians, had settled near the sea and naturally regarded the later arrivals somewhat as usurpers. They never got along with him, but when he died in 1690, they made a bargain with his wife and son to trade their land at what had come to be known as " Mulliner 's Neck" for a tract of 200 acres in the northwestern section of the town. From then the Mulliner name is identified with North Branford. So with the name of Thomas Whit- way, who made no trouble for the early party because his place was in Foxon. But he also was independent, though some effort has been made to show that he was with the Wethersfield immigrants. There are. in the early story of Branford 's ancient church features that reveal much of the human nature of the planters and their descendants, and appeal to us today with some little humor. They do not concern the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Russell, who came to the pulpit of Abraham Pierson the first in 1686, and remained until his death in 1731. His was truly one of the great pastorates of Connecticut, and his descendants are among the noblest of Bran- ford and North Branford. It was in his house in Branford, the most authentic records prove, that the foundations of Yale were morally and spiritually, and probably legally laid. He was no small part of the force which brought Yale eventually to New Haven. He was a man of power and vision, and built as wisely for all Branford. But before Pastor Russell there was a church period which reveals some- 332 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Ihing of the unformed nature of the community from 1666 to 1686. We are told hv one authority that Pastor Piei-son provided a successor in the pei-son of Rev. John Bowers, a graduate of Harvard who had been brought to New Haven as a teacher, but the further records of his work in Bi-anford are somewhat indistinct. In fact, it appears that the twenty years between the notable pas- torates was one in which tlie people indulged in a practice which formerly deliglited New England chvu-ches, that of candidating. Thei-e were thirteen or fourteen men in that period, one authority says. Soon after Mr. Russell "s death began, in 1733, the interesting pastorate of Rev. Philemon Robbius. He was a man of power and character, we may judge, but rather advanced, in some respects, for his people and times. For about 1741 arose as nearby as Wallingford certain of a strange sect known as Baptists. There had come to Mr. Robbins's congregation from Wallingford a lady who held to that faith, and she brought it about that he was invited to go up and preach, one Sunday in the following January, to the people with whom she had worshipped. In the frateimity of his spirit, he went, and preached two ser- mons. The act came near to being his destruction, as far as Brauford was con- cerned. It appeals strongly to our sense of the ridiculous that the people of the Branford Church actually called a solemn council and haled Mr. Robbins before it on serious charges of having "in a disorderly manner" preached to the Bap- tists of Wallingford. The act he cheerfully admitted; the disorder they did not prove. And instead of casting Mr. Robbins out, the result was a firmer establishment of him in the hearts of tliose of his people who remained loyal to him. These were not all, however. A substantial number regai'ded his rec- ognition of the Baptists as a mortal sin, and went away and formed an Ejjiscopal church. Mr. Robbins's death in 1781 closed another remarkably long pastorate. In the next ccnturv' he has had some able successors, among them Rev. Lynde Huntington in the early period and Rev. C. W. Hill, Rev. Cyrus P. Osborne and Rev. Henry Pearson Bake in the later. Rev. Thomas Bickford was with the church from 1889 to 1892, and Rev. T. S. Devitt from 1893 to 1909. He was followed by Rev. Seelye K. Tompkins, who also was found a wanderer from the path of conservatism, and not aU of the people followed him fully. There was not so decided a split a-s at the earlier time, but some who failed to approve of Mr. Tompkins's ways as to church management rather than as to belief felt for a time constrained to wor.ship elsewhere. But he had a loyal following, and his ability seems to have been recognized in his call in 1916 to a large church in Cincinnati. He was succeeded by Rev. Theodore B. Lathrop, who has proved a most acceptable leader. The number, it seems, of those dissenters from the liberal Rev. Philemon Robbins wa.s not large. Probably before that tliere were those inclined to the Church of England form of worship, and these and the dissenters joined to form what has become Trinity parish. The date given is 1748, but it was 1784 before there was an\i:hing but a missionary church, or a church building was SOLDIERS' JIOXUJIENT. BKAXFORD THE OLD ACADEMY, liRAXFORD AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 333 erected. After that was provided in 1786 there was a long succession of rectors, few of whom remained as much as ten years. In the present period the churcli has had Rev. Melville K. Bailey, from 1885 to 1891 ; Rev. F. B. Whitcome, 1891 to 1894 ; Rev. George I. Brown, fi-om 1895 to 1898 ; Rev. Henry W. Winkley, 1899 to 1906, and since then Rev. George Weed Barhydt, whose present place of influence in the Branford community is a commanding one. Its first houses of worship were, like their neighbors of the time, crude pieces of architecture. Its present dignified and advantageously situated edifice was built in 1852, and its jjarish house was added in 1880. Some embers of a former strife blazed up again when in 1838 some Baptists from Wallingford proposed to establish a church of that faith in Branford. There was opposition as soon as they sought a site for a building. For a time they worshipped in private houses. Their first public baptism was held in the river near Neck Bridge in 1838, and naturally attracted a crowd. Finally the town fathei-s kindly consented to let the new brethren build on the site of the old whipping post on the green, and there they did in 1810. The building was improved in 1866, and still serves the people. Rev. D. T. Shailer was the first pastor. There were twenty pastors from him to Rev. P. H. Wightman, who was there for several years following 1886. The pastor at present is Rev. Walter V. Gray. The Congregational Church at Stony Creek was started in 1865, when Rev. Elijah C. Baldwin was pastor of the mother church. He assisted by preaching occasionally in the schoolhouse in that district, and a church building was erected in 1866. The church was formally organized in 1877, and Rev. C. W. Hill was the first pastor. It has done half a centui-y of constructive work for the village, and been served by earnest and able men. The present pastor is Rev. A. G. Heyhoe. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church was organized in 1855, though Branford was not a parish by itself until 1887. In 1876 Rev. Edward Martin was the first resident priest. The church has grown steadily from the first, and is today one of the strong congregations of its faith outside of the cities. Rev. T. J. Murray is the present pastor. The latest church to be established, dating from 1888, is the Swedish Evan- gelical Lutheran Tabor, of which Rev. Joseph D. Danielson is pastor. For its 1,600 children of school age Branford has a complete and modern equipment. The plant consists of a well equipped High school, seven graded schools and four schools in the outlying districts which, though of the eountiy type, are well managed and taught. The superintendent of schools, who is also principal of the High school, is Herman S. Lovejoy. In the High school he has a force of seven teachers. In Center district graded school there are eight rooms, at the Stony Creek school six, at the Canoe Brook school three, and at Harbor Street, Short Beach, Indian Neck and Saltonstall two rooms each. The district schools are Mill Plain, Damascus, Paved Street and Bushy Plain. The board of citizens who direct this school equipment consists of John 334 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN W. Cuuningham, chainuan ; John Van Wie, 0. C. Kelsey, J. Edwin Braiuerd, H. R. Allswortli, T. G. Fisher, W. C. Higley, E. A. Kraus, and Charles Reynolds. There was born on a humble farm just outside of the center of Branford, in 1793 a descendant in the fifth generation from that William Blackstone who was the first settler of Boston. On that same Branford farm four generations of Blaekstones before John Blackstone had lived, done their work and given substance to the town. He lived there all liis life, and died in Branford ni 1886, at the ripe age of ninety-three. He had a son, Timothy B. Blackstone, who chose a life work that took him outside the old town where his ancestors had lived so long. At eighteen he began as a rodman in the engineering depart- ment of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad. By the application of that talent for industry and hard work which he had inherited he rose to assistant engineer in construction, to division engineer in construction on the Illinois Central, to chief engineer on the Joliet & Chicago, then to president of that road. At the age of thirty-five he was made president of the Chicago & Alton, and held that position for thirty-five years. Then, at seventy, he retireil to a well earned leisure. It is the brief life storj' of one of Branford 's most distinguished sons. That career of success is marked for Branford in a manner that makes every dweller in the town pridefully bless the name of Blackstone. On an eminence in the center of the town stands one of the finest library buildings in Connecticut, one of the most beautiful to he found outside of the largest cities of the country. It is a Grecian temj^le of the purest Ix-auty, carved from Ten- nessee marble. Without, the architect, Solon S. Beeman of Chicago, has repro- duced in classic fidelity the true lines of Ionian art as shown in the Ereehtheum of Athens in the days of the glory that was Greece. Within, in marble of vary- ing tints, are wall and pier and arch and entablature, all in rich keeping with the dignity of the building. It is an edifice whieh has made Branford the praise of lovers of beauty and art the country over, and can never cease to exei't its silent influence for the betterment of all who dwell within the town. It houses a well chosen library of 34,888 books. , So did Timothy B. Blackstone, prominent, successful and wealthy man. pay peerless tribute to the memory of the father whose simple greatness made his success possible. There have been many memorials, but few that so gracefully emphasiiie hidden character. The James Blackstone ^leaiorial Library was com- pleted in 1896, at an estimated cost of $300,000, and Mr. Blackstone provided •I^^OO.OOO more for its endowment. It is held by the James Blackstone ^Memorial Library Association, Incorporated, of which the original incorpoi-ators were Thorwald F. Hammer, Edward F. Jones, Dr. Charles W. Gaylord, Edmund Zacher, William Regan and Henry W. Hubbard. The trustees now are Dr. Gaylord, president; Edwin R. Kelsey, secretary; Alfred E. Hammer, treasurer; Mr. Zacher, Mr. Hubbard and Andrew Keogh, M. A., librarian of Yale Laiiver- sity. The present Blackstone librarian is Charles N. Baxter. Two banks serve the business machinery and the thrift of Branford. The H -^ ts 2. > 2 r 5 H c i<: a: c c h- 1 ts ^ > O 'JJ f aj ?: s: ►^i^ CT' i-^ O ^ — > ^/ o ^ K W AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 335 older of tlieiu is the Brauford Savings, which is known for its sound and con- servative management, and has three (luarters of a million doliai-s in deposits. Its president is Charles Hoadley, and its treasurer Wallace H. Foote. The liranford Trust Company, of which Richard Bradley is president, Henry F. Jourdan vice president and William R. Foote treasurer, has a capital of $25,0U0 and surplus of $14,000. Branford the borough was incorporated in 1893. It provides a strong cen- tral government, and has been managed largely as a business institution. Its chief executive in 1917 was Valdemar T. Hammer. The town officers tlie same year were : Selectmen, Louis A. Fisk, John T. Sliney and J. Edwin Brainerd ; town clerk, Charles A. Hoadley; judge of town court, Edwin R. Kelsey; clerk and prosecutor of the same, John Fades and Earle A. Barker. The borough has an eflScient fire department of which Wilson Thompson is chief, consisting of two hose companies, a hook and ladder company and a chemical engine. The town has developed in the years a sufficient array of organizations and fraternities. Its twenty-five include a Masonic lodge, two lodges ^nd an encamp- ment of the orders of the Odd Fellows, a division of the Ancient Order of Hiber- nians, a council of the Knights of Columbus, two lodges of the Knights of Pythias, two lodges of the New England Order of Protection, a lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and two camps of the Jloderu Woodmen of the World. There are two temperance societies, the Branford Agricultural Society, the M. I. F. Benefit Association, Mason Rogers Post, G. A. R., and two social clubs, the Branford Home Club and the Saltonstall Club. Branford 's handsome Soldiers' monument, erected on the green in 188;'>, was provid(>d through the efforts of ]\Iason Rogers Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, which raised a fund of $5,000 for the purpose. It memorializes the soldiers who have fought for Branford in former wai-s, but there is a larger company serving the old town now. Branford had for several decades before the beginning of this war been the headquarters of a battery of the state's artil- lery, and this company went out with the others under Captain Carroll C. Hincks. Branford 's industries, says the statistician, are agriculture and the manufac- ture of malleable iron goods. When a single concern employs upward of a thousand men in a community of some 7,000 people, that covers a large part of the ground. Branford settlers were farmers at the start, but some of tlieui began to dabble in iron as early as 1655. They got the idea from the iron they found in the hills on the shore of Saltonstall. the noble lake on whose heights Governor Gurdon Saltonstall had his home in the colonial days. The iron miners, however, gave the name Furnace Pond to what had before that been Great Pond. But that wa.s only an incident. An iniinitesimal part of the tremendous weight of iron which Branford has used Has ever been mined in the town. Gone along with the iron mines are most of the primitive mills that used to be ou Beaver Brook. The Branford Lock Works, an industry established in 180f), 336 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN which fifty years later was the Squire & Parsons Manufacturing Company, has also disappeared. F. A. Holcomb, who later was a successful carriage manufac- turer in New Haven, began his industry in Branford in the 'sixties. Ten years later his factory was used for a while to make safes, but those also are of the past. So is the shipbuilding yard that used to be at Page's Point. Bran- ford's coasting trade is a memory, like the days when it was an important port of entrj", and home port for deep sea sailors. Practically all of Branford 's oysters are now raised at the Stony Creek side of the town. So it comes about that though Branford today does more manufacturing than ever before in its history, it is confined to two concerns. The beginning of the Malleable Iron Fittings Company was at Page's Point in 1855, when William II. Periy, William S. Kirkham, John and Samuel 0. Plant, William Blackstoue, Gurdon Bradley, David Beach and William Wadsworth estab- lished a factory for the production of malleable iron. It was Rogers & Had- ley afterward, but in 1864 the present corporation took hold, the far famed "M. I. F. Co." being formed. At that time the ofiScers were: President, J. J. Walworth; secretary and treasurer, E. C. Hammer; manager at Branford, T. F. Hammer; general sujierintendent, R. E. Hammer. Since then the business has developed enormously in size and even more in variety. In the heart of Branford,. where railroad communication is most coji- venient, has been created a model of American manufacturing efficiency. It has made the significant name of Hammer the slogan of Branford. Without, the factor}' is an adornment to Branford. Within, it is a dynamo of produc- tion, a magical transformer of the labor of the towai into an almost endless variety of useful "fittings" of malleable iron. It is a technical array of product, but the initiated reckon by signs they can understand that it is mighty excel- lent. The firm employs in all its departments considerably in excess of 1,000 people, and the business is rapidly growing. The company is at present capitalized at $125,000, and its officers are : President, A. C. Walworth ; secretary, J. J. Nichols ; treasurer and general man- ager, Alfred E. Hammer; superintendent of pipe fittings, Valdemar T. Hammer. Branford 's other going manufacturing concern is the Atlantic Wire Com- pany, maker of iron and steel wire. It was established in Branford in 1906 with a capital of .$25,000, and employs between fifty and 100 men. Its officers are W. E. Hitchcock, president and treasurer; M. F. Hope, secretary. In strange contrast, this hive of industry is, for a part of the year, also the abode of the supremest leisure. Branford 's shore, all the way from Short Beach to Little Harbor, is a delight to the lover of the sea. It has a coast of infinite variety, indented with creeks and bays, fringed with romantic and rocky islands, a never failing mine of joy and treasure. As far back as 1852 wayfarers from far found it, and now dwellers in Branford and New Haven and the four corners of the earth come to seek its summer paradise. Short Beach, Double Beach. Branford Point, Indian Neck and Pine Orchard are a few of V. CHAPTER XXXVI STONY CREEK THE UNIQUE SHORE EES0K11, THE CENTER OF THE QUARRY INDUSTRY, THE OYSTElt PRODUCING VILLAGE WHICH IS A PART OF THE TOWN OF BRANFORD For many years the white settlers of Branford dwelt in harmony with the Indian neighbors from whom the land had been acquired, £ind it may be that one of the reasons for the harmony was a tacit division of the land. The early settlers gravitated to some stream. The whites took the mouth of that river that rises in the heights of Totoket, and most of their habitations, for many years after the settlement, were along the New Haven side of it, near its mouth. To their Indian allies they left another and smaller stream — the "stony creek" that enters the Sound near what is now the southeastern boundary of Bran- ford. Verily it was a stony creek. Born of one branch in the heights of western Guilford, of another in the meadows of southeastern Branfoi'd, it flowed over a rocky bed to the sea. Around it for two miles up from its mouth are ledges of what looked to the farmer like valueless rock, but its bed and the shores east and west of where it meets the Sound were and are a treasure ground of sea food. Fish, but more especially clams and oysters, had, to judge from the shell-piles, abounded there for centuries before the white man first viewed the land. Long before that it seems to have been the happy hunting ground of the Indian. All the proilucts of that chase by which he lived were there in profu- .sion. Wild fowl were in its sedgj- creeks and inlets and on its meadows. Deer and the smaller animals were found there and nearby. His eye for nature's beauties was not as ours, but that romantic group of islands which lies just oflf the coa.st did not fail to appeal to him, and around their shores, in his hunt- ing trips, he may frequently have ventured in his light canoe. The rocky stream and what lies near it, the supplies of food and those same "Thimble Islands," make the modem Stony Creek. For all Stony Creek is divided, like Caesar's Gaul, into three parts, its quarries, its oyster business and its summer shore and hotel business. Of the features that make these, prob- ably the islands first attracted attention. There are about twenty-five of "the Thimbles," counting the islands to which a house might cling, and they are old in storj' and tradition. The attention of the earliest settlers of Branford was drawn to them from the tale that Captain Kidd, who scurried through the 338 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 339 Sound more or less iu the first half eeutui-j' of Branford's existence, had buried some of his ill-gotten gains on the island which afterward came to be called "Money Island." Some of the first settlers handed down the st«ry that they had seen him there ; some had even talked with him. The legend that he buried any treasure in the vicinity is little credited now; it is entirely possible that the pirate may have stoppd one or more times for shelter or supplies in some of the numerous island harbors. But there are the islands, and they have treasures exceeding any of which Kidd ever dreamed. They have a beauty of natural scenery, a .romance of variety, a fascination of sun and storm and sea of many moods, that never cease to draw and hold, and in these days jaded humans come from far for their restoration and rest. Long years ago, as a pioneer, Captain William O'Brien bought Pot Island, and erected a house there. Now there is hardly an island big enough to give foundation to a dwelling that has not one or more of summer habitations, while some of them have been transformed by wealth and art into summer fairj'lands. Their path of the sea is a free highway, and the boatman or the canoeist may find increasing joy in cruising about their labyrinth. They are largely responsible for a company of pilgi'ims as large or sometimes larger than the credited population of Stony Creek, that annually visits cottages or hotels or boarding places on Stony Creek shore or in the village. The chief of these hotels is at Indian Point, the Indian Point House, now owned by Mrs. Martha C. Maynard and conducted by her daughter, Mrs. Charles Madiera, and her husband. The Three Elms House, just inshore from this, is owned by Mrs. Maynard, and was formerly luider the same management. In the village are the Brainard House, a summer hotel, and the Bay View Inn, an all-the-year house. At Flying Point there is the Plying Point Hotel, and at Money Island the Harbor View and Money Island hotels. The story of Stony Creek's quariy industry, which makes the abiding sul)- stance of the village, is a storj' of the settlement itself. As a portion of the Branford agi-icultural community — there is some good farm land to the north- west of the village — it began very early. There is pretty definite record of the settlement there, as a pioneer in 1671, of Francis Norton. There were Nortons among the original settlers from New Haven, and the presumption is that he came from tliat way. But William Leete, who appeared to the eastward of him only two years later, undoubtedly came from Guilford. In the company of others who came soon after are the names of Richard Butler, farmer, Abraham and William Hoadlej', Frisbie, Barker, Palmer, Ilowd, Rogers and Rockwell. So they spread all over the southeastern part, of the town, and increased. By 1788 there were so many that Stony Creek, as it seems to have been called almost from the first, was made a school district. Not all of the settlers were farmers ; some were fishermen. Still others were sailors, some of them on deep waters. Stony Creek shared with Branford, for a good part of the nineteentli century, the prosperity and distinction of a Sound coasting port. No doubt the early settlers had some hazy notion that Stony Creek's stones 340 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN were valuable, but it was not adequate. They lived on through the eighteenth and nearly half of the nineteenth centuries mostly by farming and fishing, hav- ing little conception of the broader commercial possibilities that lay in their land and ott' their shoi-e. For oysteriug was in those days no more than a local industry, if it was any industry at all. The coming of the Shore Line railroad, about 1850, was the beginning of Stony Creek's awakening. Before this, no doubt, the people had realized something of the value of the stone that was in their ledges, but there was no market for it at hand, and no means of transporfc- ing it to far markets. The railroad changed all tliat, and the outsiders who came with it were not long in discovering the quarry possibilities of the place. They did not for some time, however, realize the high quality or rare value of Stony Creek's peculiar granite deposits. There were, soon after 1850, some operations for the quarrying of the stone. Most important was that of B. 6. Green, who in 1858 developed a quarry and operated it for al)out fifteen years, employing at one time as many as fifty men. But the first operation on a large scale seems to have been that of John Beattie. Stony Creek was not to have the credit of his work, however. He commenced quarrying at the far eastern conier of the village in 1870, and finding a good quality of stone, did an extensive business. But that district was set off to Leete's Island in Guilford in 1882, and all of the extensive Beattie work has gone for a Guilford industry. In 1875 the fii'st strictly local operation was commenced on the east side of the town, about a mile north of the railroad. A superior vein of stone was discovered, which seems to have been largely responsible for making widely famous the Stony Creek product. A few years later granite from this quarry was used in a part of the construction of the capitol buildings at Hartford and at Albany, New York. A system of spur tracks was laid from this plant down to the railroad. Tlie necessity for this was largely obviated when in 1893 the course of the railroad through Stony Creek was moved farther northward. The quarry business still conducted under their name was established in 1S88 by the Norcross Brothers of Worcester. Here a superior product was found, and a corporation with a quarter of a million dollars of capital now em- ploys several hundred men in the getting out of finished stone. It is red granite of an especially beautiful variety which is produced at this quarry. The following year a concern known as the Branford Granite Company, but said to have been financed largely by Brooklyn capital, opened a quarry on the west side of the creek. It employed at one time from 100 to 150 men, but this business has been absorbed by the two quarry companies which survive. The other of these besides Norcross Brothers is the Stony Creek Red Granite Company, organized by Samuel Babeock of Middletown. It has found abun- dance of a high class granite, and does a prosperous business. There was for- merly still another quarry industry, which flourished for a time, the Totoket Granite Company, which found a handsome grade of pink granite. But though the number of individual concerns has diminished. Stony Creek's AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 341 quarrj' intlustry was never so prosperous as now, and every year finds the supe- rior quality and workmanship of its product more widely known. The stone taken out here is of brilliant beauty, and much of it takes a high polish. It has been in high favor especially for monumental purposes where miusual attrac;- tiveness is desired, while for buildiug purposes the gray and white granite of Stony Creek goes, in quantities of hundreds of tons, all over the country. Even more famous are Stony Creek oysters. Long ago the oyster industry ceased to be a simple matter of raking up oysters from the sea bed, culling them and placing them on the market. But that Stony Creek has kept up with the times and the science of growing oysters the reputation of the bivalves bearing the name of the village proves. They go all over the country, and com- mand the high prices of the product that has fame. The largest gi-ower and dealer is the Stony Creek Oyster Company, with a capital of $42,000, of which Henry I. Lewis is president, Maud H. Smith secretary and Frank E. Smith treasurer. Charles E. Smith, of Flying Point, is another large gi'ower and dealer. Stony Creek has a somewhat distinct community life. In 1874 it was made the second voting district of Branford, the territoi-y included being about a mile and a half square. It has had, as noted, its own church for over half a century. Even its shore and summer places seem to be its own, and though there is no rivalry with the town which includes it, Stony Creek has a certain individuality. It is prosperous through certain highly developed industries. Little farming industry is included within its district now, most of that being of the market, garden variety, to supply those who cannot farm for tliemselves, or the summer visitors. Tlie latter make Stony Creek, for nearly six months of the year, a very busy place. The population of the hotels and cottages, the shore and the increasingly inhabited islands, makes use, in the season, of all the resources the village can supply. From two directions terminating trolleys have had considerable effect on Stony Creek. The line from New Haven, now a part of the Connecticut Com- pany's system, came through Branford and to the eastern side of Stony Creek late in the 'nineties. This makes a very close connection with Branford, with all the shore places, with New Haven. It has helped not a little in Stony Creek's prosperity. From the other direction, the Shore Line Electric Railway Company built in 1910 a branch line from the center of Guilford by the shore route almost to Stony Creek village. It was the intention, or so it was announced, to have these lines connect, and make a continuous shore route from New Haven to Guilford, but the thing has never been done. CHAPTER XXXVII HAMDEN TOWN OF MANY PARTS TFIAT ALMOST SURROUNDS NEW HAVEN, ANCIENT PLACE OF MANUFACTURES, MODERN SUBURBAN AND AGRICULTURAL TOWN It is not true that from New Haven "all roads lead to Hamden," but the traveler who would not find it so must avoid at least four of the principal high- ways leading from the city, three of the street railway lines and one of the rail- roads. For that reason it seems to envelop New Haven, though that is mostly a seeming. Stretching to the north, the northwest and somewhat to the north- cast of the smaller town of New Haven is a long, broad, rambling town of thirty-two square miles. It is over eight miles from its southern to its northern point. In width at its broadest point it is six miles. Topographically it is oth- erwise peculiar. From its far northwestern corner, a point which seems to the Now Havener unexplored territory, where the southwestern point of a height known in Cheshire as Mount Sanford juts into the town, its boundary rambles now southwest and then southeast until it strikes the West Rock ridge, to which it adheres as a magnet to a piece of soft steel, until it comes upon Pine Rock, a modest height of 271 feet. Then, as if warned that it must not pass, it stops short, and leaves West Rock for New Haven. At the northeast, it was ordained that Hamden should contain all ef the ]\Iourit Carmel range — the boundary maker saw to that. Its eastern line shoots southeast until the Quinnipiae River stops it. Then, as if somebody had been too greedy, it tunis repentantly and sharply west again. It hesitatingly meanders until it finds Mill River, when it seems to feel at home. For it follows the river in its cour.se until it is lost in lower Lake Whitney. Perhaps, in the days before the inventive Yankee made dams to stop the water to turn his wheels, there was no lake there. If so, at that corner also the line was halted by a warning eminence. For in the far southeastern corner of Hamden is Mill Rock, a 225-foot eminence that is a sort of advance guard of commanding East Rock — and that also is left to New Haven. All the way down through Haniden flows Mill River, giving it beauty and power. Mountains are its corner stones. All over it rise the everlasting hills. These also break it, in these da.vs, into communities. Some of these the city has made. Following Dixwell Avenue, one finds closely built city streets all the way, and knows not when he leaves the bounds of New Haven. But some differ- 342 ■fir- ^\A"m ^^ A.MKKKAX MILLS (ilMI'ANV. CKXTKKNILLE AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 343 ence in pavements or sidewalks catches his eye, and inquiring, he is told that he is in Highwood. And Highwood is a part of Hamden. Dixwell Avenue stiU runs on for three miles, and so, seemingly, does the city, on through what used to be called Hamden Plains, but is now called a part of Highwood. A great manufacturing district has grown up here almost in the heart of Hamden, attracted by the presence of the Northampton or "Canal" tracks of the New Haven Railroad, now largely a freight line. It is the line of least resistance for the expansion of New Haven, and has a great future as a suburb. To the northwest of this is a section of scattered farms, enclosing the " North we.st" or •'Dunbar" school district, down on the official list as "No. 12." This takes in the wildest and least settled portion of the town, but it is a section interesting in its diversity, fascinating in its natural scenery. It is a region of farms, but much of it is still untamed woodland. This takes in also the central northern section of the town, though that is naturally separated from it. This is a land of long distances, with high hills and rough country, woodlands and farms between. Here in these days farming takes mostly the form of raising milk for the nearby city, and neighboi*s are far apart. But leaving New Haven by another course, one finds himself, near its edge, in the city of the Winchester factories. Treading softly past them, for they are filled with high explosives in these days, he finds himself in another quarter of Hamden. This is Highwood, too, but on the east side of the railroad — between the railroad and the river. Here are smaller farms, market gardening plots, but mostly they are the suburban places of factory workers. This is a point midway between Hamden Plains and Whitneyville. Or most likely the wayfarer reaches Hamden by following Whitney Avenue. One knows where this street begins, but is not sure where it ends. It is Whit- ney Avenue, surely, from the point where Church Street divides in New Haven. It goes on and on, past some of the finest of New Haven residences, past Lake Whitney, over the bridge, and on toward the open country. It is Whitney Avenue in Centerville. It surely is in Mount Carmel. They say it is in Cheshire. It may also be the road to Milldale. But as soon as one leaves New Haven by this route he finds himself in one of the most interesting sections of Hamden, another point where the city has overflowed. This is a pleasant suburban community by the lake, made up almost entirely, in these days, of the homes of New Haveners. Nevertheless, it has a somewhat distinct community life. There is no sign of factory activity except that in the very edge of the city, a little further on, as the trolley runs, there is a lively spot. A mile or a little more above the bridge, just before one enters Centerville, looms up the considerable factorv' of the American Mills Company, Hamden branch. And then comes Centerville. This is not the center of the town. It really is on the far eastern edge of it. But it is the official "capital," so to speak, of the group of villages which make up Hamden. Here are the Town Hall and some stores and one of the principal 344 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN eliurches. Here is an important crossroads. For this is the point where, after much wandering, Dixwell Avenue meets Whitney. A mile and a half further on Mount Carmel begins. In effect, and seemingly by right, this is a town by itself. It ha.s its center, too, which some call Ives- ville, where there are the postoffice and some stores. The avenue proceeds placidly on, lined with some of the fine old houses which remind of ilount Carmel 's early history, on past the mountain, and presently is lost in Clieshire. Such is a glimpse of the Hamden of today. Many of its prominent char- acteristics are of recent growth. It is compact and homogeneous compared with the Hamden of twenty-five years ago. What must it have been, then, when 132 years ago Hamden was carved out of the tract of original "greater New Haven?" It did not include Mount Carmel, even then, but Mount Carmel, already established in a sort of independence, was for reasons of convenience annexed to the new town. It was named, we may suppose, from John Hamp- den, the English patriot. Its spelling was loyal to him for a time, but conven- ience triumphed over accuracy early in the town's history. The lower part of Hamden was formed, doubtless, by that same overrunning from New Haven which is evident today. The New Haven colonists knew no town limits, however. It was in New Haven that they built their first dam across Jlill River in 1686, though that was in what is now the territory of the Town of Hamden. It was not in New Haven that Eli Whitney established his famous factory, as a matter of strict geography, but in Hamden. Whitneyville, of course, was named from him, and the Whitney name was carried up through all the eastern side of the town. But in those days the Indian.s still roamed the western and northern portions of the town, and being peaceful Indians, they were permitted to dwell there for some time afterward. But the fine farming possibilities, even there, were too attractive to be missed, and the white man prevailed over all the town pretty soon after the opening of the nineteenth century. Not only is the early development of the cotton gin and of firearms manu- facture in America traced to Hamden, but there were found the progenitors of another indu.stry. Stephen Goodyear was one of the settlers of Hamden, probably long before it was set off from New Haven. It was from his line that Charles Goodyear, who made the name forever identified with the rubber industr.y, came, though he did not come from Hamden. Daniel Gilbert was one of the early settlers in the southern portion of the town. Caleb and Abraham Ailing were early identified with the upper part of that section called the "Plains," and the latter, though not a minister, acted as the first pastor of the Hamden East Plains, now the Whitneyville, church. Fi-om them came Hobart Ailing of a later time, and his son Theodore. In that same section were the Benhams, whose descendants are still found in the we.stem part of the town. The Warners mu.st have early appeared in that section, and penetrated to the far northern and northwestern borders of the town, for now they are found there and in Highwood. Other families of note in the earlier and later davs AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 345 were Mix and Ford, Simeon Bristol and his descendants. In Mount Carmel, whose origins will be traced later, many of these settlers were pilgrims from the North Haven district, and the relation of ]\Iount Carmel, in the early and even in the later times, was closer to North Haven than to the settlers from New Haven way. Not only were the farming possibilities of Hamden attractive from the time of its first discovery, but it had something of the lure of a possible El Dorado. Geologically, as has been indicated, Hamden is highly interesting. The whole region, from the gateway between Mount Sanford and Blount Carmel, is the bed of a huge prehistoric river, of which tlie little brook. Mill River, is the main remainder now. Through that gap, which shows now the width of 800 feet, mighty floods poured to the plains below. At this point, no doubt, there was a waterfall that, if we had it in our day, would cause us to marvel less at Niagara. The result of the action of this water is seen in our time in numerous bowls and depressions all over the ^Mount Carmel and Hamden district, idly wondered at by the many, studied luiderstandingly by the geologists. And there were the mild mineral deposits which usually accompany an in- teresting geological district. Copper lias been mined on Mount Carmel, though not in any profitable quantities. Iron and feldspar were found at other points. The only profitable mineral workings in the town today are the trap rock quar- ries at Mount Carmel, York ^Mountain and Pine Rock, and these are not com- plained of as lacking in reward for their workers. From the beginning Hamden has sliown a sharp but not unfamiliar contrast of the agricultural and the industrial, as it does more and more of the urban and rural. The stream, as we have seen, early attracted the manufacturer. The Whitney industries, succeeding the older grist mill, early gave way to tlie beginnings of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Later that site came into the hands of the Acme Wire Company, and there was established one of the strongest of the younger manufacturing institutions of the locality. It was not reckoned, however, a Hamden institution, for few recognized that the line between New Haven and Hamden came so far south of the lake. But when in 1913 it outgrew the quarters at the head of the lake and settled on Hamden Plains, it was surely known to be in Hamden. Here it has a large, new and modern factory, and is conducting one of tlie most important manufacturing plants in the region of New Haven. This section of Hamden Plains is in these times the real manufacturing part of Hamden. Some years before this the Mayo Radiator Company, which makes radiators for a good share of the gasoline motor cars of the country, built a large modern factory in the space between Dixwell Avenue and the Canal Rail- road at the corner of Putnam Avenue. The Acme Wire Works came in just above. In January of 1918 the Marlin-Roekwell Corporation, the second gi-eat munitions industry which the war had created in New Haven, started a factory 400 by 140 feet just south of the Mayo Radiator factory. It was to be completed by March 15, and an enterprising contracting firm blasted the excavation for 346 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN it out of an earth four feet deep in frost, laid its foundations in tlie hardest winter in fifty years, and finished the building, a monument to American de- termination and speed, in contract time. In that same vicinity the Economy Concrete Company has a plant. The Whitney-Blake Manufacturing Company, makers of electric fittings, has just moved out from the eity to a large new factory, making another of a notable group of concerns. Augurville, on the bank of Mill River a mile below Centerville, got its name in the middle of the last century from its manufacture of boring tools. There in 1843 Willis Churchill established a factory, whose operator ten years later was the Willis Churchill Manufacturing Company. In 1863 it was W. A. Ives & Company, and in 1889 it was the Haraden Manufacturing Company. Then Henry P. Shares, Charles I. and Jared Benhara acquired it. At that time it employed about sixty men, and for some years later remained a prasperous concern. Gradually, however, it diminished, and now has entirely disappeared. New Haven claims Charles Goodyear. It also claims the facton- which for more than half a century has been making rubber goods under his 'pat- ent. But both are really of Hamdeu origin. The first factory of Leverette Candee used water power, and it was on Mill River just below Centen'ille. It was established in 1843, and operated there for twenty years. Then it moveil to New Haven. In 1863 Bela Maun and others acquired this factory and established there a textile business, which in 1865 became the property of the New Haven Web Company, and was operated under that name for nearly fifty years, prospering and extending its facilities. It had one of the most important water privileges on the river, and made the most of it. In 1915 it was ac(|uired by the American Mills Company, which a year or two later erected a new factory at the corner of Orange Avenue and Front Street in Allingtown, on the far side of New- Haven, retaining the old factory as its "Hamden Branch." The manufacture of bricks was known in Hamden as early as 1645, promoted by capitalists from New Haven. The red clay which is the mother earth of much of Hamden is well adapted for this product, but as the years have pa.ssed the center of the brick making industry has gravitated toward North Haven, and today there is ven^ little brick making anywhere in Hamden. A mile up the river from the web factory the Clark silk mills were estab- lished as early as 1875 by R. S. Clark, who before that had been making bells at this spot. It was a prosperous industry for a time, but some time ago most of the traces of it disappeared. At Centerville the J. T. Heniy Manufacturing Company has a factory where it makes pruning shears and hardware of similar nature. The W. F. Gibbs Manufacturing Company makes organ stop knobs at a plant on Central Avenue. The old factory of the Acme Wire Company at the very edge of New Haven, the historic side of the old Eli Whitney Works, is now occupied by the Sentinel Manufacturing Company and the Sentinel Auto Gas Appliances Company, which make gas stoves and soldering and iron heaters. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 347 In Hamden. aside from Mount Carmel, are four churches. The oldest of these is the Congregational Church at Whitueyville, or, as it was called when the church was organized in 1795, "Hamden East Plains." In those days the "Plains"' extended much farther east than now, and the .settlers in the western part of the town thought it not too far to come over to the east side to church. Abraham Ailing served as the pastor of this church for its first twenty-five years. He was not educated as a minister, but he was a man of zeal and power, and the people heard him gladly. He did a quarter century of real foundation work. The present church building was erected in 1834. For fifty years from 1838 Rev. Austin Putnam was its pastor, and under him the church grew with the growing community. In the later period it has had various pastors, among them Rev. Charles F. Clarke, now practicing law in New Haven.. The pastor since 1912 has been Rev. Adam R. Lutz, who is leading its people in a notable service to one of the most rapidlj' growing of New Haven's suburbs. Grace Church, Episcopal, in Centerville, dates from 1790. One of its early rectors was Rev. Charles W. Everest, who later established in the near vicinity the Rectory School. One of the most distinguished rectors the church has had was Rev. Joseph Brewster, father of Bishop Chauncey B. Brewster, who had charge of it for two years following 1881, when he retired from his thirty years' service with Christ Church of New Haven. He was its rector again from 1892 to 1894. At present Rev. Albert C. Jones is rector. The ^Methodist Church at Hamden Plains was founded in 1834. It long served as a communit.y center, until the pushing out of city life, and the establishment of a large factory district in the vicinity, materially changed the character of the community. The somewhat forbidding piece of architecture which had served as a church building for half a century was de,stro}'ed by fire in 1917, and just at present the church is making shift with Ladies Aid hall. The Catholic Church at Highwood was established about 1890, and one of its first pastors was Rev. John T. Winters, who was a member of the Hamden Board of Ediication in 1894 and several years following, and a man highly re- spected by tlie whole town. The church is in a rapidly growing suburb, and does an excellent work. The present pastor is Rev. W. Kiernan. Hamden has for some years past farsightedly met its school problems, which are intensified by the rapid growth of such sections as Highwood and Whituey- ville. Its outlying district schools, though under the same difficulties as district schools in other towns, are kept up to a good standard, while some of the new buildings near the city, notably the ones recently built on Church Street in Hamden Plains and on Putnam Avenue in Whitneyville, are the equal of any in the city. Hamden provides New Haven high school facilities for its children. There have been .some excellent private schools in the town, among them the Rectory School, which in the days of Mr. Everest and Mr. Raymond who succeeded him was an excellent military school for boys. Hamden Hall, conducted by J. P. Cushing, formerly principal of the New Haven High school, is an institution of high class. CHAPTER XXXVIII MOUNT CARMEL THE IXDEPENDENTLY FOUNDED AND DISTINGUISHED SECTION OF HAMDEN THAT LIES IN THE SHADOW OF THE FAMOUS OLD "SLEEPING GIANT " Leagues off, the contour of his massive head Stands boldly out against the azure sky ; He lies serenely in his roek-bound bed, While rippling streamlets pass him swiftly by. From many city streets, his distant outline Touches the vision with delicious thrill. And longing fancies eagerly incline Your footsteps onward to his dreamy hill. — Charles G. Merriman, "The Sleeping Giant." The highest point of land anywhere along the Connecticut shore is that brief range of near-mountains which stretches from east to west across a part of the northern end of the town of Hamden, and gives name to that distinct community known as Mount Carmel. Known to older people in former days as the "Blue Hills," it has caught the imagination of the younger generation as "The Sleep- ing Giant." It is no mere name of fancy. From far out at sea the voyager, catching the first view of Connecticut shore as it rises in higher background to low-lying Long Island, sees the plain contour of a reclining giant of the hills, sleeping his sleep of centuries. Or the traveler by land, as he rounds the top of higher eminences to the north, and "gets his first view of the broad, blue Sound, finds lying at his feet the landmark so familiar to New Haven and the region 'round about. From ]\Iount Tom and its vicinity, from many a commanding height to the far north, this .southern Connecticut eminence, showing distinctly on unusually clear days, is known if not familiar. New Haven, as one approaches it from the water, is easily known by its East and West rocks. But always looming to the north, double their height, grand in his rude beauty, inspiring in his unchanging rest, is the faithful giant in his age- long sleep. To nature lovers of all the country around he is dear, and to not a 348 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 349 few who have made his closer acquaintance he has an increasing- and unending charm. It is not surprising that this challenging height should liave attracted the first adventurers from the New Haven colony on beyond the plains of Hamden, to make their homes beneath its shadow. Faithful readers of the old Scriptures, fired by the holy faith which led on the heroic prophets of old Israel, the first settlers saw here a New World height which appealed to their imagination like the historic mount where Elijah fought his great fight with the prophets of Baal, and won the victory for truth and righteousness. So they called it ;\Iount Carmel, and Mount Carmel it has remained to this day. This probably was not until some time after the beginning of the eighteenth century. Venturesome pioneers had much earlier than that gone out from the shelter of the New Haven stockade, but what became Mount Carmel was ten miles from the Market Place, and that was a long journey into the wilderness. Whether or not he was the first, there is authentic record that Daniel Bradley made the plunge in 1730. He seems to have come from toward the center of the colony, though we know that earlier than this New Haven colonists had €Stablished themselves in North Haven as neighbors to Mount Carmel. Perhaps a good many of those who came to join Bradley in the early days of his venture came across from North Haven, but however that may be, by 1757 there" were settlers enough in Jlount Carmel to earn for it a colonial charter. The granting of this made I\Iount Carmel the earliest recognized part of the town of Hamden, and justifies the estimate of it as a distinct connnunity, although it has since 1786, when the latter was chartered, been a constituent part of Hamden. It was a noble, sturdy company of pioneers who came with or followed hard after Bradley. From their records in the countrj- churchyards could be written an elegy as noble as that of Gray. ]Most of them are names that live still in Mount Carmel parish ; all of them are names that have made and still make Connecticut or wider history. The foundations laid by Daniel, Joel, Amasa, Sterling and Horace Bradley: Amos, Joseph and Henry Peck; Roderick and Ezra Kimberly ; Nathaniel Tuttle and his descendants ; Ithamar, Job and Simeon Todd ; the successive Jonathan and later John Dickermaus and a goodly group of their associates stand firm, and on them rests a citizenship that makes Mount Carmel of today, in addition to its many natural advantages, a most desirable place of residence. II At foundation ^Mount Carmel has been and remains chiefly a farming com- munity. But it ha.s had its manufacturing institutions. Some of them are of the past, and ruins mark their sites. Mill River near its source, as it did near the point where it enters New Haven, early tempted those who knew the pos- sibilities of water power. Where else did it get its name, indeed, than from the mills which, from the earlv eighteenth centurv until now have marked its banks 350 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN all the way from "The Steps" at .Mount Carmel to the head of New Haven harbor? There are traditions, doubtless founded on fact, but lacking definite record, of mills for the grinding and drying of corn and other grains, for the sawing of lumber and the making of cloth at "The Steps." There the second dam across Mill River was built, the first being that erected for New Haven's town grist mill before 1686, where later Eli Whitney established his first factory. The Mount Carmel dam started a scries of industries, all of which are now gone. They were, in something like their order, a grist mill, a mill for fulling cloth, and later the Mount Carmel Axle Works. This in turn was succeeded by the Liberty Cartridge Company, whose factory was destroyed by fire in 1916, since which time the sound of wheels turned by water at that spot has given place altogether to the grind of the stone crusher, as it eats relentlessly into the head of the old Giant. This last, an industry operated by outside owners, is one in which Mount Carmel does not especially rejoice. One manufacturing industry, ilount Carmel's substantial and surviving one, remains at the central point known as Ive.sville. That is the brass and iron specialties factory of Walter W. Woodruff & Sons, founded in 1835 and enjoying good prosperity. Another foundry, located on Whitney Avenue in the upper part of Ivesville. never depended on water power, but was to avail itself of the transportation facilities of that wonderful canal which was opened in 1825 from Farmington to New Haven, and caused more or less commotion in cutting its way through Mount Carmel. That was the factory of the Mount Carmel Bolt Company. It had some years of prospei'ity, but was succeeded later by various occupants of its factory up to nearly 1900, when it was mostly abandoned, ex- cept for a brief time when the Strouse Corset Company of New Haven tried to ruti it as a branch corset factory, but found it too disjoined from the main plant and from the city. Another stone crusher plant is located on York ilountain, west of Whitney Avenue, just below the plant which on the other side of the street is eating into the mountain itself, and from these two plants hundreds of tons of pulverized trap rock weekly go to serve for highways and cement con- struction to New Haven and the regions about it. Mount Carmel has been a thoroughfare for a century. It is on the way to the important town of Cheshire, and through it to Southington, new Britain and Farmington. It is one of the routes to Waterbury. So it was that as early as 1722 there was what is called a "path" running through the town somewhat northward. It had to get over a real obstacle in that region between what is now the Mount Carmel trolley station and the southern boundary of Cheshire. Where the modern traveler by steam roads, by trolley or by motor car bowls along over a level highway, there was, when the eighteenth century came in and for some years thereafter, a rock-ribbed continuation of the head of the old Giant westward toward the range that leads down to West Rock. Dynamite was unknown. Road building at that time followed the line of least resistance when it could, the line of greatest effoi't when it must. In this case the makers of the "path" climbed. Trap rock, which is the foundation of that obstacle. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 351 naturally shaped itself into steps. The travelers over that path at the first, on foot or on horseback, got over the declivity by following a natural stairway as hazardous, perhaps, as that down which Israel Putnam dared the redcoats to follow liim at Horseneck in 1779. A little later, in 1798, when a turnpike was built over which chaises could go, the trap rock was drilled out a little, the grade made easier and th^ steps were tilled in with gravel to make some sort of a high- way, but the traveler who navigated it must have felt that he earned his passage without having to give up tlie additional tribute which the toll keeper collected a little further down. Since then, things have happened to ■"The Steps," as tradition still calls the spot. Tlie makers of the Farmington Canal, of whii-h we have already learned, came along in 182.5 or a little earlier, and blasted a waterway through. This was not sufficient, however, for the New Haven & Noi'thampton Railroad Company, for its "cut" through the ledge in 1882 is the best evidence we have today of what a real obstacle it was. Still later, in 1902, and again when the cement state highway was built in 1914, it was found necessary to smooth fur- tlier this rough place. The resiilt is that today there is no evidence that the average traveler notices of the, ancient hurdle. The turnpike remained a "toll line" up to 1850, despite the almost constant struggles of Blount Carmel citizens, in the half century previous, to get it re- moved. Meanwhile the canal had had its brief day and ceased to be. There was a period of over twenty years after that when they needed a free highway, for it was the only means of travel through Jlount Carmel northward. The railroad came about 1849 — that railroad which will be known as "the Canal road" to the end of the chapter, no doubt. Its passenger carrying function, as concerned Mount Carmel and Cheshire, largely passed with the opening of the New Haveu- Waterbury trolley about 1904, and in 1917 the road became almost exclusively a freight line. Two churches serve the religious needs of ^loinit Carmel in these days. The first is of that type which came with the foundations of most of oiir New England communities. The Congregational Church was established in 1757, and gave being to the Mount Carmel parish. It has pur.sued the even tenor of its way in the centuries since, being served by men of devotion and power. Some of the more notable of its later pastors are the Rev. Jason Noble Pierce, who went from it to the Davenport Church of New Haven, thence to Oberlin, Ohio, and is now pastor of the Second Congregational Church of Dorchester, Mass. ; the Rev. Harris E. Starr, who was called from Mount Carmel to Pilgi-im Church of New Haven, and is now exalting the service and salvation of the Cro.ss "somewhere in France"; the Rev. Frederick T. Persons, who, called from the Woodbridge Church in 1911, went after three years' pastorate at Mount Carmel to be librarian at the Bangor Theological Seminary ; and the Rev. William G. Lathrop, who suc- ceeded Mr. Persons, coming from Shelton, Conn., and still serves the church, an inspiring pastor and teacher. The church edifice stands on a historic spot in the pleasantest part of the village, substantially where there has been a church 352 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN building from the first. Next to it on the south is the oldest house now standing in :iIount Carmel or Hamden, built by the Rev. Nathaniel Sherman. He was pastor of the church from 1769 to 1772, and the building of the house occupied nearly all of his pastorate. It has not been used as a parsonage for many years, though it is in an excellent state of preservation. The present church edifice was completed about 1835. In 1912, in the pastorate of the Rev. Harris E. Starr, and largely through his well directed efforts, the commodious and well equipped parish house was built adjoining the church on the north. The other church is St. Joseph's Roman Catholic, founded in 1852, and con- ducted, up to 1878, by priests from ^Yallingford. The present building was completed in 1890, and in the following year the Rev. John T. Winters was its pastor. The building is a dignified and attractive one, and the church serves the people of its faith and order in all Mount Carmel and its borders. It has had devoted and beloved leaders, but for the past eight years one who has won the respect and confidence not only of his people but of those of all faiths in the community has been its pastor. The Rev. Edward Downes, native of New Haven, first educated as a lawyer, was consul to Amsterdam in the days of President Grover Cleveland. Returning at 'the end of his term, he entered the ministry, and after a pastorate of nine years at Milford, went to Mount Carmel in 1910. He occupies a position of peculiar influence in all the affairs of the community, and is performing a work of unusual value even for a pastor. Mount Carmel, from the first the abode of people of intelligent inclination to study and refinement, has been blessed with some peculiarly good schools. Besides participating in the good school system of the tovm in which it is in- cluded, it has in its time had the advantage of some excellent private schools. Just above Ivesville, a pathwaj'' formed by silver birches runs up the hill west- ward at right angles to Whitney Avenue to what is now the ^Mount Canuel Chil- dren's Home, a semi-private institution for orphan or dependent children. Before the building was used for this purpose it was the residence of James Ives, in his day a successful inventor and manufacturer. But it was built for a school for girls, and was christened "The Young Ladies' Female Seminary." In spite, however, of the redundancy of femininity in its name, it admitted boys at one stage in its career. It had such excellent teachers as Miss Elizabeth Dickerman and her sistei's, who gave efficient in.struction in the higher as well as the com- mon branches of learning. Then for some years the house, converted into a private residence, served ]Mr. Ives as a home. It was after his death about thirty years ago that it became the Children's Home. It is controlled by a board of trustees of which Rev. William G. Lathrop is at present the head, and ]\Iiss Cor- nelia A. Blake is matron. It furnishes comfort and instruction to about twenty- five Protestant children of the State of Connecticut who might under other circumstances be deemed unfortunate. Miss Emma E. Dickerman has for years conducted a private school for younger children at her home on Wliitney Avenue. A lady of rare breeding and -T. JL\RY'S CHURCH. MOUNT CARMEL COXGREGATIONAL CHl-RCH AXn PA1!1S;II HOl'SE, :\IOl-XT CARilEL AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 353 culture, her contribution to the better education of youth of her coinmunitj- has been notable. In 1915 the school known as the Phelps school, conducted at Wallingford by Miss Florence M. Peck, was removed to Hillfield farm in Mount C'armel, a modern and superior building having been erected for it. Located on a command- ing site, combining the advantages of country air, countrj- fare and the best of instruction on the modern plan, with a competent corps of teachers, this school honors Mount Carmel as one of the notable educational institutions of the vicinity. The workers in such schools as this are only a few of the men and women who have made and make Mount Carmel a notable community. Their names are not in the familiar works of biogi'aphy and reference, as a rule. Some, the most of them, are native born, descendants of the founders. Others, whom the eom- munitj' honors no less .sincerely, came from \vithout, and in their coming testi- fied to their appreciation of a rare place of dwelling. One of these latter, whose memory Mount Carmel prizes, and of whom it speaks with pride, was the Rev. Joseph Brewster, who from 1853 to 1881 was rector of Christ Church in New Haven. In 1865 he purcha.sed the farm which he named "Edgehill," situated where, about a quarter of a mile to the east of the Congregational Church, one may look up to the tine old mountain or down to the lake that lies in beautiful quiet at his feet. There he spent as much of his time as his duties in New Haven, and later for two periods as rector of Grace Church in Centerville. would per- mit. He began the beautifying of the farm and its surroundings, a work taken up and carried to a most attractive point by his distinguished sons, the right Rev. Chaunccy B. Brewster, bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Connecticut, the Rev. Benjamin Brewster and the Rev. William J. Brewster. The property lias now passed out of the Brewster hands to those of the New Haven Water Com- pany, but Eli Whitney, its president, keeps a personal watch over it and main- tains it as nearly as possible in the condition which its former owners loved. It is one of the delightful places of Mount Carmel, commanding a view of moun- tain, lake and plain such as is obtainable at very few points in the section. The whole region of Hamden abounds in the name of Dickerman. But espe- cially is it notable in Mount Carmel. It appears as Jonathan Dickerman among the pioneers, and is repeated in his descendants. It comes all the way down with names like Isaac, Allen, Samuel and Enos Dickerman. It has been honored in this generation by Leverett A. Dickerman, for close to a century a sterling resi- dent of Mount Carmel. a long and faithful meml)er and for many years a deacon in the Congregational church; and his daughters. Miss Emma E., teacher, and Miss Laura L., librarian ; by the Rev. George Sherwood Dickerman, beloved and distinguished as a writer and pastor in New Haven and elsewhere; by the late John H. Dickerman, historian of Hamden and Blount Carmel, and his daughters, Augusta E., wife of Homer B. Tuttle, and Carolyn G., now a teacher in the Priory school at Honolulu. The name of Woodruff may not be counted among the pioneers of Mount Vol. I 2 3 354 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN Carmel, though it is historic in the New Haven section. It has distinction today in connection with Mount Cannel's principal surviving industrial establishment, W. W. Woodruff & Sons, for over eighty years makers of fine carriage trimmings and hardware. Arthur E. Woodruff, the leading resident member of the firm, is one of the most substantial and honored citizens of the community. The name of Ives touches Mount Carmel at many points. James Ives in particular contributed gi-eatly to the material w-elfare of the place, and even more to the spiritual. He was one of the founders of what is now the Woodruff industry. He was practically the founder of the'ilount Carmel Bolt Works. To him Mount Carmel largely ow'cs its Children's Home. The Ives name remains in Mount Carmel through such representatives as Wilbur C. and Clarence G. Ives. Tuttlc is one of the honored old names of the village, continuous since the time of Nathaniel Tuttle, whose record is found as early as 1730. He had eight children, most of whom seem to have settled in Blount Carmel and remained through their descendants. Some of them in this time are Dwight Tuttle. ad- mitted to the Connecticut bar i]i 1867 ; Dennis Tuttle, also a lawyer, who removed to Madison, and was long a prominent and honored citizen of that town ; and Homer B. Tuttle, for many years past one of the leading citizens of Blount Carmel. The "community physician" of the present time in Mount Carmel is Dr. George H. Joeelyn, a man of a skill and eminence in his profession which would fit him for practice in a much larger community. He has preferred, however, that service to the scattered in the country which is one of the highest missions of the true physician. These are but a few, to be sure, of the names of those who. either descendants of the founders or no Jess sterling citizens of later origin, make Mount Carmel a goodly place. To them might be added Bassett, Peck, Brockett, Kimberly, ]\Iun- son, Todd, Bradley and a host of others, who have contributed in their time or ours to the sterling character, to the civic permanence or to the architectural dig- nity of the delectable land of Mount Carmel. Ill The Mount Carmel of today is, as has be^n said, an agricultural community. New Haven has grown out to meet it. Whitney Avenue, one of the most im- portant highways of New Haven, is now almost continuous from the Green to the northern limits of Mount Carmel, and the nearness of the city makes a growing demand for the products of the market gardener and the dairyman. There are still manufacturing industries, but Mount Carmel 's great manufacturing time is of the past. It serves rather now as a comfortable home retreat for workers in the city, who are in increasing numbers finding the delightful place, most of which is accessible by a half hour's ride from the city. But there are others, and their number growls, who seek its coolness, its t|uiet. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 355 its rest aud its inspiration in summer's heat or relaxation. Oft" to the southeast of the mountain itself there is a settlement which calls itself "the Colony," after the manner of Bohemia. Some are artists, some are litterateurs, some are edu- cators. All are lovers of nature and her beauties, and they have chosen a rare spot for the indulgence of their passion. P^rom their eminence they view at their feet Carmel Lake aud its winding river, with its setting of green woods. And ever looming up before them, their companion in sunshine or in storm, their faithful guardian though in his sleep, their inspiration always, is the reclining old man of the mountain. A little farther away to the westward is wooded York mountain, while blue in the distance is the range that, coming down from far beyond the confines of the town of Hamden, finds its terminus in West Rock. That eminence which is Blount Carmel 's center, from which it takes its name, always repays closer exploration. He is a poor devotee of the mountain who has not climbed it many times. It does not lose in gi-andeur on closer acquaintance, though one who views it from the top loses some of his delusions as to the straight line of the old Giant. He finds rather a somewhat loosely jointed range of hills, clustered in approximate circular formation. The ' " head, ' ' which is nearest Whit- ney Avenue, is not the highest point, though it seems so on first approach. Only the hardiest climber attempts the mountain by way of that first peak. There is a fairly easy path up the "second mountain,"' as it is called, and tlie expe- rienced take that. It leads gradually up to a height which lies just a little to the south of the "head." But not yet has the climber reached the highest point. That is the summit of the "third mountain," which is somewhat to the north of the first two. One descends a little from the second mountain to reach it, finding, to his surprise, something like a highland swamp between the two. The passage to the third height is easy, however, and on its summit one is 741 feet above the level of the Soimd, whose blue waters he sees plainly on a clear day, more than eight miles distant. The highest point was once marked by a govern- ment coast signal station. There is now a tower more than thirty feet high at the tip-top, and from the platform which surmounts it the cliiulier is rewarded, on a day when the air is clear, with a wondrous view. The coast is clear in every direction. This is the highest point short of the heights of ileriden, which loom up, gray or blue more distinct, to the north. Wallingford is spread out at the nearer northeast. North Haven lies just below. The winding Quinnipiac glints through the tre^s and between the meadows. New Haven seems far away, but it is there, though the town of Hamden intervenes in the nearer distance. Whitney Avenue, with passing trolley cars that look like toys, and fleeting motor cars that look smaller still, is a straiglit line of whit'' cement in the flashing sun. Off to the west is the West Rock range, with the red cliif at its point. To the southeast is East Rock raising aloft its memorial shaft, and beyond that is East Haven. On a day of especial clearness, one with or with- out a glass may pick out Branford. Guilford aud even ^ladison, with their shore points. Cheshire and the Woodbridge hills are not far away. It is a point of vantage for viewing all of .\e\v Haven and the eastern jiart of the county. 356 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN But most fascinating of all is the broad sweep of the Sound that is brought into view. There go the "ships" of all the varieties that the Sound affords. Beyond that strip of blue, which at this its wildest point runs almost to thirty miles across, lie the sand cliffs of Long Island, always a reminder of the geologi- cal theory that this long, thin island is a rim that once broke off from the main- land of Connecticut. The thoughtful nature lover, especially if the view is new to him, may dwell long and lingeringly on it. But there are heights beyond to tempt hiin at this or a subsequent visit. There is a fourth and even a fifth mountain, not so high, to be sure, but giving a different angle of vision. Or the adventurous may visit what is called "the cave" on this same third mountain. It is a hole in the rocks leading, by a tortuous path destructive of clothing and not devoid of danger, to a subterranean chamber fairly deserving of the name. Or, as a last hazard, the adventurer may achieve the "Devil's Pulpit." a basaltic shaft that stands out by itself from the edge of this highest mountain. Nor is the mountain all, though it is all that the many have discovered. That modest lake nestling at the mountain's foot well repays closer scrutiny. Here, on a day of summer heat that would make climbing nnweleome, one may find a soothing shade and usually a breeze across the water. Here, in many a nook secure from interruption or sight of passers by, the strife of life and the war of worlds may be forgotten, and genuine recuperation be gained. And close by is another charm which only the nature lover will discover and appreciate. South of the lake, with its bridges, its murmuring or its dashing falls, runs a woodland road along the river, shaded deep with spruces. It is "Spruce Bank." Mosses and ferns conserve the coolness of the air and the fragrance of the trees. Through them in summer the sun penetrates but slightly, and the continuing .shade and the flowing water combine to make relief from the most trying heat. It is a place to cool the body and rest the soul, and be healed by the medicine of the balsams. But always one returns to the mountain. The faithful spirit of the Sleeping Giant, unresting while he sleep.?, broods over all. That recumbent form, seen at many angles and in many phases, is always in view from all parts of Mount Carmel. It never loses its fascination. It becomes beloved of all who dwell near or far. It is the good genius of the place, a place whose blessing never grows old. CHAPTER XXXIX CHESHIRE THE FARMING AND INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY THAT WAS CARVED OUT OF WALLINGFORD IN THE EARLY DAYS OP THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Two Imiulred and twenty-four years ago, though there were dots of settle- ment all over the colony of Couneetieut, there was a most hazy notion of the measure of distances that lay between. So when the pioneers from New Haven went up and pre-empted the "New Haven village" claim to the north of the New Haven region, they had vague ideas as to its boundaries. They centered their original Wallingford settlement, as we have seen, somewhat toward the southern edge of what is now the town of Wallingford. Probably that consider- able region to the west and northwest, bounded by the rough heights of what is lower down the West Rock range, seemed to them the distant wilderness. They did not realize that Waterbury, already lieeoming a sulistantial village, was only tive miles beyond it. So there is the i-omance of a real pioneer in the beginnings of Cheshire. Among the New Haven settlers of Wallingford were Joliii Ives and his brother. The adventurer was the son of the former. Young Joseph Ives was not content to settle down on his father's farm and never wander. With the real "westward ho" spirit, he used to take his gun and perhaps his dog and prospect off toward the setting sun and the challenging mountains. Less than four miles from where liis father and the neighbors were living, he found a goodly plain. With the natural zest of youth, he located a "claim." and tliere, about 1694, he hewed out of the unbroken woods the stuff for a log cabirL '■('hesliirc" was founded then. But Joseph Ives was not a solitary adventurer. He found a kindred spirit in young John Hotchkiss, also from the parent colony. They went out together to that caliin in the woods. We find them with wives soon after — perliajis they had them before they started. Anyway, settlement followed hai-d upon their move. Within twenty-six years there wei'e thirteen settlers at least, each with his claim or farm, in the region which Joseph Ives and his friend Ilotelikiss opened up. In the order of their following of the pioneers, and dating ar, intervals from 1697 to 1720, there is record of Ebenezer Doolittle, Thomas Ives, Thomas Brooks, Timothy Tuttle, Matthew Bellamy, Nathaniel Bunnell, Abra- 357 358 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN ham Doolittle, ]*Iathias Hitchcock, John and Joseph Thompson, Thomas Cur- tiss, Edward Parker and Elnathan Beach. These are only a part, for by 1718, we are told, there were forty-five families of these pioneers, and they felt their importance. So much so, that they asked the General Assembly of that year to be set off from Walliugford as a town. The General Assembly duly investigated, and found that forty-five was the out- side number of the "planters," and that they had no more than £2,000 worth of property between them. It was decided that they had not the strength lo stand by themselves as a town. They might, however, become a parish of the town of Wallingford, and such they remained until Cheshire was incorporated in 17S0. By that time it had over 2,000 people. It got its name, plainly enough, from the English Cheshire. The people had not waited until then to have a dis- tinctive name. As early as 1724 what "Wallingford had been calling "West Farms" was named by its people "New Cheshire." At the time of the incorpo- ration the newness had worn off, and the town .stood as Cheshire. As elsewhere, that early history was a history of the church. When it became a parish as New Cheshire the people, who had been traveling four or five miles to worship in Wallingford, established their own church, and its history has been their record since. For a quarter of a century and more it ruled alone, and in those parishes, as we know, church rule took the place of town i-ule elsewhere. In 1723 the people "joined works" and erected the first crude, bare, steepleless, forty-by-thirty building, and in the following year Rev. Samuel Hall took up the spiritual leadership of the community. He remained for forty-three years, and during his pastorate, in 1738, the first building was replaced by a more adc(iuate one on the green. It was sixty-four hy forty-five feet, higher, rejoicing in a steeple, and having the delightful old raised pulpit and sounding board. Rev. John Foot, who came to the assistance of Pastor Hall in his declining years, succeeded him. His was another long pastorate, continuing from 1767 to his death in 1S12. In the next eighty years there were sixteen pastorates. In the recent period Rev. J. P. Hoyt has been with the church from 1890 to 1900, Rev. R. W. Newlands until 1906, Rev. Carl Stackman from then until 1910, and Rev. Von Ogden Vogt from 1910 to 1916. The present pastor is Rev. Chalmers Holbrook. It has almost been forgotten that there was at one time a second Congrega- tional church in Cheshire, for the reason that it has also been forgotten that the district which contained it was ever a part of the town. It is the common impres- sion that the western boundary of Cheshire, or Wallingford, as it was, was iden- tical with the present line, but such was not exaetlj- the case. The westering planters had found their way beyond the "Cheshire Mountains," or West Rock range as we know it. By 1770 there was a goodly little community on the "We.st Rocks." They seem to have had a neighborhood quality, moreover, that gave them the .sjjirit of inde|)endence. So it came about that by 1775 they insisted on having their own church. It was partly because they wanted a dif- ferent church. Some among them were Separatists, or "strict Congregation- CJOXGREGATIUXAL (.HIRCH. ( HKSHIKK CHESHIRE SCHOOL AXD CHAPEL, CHESHIRE AxXD EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY :^59 alists, " and their leaven leavened the whole lump. So they, since it was out of the question for them to establish a separate town, formed the parish or society of '"Columbia," and established a church of Columbia. In 1778 they erected a crude church building in their "mountains," of which Rev. John Lewis was the first pastor. He was followed by Rev. Benjamin Beach, who remained until 1798. Meanwhile their strictness had relaxed somewhat, so that they adopted the Saybrook Platform in 1800. This was near the close of their chapter, for soon afterward the beginning of another town started farther to the westward. Waterbury was making its contribution to that, and the New Haven and Water- bury settlements were meeting. In 1827 territory, partly from Waterbury and partly from Cheshire, was set off for a new town, and to it was given the appro- priate name of Prospect. ^leanwhile, the church in the center of Cheshire had progressed, and in 1827 its present worthy building was erected, and since then has been altered and enlarged as the needs of the people required. It is a fine example of the older New England type. The ehui'cli still serves, as at the first, in large measure as a communitj' center and a leader in the life of the town. However, Cheshire has been in some distinguished ways a center of Episcopal influence. That foundation on which St. Peter's Chiu'ch was built was laid only twent.y-seven years after the Congregational brethren established their church. The number of followers of this creed was small then, but they resolved to have their own church. It was nine years before they secured a building, and that was small and crude. It was thirty-seven years before they had a settled rector. Meanwhile. Rev. lehabod Camp, who founded the church, led the services now and then, but for the most part Joseph. Moss, a layman, kept the people together. There is also mention of some assistance from Rev. Samuel Andrews. In 1788 Rev. Reuben Ives came as rector. A second building had been erected in 1770, which was a little better than the one built in 1760. In 1795 an ambitious steeple was added to this building, so very high that when the l)ishop of the dio- cese saw it he is said to have remarked, ''thc.y had lietter now build a church for the steeple." The steeple was discarded, and a brick church of appropriate architecture built in 1840, which with its adjoining parish house buildings, now serves the congregation admirably. After the thirty-year rectorate of Rev. Reuben Ives there was a succession of men, some of them of eminence in the Episcopal Church. The Rev. Elicn E. Beardsley was rector from 1835 to 1844, during most of which time he was also the principal of the adjoining Episcopal Academy, or military school. Ho resigned from the church in the latter year to give all his time to the charge of the school, but went to St. Thomas Church of New Haven in 1848. Rev. J. Frederick Sexton was rector of St. Peter's from 1887 to 1897. Rev. Marcus J. Simpson is at pre.sent the rector, and has been since 1912. A Methodist Episcopal church was founded in Cheshire in 1834. At that time there was a colony of English miners in the barytes mine which was operated at "Ginny Hill," and they yearned for the worship of Wesley. Some 360 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN oi' the zealous leaders united in the startiug of a church, and arouiid it the sue- ceediug followers of that faith have rallied ever since. Its people erected in that first year a brick building, primitive at first, but enlarged and improved suc- cessively in 1859, 1872, 1889 and 1894, until it excellently meets the church's needs. The Rev. E. F. Neumann, Jr., was pastor in 1917, and the conference of 191S appointed Rev. W. P. Michel as supply. Cheshire's widest fame comes from the school under the direct guidance of the Episcopal Churcli which has been located in the town for almost a century and a quarter. , Founded in 1796, it is the oldest institution of its sort in the country. Up to the time of the establishment of Trinity College at Hartford it served also the purpose of a seminary for preparation for the Episcopal ministry. Later it was changed to a high class secondary school, and militarj- training became so much a feature of its curriculum that it was for several years known, and still is by many persons, as the Cheshire ililitary Academy. Then it gradu- ally lost its military features, and became officially the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut. In 1903 "The Cheshire School" was incorporated, and to this corporation the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut was leased. In the school's distinguished history clergymen of national eminence have been its rectors or among its teachers, and men of even more ultimate distinc- tion, as laymen as well as clergymen, have studied in its halls. Rev. Reuben Ives, the first rector of St. Peter's Church, wa.s largelj' instrumental in establishing it. Its first principal, or rector, was Rev. Dr. John Bowden, who conducted its classes in the single square building north of what is now Bronson Hall. He closed his work in 1802, and was followed by Rev. Dr. William Smith and Rev. Dr. Tillotsou Bronson, the latter closing a remarkable period of twenty-six years' service in 1831. In his time the school had seen, because of the very broad service it had been required to render, its most distinguished days. In the period since, and more especially in the past twenty years, conducted as a college preparatory school the academy has had some able teachers. Its principal at the time of its incorporation was Rev. John D. Skilton. In 1910 Paul Klimpke, M. A., became its principal, and continues in the position. The school has a distinguished location in the heart of Cheshire, occupying four com- modious buildings. Bowdon Hall, built in 1796, was for nearly seventy years the school's only building. The others, Beardsley Hall, Bronson Hall and Horton Hall, have been built since 1865. In 1914 was completed, in the central part of Cheshire at the junction between the road to Waterbury and the road to Milldale, the Connecticut Reformatory. The state institution has a commanding location, some commo- dious modern buildings, and is doing a truly reformatory work for delinquents between the prison and the "reform school" ages and classes. Its board of directors consists of Morris W. Seymour, president; Charles Hopkins Clark, vice president; John P. Elton, secretary; E. Kent Hubbard, treasurer, and Anson T. McCook. The superintendent is George C. Erskine. Training as much as possible, restraint as little as may be permitted, and the modern system of THE OLD liOVKKXOR FOOTE I'LAl E. HO.ME (IK AD.MIKAL F(H ITE. CHESHIRE AND EASTERN NEW IIAVEX COUNTY 361 reform by persuasion with free outdoor work are some of the methods wliicli characterize this iustitution. Within two years of its foundation the manage- ment of the refonnatory had been able to demonstrate their ideas by constructing, largely through the labor of its boys, the section of state cement road between Cheshire and ililldale. In addition to its central graded school, Cheshire has district schools at Brooksvale, "West Cheshire, Mixville, Cheshire Street and at five other points around the edges of the town, all of which are well conducted and are doing competent educational work. The present school committee is Jacob D. Walter, Clinton C. Peck, Arthur S. Backus, Charles A. Buckingham, Frederick Doolittle and Howard E. Ives. Temple Lodge, No. 16, F. & A. M., was established in Cheshire in 1790, and has continued in strength and prosperitj- to the present time. L. A. Thomas Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., was instituted in 1888. Other organizations and societies are Edward A. Doolittle Post, 6. A. R.. establishetl in 1881 ; Cheshire Grange, No. 23, and three temperance societies. Chesliire has one of the oldest soldiers' monuments in the country. The noise of the contliet had hardly died away when a committee was formed to arrange for suitably memorializing the brave deeds of the town's soldiers and sailors in the Civil War, and through a generous fund a shaft of Plymouth granite was I'aised on the green in front of the Congregational Church in 1866. What Cheshire will do to lionor the greater number of its citizens wlio are now offering their lives in many forms of service in the great war remains to be seen, but it will be something adequate. Cheshire's Public Library was established in 1892. and abundantly serves the needs of the town. It has 6,442 volumes, and the librarian is Miss Mary E. Belden. The Yankee followed hard after the farmer in Cheshire. Before the eighteenth century was born "mills" had begun to spring up wherever there was water power. By 1800 there were varied lines of manufacture all over the town. The works of the cooper abounded. The wheelwright was hard at his craft — and the roads of those days kept him busy. There were carding, dressing and fulling works. There were sawmills and fanning mills and tanneries, plants where they made threshing machines and tinware. Old residents of not so many j'ears ago, used to tell of the long wagon trains with finished goods headed for the New Haven markets which used to wend their way out of Cheshire in tlie early days of the la.st century. That was before the canal came, for the New Haven-Farmington waterway had its course through Cheshire. By the time it was replaced by the railroad changing conditions had thinned out most of the small industries, and the town was coming into its destined function as an agricultural community. With the coming of the railroad, the remaining factories, and others that were later started, gravitated toward the western side of the town, or West Cheshire. In that community a group of factories was started about the middle of the century. 362 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN The Cheshire Manufacturiug Company dated from 1850, and the Cheshire Brass Company from 1866. In 1853 the John Mix Manufactm-ing Company developed from a business which had been making britannia spoons, and turned to gimlets and auger bits. West Cheshire, also, had a web factory from about 1853 to 1857. Of these the survivors are the Connecticut Brass Company, makers of sheet brass, which seems to be a descendant of the Cheshire Brass Company, and the Ball & Socket JMaaufacturing Company, which makes a specialty of buttons and light brass goods. These employ a considerable and increasing number of men. In the main the tine old town's foundation is agricultural. It has not as many people today as it had half a century ago, whereby hangs a tale of a very interesting industry of the past. In the "Cheshire Mountains" about 1855 was discovered a deposit of barytes. Outside capital rushed to the feast, and it is said that in tlie next sixteen years some 160 tons, worth then -$1,500,000, were extracted from the soil of Cheshire. The town profited from it to the extent that it brought hundreds of peojjle there, many of them English miners and good citizens. Cheshire's high water mark in population was at about the end of this period. After that it dropped back slightly, and now is about the same as in 1855. Cheshire partakes of the fruit raising and mai-ket farming prosperity of its neighbors, for it has even better land than theirs. It is also becoming the summer home place of dwellers in nearby cities, and as it has many natural attractions, this condition is likeh' to increase. All over the town, after the lapse of more than two centuries, may still be found the names of the original planters. But with them are mingled many names new and old of discriminating folk of many origins, who choose the town for its inherent virtue. Among them are men who lead like Frederick Doolittle, Jacob D. Walter, Paul Klimpke, Rev. Marcus J. Simpson and Rev. Chalmers Holbrook, Drs. C. N. Denison, N. W. Karrman and George E. Myers, or Charles A. Buckingham, Graham A. Hitchcock and Clinton C. Peck. CHAPTEK XL NORTH HAVEN EARLY OFFSHOOT OF THE NEW HAVEX fOLOXV, HOME OF DISTINGUISHED DIVINES, MODERN illNGLING OF INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL TOWN It is evident from its boundaries tliat North Haveu was not laid out by tiie tlieodolite of any surveyor, not bounded by any plan, but "just growed. " Its western line apparently started from Cedar Hill with good intention to stick to the Quinnipiae River, but suddenly changed its mind about two and a half miles up. It runs nearly west then for much over a mile, almost meeting Mill River. A little above there, it takes to the river until it is opposite the center of Mount Carmel, when it shies at the beginnings of the mountain itself, and turns sharply eastward, CTirving north and northeast under the brow of the mountain until again it meets the Quinnipiae. There is a notch in its northeast corner, while the line follows Worten Brook due east to make a right angle with a straight line running south. There is another notch eastward at Northfoi-d, then with fair regularity the line comes south almost to Foxon, then runs southwest until it meets Cedar Hill again. There are 21.7 square miles within these boundaries, of river bottom, meadow, rolling hills and highlands. There is some little ai'ea that strikes the traveler as desert. But mainly North Haven is a combination of prosperous fruit raising and general farming country, brick producing flat and small manufacturing village. It is seven miles from north to southern end, and four and a half miles across at its widest point. AVithout anything like a boom or artificial aid, it has growni quite slowly but consistently from the village of about 1,200 it was when incorporated in 1786 to the 2.254 it had in 1910. Sufficiently separated from the city, it has its distinct community life. Dating its origin back to within two years of the settlement of New Haven, it has its independent history. It is self supporting, it is self reliant, it is prosperous and crowned with honor wholly on its own account. All in all, it is an unusual combination of suburb and country, but withal, as resjieets both the works of nature and of man, a thoroughly delightful dwelling place. North Haven seems to have grown naturally, and to have l)een early destined to separation from the parent town. Most of its planters at first came from the Davenport party, but apparently there was some extent of independent origin. For William Bradley, credited with being the North Haven pioneer, was not 36:^ ■,iU A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN mentioned in the New Haven list. He is said to have been an officer in Croui- well's army, and surely was a man of distinction. He is traced on the west side of the "East River'' in 16-iO. To his company came in a year or so a group of the New Haven pilgrims, but apparently they judged the east side of the river better for their purposes. In the plantci-s' schedule of 1641 are found the names of Yale, Tuttle, Cooper, and Thorp, and the place-name of the region above Cedar Hill was "East Farms." Presently to the locality which is now the southwestern point came Atwater, Turner, Potter, Brewster and Mansfield. The names of some of them are plaiai there today. Thoma.s and Nathaniel Yale came in 1660. Twenty years later Jonathan Tuttle and Blakeslee, Barnes and Brockett had come, and the tide was working slowly north. As early as 1700 there was a "North Village," and the history of North Haven proper may be said to begin then. For the next fifteen years the pioneers were busy with settling, and seem to have thought little about a comnumity. They kept church connection with New Haven, though their dis- tance was approaching five miles. It was not until 1716 that the planters were permitted to be a parish, and to form an ecclesiastical society. Thei-e were forty families then. They pro- ceeded to erect a meeting house, finishing it in 1717. Their first minister was Rev. James Wetmore, who remained four years. Rev. Isaac Stiles, who followed him, became early a powerful constructive force in the making of the town. He was thirty-six years with the church, and in that time he established it and its people greatly in that faith and character to which the North Haven of our times owes so much, and whose results it so greatly exemplifies. Following ]\Ir. Stiles came one of the most remarkable men who have lived in North Haven, in many ways one of Connecticut's most distinguished citizens. Rev. Jonathan Truinliull. who came to the church in 1760, was in his time a national character, and in the years since has been no less renowned as a historian. He was a man of active inclinations, and when Colonel Wooster raised his famous regiment in 1775, he went out with it as chaplain. Following the war, he wrote that history of Connecticut on which his reputation rests. It was in two volumes, covering the period from the earliest settlement to the close of the Indian wars. It is recog- nized as "tlie most careful, minute and conscientious chronicle of the colonial history of the state ever written." It was Dr. Trumbull's intention to follow this with a history of the United States, a work which ho was well (jualified to do, and it is a matter of regret that he achieved only one vuluuie, which was pub- lished in 1810. Advancing age and other cares stopped for him all work liut that of the church, which he contiiuu'd until his death in 1820, preaching his last sermon only nine days before that, when he was past eighty-four years. His service of three score years in the noble old church of North Haven, in addition to being the chief life work of one of the state's most distinguished men of that period, was in its mere length a conspicuously notable pastorate. It is not easy, regarding the work of men like Dr. Stiles and Dr. Truiubull. to exaggerate the influence of the pastors of the single church in the making AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 365 of the towu. They set a high mark, not only for those who followed them in this pulpit, but for all the citizens. And they were followed by men who profited by their traditions. The day of such pastorates as theirs seems past, and the list from then till now would be a long one. For thirteen yeai-s after the deatJi of Dr. Trumbull Rev. W. J. Boardmau was pastor. Passing over thirty years, we come to another long pastorate, that of Rev. William T. Reynolds fi'om 1863 to 1893. Rev. William 6. Lathrop, now at Mount Carmel, was pastor for seven years after that. From 1900 to now there have been Rev. Charles Franklin, Rev. Frederick L. Hall and Rev. Howard G. Parsons, the present pastor. The first meeting house was of the ungainly type of 1717. It did not last long, and was replaced in 1739 b3- an edifice of the best architecture of that time. It v:as barnlike at its best, yet it was rejoiced in by the people as one of the best cliurch edifices in the state outside of the cities. When built, it had only a turret. A tall spire replaced the turret in 1800, and the "tinkling bell"' gave way to an adequate one. In 1835 a brick church of goodly architecture, with a symmetrical spire, was built. That was the stately building which most of this generation have known, the edifice which was burned in 1910. The building erected two years later to fill its place is of a radically different type, modern, symmetrical and admirably ajipointed, but somehow, to those who know the traditions of this church, it leaves something to be desired. Harmoniously with their Congregational brethren have dwelt since 1722 the Episcopalians of North Haven. Of St. John's Church the Rev. James Wetmore Tvas the father, and the first worship of this order was in the houses of the mem- bers. It was .some time after 1722 that there was a definite organization. For nearly sixty years after that Wallingford, Cheshire and North Haven Episco- palians joined forces in the "Union Church," built in 1710 in the Pond Hill district. That building was not a thing of beautj', but in it was the spirit of worship. By 1761 the people of North Haven felt strong enough for their own church, and in that year built at the northeast corner of the Green a wooden house with no steeple or porch. Rev. Ebenezer Punderson was the rector at first, being followed, in the days of the Revolutionary War, by Rev. Samuel Andre^^■s. The latter was a man of influence, but divided the people becaiisc of his loyalist principles. Rev. Edwai'd Blakeslee followed him in 1790. In recent times the church has been a goodly force in the community through such leadere as Rev. William Lusk. Jr., and since 1908, Rev. Arthur F. Lewis. There is at ilontowese, the settlement with the famous name at the lower end of North Haven, a Baptist church, established in 1811. Joshua Bradley had much to do with its founding, and it has had a useful career. It has been minis- tered to in the past three years by Rev. Carl Swift. There is also, at Clinton- ville, a Union ^fission, founded in 1889. It is probable that not more than half the workers of North Haven, at least in these days, are in agriculture. Industries of other sorts had an early start in the town. Several substantial brooks feed the Quinnipiac in its course through the town, and water powers are numerous. These had their saw and 366 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN grist mills from early times. There were the usual fulling mills, and the tan- ning of leather was a familiar industry, as it was in almost every Connecticut town. As early as 1665 bog iron was mined in North Haven, though it could have had little commercial value. But by 1720 they had discovered tliat the Quinnipiac clay beds would produce satisfactory brick, and that was the begin- ning of North Haven's really important industry. On both banks of the river, for several miles of its progress through the town, these plants have now been worked actively for over six decades. The first systematically developed brick industiy — though it is probable that brick was made long before that in a desultory way — was the North Haven Brick Company in 1854. But the same year Warner, Mansfield & Stiles was formed, and it is possible to see the successor of that firm in the I. L. Stiles & Son Brick Company, as the firm name has been since ISiJl, now the principal brick pro- ducer of the town. The output of North Haven brick has included all varieties, and has at times been enormous. William E. Davis & Company also have a larg.j plant, and there is at ilontowese a single large concern which makes the princi- pal industry of the village aside from farming, the Cody Brick Company. These concerns, doing a prosperous business and employing more men today than ever before in North Haven industry, are the sole survivors of a long line. Time was when Clintonville, the village on the Air Line Railroad in the far northeastern corner of the town, was an important manufacturing point. There were valuable water rights there. In 1830 the Clintonville Agricultural Works made a standard line of farm implements, but years ago it was sold and removed to New Jersey. Twenty-three years later there was Clinton, Wallace & Com- pany, with a large factoiy, making considerable quantities of farm tools and implements. A quarter of a century later the farm tool industry had waned, but about that time a veritable craze for fancy "visiting" cards swept across the country. There were at Clintonville at that time several print shops which developed an immense mail order business for these all over the country, and their advertising made Clintonville widely famous. Only a trace of this indus- try' remains in the village today. The list of industries that have waxed and waned is somewjmt longer. In 1869 arose the Quinnipiac Paper Company. That is no more. The U. S. Card Factory Company, started in 1881. has gone the way of the other card indus- tries. The North Haven Manufacturing Company, which made tin spoons, is ntit found today. The Tuttle Brothers Printing Company, card publishers, weiit with the passing of the fad. Twenty-five years ago there were in North Haven and Clintonville four or five good sized concerns for the making of carriage woodwork, but of these the chief traces are Edward Clinton & Son of Clinton- ville and T. S. Stiles, wagon builder, of North Haven. The agricultural development of North Haven has kept pace with that of the towns around it. North Haven peaches, strawberries and other small fruits have gained a favorable reputation in New Haven and other cities, and the quantity nicreases each year, while garden truck and dairy products increase :mejiortal hall, xorth haven AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 367 in quantity with the demand. North Haven land is good and easily tilled, and its farm prosperity notably grows. In 1916 the town had 557 school children, provided for in a comfortable cen- tral building of four rooms and in eight district schoolhouses. North Haven's standard of education is high, and the work done in its well taught, well super- vised schools shows excellent results. The present town school committee is: Hubert F. Potter, George J. ]\lerz, Andrew D. Clinton, Marcus D. Marks, Ralph W. Nichols, Isaac E. Mansfield, John R. North, David B. Andrews, Wilson E. Goodsell. While North Haven was still a parish of New Haven the parent town in 1714 donated to "the neighbors" the eight or ten acres which constitute its "green." Probably it was wooded then. Gradually the trees were removed, but it was not until long after the town's incorporation in 1786 that any adequate effort was made to take care of the green. Indeed, well on in the past century it was so neg- lected that compared with what it might have been it was a source of grievance to many citizens. Of late years, however, the green has been better eared for, though it still shows room for improvement. The North Haven ^Memorial Library was established in 1884, and is a well kept institution now circulating 5,51U volumes. Its librarian is Miss Clara E. Bradley. It was erected through the efforts of the Bradley Library Association, though a memorial legacy from the late Hon. S. Leverius Bradley of Auburn, New York, descendant of a prominent family of North Haven Bradleys, made it possible. For many years North Haven's lack of a suitable town hall bothered many oi" the citizens, as did the absence of a monument to its soldier dead grieve many of the patriotically inclined. At length the double lack was supplied by a single means, and in 1887 the Memorial Hall, erected at a co.st of $5,000, met a public need and became a suitable soldiers' memorial. The changes in industrial conditions of the recent decades, and especially the demand for brick workers, have served to alter the character of the town's popu- lation from the simplicity of the old stock. Yet North Haven's citizenship well holds its own. It has increasingly become a place of suburban residence, particu- larly in its center, and trains and trolleys at morning and night are filled with North Haveners whose work is elsewhere. The Hartford and the Air Line rail- roads and the trolley serve these needs of the commuter, while the town's own natural attractiveness does the rest. Among the citizens who make the town today are descendants of the first settlers, though there is a mixture of other names. Col. Robert 0. Eaton and Col. J. Richard North are conspicuous, the one in politics, the other in military and community service. Two physicians. Dr. R. B. Goodyear and Dr. C. S. Higgins, care for the people's health, while all the lawyers are men like Ward Church who have their practice in the city though their homes are in the town. Other "first citizens'' are John H. Blakes- lee. Sheldon B. Thorpe, the town's careful historian, Hubert F. Potter, :Milo N. Wooding and Charles E. Davis. CHAPTER XLI EAST HAVEN "east farms," its development, its growth and division and its change to THE AGRICULTURAL TOWN AND SUBURBAN SETTLEMENT WHICH IT IS TODAY On the eastern side of the bay which makes New Haveu harbor is a tract of land that might geographically be described as a peninsula. The waters which bound it on its western side are New Haven harbor and the broad mouth of the Quinnipiae River, which for almost two miles north of the harbor is an estuary. On its eastern side for three miles i-uns down Lake Saltonstall, a deep, substantial body of water, which is connected with the Sound over two miles farther down by what at its mouth is called Stony River. This is the peninsula, at the beginning gi-eatly isolated from the New Haven settlement, now so closely connected that one gets hardly an impression of division, which was "East Farms" for the first century and a half of its existence, later East Haven. Here we are in the region of shore towns, and a material part of the almost thirty square miles which originally formed East Haven is the familiar "salt meadow," whose crop is mosquitoes, shore l)irds and a sort of grass which the farmei-s formerly thought worth the expenditure of considerable time and labor. A large tract east and northeast of Morris Cove, another almost in the center of the old town's territory and still another along the upper banks and to the eastward of the river, is either salt or fresh marsh. For the rest. East Haven is Tolling farm land, with a few heights that make it interesting. Chief of these is Pond Rocks, a range nearly four miles long which skirts the western shore of Lake Saltonstall, rising at its highest point to 240 feet. The early settlers naturally overflowed to East Farms. To those less used to bridges than are we, the crossing of the (Quinnipiae was not a difficulty. Yet the river did make a positive boundary, and it was inevitable that this should become a more or less distinct community from the first. It was found a land of the Indians. Its fair fields at the north had been their hunting grounds. "Fort Hill," which rises 360 feet at what was the center of the town, was so named because it was their place of defense. "Grave Hill," farther north, was their ancient burial ground. Over the old lake, doubtless, and through its outlet to the Sound, they drove their light canoes. Over the hills and meadows and flats of the region they hunted, and on the shore they gathered the aboriginal oyster and clam. 368 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 869 Frieudlj- enough William Andrews and his associates found them when they came in 1639 — for East Farms was well sprinkled w-ith planters while yet the dwellers in the nine squares were timidly locking their stockade gates by night. The tract including East Farms had been acquired from the In- dians in fair bargain the year before, and they had no enmity for the white man. There were some 113 settlers in that first party. Names like William Andrews, Jasper Craj^ne, Thomas Gregson, William Tuttle, John Potter, Mat- thew Moulthrop, Matthias Hitchcock, Edward Patterson, Thomas Morris and John Thompson led the list. Names like these are spread all over the town today, for East Haven's old stock still holds its ground. Evidently good reports of the laud went back to New Haven or spread elsewhere, for a new party, almost as large as the first, followed to settle in 1644. Before that adventurous settlers had spread out, finding some of the shore points first, evidently. In the year of first settlement Thomas Gregson is reported at ''Solitary Cove," now Morris Cove — it is anything but solitary now — and in 1644 he was allotted 133 acres there. He seems to have been the first man to bring his familj- to East Farms. Thomas Morris of the first party was not far behind him, however. He was a shipbuilder, and in 1671 built the old Morris house which still stands in good preservation at the Cove. The advantages of what is now East Haven as a suburban residence seem to have been early discovered. Perhaps there was prophecy in the purchase, following Rev. Samuel Eaton, who had fifty acres there in 1640, by Rev. John Davenport in 1649 of a farm of 600 acres at Dragon Point, which he ran as a eountiy place called the "Davenport Farm," and employed Ailing Ball as his farmer. The most distinguished "country residence" in East Farms came later, prob- ably as late as 1700, when Governor Gurdon Saltonstall built on the heights overlooking the lake one of the finest houses in Connecticut. There he lived for the remainder of his life, and his residence there rescued that fine body of water from the obloquy of being longer called "Furnace Pond." The impressive allotments of land did not tend, perhaps, to the early in- crease of East Haven's population beyond a certain point. For in 1754, much over a century after the first settlement, there were only sixty-one fam- ilies tliere. The "Farms" had sought parish privileges in 1677, but did not get thera until 1680. There was strength enough to secure incoi-poration as a town in 1785, and shortly after that, the enumerators said. East Haven had 1,025 people. That town, it should -be remembered, was all and a little more of the peninsula heretofore described. It had the populous east shore of the Quin- nipiac and the harbor, all the way from Cedar Hill to what we call Light- house Point. It took in Morris Cove and Fair Haven East as those sections grew np. This explains why it increased until in 1855 it had 2.000 people, then 3,057 in 1880. Meanwhile, it had become an awkwardly divided com- munity. There was the Village of East Haven, southwest of the point of Lake Vol. I 2 4 370 A MODERN HISTOKY OF NEW HAVEN Saltonstall. There was the strictly agricultural northern area, comprising most of the town's land. There were the seaside communities of Morris Cove and South End. And there was the near-city on the eastern shore of the Quinnipiac. This last produced trouble, largely financial. Bridging the Quinnipiac was no small task, and was not attempted, at the point where it was needed most, till 1877. By 1650 there were ferries across the river near its mouth, and from Fair Haven to Fair Haven East the town operated a ferry for some years after the Ferry Street bridge was built lower down. But necessity com- pelled the Grand Avenue bridge in 1877, and the $60,000 it cost was a pretty heavy load for a town with a gi-aud list of only $2,190,220. By the time it was done. East Haven had a bonded debt of $100,000. The owners of mod- erately paying farm lands, getting little benefit from these costly improvements which the east bank of the river thought it must have, vigorously protested. That is a part of the story which ended in 1881 in the setting off to Xew Haven of nearly half the territory of East Haven. The new line ran from a point in the North Haven boundary east of "the ridge" southwest to Fort Hale park, then southerly to the Morris Creek on the Cove meadows, which it follows to the Sound. The event has proved that the division is more natural than that whicli the Quinnipiac made, for the annexed area, now New Haven's Fourteenth and Fifteenth wards, is now substantially built up, except the northeastern corner. As a consideration, in part, for this annexation, Xew Haven assumed the whole of East Haven's bonded debt of $100,000. This left East Haven with a population of 955. In the course of thirty- seven years it has without artificial aid more than doubled its number, and is now back where it was in 1855, having today not far from 2.000 people. It has a property list much larger than its total when the separation came, though it has formed a new debt as great as the first cost of the Grand Avenue bridge. Apparently it is well content with its size and status, being a substantial, prosperous town, whose history, though great, is not all behind it. Much of that history centers around "the Old Stone Church." which stands near the center of the town, the ancient church of the fathers. The scattered early settlers were not able to support a church, and must have worshipped in New Haven for fifty or sixty years. The first definite record we find of worship in East Haven was the ministration of Rev. Jacob Hemingway, who began to preach to the people in 1704. This must have been in the planters' houses, for the church was not officially organized until seven years later, and not before 1711 was its first building erected. The size of this indicates a congregation of modest requirements. It was only twenty by sixteen feet. Its appointments without and within were equally primitive, no doubt. Either it was inade(|uate from the start or the congregation grew more rapidly than was expected, for it was used only eight years. It was replaced in 1719 by a larger building, about which we are told little. It served the people, however, for fifty-five years. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 371 Oue of the distinctions of this elmrch is tliat in its 207 years it has had but seven pastors, oue of whom merely filled an interregnum as acting pastor. The briefest regular pastorate was of nine years. From that the range has been up to tifty-one. The first pastor, beginning his service seven yeai"s before the church was organized, remained until Iiis death fifty years later. The second pastor was Rev. Nicholas Street, who was ordained in 1755, and remained until his death closed a remarkable service of fifty-one years. So long a pastorate, at a time when the town was in its formative period, had an incalculable in- fluence. Indeed, the power that has gone out from the old church in its two centuries is easily recognized but cannot be reckoned. Following Mr. Street's came the comparatively brief pa.storate of Rev. Saul Clark. He was installed in 1808, and after eight years he was dismissed, on his own request. East Haven had become much of a town in 1817, when Rev. Stephen Dodd came to this church. He was an able preacher, a firm advocate of temperance, a man of cjuiet power. He led the church and in great measure the people for twenty-nine years. lie found time to give some little attention to historical research, and in 1824 published, under the title of the East Haven Register, some valuable facts of the town's history and genealogy. Fifth in the order came Rev. Daniel W. Havens, and rounded out an even thirty years — thirty years of constructive progress, closed in 1877 by his resignation. Fol- lowing that there were three years in which Rev. Joseph Tomlinson was acting pastor. Thirty-eight years ago there came to this church and pulpit a man who was to cover the whole modern period in one remarkalile pastorate, as dis- tinguished as any in its history. Rev. Daniel J. Clark was then a young man, just from Hartford Theological Seminary. It was his first charge. He has grown up with the old town in its modem time. He has seen its most important changes. He has grown into the hearts of the people through the devotion of his life to their service in the old church. It is an old church, even as a building. This edifice of stone, though it has that appearance of healthy youth which symmetry of architecture gives, dates back nearly a century and a half to 1774, in the time of the second pastor. It was, when built, notable in the church architecture of Connecticut, in city or country. Now. a century and a half young, it stands out with all the dignity of old. a true symbol of the permanence and eternal youth of the ideals for which it stands. The chapel, or parish house, constructed of stone that as nearly as possible matches the church, was erected in 1874 as a "centennial chapel" to celebrate the church building's centenary. It well serves the com- munity's needs as a center of healthful activities in connection with the church's work. The missionary spirit of old Trinity on the Green helped toward the estab- lishment, as it has helped in the maintenance, of a church of the Episcopal faith in East Haven. It is called Trinity there. Its pathway has not been all an ea.sy oue. From 1788 there were first neighborhood meetings conducted by 372 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN a bodv of Chureli of England believers of which Samuel Tuttle was chairman and John Bird clerk. The building of a chapel was begun in 1789, but the work was interrupted by an untoward accident in raising the frame, and other delays following, was not completed until 1810. Meanwhile, it was used to some extent. Rev. Edward Blakeslee was the first rector, but his stay was brief, and in the next eighty years there were some twenty-five rectorates, interspersed, during the first part of the period, by seasons in which Rev. Dr. Hubbard came out from Trinity in New Haven to conduct the services. The chapel was enlarged in 1843 and 1845, and in 1867 was completed to sub- stantially its present form. In the far northeast of the town there is a section which got its name from the Indian sagamore Foxou. On another line of main highway, six miles distant from the Village of East Haven, it has become a somewhat distinct center of the farming district. There was erected in 1877 a chapel for neighborhood gath- erings, and in 1893 a Congregational church was organized. It has but fifty- three members, and is in part a state mission church, but it holds a sort of frontier in the sturdy old pilgrim spirit. Rev. Charles Page has since 1894 been its pastor. About 1914 there was established in the southwestern part of East Haven a Catholic parish, taking in the village and a part of the ^Morris Cove section. It has a substantial building, and is ministered to by Rev. Joseph Joyce, D. D. East Haven has a good school equipment. By arrangement with New Haven, it has the advantage of the city's high school privileges. The costly system of small district schools has been in great mea.siu-e abolished, and the town's 781 pupils are accommodated in two school buildings, one of one room and the other of six in the central portion of the town. The value of these build- ings is upwards of -^20,000. The school committee in 1917 consisted of Samuel R. Chidsey, John D. Houston, Charles H. Stanton, Charles W. Granniss, John Scoville, Julius E. Brooks, Robert E. Hall, Minott C. Bradley and Grove J. Tuttle. This was not always the peaceful combination of suburban village and agri- cultural town it seems today. It appears to have been discovered that there was iron in the vicinity of "Great Pond" almost as soon as that there was virtue in the soil to raise crops. So the lake was early dubbed "Furnace Pond," from the iron works there. It was in 1655 that they were established, the earliest of any in the state. But the iron industry does not appear to have amounted to much, and presently was overshadowed by others which sought to utilize the water power from Stony River or from the Farm River which flows down from Foxon and empties into it. In 1680 a firm with famous names, Stephen Goodyear and John Winthrop, Jr.. asked for the mill privilege at Saltonstall. Another attempt to manufacture iron was made there in 1692 by John Potter. Soon the place was monopolized by the town grist mill. Samuel Heminway being the miller. Further down, and later, there was a paper mill. James Donoghue, James Harper and othei-s organized the Saltonstall Manufacturing Company AND EASTEKN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 373 in 1871. Still later, evidently in that same plant, were made heavy carriage and portable engine wheels. In the nature of a successor to this there was in the village later a shop run by steam power, and conducted by Stephen Bradley & Company. So ends East Haven's manufacturing chapter, for virtually all of these things are of the past, and little trace remains. The town has nothing that may properly be called manufacturing. Yet it has the look of prosperity and thrift, and that is not an illusion. Its growing central streets have their houses oc- cupied by East Haveners — and they are loyal East Haveners, too, for there is a justified pride in tlie town — who have business or employment in the city, or perhaps have farming or business interests in East Haven. There is abiding evidence of good construction on the ancient foundations. The men of East Haven are substantial men, worthy holders of such names as Bi*adley and Thompson and Hosley and Tuttle and Scoville and Street. The town has in Dr. Charles "W. Holbrook its beloved physician, and its'legal needs are supplied by Attornej's Dwight W. Tuttle, Grove J. Tuttle and Alfred W. Andrews. A competent fire department, with H. B. Page as chief, protects the thickly Iniilt portion of the town. East Haven has its green, of the true New England type, a central feature in its town layoTit, and well preserved. It gives that air of distinction and dignity whidi well represent the age and leisurely development of the com- munity. Here is one of the finest of Connecticut shores, though it is not fully developed. At the southeast corner it holds the historic name of Momauguin, with a summer hotel of the same name, and a little to the east is the Mans- field. There is a choice stretch of beach, and this is East Haven's principal summer resort. A branch trolley line connects it with the trolley which runs from New Haven through to Branford. South End has a beach as good and even more picturesque, though not .so many have found it. These are the remnants of what was, before the division, the oyster raising and seaport town. The modified form of sea.shore activity shows change, but not decadence. CHAPTER XLII GUILFORD THE INDEPENDENT ORIGIN YET NEW HAVEN AFFILIATION OF THE FOUNDERS, THE ESTABLISHMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLANTATION OF MENUNKETUCK The symmetrical bomidary of soutliwesteni Middlesex County would be that line which runs almost straight south from Lake Pistapaugh at the southeastern corner of Wallingford to the Sound. That instead this boundary is the Ham- mouasset River involves some history which has a place all its own in New Haven County. Guilford is a curious paradox of an entity on the one hand, and an integral part of the New Haven district on the other. It was .settled independently of New Haven; yet its inclusion, in such disregard of natural county lines, in the New Haven county, is sufficient proof of its identitication with New Haven. At least that much of origin is required for an adequate understanding of Guilford as it stands in the commonwealth today. It is a town with all the pride of independent pilgrim esta'ilishment. It has deep historic foundations that cannot be moved. Its makers of the old stock predominate. Modern Guil- ford is a part of the melting pot, too. When they numliered its "men of war" in 1917 there was patronymic proof of a dozen widely diii'erent races in its citi- zenship, but then and since there has been even stronger evidence of a community as united, as American, and soundly dependable as the Guilford that raised a regiment in the Revolution, that guarded well its coasts in 1812, that gave with unsparing sacrifice of its best manhood to save the Union in the '60s. All down the record of the years, from the little company which signed the "join ourselves together" covenant with Pastor Whitfield on the voyage to this land of promise, to the more than three thousand people of many origins who make the Guilford of today, the record is starred with sterling men and true women. Some have their names written in the world's halls of fame — and they are not a few. But the many have lived the even nobler unsung life of the country town. and made that the American field of honor. Geographically, Guilford is a substantial town. As it stands today, it has an area somewhat in excess of forty-seven square niiks, extending thirteen miles from the marshy point of Sachem's Head to the highland boundary of Durham. Across its widest part, from Jfoose Hill to where Neck River makes its farthest 374 OLD FIRST CHURCH BL1L])1X(4 AND MEC HAXIS:\[ OF OLD TOWN CLOCK. GUILFORD AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 375 eastward curve, it measures six miles. As Connecticut towns go, it is a land of large distances. It is starred all over with place names, many of them suggest- ing history. It is a coast town lacking in beach, it has a fine harbor, once the home of many coasting vessels and the refuge of more, but seldom visited now by more important craft than idle pleasure boats. Mulberry Point and Sachem's Head tell of the times when the Indian roamed the marshes and the hills of old Menunketuek. Clapboard Hill and Moose Hill have their meanings of a past that most have now forgotten. Grim Totoket of Branford overlooks its north- ern Itoundary and farther eastward Bluff Head looks down on the interesting waters of Lake Quonnipaug, one of the finest bodies of fresh water of the region. Time was when Guilford had acres in excess of any town in the state. For though by the beginning of the last century most of the two large towns had been parceled between their parishes, Guilford and East Guilford remained one politi- cal unit until 1826. Up to that time the area of the town was over eighty-seven square miles. The towns of Guilford and ]\Iadisou, which then was set off, are alike in one peculiarity. As standing since the division, each is a long, narrow territory stretching thirteen miles up from the sea to the deep woods of the north. Each has a south and a north "society," which form distinct communi- ties, having little but voting duties in common, with what amounts to a decided break in settlement between. In one way of looking at it, four towns have been made out of the Jlcnunketuck which the first settlers acquired from the Indians in 1639. Guilford is ever loyal to its brethren. It makes no quarrel over the claim that its origin, its spirit and purpose, were identical with those of the founders of New Haven. So much the more reason, then, why Guilford's individual .source should be so shown that he who runs may read. Religious intolerance, that same church bigotry that drove Cotton Mather and Thomas Hooker and John Davenport to the large room and free air of this New World, sent forth Henry Whitfield and his little company of independents. Henry Whitfield's house at Oekley in Surrey was a harbor for the persecuted by the zealous Arch- bishop Laud. If men like Mather and Hooker and Davenport were not his friends before, they were by the time they had come here, and their cause was common. Whitfield became a Congregationalist and an independent long before he resolved to follow his friends. They had gone, he was lonesome, and the light of the searchers of the archbishop was beginning to play on him. His friend Fenwick provided a way, and the Whitfield party came. Two features of that coming will help to make clear the character of that migration and its relation to the other one two years earlier, which terminated at Quinnipiac. The first was the covenant which the twenty-five made and signed on shipboard. It was a promise to ".join ourselves together, to be helpful one to the other, not to desert or leave each other." Therein is revealed the charac- ter of the founders. It is a character which Guilford has never lost. In the second place, these voyagers deliberately made for Quinnipiac. Theirs was the first ship to visit that harbor since the settlers came. It was the first 376 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN ship to cuter tlie mouth of the Quinuipiac estuary. And iu their brief stay they named the city which was to be. For there is satisfactory evidence that Pastor Whitfield, or some other of the discerning in the party, looking about hiiu on the broad bay which would hold a thousand ships safe from the storms, and landward over the goodly pli'in between the red rocks, called this a "Fayre Haven." From that to New Haven was natural and easy. The roll of honor of that party has been many times, but not too many times, recorded. These are the twenty-five names at the foot of that noble covenant : Robert Kitchel, John Bishop, Francis Bushnell, William Chittenden, William Leete, Thomas Jones, John Jordan, William Stone, John Hoadley, John Stone, William Plane, Richard C4utridge, John Housego, William Dudley, John Par- mely, John Mepham, Henry AVhitfield, Thomas Norton, Abraham Cruttenden, Francis Chatfield, William Hall, Thomas Naish, Henry Kingnoth, Henry Doude, Thomas Cooke. There are in Guilford and Madison today abundant fruits of that founding. At least eighteen of the twenty-five names are prominently represented in the two towns, though such names as Seward, Scranton, Hubbard, Bartlett, Chalker, Fowler, Benton, Evarts, Stevens and Blachley or Blatchley, found in the free- men's list of 1650, are even more plentiful. It will be found that most of the others are on the early tombstones. Those who signed that covenant were faith- ful, so far as Providence permitted. "They love their land because it is their own," wrote Guilford's poet years afterward. The Guilford part of his Connecticut, at least, owned its land by right of purchase. For we have the definite record of purchase from the Indians of all the territory included in Guilford and Madison, the payment being in that same seemingly negligible coin which Shaumpishuh and Montowese accepted so readil.v. It was the coin which the Indians loved, and there is no reason to doubt that Whitfield and his fellows, as did Davenport and Eaton, paid the asked price. On such a foundation stands a town high in honor among those of Connecti- cut. Laid on a church foundation, its history, from the beginning until now, is in no small measure the history of its churches. There was not in Guilford so conspicuously as in New Haven the stern rule of the church, but its govern- ment was, for the first hundred years of its existence, as truly a theocracy. It sensibly followed the leadership of Pastor Whitfield, for it was a wise on^. He preached the word of truth ; he showed good political and business acumen. He was a man of substance. He gave Guilford in that first year an institution which has made for it as much fame, the country over, as anything in its posses- sion. It was he who built the famous "Old Stone House," commonly known in the histories as "the oldest house now standing in the United States." Halfway down the street leading from the green to the sea, row near the railroad station, it has stood for the better part of three centuries, and bids fair to stand for as many more without impairment. But Pa.stor Whitfield, having given the colony a start of twelve vears, felt Erected in 1039, now tin iil.D ST(JM-: HOUSE, GLILFOIM) trenry Wliitfield House, State Museiiii now stiindinff in tlie rnite-40,000. Some time after its foundation the Guilford National Bank was established, but about 1916, for practical reasons, it was changed into the Guilford Trust Com- pany. Of this C. Stowe Spencer is president, and Captain Griswold is treasurer. It has $25,000 capital and $15,000 surplus. Tlie Guilford Free Library has since 1890 given the people good service, and in 1891 a convenient building was erected on Whitfield Street for its use. It has 2,400 volumes, and iliss Martha G. Cornell is its librarian. After 250 years of life as a residence, under changing ownerships, the ilis- tinguished Old Stone House came to its appropriate mission in 1899. The Legislature of that year ordained it a state nuiseuni, and provided for the appointment by the governor of a body of trustees for its management. It is preserved with regard to historical fitness within and without, and is a repos- itory for an increasing collection of the state's historical relics and memorabilia. The present trustees are : Frederick C. Norton, Bristol ; C. Hadlai Hull, New London ; ]\Irs. Godfrey Dunscombe, New Haven ; Alice Bradford Bridgenian, Norfolk ; George D. Sey- mour. New Haven; Alfred E. Hammer, Branford; Edward C. Seward, Guilford; Rollin S. Woodruff, New Haven ; the first selectman of Guilford, ex officio. The custodian of the museum is Mrs. ilary H. Griswold of Guilford. Guilford's newspapers, for all the town's age, have been confined to the modern period. Of several of varying value, one has survived. There was the Shore Line Sentinel, an excellent weekly whose publication was begun in 1877, but somehow it did not pay. There were later the Guilford Item and the Guilford Echo, but they were not of the fit that survive. In 1894 the Shore Line Times, which the Rev. E. M. Jerome had founded in Fair Haven a few years earlier, was purchased by Charles H. Scholey and brought to Guilford. It was the double acquisition by the town of a good newspaper and a fine citizen. He has happily succeeded in filling, in just the way that suits the good old town and the region round about it, the space that the daily newspaper does not fill, and he is gaining the reward his meritorious service deserves. Guilford has one of the oldest ]\Iasonic organizations in the state — St. Alban's lodge, F. & A. M., instituted in 1771. With it is Halleck chapter. FdUXDKV OF 1. S. SI'KXfKR'S SONS, IXC. (;L1LF(>1;1) TFIE GUILFORD TRUST COMPAXY AND GUILFORD SAVIX(iS BAXK Formerly the Guilford X'ational Bank. AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 381 Royal Arch Masons, 1888. Menunketuck lodge, I. 0. 0. F., dates from 1880. Maida Rebekah lodge was instituted in 1895. Guilford also has lodges of the N. E. 0. P. and the 0. U. A. M.. and the Royal Arcanum, and there are flourishing granges in Guilford and North Guilford. One other institution makes Guilford famous throughout the state and be- yond. In 1860 the Guilford Agricultural Society was born, and for almost half a century it has held annually "the Guilford Fair." It is the great day of Guilford's year, the great annual for eastern New Haven county and the southern central part of the state. For not only are the fruits and products of the town and the region spread out for pride and emulation and instruction. Init the people gather and revel in Old Home delight. It is a .joy not to he missed. First of all, Guilford is agricultural — has been from the beginning, will be, doubtless, to the end of the chapter. But it has manufactures that are of positive substance. The threads of their sources run liack almost to the time of founding, and most of the early ones ai"e memories only. The original mechanical industry, the old town mill, will see its third centenary less than thirty years hence, but gone are the tanneries, most of the sawmills, the fulling mills, which marked the way down to the middle of the last century. Along with those is gone the shipbuilding of which Guilford had not a little, and most of the boat building. Guilford's coasting trade, in which it led the .shore towns at one time, is one of the traditions, and so. except for some efficient repair shops, is most of the carriage making of a former time. Bat the iron foundry business has held and increased in Guilford, though not in number of plants, since the first foundry was established at Jones's Bridge in 1847. It lasted there only four years, and in 1851 was moved to Pair Street, where it has remained ever since. It was the Massup Foundry and ilaehine Shop then, but soon after the business was acquired by Israel Stowe Spencer, and in the Spencer family's hands it has since remained. As I. S. Spencer's Sons — now his grandsons, as a matter of fact — it still is on Pair Street, Guilford's principal industry, ouiploying 100 men or more, still turning out a variety of iron, brass and bronze castings. In 1868 outside interests represented by J. W. Schermerhorn established a plant for the making of school furniture in what had been the old lock factory on Water Street. The business lasted only nine years, when the Guilford En- terprise Company took the factory and planned to make there a varied line of goods from vegetable ivory. That plan also was short lived. So were some other enterprises which .succeeded it. but the original business seems to lie con- tinued in a manner today by the 0. D. Case Company, which makes school furniture supplies. The carriage making industry is represented in the Archi- bald Wheel Company, making carriage wheels. Guilford tomatoes are almost as widely known as Guilford clams, because of the canning industry which was first set in motion in 1881 by the Sachem's Head Canning Company. There is also now the Knowles-Lombard Company 382 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN ill tlie same business, and together they keep the farmers in Guilford and the towns around raising tomatoes by the hundred tons for their increasing industry. Leete's Island, named from Governoi- Leete and his descendants, and form- erly in part a corner of Stony Creek, is the home of one of the greatest granite (juarrying industries in the country, successful through the enterprise of the late John Beattie, and continued by tlie Beattie Quarry Company. Liberty continues to enlighten the world from Bedloe's Island on an enduring fouiula- tion, for every stone in her pedestal came from tlie Beattie (luarries. So did all the stone in scores of breakwaters and other sulistantial constructions all along the coast and inland, and the quarry, with its seemingly inexhaustible supply, keeps busy in its jiroduction hundreds of Guilford people. So is the story of Guilford the story of men w'ho for near three centuries have been faithful to the covenant of the Whittield pilgrims, and have worked together. There have been some great individuals among them. From Gov- ernor Leete to Col. Samuel Hill, whose prominence was such that "like Sam Hill" has become a proverb in this and many lands, from John Bishop down to the unseen makers of the town today, it has been a wonderful company. Some of its members have been incidentally mentioned. Guilford owes much to men like Whitfield, Ruggles, Andrews and Banks and Snow in her pulpits, to men like the Leetes, the Chittendens, the Spencers, the Nortons and the Sewards in her public affairs and industry, to the GrLswolds, the Monroes and the Knowleses in her banking and trade, to Alvan Talcott and Gideon Perry Reynolds, to George H. Beebe and Redfield B. West in medicine, to H. Lynde Harrison and George E. Beers in the law, to the Parmelees and the Dudleys and the Fowlers and a host of others who around her borders have seen that seed time and harvest did not fail to do their perfect work. TllE ACADIAX HOUSE, GUILFORD Here several Acadian peasants from Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, were sheltered by the town, having been put ashore from British ships in 1755. THE "liLACK HOUSE," GUILFOKJJ Painted black in 1793, when the owner, Nicholas Loysel, a Frenchman, learned of beheading of Louis XVI of France. Never repainted until recently. the CHAPTER XLIII TWO SONS OF GUILFORD FITZ-GREENE HALLECK, CONNECTICUT'S GKE.VTEST POET, AND IlLS WORK WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON MURRAY, PREACHER, WRITER, DISCOVERER OP THE ADIRONDACKS AND THE PERFECT HORSE. The tine old town of Guilford, of which it has been said that "never was there a settlement formed of more rigid Puritans, * * * and there is no town in New England where the peculiarities of that noble race have been more faithfully transmitted from father to son," has had in its three centuries a multitude of noteworthy sons and daughters, whose stories have, in. the main, been ably told. Two stand out, however, as worthy of every opportunity of the historian, as well as having deserved more than has been given them. IJoth were men of genius. In one his native town avows on every occasion its pride, but proves it none too well. In the other, it seems, the place of his birth but meagerly confesses its pride, and seeks the while to hide it. Fitz-Greene Halleck and William Henry Harrison Murray, born in different centuries but living and doing their work in the same century, seem never- theless, to the impression of the present dweller in Guilford, to have been "in two distant ages bom." For the former had lived his life and done his work, and passed into a retirement whose modesty made it amount to obscurity, before the latter came into the public view. The "glory time" of the former was in the early decades of the nineteenth century ; that of the latter was in the 'seventies and 'eighties, after the kindly poet had vanished from our mortal eyes. Strangely contrasting in many other ways they were ; differing in merit and in the praise of men. Yet somehow the town of their liirth lacked, and by that token lost, something of understanding of each of them in his time. It may, then, be permissible in the present writer, who has known one in the spirit, and the other somewhat in the flesh but more in the spirit, to record here at least a tribute of appreciation to each. Thomas Hicks, national artist, a painter of portraits who was better known to a generation to which he gave a likeness of its idol, Henry Ward Beecher, left one painting which ought to be, and some day may be, the possession 383 384 A MODERN HISTORY OF xNEW HAVEN of the town of Guilford. It is the clear-cut, geutle, keenly intellectual yet kindly face of a "natural aristocrat." With it, in a hand whose grace and care betoken a school of penmanship as past as the old daguerreotype, goes well the chaste signature, "Fitz-Greene Halleek. " The whole is a study of rare char- acter. One reads in it that charm which we call "a gentleman of the old school." There was no snobbishness in the insistence of Fitz-Greene Halleek to his friend James Grant Wilson that "none but gentlemen were born in his native town of Guilford, their mechanics and laborers all being importations from New Haven and elsewhere." He meant it, and he meant it well, as a compli- ment to Guilford. How he loved Guilford, how he loved Connecticut as he saw it in the face of characteristic Guilford, is well told in his poem "Con- necticut. ' ' And yet it was in New York, where he lived for thirty-seven years, where he did his main life work — or so he seemed to esteem it — where he made his foi'tune, where he wrote practically all his important poems, that he felt at home. He credited New York with his inspiration. The credit really was due, it appears, to the association of such giants of American literature as William Cullen Bryant, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Ir\'ing, Nathaniel Parker Willis and Edgar Allan Poe, all of whom were his contempoi'aries in New York, all of whom he must have known more or less intimately. Out of New York he was out of his element, awa.v from his literary stimulus, therefore virtually unproductive. It should be noticed, however, that some of his best work was done immediately after his return from Europe in 1822, so that to his experi- ence abroad may be attributed not a little of his inspiration. Halleek was born in Guilford June 8, 179(t; in a house on the east side of the green — not the Halleek house of his later residence there, better identified with him. The blood of the Pilgrim Fathers was in his veins, but an even better strain came from his descent, through his mother, from the sainted "Apostle to the Indians." Rev. John Eliot. It was good stork, and it did not detei-iorate in his line, though in his direction it ended with him. His youth and his school brought out revelations of the man that was to be. When impulse ruled over prudence, he wrote poetry before he was ten. When frankness was stronger than modesty, he fancied himself a poet to be. It was in those early days that he drew up in an old writing book, with what we may imagine to have been some promise of the fine script that made him so valuable — in an- other line — in later years, an imaginary title-page: "The Poetical Works of Fitz-Greene Hallock. " (That was two years before, for some reason which does not fully appear, he changed the spelling of his surname to Halleek.) Could this have been tlie same person who twenty-two years later published an edition containing four such poems as "Marco Bozzaris," "Alnwick Castle," "Burns" and "Connecticut," with no mark whatever of the identity of the writer? Dr. Wilson, who sa.vs that "Connecticut" was written "in the fine old mansion where Halleek resided for so manv years" (the well known Halleek AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 385 house at the south^^-est corner of the green), seems to imply that its writing was after Halleck permanently returned to live in Guilford, yet here it is in the edition of 1827. This beautiful (one nice lady is on record as having called hiiu "the brightest and sweetest looking boy I ever saw") and ambitious young school- boy, who began his education at six, completed it at fourteen. Yale college, toward which he could not possibly have been without inclination, was only sixteen miles away. Surely its trea.sures of literature and its depths of in- spiration must have been more to his liking than the groceries and hardware and drygoods in the general store of his kinsman, Andrew Eliot, yet to the latter place he went, without. a murmur of which we have heard. Wealth was rare in the Guilford of those days, and Israel and ]\Iary Halleck were plain people of plain fortunes. But he was in this store a "clerk" in the classic rather than the common meaning. The place was his business college, and toward business he must have had, judging from his adherence to the one main course all through his active life, fully as much of a bent as for literature. He could hardly have known, at the start, the truth that while literature might be fine as an amusement, the mercantile pursuit brought bread and butter. But he must have observed that all through his experience in New York. Per- haps the precocious boy had, after all, an "eye for the main chance." It was an instinct not unknown in Guilford. For the boy who entered Andrew Eliot's store at fifteen graduated from that store and from the town six years later. Perhaps we may read between the lines of this the generally suppressed fact that when he "became of age" he took the reins in his own hands, and drove in the way of his ambition. He had visited New York, which in 1808, though a city of only 90,000, was nevertheless the largest in the country, when he was eighteen. Apparently he caught the fever. He made friends in that brief stay, as we can easily un- derstand from what we know of the friendships of his later life. We can easily imagine that he exerted on them a fascination similar to the effect, ten years earlier, on the dear lady who had so openly succumbed to his childish beauty. They made it eas}% possibl}% for the apt youth with six years' experience in single and double entiy bookkeeping, and six years of practical basiness, to come to New York and secure a place in the counting house of the young Quaker banker Jacob Barker. That was the position he got, and with that same banker he remained, in steadily improving positions, for twenty years. When he left, it was to go to no less a service than that of John Jacob Astor, then the greatest of New York and American merchants. His standing there is well summed up in the fact that he received from the great merchant, after a service of sixteen years, a retirement annuity of two hundred dollars a year. It might not have been much in New York; it was, at that time, a fortune for Guilford, and to Guilford he wisely retired for the remainder of his life. Fifty-eight seems to us in our time a youthful age for retirement. But Halleck had lived well and faithfully, and by competent standards, his busi- 386 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN ness service had been loBg. At all events, he had earned retirement, and he had received his due. So in that early time he set the wise example of retiring to the country as soon as one could leave the city. It was a great and strenuous periotl in the country's history — those years from 1848 to 1857 in Guilford. But he had found a quiet haven in the town of his birth and love, and "along the cool, sequestered vale of life" he seems to have' "kept the even tenor of his way." He visited New York once a year, renewing and keeping fresh the old acquaintances. He wrote little. He seems to have been content to rest upon his laurels — for by that time the veil of anonymity behind which he had earlier concealed himself had been effectively snatched away. He seems to have deemed it better to rest content with what he had written than to spoil' the effect by later poems which he felt must be inferior. Apparently "Young America," published in 1844, only three years before his death, was the most important writing of those years of retirement — all, in fact, except a few trans- lations from the French, German and Italian. The recollections of those who knew the poet, and anything like a careful study of his writings, unite in testimony that humor was a strong element in his makeup. It was one of his pet jokes to refer friends who became inquisitive as to his origin to Joshua XI -.17 and XII :7, both verses making mention of "Mount Halak. " He asserted that Dr. Robinson, the distinguished traveler, had often visited this "old homestead," and reported that it still bore the old name, or sometliiug to the .same effect. The "Croaker" papers, which he wrote while in New York in conjunction with Joseph Rodmaai Drake, were of course the best examples of his humor, but lost .something through their anonymous publication. His "" Fanny" was the keenest sort of a satire. His character- istic "Nutmegger" ^DO^ "Would shake hands witji a king upon his throne, • And think it kindne.ss to his majesty." Humor and modesty, and honest common sense as well, combined in his answer to the admirer who wrote to him the year before his death for a view of his "country seat," to be reproduced in a privately printed edition of "Fanny." He was grateful for the compliment, but he must decline. ' ' For although born here in Connecticut, where, as Lord Byron says of England, 'men are proud ^to be,' I shall never cease to 'hail,' as the sailors say, from yo«r good city of New York, of which a residence of more than fifty years made me a citizen. There I always considered myself at home, and elsewhere but a visitor. If, therefore, you wish to embellish my poem with a view of my country seat (it was literally mine every summer Sunday for years), let it be taken from the top of Weehawk Hill, overlooking New York, to whose scenes and associations the poem is almost exclusively devoted." His friendships were among the finest of our age, and to that he has left the rarest testimony. Whether he was David or Jonathan, tliat was the nature of AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 387 his friendship for Joseph Rodman Drake, for whom his love surpassed the love of woman. No man and no friendship have a nobler comment than "Green be the turf above thee, Friend of my better days ! None knew thee but to love thee. None named thee but to praise." If Halleck had any but male love affairs, his biographers and his neighbors alike have singularly overlooked them. His love for woman seems to liave wholly satisfied itself on his .sister Maria, his relation with whom has been com- pared to that of Charles and JIary Lamb. She was his faithful correspondent during his years in New York, his constant companion during the years of his retirement in Guilford, and survived him by only three years. Of his published poems, perhaps '"Magdalen," in the 1827 edition, comes nearest to expressing the love sentiment which so rapt an admirer of Burns might be expected to retlect. And of that he disposes in a characteristic note: "These lines were written for a love-stricken young officer on his way to Greece. The reader will have the kindness to presume that he died there." When, somewhere about 1822, he wrote it, "ilarco Bozzaris" was his great- est poem. Heard against the battle din of today, it rings as true. The last words of the Greek hero, as Halleck quotes them in an explanatory note, "To die for liberty is a pleasure and not a pain," express an eternal principle. That same element in Burns was what appealed to Halleck, and to it he paid peer- less tribute in his brief elegy. And every son of Connecticut should know by heart the immortal tribute which Connecticut's greatest poet paid to his state. New York, city of fortune and fame, place where he had found life's richest experience and life's sweetest friends, had won him, so that henceforth he was but a visitor elsewhere. Of those seenes and friends he could write in his closing year : "I hope thou wilt not banish hence These few and fading flowei"s of mine, But let their theme be their defense, The joy, the love, the frankincense And fragrance o' Lang Syne." But of Connecticut he wrote, albeit at an earlier time : "And there their hospitable fires burn clear. And there the lowliest farmhouse hearth is graced With manly hearts, in piety sincere. Faithful in love, in honor stern and chaste, In friendship warm and true, in danger brave. Beloved in life, and sainted in the grave." 388 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN To the Guilford and viciuity of this time, Halleck seems but a distant vision. It was difficult even to the schoolboy of a generation ago to realize that a poet worthy "to have his pieces spoken in school" trod these familiar paths and sat within these wonted walls. True, the compilers of the school readers used in Guilford and the towns around at that time had done fairly well. Few of them, as early as that, had presumed to omit "Marco Bozzaris" from their con- tents. They builded, thereby, better than they knew. "Strike — for the green graves of your sires; God — and your native land." was a stronger recruiting appeal than the most stirring poster ever printed, a better incentive to patriotism than all the speeches of all the "four minute" men. The Guilford schoolboy of that time knew little about the friendship between Halleck and Joseph Rodman Drake, but he did know "When Freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air," and somehow saw the connection. It was little enough that Halleck wrote, and less that his neighbors of those days had the opportunity to see of it, but Guilford never failed while Halleck lived of the consciousness that a prophet was in its midst, and should not be permitted to lose it now. Guilford might have realized it in a sight it saw and words it heard three years after all that was mortal of the poet was laid in Aldcrhrook cemetery. It was the eightieth anniversary of his birth, and June crowned with summer warmth and glory an assemblage such as Guilford perhaps had never seen be- fore, and may not see again. Bryant, Longfellow and Whittier were among the galaxy of poets and literary men who came to dedicate the granite obelisk over Halleek's grave. Bayard Taylor made an eloquent and appreciative address. A lyric tribute to Halleck by Oliver Wendell Holmes was read. It was a thrill- ing revelation of the place which the modest poet, who has Iwen worthily called the greatest of the first ciuarter of the nineteenth century in America, held in the esteem of his discerning contemporaries. It was and is meet that the town of his birth should be reminded, as Whittier reminded the nation seven years later, when the President of the United States and his staff joined the great literary men of the country in unveiling a statue to Halleck in Ceutr^il Park at New York, that "New hands the wires of song may sweep, New voices challenge fame; But let no moss of years o'ercreep The lines of Halleek's name." AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 389 II When genius climbs the heights to the temple of success, the world strews in its path the palm branches of extravagant adulation. When genius goes down to the depths of seeming failure, the same world has only disparagement, or the worse damnation of faint praise, to otfer, and over the grave of former successes the only epitaph it has to write is "failure," without qualitication. The extremes of this experience had come to William Henry Harrison Murray when on March 3, 1904, he closed at old Guilford a remarkable career. He was born on April 26, 18-40, in a little farmhouse back in the woods of Guilford — born with a love of learning and of nature. In thirty years he had risen by the regular steps to be pastor of one of the leading churches in New England, with an income of $15,000 a year, with thousands crowding each Sunday to hear his eloquence, with a reputation as a pulpit orator almost ap- proaching that of Beecher, known and admired by thousands more through his books — his praise in the mouths of all who knew him. Thirteen years later he was running a small restaurant in Jlontreal, himself acting as cook, poor, dis- credited, nearly forgotten by the thousands who praised him in his fame. And twenty-one years after that he died in the Guilford house where he was born, having spent there in obscurity, though in peace and comparative happiness, the last eleven years of his strange life. The section of Guilford in which the Murray home stands is over three miles from the shore, and is a part of a school district in Madison. It was much with Madison, therefore, that Murray's .early life was associated. There were his boyhood a.ssoeiates, and some of his later manhood friendships. In the rural surroundings of his early life his deep love of nature, the grandest feature of his character, was developed. To the northward from his home stretched miles of then practically unlirokcn woods. Westward and eastward the land sloped to valleys through which ran dashing brooks, called rivers by the custom of the neighborhood. Southward, from some high portions of his father's farm, he could view broad stretches of the waters of the Sound, almost four miles away, shimmering in the summer sun or stirred by the storms of winter. His love for nature, thus born, moved him to explore all the lovely spots of his boyhood environment, and when later he had the opportunity it led him forth, seeking new worlds of beauty to conquer, to the discovei-y of the Adirondacks. And his discovery of the Adirondacks led to the best of those writings which are his rich legacy to -the world. On his father's farm, also, Murray formed that keen love for "the perfect horse" which was another side of his nature — was at once his uplift and his downfall. The zest for learning was born in the man. At fourteen he had devoured all the reading within his reach — there were no Carnegie libraries in those days — and had determined to go to college. It was his ambition to he a great, public speaker, to hold audiences spellbound by his eloquence, to give to eager listeners the message of nature and of nature's God which burned 390 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN within him. His associates in school remember him as a brilliant, restless lad, who soared where others plodded, a dreamer of visions they did not understand. Ten years, and his ambition was on the eve of realization. At twenty -two he i-eceived his A. B. from Yale. At twenty-four he was graduated from Yale Theological School, full of promise for a brilliant career in the ministry. His fame as a speaker had already begun to spread, and he at once received a call to the Congregational Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. He served there two years, then went to the First CUiurch of Meriden. But by this time he was too well known to long remain in even a church of that size. Presently Park Street Church of Boston called him to eminent position and a salary of $8,000 a year ; his ambition hea>'d the call. H« was hardly twenty-eight then, but at the height of his ability as a pulpit orator. His masterly eloquence was undeniable, his delivery was superb and his voice like the music of deep toned bells. He was a man of more than average height, with a knightly erectness of bearing that eame of conscious power, and a personality that charmed all who came near him. Thus he was fitted to be a popular idol, and such he presently was. The meml)ership of Park Street Church sprang to more than 1,200, its audiences grew beyond its seating capacity. Wherever he spoke the people came in multi- tudes to liear him. He numliered legions of friends in Boston, and added to their number wherever he went. The friends and neighbors of his boyhood knew and rejoiced in his success. Nor did he forget them. He loved to keep in touch with his early surroundings. His last appearance in the pulpit of the church which he as a boy had often at- tended in Madison is well remembered. by the people of the town. This was the pulpit which, a little more than ten years before, Rev. Samuel Fiske, delightful "Dunne Browne," as he was widel^v known by his writings, had left to serve and die in defense of the Union. This was Mr. Murray's first appearance there since he had reached the crest of his fame, and great was the rush to hear him. The fine old church was crowded to its doors, and many in the multitude, be it known, were less than regular attendants. They heard a sermon clothed in words of power and charm, and went away as under a spell. Murray 's discovery of the Adirondacks dates back to his pastorate at Green- wich. A year or two later he wrote his book "Adventures in the Wilderness," which brought both the Adirondacks and the man to national attention. The hundreds who could afford expensive vacations began to seek the wilderness for their summer recreation, and the thousands who couldn't did the next best thing— they read the books. This first book, "Adirondack Tales," which soon followed, and others of his early works had a great sale, and brought a con- siderable income to the writer. At once be became known as "Adirondack Murray." The name clung to him all his life and stands for his memorial. He never was otherwise than proud of it, and he never had reason for disclaim- ing it. The inspiration of his highest ideals came from these virgin forests, in some of which his was the first white man 's foot to tread. Murray's income from various sources in the later years of his pastorate AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY :»1 * at Boston has been estimated at $15,000 a year. It is unlikely that anyone knows exactly what it was, least of all Murray himself, who had a very dim idea of amount and value of money. But he thought he had enough to carry out one of his early ambitions, establish a farm for the breeding of superior horses. The old place at Guilford was in his possession, and there he worked out his plans. He put up two great barns, one of them an equine palace, for some of the choicest of his pedigreed pets, the other a large, well lighted and comfortably appointed stable capable of accommodating twenty or more horses. He erected a windmill to In-ing running water to the barns. He had his own blacksmith shop and wagon repair establishment. He laid out a trotting course near his great barn, and spent hundreds of dollars on it, though it was never completed. Incidentally, he built a deer park, and stocked it with Adirondack beauties. At these barns he had at one time from ten to twenty of the finest horses to be found in New England, with pedigrees running back to Dexter or Ham1)leton or even Messenger. A)nong them were such well known stars as Live Oak, Brandy wine, Adirondack and Lady Messenger, all with the bluest blood and fine trotting records. They had fancy values, too, at least in the Murray inventoi-y. He claimed to have refused an offer of $20,000 for Adiron- dack, and he was said to have paid nearly half of that for some of the other prize stallions on his list. It is needless to say that forty years ago these were high prices for horses. Nor is it necessary to point out that this stock farm, with its heavy outgo and very slight income, with its outfit of trainers, stable- men, blacksmiths and farm helpers, was an inevitably fatal drain on a man without an independent fortune. Murray lacked the business acumen to see where it was sure to land him. Had his salary been twice what it was, he could not long have stood the demands made upon it. But while it lasted, this stock farm did good things for the farmers of the vicinity, in scattering through the section scores of young horses, bred from the Murray farm and the Murray stock, of really superior blood. But the collapse of the Murray farm and the Murray fame came near together. Forty-five years ago "libei-ality" of any sort in a New England Congregational minister was far less tolerated than it is today. The deacons of Murray's Boston church did not so much mind the reputation their pastor had as an explorer in the wilderness, they could stand the soubriquet "Adiron- dack," but when he came to be more widely known as a horseman than he had been as a preacher, they began to squirm. He wrote a book on horse training, "The Perfect Horse" — and it's a sensible work of its kind, too — while he was pastor at Park Street. He became a frequenter of race meets, an associate of racing men. He appeared on the streets of Boston, not in frock coat and tall hat and white tie, but with a short coat, his trousers tucked in the tops of his boots and a soft felt hat. He drove four-in-hand, he raced horses with the sports, some of them not too immaculate of reputation, on the "mill dam." All this might have been borne, however, for Murray was really beloved by the people of his church, but the climax that could not be tolerated came when the 392 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN strictly orthodox noted signs of '•liberality"' in the preacher's doctrine. It has never been shown that Mr. JIurray preached anything more radical than is accepted without a murmur from scores of the leading preachers of today, but those times were different, and he was ahead of his times. There began to be criticism from the conservative. Ever sensitive and independent, he revolted at the first breath of fault, and resigned from Park Street church in 1874. Doctrinal differences, however, were overlooked in the separation. His friends and admirers in Boston felt and knew that the real reason he left the pulpit was his love for the horse. They might lose him from Park Street Church, but they would not let him leave Boston. By thousands they rallied to him with promises of sup- port if he would establish an independent church. He never formally did this, but for three years longer he preached at Music Hall, across the street from his former pulpit, to larger audiences than he had ever known. But rumor had chosen him for a shining mark. It hinted social scandal. His prestige waned a little; so did his income. But his expenses kept steadily increasing. Then creditors began to fear, and to press for settlements. The combination was too much for his sensitive spirit. He was by no means a bankrupt. He was the possessor of a great deal of valuable property. He had hosts of friends who would have helped him with advice, with intervention with his creditors, even with financial assistance. He stopped to think of none of these things. Taking counsel only with his pride, he left everything and dis- appeared. The possessions he left behind disappeared almost as suddenly. Real and alleged creditors seized movable property at their will. There was some sort of a settlement, but it was in every way against the owner. When years later- he returned to the old place, only the buildings and a part of the farm were left. For some time after that ilurray's friends lost sight of him. Then he was found at San Antonio, Texas, running a sawmill, it was said. About 1882 he went to Montreal and estal)lished the "Snow Shoe" restaurant, of which he was proprietor and cook. His friends thought then he had reached the foot of the ladder. So he had, and soon after he began to climb toward his former position. He took up writing again, and some of his best books were produced in these later years. In 1886 he went to England to study finance. On his return he traveled through New England and the South and West lecturing and reading from his books. About 1892 he made a satisfactory settlement with his creditors and recovered his old place in Guilford, where he retired and spent the remainder of his life. The Murray of this retirement was a disappointment to some who had known him in former days. Convinced that he was wholly misunderstood, he had soured on the world, and he developed what seemed like strange eccentricities. His old neighbors still tell tales about the way he neglected the old homestead, so different from his former sedulous care for it. He was letting nature be his decorator in those days. But for all that, those who came closest to him in his sunset years testify that he retained that same courtliness, that same warmth AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 393 of hospitality and of friendship which made him so loved in the days when fortune smiled and the world woi'shipped at his feet. Here in his old home, with the wife and children of his love he spent his closing j'ears, writing little, doing little, simply resting amid the surroundings of his youth's aspirations and his heart's desire. Here, after his experience with the world's storms, he found a haven of peace. As Murray's addre.sses and writings are rich in anecdotes, so he was a fruit- ful source of tales illustrative of his personality. One which a former driver for him tells well pictui'es the dare-deviltry of the man. "While he was pastor at Boston and ran the stock farm at Guilford he spent much of his weeks at the latter place. It was his custom to take what was called the midnight express for Boston at Guilford on Sunday mornings (the through expresses stopped at Guilford for water in those days). One Sunday morning when the skj' was black as ink and the air w-as thick with coming rain Murray left his farm for the four-mile drive to the station. It was late, and they were nearly a mile from the station when the whistle of the approaching train sounded through the night. One of his swiftest horses was in front of them, and the driver was already setting the fastest pace he dared in the darkness, but when Murray heard that whistle he said: "Let me take the reins." "But, Mr. Murray," remonstrated the driver, "we are going faster than is safe now. You can't see a thing, and you'll upset us and bi-eak both our necks." "Can't help it," was the laconic reply. "I must be in Boston at 10:30 this morning, dead or alive." And while the shuddering driver gripped the seat and remembered his sins, the man who was used to shooting without a tremor the rapids of Adirondack streams in a birch bark canoe put his blooded steed into a pace better than 2 :30, and started on a race with the approaching train. Through the muddy streets of the unlighted village they dashed, grazing trees at the roadside, skipping around corners on two wheels, and pulled up at the station just in time to allow the preacher to catch on the rear step of the departing train. The congregation at Boston never knew how near they came to being disappointed that day. Another story which Murray was wont to tell as a joke on himself, is sug- gestive of the environment in which he raced horses on the "mill dam'' at Boston, as well as of the democracy of the man. Any man with a horse capable of giving him a "brush" was a good enough companion for ]\Iurray when he was on the speedway. One whom he met there often was a well known Boston sport of none too good private character. But he owned a fine horse, and so many contests did the two have that they became well acquainted, as horsemen go, though neither knew the other's name. Least of all did the sport know that the man who drove such fine trotters was one of the leading dominies of Boston. One day the two met under different circumstances. It was on one of the prom- inent streets of the city, and the sport, arrayed in the most correct of afternoon dress, was walking with a lady. Murray, alone, was in short coat, top boots and soft hat, as was his custom. As they passed, Murray raised his hat and made a 394 A MODERN HISTORY OP NEW HAVEN courtly bow to his quondam friend of tlie "mill dam," but the other returned no sign. The next day they met again as horsemen, whereupon the sport pulled up and spoke thus to the clergyman: "See here, you and I meet out here, have our friendly brushes and are good fellows together. That's all right. But when I am walking on Tremont Street with a lady I've got to be particular whom I know, and you needn't bother to bow to me; see?"" And the joke was so good that Murray wouldn 't spoil the effect by telling the fellow who he was. The friends of his early and his later years, the associates and admirers of the man in his time of triumph, some time since lost the magnetic human touch, the inspiring friendship, the cheering optimism, of the living man. They are memories only, but he is not dead. In the words which he set down for men he lives still— lives to move to alternate laughter and tears all with eyes to read and souls to appreciate his writings. Next to the privilege of having known the man is that of touching him through his books. None save a man inspired could have thought such thoughts as his, or clothed them with such words of lasting life. He dwelt above the mists of the practical and commonplace, and from his mountain tops saw visions which are revealed only to the few. For him who has never explored the treasures of these writings of "Adirondack" Murray there is the blessing of a lifetime in store. These are more than "Adirondack Tales." more than "Adventures in the Wilderness." These simple stories, as they seem at first, run the whole gamut of human emotions. There is description that thrills, the most delicate and effective humor, pathos that moves to tears, philosophy that makes one ponder, revei^ence that uplifts the soul. No one who reads these books understandingly is ever the same again. Henceforth there dwells within him a deeper appreciation of all things noble and true, a keener eye for the sublime and the ridiculous, a reverent love for nature and its Creator. These books voice the eternal truths of life and love, and he who wrote them had been touched with high inspiration. Nor should their rank as literature be as neglected as it seems to have been. Our time has seen few^ better exponents of the possibilities of the English language than he was at his best. It was one of his highest aims to be such. As he put it: "I regard the English langaiage as the most facile and noblest medium of expressing human thought and feeling ever used on earth. He who knows how to write and speak the English language in purity, with correctness and finished forcefulness, must be admitted to be a scholar of the highest rank. And he w'ho cannot do this, no matter to what other knowledge he has come, lacks the cultivation of finished scholarship." In the light of these words, read this example of how Murray could use the "noble medium" at his best, and .judge of how its author should be rated : "0 memory! Thou tuneful bell that ringeth on forever, friend at our feasts and friend, too, let us call thee, at our burial, what music can equal thine 1 For in thy mystic globe all tunes abide — the birthday note for kings, the marriage AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 395 peal, the funeral knell, the gleeful jingle of merry mirth, and those sweet chimes that float our thoughts, like fragrant ships upon a fragrant sea, toward heaven — all are thine! Ring on, thou tuneful bell; ring on, while these glad ears may drink thy melody ; and when thy chimes are heard by me no more, ring loud and clear above my grave that peal that echoes to the heavens, and tells the world of immortality, that those who come to mourn may check their tears and say, 'Why do we weep? He liveth still.' " Those tales of the woods, for the great bulk of Murray's writing has the sur- roundings of primitive nature for its setting, voice the philosophy of the man. No one can read aright "The Story the Keg Told Me" without being impressed by its depth of truth, truth seldom told as impressively. Then there is the deep pathos of "The Man Who Didn't Know Jluch. " and a vein of mystery as well. This latter weird force shows in many of the Adirondack tales, such as that which tells of the phantom of the lake. One story, almost his latest, stands by itself in merit and magnificence. "JIamelons" is more than a story, it is a prose poem. Mr. Murray said that he spent eight years of work on this book, and the investment was a wise one. Let him who would study the rare possibilities, the delicate shades, of this wonderful language of ours read "Mamelons"' and jts companion story "Ungava. " But of all the agents which give these stories human interest the greatest is John Norton the Trapper. The neighborhood in which Muri-ay was born con- tained so many Nortons that it was called Nortontown. Norton, a name familiar to tJie writer from earliest association, was ever a favorite with him. It is a good name, for as he says, "who does not know that the ancestors of the Nortons came over in the Mayflower." Perhaps John Norton is a portrait of some real person, but more likely he is an ideal, for certainly no writer or painter ever drew a nobler picture of God's masterpiece, an unspoiled man. In the mouth of John Norton the writer has put his richest pathos, his most delicious humor, his deepest philosophy — often a combination of all three in one passage. The reader learns to love the old man as a friend, to long to meet him and feel the cordial grip of his hand, to know the hospitality of his camp fire. And when the trapper, alone in his silent cabin after a day of good deeds, has twined wreaths of evergreen about the pictures of his loved and lost, reminders of the romance and the tragedy of his life, and standing before them sighs, "I miss them so!" one longs to reach out to the man the hand of sympathy, and mingle tears with his. Dear old John Norton ! Your homely wisdom and noble passions speak best the character of the man who pictured you, tell best how true to the ideal was his human heart. May you live long and travel far to proclaim to men and women the great truths of life, to teach them the beautifid w^ays of God and nature. The mortal part of this man of vision rests beneath an old tree near the liomestead in Nortontown where he was born and where he died. His rare spirit 396 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN lives on iu a grander existence, where they understand and appreciate. For us who linger in the paths he trod his living message, the message of a- true humanity, rings on across the years: "As years go on and heads get gray — how fast the guests do go ! Touch hands, touch hands with those that stay. Strong hands to weak, old hands to young. The false forget, the foe forgive ; for every guest will go and everj- fire burn low and cabin empty stand. Forget, forgive! Touch hands." CHAPTER XLIV MADISON EAST GUILFORD AND NORTH BRISTOL BEFORE THEIR SEPARATION PROM GUILFORD, THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND HISTORY AS DIVIDED PARTS OF AN UNUSUAL CONNEC- TICUT TOWN A strip of land containing over forty S(iuare miles, tapering from two miles wide at its northern boundai'v, widening to scarce four miles midway of its length, then narrowing and again widening at its foot to almost six miles ; a strip stretching nearly fifteen long miles from Hammonasset Point to its north- western cornel' — that, physically, is the town of Madison. It is a characteristic bit of New England, topographically. No mountains star its surface ; its highest point is Cranberry Hill, 400 feet, a little we.st of the center of North Madison, though High Hill, more conspicuous because unwooded, is only four feet short of that. Chestnut Hill and Walnut Hill, also halfway up its length, rise each above 300 feet. All the way from Durham to the sea the Hammonasset River's tortuous course is its eastern boundary, the limit of New Haven County in that direction. From the Hammonasset at the north branch off westward Foster's Brook and Oil Mill Brook, and in the southwestern corner East River and Neck River are interesting, though le.ss useful streams of water. These streams, at least those on the east side, have considerable water power possibilities, and for grist mills and saw mills have been much used in their time. Madison has had the familiar small indu.stries history of other Connecticut towns, though in lesser degree. Now' these have almost entirely disappeared, and Madison remains, as it has mainly been from the beginning, an agricultural town. Its soil is light, where it is not heavy with rocks, except along the river bottoms. There are many favorable farming areas. But the far northern part, in fact for a fourth of the way down from its northeni point, is still wooded, though several growths of the wood have been cleared off, and its ledges and hills offer little inducement to the farmer. The farmer does not need the room especially. In these forty miles dwell only 1,5.34 people. There were 1,809 when the town was set off from Guilford in 1826. The greate.st number any ceasus has found was 1,86.5 in 1860. Prob- ably a thousand of them live within two miles of the long shore. The village of Eagt River, which has a railroad station and post office, Madison Center and Hammonasset are along the coast, the former almost eityfied, with its trolley 397 398 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN and electric lights aud city water, to whose shore come in the summer time a thousand or two of the summer pleasure seekers of this aud many states. Woods District, "the Woods," as it used to be, is tw-o and a half miles up from the shore. Over four miles above that is the center of North Madisou, with its church and sehoolhouse and scattering farms. Aud then the traveler, as ever since the day the white man came, plunges northward into wilderness. Above North Madison are five miles of weary distances, where the houses are few and the woods, except where the charcoal burner has stripped them, thick, where dark deeds have been done, a region which the average resident of civilized Madison, in the former days if not now, regarded as wilderness morally as well as physically. Such a town of contrasts is Madison, component part of the Guilford of the 1639 foundation, inhabited by descendants of the Bishops and the Chittendens and the Nortons and the others who signed the Whitfield covenant. Its founda- tions are the fouiidations of Guilford, its spirit and pride aud ancestry the same. Yet Madison has from the first had its own individuality. Why should it not, since its settlemeut, at points, goes back within two years of the "Old Stone House?" Most of its territory was acquired from a second purchase of the Whitfield party, jointly from the sachem "pious Weekwash" and the famous Uneas of the Mohegans. As to this East Guilford part, running from the East or Kuttawoo River to the "Athammonassuck" — by simplified spelling Ham- monasset — we have the iuteresting information that this 26,000 acres cost "four coates, two kettles, four fathom of wampum, four Iiatehetts aud three hoes." It was an Indian paradise. All over it have been the marks of the aborigine, and two score years ago the plowboy who kept his eyes open for Indian arrows would not go unrewarded. They were good Indians for the most part, though they did not die young. Old people of fifty years ago remembered some of them, or thought they did. There was tradition if not remembrance of Hannah Punk aud Tunis, of "Old Anu" aud "Young Ann," of Walkee at North Bristol, of Jim Soebuck. Sue Nonesuch and Milly Coheague, all of whom were kept in good humor with the whites by fair treatuient, a little dickering — and now and then a drink of cider. The first settlement, probably, was an overflowing from the west side of East River. There were not so many of the settlers, but they were adventurous. So some of them worked west acro.ss Clapboard Hill, and found the East River. Then they waded across to see what was on the other side, and remained. So what is the village of East River was formed. Perhaps the nature of its forma- tion accounts for the fact that it w-as always nearer to Guilford, in spirit, than to Madison. But there was a jump clear across the town, soon after the pur- chase bounded by the Hammouasset, to the very mouth of that river. We find John Meigs there as early as 1654 — and many Meigses have been there ever since. John Bayley settled somewhat to the northwest of there, and from him Bayley's Creek and many Baj'Ieys, or Baileys, were named. Still further north, in the BOSTOX STREET, LOOKING EAST. JIADISOX BOSTON POST KOAIi, l.dOKIMi W IvST, MAIUSON AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 399 region of the ' " Horsepond, " Christopher Foster, who came direct from Long Island, settled in 1740. One of the early points of settlement was the region since known as "Scotland," its name accoiinted for, perhaps, by the fact that one of the settlers was a Murray, and Hills and Bishops and Coes and Dowds soon after abounded there and around "Short Rocks." These spots are only a little south of the "Ducklioles" where the old mill stood by the Hammonasset. From these beginnings the progress was rapid. Though tlie number of planters did not greatly increase by immigration for a while after the first settlement, that was the day when the solitary had large families — ten children was no unheard of numbei- — and the plantation's second generation was a marked advance. Of course what is now the center of the town was early found, though the oldest house now standing there does not date earlier than 1700. But East Guilford .was not strong enough to think of standing by itself until 1783. Then it applied for establishment as a separate parish. There seems to have been little opposition from the mother town. There was favorable action in town meeting, but for reasons not revealed to us at this present, the thing went no further at that time. The East Guilford which would have been created a separate town under that plan, included only the south society. That would have made the new town a small one, and left North Bristol in outer darkness, a notch on the territory of Guilford. This would have pleased the south society people well enough, no doubt, for there never was the most fraternal feeling between the two parts of the town. "AU creation and part of North Bristol" used to be a favorite smart saying in the town, who.se implication is plain enough. So if it could have been arranged to make an East Guilford minus North Bristol — and perhaps, for that matter, minus East River — a good many of the people would have been content. North Bristol (it was so named from Bezaleel Bristol, an early and respected settler) was settled about 1725, when it was indeed wilderness. Some of the first names found there were Turner, Dudley. Bishop, Munger, Johnson, Dowd and Hopson. The Hills and the Nortons came later, and must have prevailed, judging from their abundance there now. There is a marked break between the two settlements now ; it must have been extreme then. They grew up, but they did not grow together. The worst friction came over the matter of town meet- ings. The North Bri.stolites thought it hard to travel six miles to meet with the south society, and the south society people thought it even harder to climb up to the hills of North Bristol, good as the view was when they got there. At first they alternated with their town meetings. Then the south enders, as of course their majority enabled them, voted to give the north a third of the meetings. This being unsatisfactory, they created two voting districts in 1871, with the pro- vision that all the town meetings be in Soi;th Madison. But this was^ discon- tinued in 1879, and since then all the political functions of the town have been at the south end — in the basement of the Congi-egational church, the only town hall Madison had until 1899, since then in the Memorial Hall. That delayed separation from Guilford took place in 1826, and the town 400 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN became Madison from James Madison, fourth president of the United States. That, of course, was the conversion of "North Bristol" to North Madison. For the first fifty years or so of that scattered settlement in East River, Hammonasset, Scotland and around the green, the church problem must have been a vexed one. Guilford, which had encouraged the Hammonasset settle- ment, also encouraged the people there to affiliate themselves with Pastor and President Piersou's church in Killingworth across the river. A bridge had been built across East River as early as 1649, and the people there were taken care of in the mother town. Some of them show a tendency to keep up the affiliation to this day. But toward the close of the century there was a goodly company of people in the vicinity of the green, and some of them showed uneasiness to get their own church. They began earnestly to agitate for one in 1694 or sooner. They got it in 1707. They had, as a guarantee of good faith and works, erected a building two years earlier. Thus began the Congregational church of Madison, now as in the beginning the church of Madison. In the first 186 years of that church 's history it had six pastors, all of them men of distinction out of proportion to the church's apparent size. Rev. John Hart, the first, who served for twenty-four years until 1731, was a strong preacher and leader. Rev. Jonathan Todd followed him with the remarkable pastorate of fifty-eight years from 1733 to 1791. The next pastor was Rev. John Elliott, son of the Rev. Joseph Eliot, who was pastor of the first church of Guilford following 1664, a descendant of the apostle to the Indians. He began his pastorate in 1791 and closed it in 1824. For twenty-eight years after that Rev. Samuel N. Shepard was the pastor, a man who threw himself into town as well as church leadership in a positive and welcome way, a man of decided power. In 1857 the church called Rev. Samuel Fisk, who brought it more delight and fame, perhaps, than any of its previous pastors. Like many of the preachers of our time, he responded to the Civil war's great need for spiritual leaders in the army. He went out as a regimental chaplain and was killed while with his regiment in the battle of the Wilderness. He was widely known as a newspaper and war correspondent under the name of "Dunne Browne," and wrote with that fine vein of humor which made him so beloved in his church. Rev. James A. Gallup, in his time reckoned the ablest preacher on the shore between New Haven and New London, was pastor for the twenty- eight years between 1865 and 1893. He grew into his community, and it honored and followed liiiu. He was a man of fine scholarship, of true humanity, the mark of whose greatness of spirit still rests upon the town in which he took such pride and delight. The church's period since then has been of somewhat different character, not marked by long pastorates. In the last quarter century there have been four of them. Rev. William T. Brown followed Mr. Gallup. He was zealous for what was then beginning to be known as the higher, criticism, and he gave the conservative old church a shock. Some of its members brought about his trial for heresy in 1896, but they were, in a way, laughed out of court. The a>N(;RI':UATl(lN'AL tlUKCH. MAItl AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 401 effect was not salutai\y, however, and Mr. Brown, a man of the best intentions, left a divided church in 1898. He was followed by Rev. George A. Bushee, who for nine years gave the church wise leadership, leaving to take up teaching in 1907. Rev. Arthur H. Hope was pastor for the following six years, until called to Springfield in 1914. Since then the Rev. A. T. Steele has been pastor, leading the church somewhat after the manner of its former regime. The church's first building was on the green, without steeple or bell, and having no galleries until 1715. The people rebuilt in 1753, doing better as to architecture. This church had two stories, with two tiers of windows. It had also the quaint high pulpit. It was adorned' with a steeple, and was one of the interesting buildings of that period. "When the people built for the third time in 1838, they had the common struggle to break away from the green. There was a strong party that favored building on Deacon Hart's lot north of the green, but so resolute was the minority that forty-seven members actually with- drew from the church in 1841, because of the change. The commanding site north of the green was chosen, and it and the building placed thereon have ever since been the pride of the people of Madison, the delight of all who visit the town. It is a building of notable architecture, acknowledged by all good .judges to be one of the finest country churches of its type in New England. A hand- some modern chapel was added to its eciuipment, on a plot just east of the green, in 1881. North Madison, whose beginnings w^ere in 1725, did not have its own church until after a society was incorporated in 1753. It had erected a sort of church building, small and very primitive, in 1737, and Rev. John Rundle commenced to preach to the people. Since his day there have been many pastorates, most of them short ones, one of the more notable of recent times being that of Rev. "William E. B. Moore from 1885 to 1895. The present fine cTiurch building was erected in 1887, in the pastorate of Rev. Stephen Hayes. It is in design and size a credit to the community. The present pastor of the church is Rev. Theodore Bacheler. Madison has had two Methodist churches, but since its size in population, as we have seen, tends to diminish rather than increase; the newer denomination has a struggle for existence. The church in South Madison was founded in 1839. and has been served by many alile men, the first being Rev. James H. Pern' in 1840. Rev. "William P. Markwick was one of the most popular of its pastors, and for several years before his death Rev. Otis J. Range ministei-ed to this church .jointly with the one in Guilford. The church owes much to some of the devoted men in its denomination, notably the 'IMiners, Charles il. and William C. Members of the Congregational church also have been liberal in their attendance and support. The other chui-eh was in Rockland, in the far regions above North Madison, and was started as early as 1800. It has had many pastors, but gained a somewhat unenviable notoriety in 1877 on ac- count of the Maiy Stannard murder scandal, which wrecked the reputation of 402 A MODERN HISTORY OP NEW HAVEN Rev. H. H. Hayden, then its pastor, not to speak of that of some of the lawyers of New Haven County. In recent years the church has been closed. Madison is distinctly an agricultural community. Hardly a trace is found in these days of any other industry. Yet there have been the early outcroppings of the Yankee disposition to make things which we have seen in other towns, and some important features of that activity, even in recent years. There were grist mills on many of its sturdy streams, notably that at Duckholes. Henry Hull had another at Nortontown. There were several sawmills in the upper portions of the town. In the eastern part of "the Woods," William F. Whedon and his son Webster D. Whedon had for some years previous to 1900 a mill for the turning of small handles and other wooden specialties. Earlier than that, there were iron works in a small way, and in the days when the catching of whitefish, or menhaden was at its height, such of the fish as were not sold to the farmei-s for fertilizer were tried up for oil. The building up of the shore with valuable summer cottages convinced Madison that the seashore was more important than the oil industiy. Another manufacturing effort, highly inter- esting while it lasted, was the attempt in the 'seventies of Dennis Tuttle, who acquired a portion of a deep swamp in the southern part of the town near the railroad station, to manufacture peat there on a large scale. But that was in the days of cheap fuel and high cost of transportation. The venture failed. iladison had two wharves, the East and felie West, built and maintained at some expense, as the town has no sufficient breakwater or natural harbor. They were sturdily kept up as long as the town's coasting trade continued, and that was an important one at one time. This was also responsible for a substantial shipbuilding industry, the most important feature of which was the yard at the East Wharf conducted for years by Charles M. ]\Iiner and his son William C. Miner. In 1889 a partly built vessel was destroyed by fire on the ways, and this practically terminated the industry, which before that had produced some of the important vessels for the coasting trade in Connecticut and nearby states. There was a time when the IMadison shore and the creeks which met it seemed a natural ground for oyster growing. Neck River's mouth was deemed a favorable spot, except for the fresh water which poured down into it. So in 1828 the Madison Channel Company was formed, which dug a canal from a point in the river a mile and a half up from its mouth straight to the Sound. The fresh water coming down was to be diverted into this, while the mouth of the river, flooded with salt water, was to be an oyster breeding ground. The canal worked well enough, but the oysters refused to grow profitably. The oyster experiment lapsed, and the canal remained, an expensive and useless ditch. iladison's shore today is its fame and its fortune. It has more good beach in proportion to its coast than any other New Haven County town. Outsiders seem earliest to have appreciated its virtues. A certain Mrs. Dexter of Michi- gan, it is said, was the fii-st to build a shore cottage in Madison. Back in the 'sixties she brought a ready-made frame from Michigan, the story is. and put it AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 403 up near the shore midway between East and West wharf. She was alone in her delight until almost 1880, when "New Waterbury," a street cut through from Liberty Street to the shore, was built up in a season or two. Soon after that the rush commenced, and ten or fifteen years ago it was hard to find a good site remaining. The fine residences which now line Madison's shore all the way from east of Webster Point to what they used to call "the jumpiiig- off place" — Hogshead Point — now form a substantial part of Madison's $2,508,657 grand list, and their peojile and those who visit the shore hotels in their four months' stay each summer bring a great share of Madison's present prosperity. There were formerly two paper mills on the upper Hammonasset River which meant a great deal to the people of Madison, not only in employment but because one of them, a straw board mill, made a market for most of the farmers' rye straw. They were, strictly, on the Killingworth side of the river, but in effect they were Madison industries. The "Upper mill" was supposed to make the finer grades of paper, and both were conducted for some years by Ezra Cooper & Son. These, it is said, were tannery sites earlier. The lower paper mill was demolished some years ago, and about 1902 the property was purchased by the Guilford-Chester Water Company, which supplies several towns in the region with water. It was the company's intention, it is supposed, to build a new high dam and make an immense reservoir there, for the purpose not onl.y of furnishing water but of proditcing electricity for light and power. But for some reason the plan has not been carried out, and the great water privilege lies practically idle. Further up is the picturesque spot known as Nineveh Falls, the remains of a dam where there w^as formerly an old grist mill. In recent times iladison has had .some modern industries, most important of them, probably, the school furniture and supplies factory of Munger & Son, at East River. This at one time employed upwards of twenty people, and was continued by George B. Munger for some time after his father's death. A few years ago lie retired from active work, devoting himself principally to public efforts for the town which he has always honored, and to his duties as trustee of the Guilford Savings Bank. Several years ago Henry J. Griswold, who now lives in New Haven, ran a small hosiery factory at the rear of his house near the corner of Boston and Wall streets, and farther up Wall Street Wilson B. Coe still conducts the busi- ness of distributing Valentine, Fourth of July and Christmas novelties, employ- ing several people at home and a salesman or two on the road. William B. Crampton for years had a small shop for the manufacture of spectacle cases. Madison has no bank, but in its place it has the Madison Mutual Fire Insur- ance Company, established in 1855. As fires are rare in Madison, which has now a good volunteer fire company, this association has had little going out and a steady revenue for many years, so that it now has a sun:>lus of $5,419. Its president is Wilbur W. Pardee. Its green is a great feature of Madison, no town outside of New Haven 404 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN having one more attractive or better maintained. It is far different from the time in the 'thirties when the "school pond" covered a large area of the green and the street in front of the church, and Rev. Samuel N. Shepard had to work for years to get the thing filled up. The noble trees which surround the green, which line the main street from Neck sehoolhouse to the center, especially the arches which shade Wall Street and Boston Street, are the glory of the town. Boston Street especially, with its triple row of glorious elms, is one of the most beautiful streets in New England. For years Madison's educational reputation centered around old Lee's Academy, which truly was a famous school in the days of the private academy. It began its existence "down at the Neck," and peregrinated as buildings some- times do until it arrived at its present location north of the Hand high school, having rested for many year.s at a point near the east side of the green. It was a private school for the first half century or more of its existence. When Madison acquired a high school, it was given over entirely to the Center school district, which for several decades before that had used its lower floor. On the building's final move, it was made into a two-room school again. In 1881 Daniel Hand, a wealthy resident of Guilford with Madison affiliations, gave the town what was at the first called Hand Academy, later the Hand high school. It now serves as a high and grammar school, and two more grades are accom- modated in the old Lee's Academy building. The town, whose schools are all under a central management, has besides these six one-room school buildings. The school committee for 1917 consisted of Edward A. Chittenden, Webster D. Whedon, Emerson G. Holbrook, Walter E. Clark, George C. Field and William S. Hull. The attention of the state at large has been drawn especially to Madison in recent years through the establishment there of an important state game farm. In Sepember, 1913, the state leased what had been the Charles W. Hill farm in "Copps district," and established there a preserve for the propagation of quail, pheasants of various varieties, and later, of mallard ducks. The old homestead has been modified as a sort of official head(|uarters and reception rooms for the state Pish and Game Commission, and a new house built south of it for the game- keeper. The state has now purchased 127 acres of this farm and the land adjoining it, and leases in addition 653 acres in the vicinit.y — 780 "acres in all. There it has what good judges say is one of the best equipped and most thor- oughly conducted game farms in the United States. Madison is blessed with two public libraries, lioth of them good one.s. East River asserted its library independence in 1876, put up a building and estab- lished a library which now has upward of 2,600 volumes, and is conducted by Mrs. L. S. Werner, librarian. IMadison, which had a subscription library for some years previous to that, was in 1900 presented with a handsome library building by Miss Mary Eliza Seranton of New Haven, as a memorial to her father, the late Erastus C. Seranton, a native of Madison, who was at one time E. C. SORANTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY. jAIADISUN MEMORL\L HALL, iL\I)I80N 4 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 405 president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. It now has 9,000 volumes, and ]\Iiss Evelyn Meriwether is librarian. The town did not settle the matter of a soldiers' monument until 1898, and then it wisely decided on a town hall as a memorial. It was erected on the east side of the green, partly on the site formerly occupied by Philander P. Coe's store and hall, and is a handsome and well appointed building, bearing suitable memorial tablets to Madison's heroes of the wars. For Madison, like Guilford, had a wonderful record in war service, and justly recognized the sacrificing patriotism of its men of former days. That such patriotism is not all of the past, however, Madison is well demonsti-ating in the present supreme struggle of our nation. Vincent M. Wilcox, a former resident of Madison, at one time head of the New York photographic firm of E. & H. T. Anthony, himself a veteran of the Civil war, liad the conviction that the soldiers' memorial should be something other than a building, and had at his own expense erected in 1895 a liaudsome memorial shaft in the West cemetery. Such are the "high spots" of the town that is today. It is the same old town in foundation and substance. It is a changed town in some features of its population. The Scrantons and the Dowds, the Lees and the Bishops and Bnshnells, still hold their own in a measure. The Wileoxes and the W^hedons and the Nashes still are foiind there. But some localities are materially changed in population, notably such a section as "the Woods," where almost every one of the farms has passed out of the hands of the native owners and so many new citizens have come in that at one time a Lutheran church was set up thei'e. The old town physicians, Doctor Webb and Doctor Meigs, have some time since gone, but such men as Doctor Rindge and Doctor Ayer fill tlieir places. The ]\reigses and the !!\Iungers, the Chittendens and the Whedons, still have a hand in politics, but with them are newcomers like Holbrook and Steggemann and Lippincott and Marsden, the last a more than local figure in law and state politics. It is a changed company, but the traditions are safe in its keeping. CHAPTER XLV WOODBRIDGE THE STORY OF THE ANCIENT ''PARISH OF AMITY," AND OF THE ELEMENTS WHICH MAKE THE FINE OLD TOWN ON THE HILLS OVERLOOKING NEW HAVEN Woodbridge is a strange town, as Connecticut towns go. It touciics tlie greatest city of Connecticut, and from half a dozen of its heights the beholder may see tlie city spread out with all its busy, crowded life, can hear its whistles and almost catch its hum. Yet it is one of the most unspoiled of the rural towns of the state. No railroad touches it. No street railway has ever invaded its borders. It has no main street, though three lines of trunk highway radiate from New Haven through it. It has no postoffice, though the rural mail carrier roaches it daily, though a great trunk telegraph line cuts across its country, and the telephone reaches all its parts with its network of wii-es. It has no "cen- ter," as most towns know their most thickly populated part. Yet no one can call Woodbridge isolated. "Isolated" is far from a proper description of a town from any one of whose numerous heights a glimpse of the busy world, of a great modern center of education, of manufacturing and commerce, lies spread to the beholder; from which one in a half-hour's walk can find himself in the mo.st modern of surroundings; which is constantly crossed by life's swiftest tides; which is the home for all or part of the year of hun- dreds of those who carry on the life of the city. Woodbridge is suburban, but decidedly not in the stereotyped sense. Indeed, it is a community like no other, delightfully peculiar to itself. It is a small town, by the standard commonly applied. The last census num- bered only 878 people there. But comparatively it was not always so. In 1790, six yeai's after its incorporation, there were 2,124 people in Woodbridge. That was about half as many as New Haven had at the time. It substantially held its ground for four decades, and as late as 1830 had 2,052 people. It should, however, be explained that up to this counting the limits of Woodbridge included what is now Bethany. In 1632 Bethany was set oi? by itself, and the following census of 1840 found only 958 persons left in Woodbridge. The greater part of Woodbridge was included in the firet purchase from the Indians. There was an added part, however, from "North Milford," most 406 AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 407 of which was included in the town of Orange. The man who made Woodbridge, and gave it its name, was the Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge, who occupied in his day that peculiar community ofiSce which has descended to the pastor of Wood- bridge's one church in all the generations since. He was the founder of the "Parish of Amity," whose founding goes back almost to the beginning of the eighteenth century, and whose incorporation by the legislature in 1738 antedates the incorporation of the town by forty-six j'lars. "Amity" included the Bethany area, and seems to have had, in the early days, a goodly scattering of people. Being much detached fi'om the center of worship in New Haven, especially in winter, they were given permission to have their own ecclesiastical organization, and such worship as they could hold without a building. In the summer, however, they were still required to attend woi-ship in the Meeting House on the Green, live miles away, or, if they preferred, in the old church in Jlilford. This was previous to 1742. At that time they built a place of woi-- ship, near where the present one stands, fixing thereby the only central point which Woodbridge has had. It was located on what Woodbridge called its "green," an open space at the crossing of two roads. It long went by the name of the fifth society, which means, presumably, that it was the fifth daughter of the original church. There the Rev. Benjamin Woodbridge served the people of the double town of Woodbridge and Bethany, and ministered to many other than the religious needs. It is, as has been said, a peculiar and blessed service which each suc- ceeding pastor, from Parson Woodbridge down, has been able to perform for tliis people. He lias been one of the best examples of the "village preacher" Goldsmith portrayed now to be found in this country. Parson Woodbridge 's house, doubtless known, in his day, "to all the vagi-ant train," was one of the oldest in the town, built in 1697. He occupied it for a large part of his forty years as the foremost citizen, and there he died. The house remained until 1896, when it was destroyed by fire. Such are the foundations of that fine town and community which has in its century and a half of separate existence always kept close to the heart of its mother, New Haven, .yet preserved unspoiled the charm which nature gave it. It is, for the most part, a community of fine descendants of the fathers, and such later admixture as there has been has caught tlie spirit of the town's origin and surroundings, and contributed to its edification. Woodbridge of to- day is an interesting mingling of its sons who have remained, of its prodigals who have come repentant back, and of other discerning ones who have sought entrance to the fellowship. Most of the old houses have been cared for and preserved, or remodeled into modern residences. There is now an admixture of new houses, tastefxdly designed, some by New Haveners whose sense of natural beauty has been made captive by the charm of the place. Woodbridge, in a sense more meaningful than the common use, is a community of homes. Except in such a way, the years have brought few changes. The town's chi.ef features are of the unchanging type. Its natural beauty is striking. Off 408 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN to the southeast ever rise the West Roek cliffs, watchtower of the New Haven just beyond. Yet "Round Hill" and "Bradley Hill," two of Woodbridge's own heights, rise almost three hundred feet higher above sea level than does abrupter West Roek. Woodbridge hills, indeed, are most impressive when seen from West Roek. There are seven or eight of them in all, including, besides the two mentioned, "Long Hill," "Prospect Hill," "Carrington Hill" and "Peck Hill." There is a pleasing variety of meadow and stream and lake be- tween. Along the course of West River are some impressive lakes, created by manufacturing concerns which have built dams across the river at Westville, or bv the New Haven Water Company, which has in and near Woodbridge some of its chief sources of water supply. "Woodbridge hills" are historic in fame. They are the pride of their heirs, the delight of their visitore. There is iron in their air and inspiration in their view. From "Round Hill," the commanding eminence in the far northern part of the town, the climber may gain such a view as few spots in all tlie region can equal, which takes in Mount Carmel, ileriden's Hanging Hills, the heights of North Branford, all the beauty of Woodbridge, the lines of the city and the glimmering of the blue Sound beyond. Aside from its hills. Woodbridge has many picturesque and interesting spots. To such a paradise of nature naturally the Indians chiug long after they had disappeared in most other parts of the state. They were not the warlike Pequots, nor the subjects of Jlomauguiu. but an unimportant remnant of the Paugussett or Wepewaug tribe. They settled by themselves at a northern point in the town called "Deerfield Reservation," now not clearly located. They lived by crude farming and making ba.skets, and remnants of them were found in their district as late as the middle of the last century. Woodbridge had its share in the episode of the Regicides. The boulder on West Rock may have made a good hiding place, but parts of Woodbridge were more comfortable, and not much more accessible to the agents of the king who were hunting them. We are told that they were supplied with food by Richard Sperry, who lived on the West Rock side of the town. Four other Woodbridge points are mentioned where they found shelter at different times, now identified as the "Harbor," the "Spring," "Hatchet Harbor" and the "Lodge." From the noJ-theastern point of the town flows West River, never failing source of water for New Haven. It is beyond the northern boundary that the New Haven Water Company has made its latest and greatest dam, forming one of the largest reservoirs in its system by flooding a considerable section of the eastern part of Bethany. Two miles down on the river is its Lake Dawson. But there is another stream, Sargent's River, which flows from the northern boundary of Woodbridge at a point farther west. This enters West River at a point just above Lake Dawson, first passing through one of the most famously picturesque spots in Woodbridge, the "Glen." Here, on a sharp fall of the river, was a spot of great natural beauty, much admired and greatly visited. This has been engiilfed in one of the reservoirs, but " Sperry 's Falls," reminder AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 409 of one of the earliest grist mills in New Haven County, still remain. With these and the old mill ruins in a setting of nature, the place is a delightful retreat. The farm originally containing it was the birthplace of Hon. Nehemiah D. Sperry, distinguished resident of New Haven, and in 1907 the heirs of Enoch and Atlanta Sperry gave the land to Woodbridge for a pulilic park. Such an institution .seems hardly needed by so rural a community, but it is com- forting to all wlio love the town to know that its most delightful spot is pre- served in such a manner that its enjoyment cannot be spoiled. The old church of 1742, grown old and inadequate, was replaced in 1833 by an edifice of architecture ai)propriate to "Amity's" traditions, and this still stands in a good state of preservation on the "green." A "lecture room," the old New England name for "pari.sh house," was built adjoining it in 1880, the gift of Mrs. Zina Carrington, of one of the old Woodbridge families. Mrs. Mary Clark Treat, another of the old inhabitants, gave the church an organ in 1891. The church has been served by many faithful men since his day, one of whom, at least, approached in length of service the record of Parson Woodbridge. He was Rev. S. P. ilarvin, who was with the people from 1865 to 1903, and was the leader of the town. He was sueceed.ed by Rev. Frederick Torrel Persons, who in his pastorate of seven years endeared him- self proportionately as much as any m_inister in the church's history. He resigned in 1911 to take charge of the church at Mount Carmel. II The streams of Woodbridge early attracted the seekers of mechanical power, and we find in the town early in the last century a group of flourishing small industries which may easily account for the comparatively large popula- tion of 1800. Besides the grist mill at Sperry 's Falls, there were carding mills and a clothier's shop at the same point, possibly after the grist mill was dis- continued. Near the point where the head of Lake Dawson now is there was a factory conducted by Levi Peek, where iron candlesticks were made. In the same plant, somewhat later, organs and melodeons were made. And below where the lake ends at the south, Elioenai Clark had a shop where he made coffins and cabinet work. All over the town, naturally, there were sawmills, and there were at one time and another, when the raising of grain was commoner than now, several grist mills. One of these was the mill west of "Buttonball Corner," where James Baldwin made excellent and possibly "wheatless" flour some years ago, one justly celebrated brand bearing the trademark of "Aunt Hannah's Flour." One of the most interesting of the industries, whose marks remain today and are a mystery to many of the uninitiated, was off the Bethany road opposite Lake Dawson. There are two impressive piles of ruined masonry which might be tombs of the Pharaohs or remains of Roman temples, but are only the remains of kilns in which cement was once burned from some of the native 410 A MODERN HISTORY OP NEW HAVEN quarry product. The quality of the cement turned out, they tell us, was not such as to make the industry of long duration. West of the church, near the home of Henry C. Baldwin, was a clock factory operated by John Northrop. There was also a small factory in the ravine, and bolts were made at the saw- mill place, also west of the church. Just as we have seen that the firearms industry, for which New Haven gets all the credit, I'eally was started in Hamden, so we find that the match industry always popularly identified with Westville had its start in Wood- bridge. It is claimed that this town w-as the birthplace of the friction match, and the claim has excellent support. Thomas Sanford was the inventor, and there is a court record to prove that he fought for and won his right to the title. He was living in Oxford, neighbor town to Woodbridge, when he developed his invention, but his fii-st factory was in Woodbridge, in a part of the house now occupied by Robert Payne. When he outgrew that shop, he moved to a larger place at the foot of Round Hill on the western side. The ruins of that factory are still pointed out by Woodbridge people. Mr. Sanford later built an- other shop on Bladen's Brook, farther down. There was a second Woodbridge maker of matches, better known, Williana A. Clark, who had a shop still farther down the same brook. He was an inventor and improver of match making machinery, and built up a considerable business. The paper co/itainers for the matches were in tho.se days made by hand, and the demand for them created an industry in that part of Woodbridge which was carried on in the homes mostly by women and children. The work spread, however, to some of the surromiding towns, ilr. Clark oj^erated his factory as late as 188.5, when the Diamond Match Company in nearby Westville overshadowed it, and presently absorbed it. In times since the manufacturing days the character of Woodbridge has mildly changed In the beginning it was mainly an agricultural town, and today it is that more truly than ever. There are large dairy farms and fruit farms, such as those of Jacoli Beisiegel and Rollin C. Newton. There are .scores of well tilled, prosperous general farms. On the New Haven edge the town has had its recent additions of small farmers, mostly importations from the Old World, who run market gardens and truck their products to the city. Woodbridge has a quality, already mentioned, whicli it owes mostly to the city. It has become the home of the discriminating. Not a few of those from its old families have found their work in New Haven. Some of them have kept the old properties, some have received them by inheritance, some have bought them back. In a few cases the residence has been continuous. But the appre- ciation of the old town has grown with years, and is displayed in the develop- ment of these old houses and grounds. Here one will be preserved as nearly as possible according to the colonial traditions. Another will be beautified somewhat according to modern standards, though not in such a way as to clash with its surroundings. But there are a few modern residences of the new type, mostly tasteful and artistically fitted to their surroundings, built by men of AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 411 wealth and appreciation of the wonderful beauties of the town. There is room for many more houses of this sort, for the hills of Woodbridge abound in sites which should delight the heart of seekers of ideal country home locations. Some of the houses which date back a century and a half or more, excellently preserved within and without, are notable. Conspicuous among them because of itself and because of its unbroken line of ownership, is the house belonging to Mrs. Samuel H. Street of New Haven. It was built in 1760 by her great- grandfather, Samuel Newton, for his son, Lieut. Samuel Newton, who was in the Revolutionary war. It has remained in the Newton family ever since. Of the best type of colonial house, it has been kept unspoiled. Within are massive fireplaces, oaken door.s and many marks of the period of its origin. Without, it shows the plain and massive architecture of its times. With it are retained a sufficient number of the broad acres which composed the original farm so that ilr. and Mrs. Street can live comfortably there except for a few months when the dead of winter makes them seek the city. It is situated on the road which runs north past the church. An even older house, of a different colonial type, is the residence of G. H. Bishop, built between 1750 and 1760 by Thomas Darling, and occupied ever since by his direct descendants. It is on the "Litchfield turnpike," and stands, with its gable roof and dormer windows, an impressive proof of how a solidly built house of the middle eighteenth century can remain a comfortable farm- house in the twentieth. An instance of the rescue of an old house, and its restoration to its old time beauty and dignity, is the Hemingway homestead, on the same road from the church, north of the residence of ilr. and ilrs. Street. This was built about 1763, its builder being somewhat obscure. But in 1780 it was the property of Deacon Isaac Hemingway. He and his son Abraham lived there until about 1866. It was in the hands of various owners after that until in 1909 it was pur- chased by Prof. John W. Wetzel of Yale, now of Hartford, who has beautified it without and within, and rejoices in it with the true joy of a lover of the historic and the artistic. Standing somewhat back from the street, shaded by some noble old trees, it is a place to delight the body and rest the soul. James L. Nesbit of New Haven is the present owner of what is perhaps one of the oldest houses in Woodbridge, though materially altered from its original form. It is the Captain John Beecher place, probably built in 1745 or 1750, and sold to Roger Sherman in 1766. By him it was passed on to James Abraham Hillhouse in 1773, descending to James Hillhouse of New Haven, who sold it to Timothy Fowler in 1825. 'Sir. Nesbit purchased it in 1903. The Sperry homestead also lays claim to respectable age, having been built before 1750 by Ebenezer Sperry, a descendant of Richard Sperry. It is now a comfortable farmhouse, owned by Mrs. Charles A. Bond, a descendant of the Sperry family. On "Peck Hill" is a fine old farmhouse probably built by Nathan Clark about 1761, and ever since in the possession of some member of the Clark 412 A MODERN HISTORY OP NEW HAVEN family. It is now owned by Mrs. Mary Clark Treat Nettleton, vvliose husband is Prof. George H. Nettleton of Yale I'niversity. A more modern type of farmhouse, the home of one of the most sterling families and on one of the most prosperous farms of Woodbridge, is that of Rollin C. Newton, built in 1834 by the present owner's father, J. Sidney New- ton. It is situated under th«»««-«t-:¥3sosjaBeras=i;r ['f ' 'in \ ml ,„. \A!Wm1i» *""' (II. I) MEKTINfi IKirsE BUILT ]N 17:.'T. NORTH BRANFORD AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 415 the upper part. Here two villages have grown up, each centering around a church of the original Pilgrim form. Of North Farms, Mrs. Bertha Russell (Charles F.) Holabird thus sums up the colonial history: "The lands owned by the original proprietors of the town of Branford were not only granted by the British crown, but to the lasting credit of our ancestors were bought from the Indians as w^ell, and at least one place-name stands in kindly remembrance of an old sachem. 'Sibbie' — I quote from George I. "Wood's early history of the Congi-egational church and society — 'was the name given to the hill originally connected with a spring called Sibbie 's spring on the homestead of Widow Augustus Ru.ssell. It was the name of a petty Indian sachem under Kishonk the sachem of Indian Neck, who was the chief over the Indians in this neighborhood. ' "Jonathan Rose, son of Robert Rose, built the first house, 1680, near Hop- yard plain. Jonathan Rose married Deliverance Charles. His son, Jonathan, Jr., married Abigail Foot August 15, 1697. They had a large familj' of six sons and two daughters. Jonathan Rose, .3rd, built the first house on the estate in North Farms, now owned by Judge John Carter Rose of Baltimore, Md. The colonial families of Linsley, Foot, Harrison, Page, Rogers, Barker, Butler, Bying- ton, Barnes and Palmer built veiy early here. The oldest house now standing is the Linsley house on Bare Plain, built in 1707 by Ensign John Linsley. His lineal descendants have always owned and occupied it. Few localities have as many homes built in colonial times, now" occupied and in fair condition, as North Farms. These houses are of the New England type, solid and well built, and from the outside give little evidence of their great age, but the massive oak frames, put together with wooden pins, the quaint corner cup-boards, tell the story. "I have it on the authority of Historian Wood that on the 12th of May, 1724, the town of Branford voted to build a meeting house at North Farms, on the knoll at tlie west side of the river, and that the meeting which passed this act was warned by Lieutenant Thomas Harrison and Joseph Morris. Nathaniel Harrison was moderator. The meeting appointed Isaac Foot, Lieutenant Rose, John Harrison, Daniel Barker and Joseph Rogers as building committee. The dimensions were to be forty-five by twenty-five feet. It was to have galleries around three sides, with many windows set with diamond shaped panes of glass. The Rev. Samuel Russell of Branford offered prayer at the raising of the frame. "The ground east of the meeting house, to the river, was appropriated as a burial place. The oldest memorial stone is one recording the death of Isaac Bartholomew in 1727. He was a j'oung man studying for the ministry at Yale. Many are the brown memorial stones with their quaint inscriptions and angel faces, one 'In Memory of Mrs. Martha, Relict of the late Samuel Baker, dec'd and formerly Relict of Rev. Thomas Goodsell, M. A., and ye child of ye Rev. John Davenport, dec'd, 2nd Pastor of ye Ch'h of Christ in Stamford, who died in the 96th year of her age, Sept. 10, 1776.' This John Davenport, of course, was the son of the founder of New Haven. 416 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN "The first pastor over the church at North Farms was the Rev. Jonathan Merick, born 1700 in Spriu^eld, Mass., and graduated at Yale in 1725. His pastorate extended forty-three years, and he died June 27, 1772. From 1720 for a number of years families moved in and settled at North Farms. The Beers family came from Fairfield County, Thomas tJoodsell and Samuel Baker from Long Island. Barnabas Mulford and Edward Petty from Southampton, Long Island, the Fords from Milford and Jonathan and Ithiel Russell, sons of the Rev. Samuel Russell, came up from Branford. The former, Esquire Jonathan, built the house near 'Sibbie's Spring'. "Many of the landholders owned colored slaves, who were taught to read and write and attend church. They were seated on the stairs leading to the galleries. In 1773 and 1776. there was a colored population of between forty and fifty. About that time the Rev. Samuel Eells received pamphlets written by the Rev. Ezra Stiles and Rev. Samuel Hopkins of Newport, R. I., calling the atten- tion of the public to the sin of slavery, and nearly all the slaves at North Farms were given their freedom before the abolition of slavery in Connecticut. ' ' The Rev. Samuel Eells, the church's second pastor, made some history by him- self through service on a larger field than North Farms. Of him Mi-s. Holabird writes, giving "Wood's Early Church History in part as authority: "Rev. Samuel Eells was settled as pastor over the church at North Farms from 1769 to 1808. He was born at Middletown January 13, 1745, the son of Rev. Edward Eells and grandson of Rev. Nathaniel Eells of Scituate. He mar- ried Miss Butler of Middletown, but they had no children. Ordained over the church at North Farms on March 29, 1769, his ministry embraced the trying period of the Revolutionary struggle. On one occasion in the early part of 1777, when General Washington was in the vicinity of New York, his whole force not amounting to more than 1,500 men, he called upon the people of Connecticut to send down with all dispatch their quota of troops. The intelligence arrived on the Sabbath, while the people of North Farms were engaged in public worship. Mr. Eells read the important news from the pulpit and requested that those who were willing and ready to go should parade on the green immediately after the close of service. A company of sixty men was formed at once, and the Rev. Samuel Eells was chosen captain. The names of the other officers and privates were as follows : "First lieutenant. Samuel Baldwin; second lieutenant, Jacob Bunnell; ser- geants, Ebenezer Linsley, Isaac Foot, John White, Lud Munson, Abraham Poote; corporals, Uriah Collins, Samuel Harrison, Samuel Brown, Jacob Page; musicians, John Bunnell, Joseph Wlieaton, Moses Baldwin; privates, James Barker, Jacob Barker, Ambrose Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, Phineas Baldwin, Ben.iamin Bartholomew, Samuel Bartholomew, Gideon Bartholomew, Jarius Bunnell, Jonathan Byington, Aaron Cook, Titus Cook, Hooker Frisbie, Isaac Prisbie, Samuel Ford, Gideon Goodrich, Daniel Hoadley, Samuel Hoadley, Ralph Hoadley, Jairas Harrison, Rufus Harrison, Isaac Hanford, Benjamin Harrison, Reuben Johnson, John Linsley. Jonathan Munson, James Pierpont, Samuel Peck, AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 417 John Potter, Solomou Rose, Billy Rose, Jonathan Russell, Ebenezer Rogers, Her- man Rogers, Joseph Smith, Dow Smith, Allen Smith, Othuiel Stent, Ebenezer Trusdell, Solomon Talmage, Asa Todd, Jonathan Tyler, Medad Taiutor. " From early manhood Mr. Eells had been active in the cause of the colonist, and his utterances from the pulpit and elsewhere ring with the sj^irit of liberty. He had repeatedly declared against "the unjust and arbitrary measures of the British court," and called upon all good men "in duty to God and themselves and the country to resist and withstand." He might readily be recognized, holding such principles as tliese, as a vigorous leader for the company which went out, and we may not doubt that he gave a good account of himself and them in the war. He returned from the combat, however, able to serve the people for many years longer, and his death did not occur until 1808. In this connection it may be said that the record shows among other North Brauford men who served in this war Butler Harrison, son of Timothy and Lj^dia Butler Harrison, who was captured and was for some months on a prison ship ; Simeon Rose, who died while in service ; Oad Asher, colored, who served eight years as the servant of General Green; Gideon Rose, slave of Justice and Lydia Russell' Rose, who served during the war and was given his freedom afterward. "The next pastor after the death of the beloved Pastor Eells," continues Mrs. Holabird, "was the Rev. Charles Atwater, son of Jeremiah Atwater of New Haven, graduated from Yale in 1805, and having studied theology under Presi- dent Dwight. He was ordained over the church at North Farms March 1, 1809. He was a very successful preacher. During his ministry an Episcopal church was organized in this society. His pastorship of sixteen years terminated in his death February 21, 1825. The first three pastoi's of the church, whose united labors filled a century, died at their first post of duty, and were laid to rest just a few feet east of the old meeting house. The memorial stones were removed and placed in the cemetery across the street in 1886. "The one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the Congregational church was held October 15, 1902. The Rev. Franklin Counti-yman in his very interest- ing address said : 'During all this period, longer than the period of the exisvence of the United States, the church has had thirteen ministers and every one of them received a degree from Yale college.' " From the same historical address we learn that eight pastors covered, each for a comparatively brief term, the period from 1825 to 1882. That year Mr. Countryman came and renewed the record for long and distinguished pas- torates, remaining twenty-three years until 1905. He was followed by Rev. Ernest L. Wismer, now of Bristol. Since tlien there has been a series of some- what brief pastorates (it has been said that North Brauford is almost too con- veniently situated with refei-ence to the Yale School of Religion), of which the latest are those of Rev. R. R, Kendall and Rev. C. E. Pickett, at present with the church. The first meeting house was erected in 1732. It is pictured as a bare, spire- Vol. I 2 7 418 A MODERN HISTORY OP NEW HAVEN less structure of the very early type, looking from without much like a two- storied farmhouse. It served the people for about a century. In 1831 was completed the second building, the North Brauford meeting house of the noble New England sort which stood in the center of the town until 1907, when it was swept away by fire one cold Sunday morning. The following year the present building was erected. It is modern and ample for the church's need, but it does not satisfy the admirers of traditional church architecture as did its pred- ecessor. North Branford has always been a community of God-fearing men and women, and the church has occupied an important place in the village which, though not compact, centers around it. In the midst of a people whose origins have changed materially with the passage of time, it holds its torch of the true light aloft on a hill. The old church is typical of the tenacity of the faith of the Pilgrims in the midst of communities where the appreciation of their history and traditions has become the heritage of a diminishing few. This task has since 1812, however, been shared by a body of the Church of England. Ziou church has never been strong in numbers. A town of less than 800 Protestant people, of whom nearly half, it must be remembered, are, in Northford, which has two churches of its own, has hardly the material for two substantial congregations. Yet Zion church has kept the faith, and offered to those who prefer it a constant service of its form of worship. At present, how- ever, it has no settled rector, sharing with the Episcopal cliurch in North Guil- ford the offices of leaders whom the churches of New Haven provide. Northford, in the valley of the Fai-m River, has been somewhat a community by itself. Its location in the line of the main highway to Middletown, where it also has secured a sort of commercial advantage from the railroad, has given it for a good part of its history an industrial character different from the rest of the town. Northford has had some brisk manufacturing industries, supported by the water power of Farm River. These in the beginning were mostly fulling and barkers' mills, where cloth was shrunk and cleaned and hides tanned. In 1734 Edward Petty had a saw and fulling mill on the river near the center, and later Barnabas Woodcock at Long Hill, and John Maltby at "Pog" or "Paug" had industries of tlie same sort. Maltby Fowler seems to have been an inventor of some note, and about 1800 developed machines for making metal buttons, spoons, combs, gimlets and pins. Thaddeus Fowler improved on the pin machine, and used it in Northford for some years. Over fifty years later the Northford -Manufacturing Company used Fowler's mill aud machines for rolling brass lamps and household goods. One may suspect that Meriden presently got this business, and the Northford ilanu- facturing Company gave it up about 1890. Fowler & Bartholomew made Northford hooks and eyes for some years, and later invented a machine for perforating tinware. They went out, and the factory was unused until another concern took it a few years ago for making electric light devices. Now it is vacant again. HOUSE BUILT BY HEZEKIAH REYNOLDS ABOUT ITiiO OR 1765, NOW TH IC llnyiK OK RALPH BEERS, NORTH BKAXFORl) IIOUSK BCH/r BY .JUSTUS ROSE IN 1771 TO REI'LACE LO(J HOUSK lillLT IN 1720. JUSTICE ROSE HOMESTEAD, NORTH BRANFORD COLONIAL IIOI'SIO lUILT BY TLMOTIIV Rl'SSELL IN 17114, NOW 'I'llhl llo.MK OF MBS. EMLY LINSLHY. NORTH BRANFORD AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 419 More important is the character of the people who have made Northford. Here has been since 1750 a Congregational church, served by consecrated men and supported by faithful people. Its first pastor was Rev. Warham "Williams. At present the pastorate is vacant. Its first simple edifice was replaced in 1846 and its present building was erected in 1907. There is also in Northford an Episcopal church, St. Andrew's, established in 1763. Its present rector is Rev. J. D. S. Pardee. These churches do not seem mighty in numbers, but perhaps a better evidence of the worth of the work they have done is found in the fact that in the past century or less Northford contributed thirty-nine men to the ministry, to law and to medicine, and thii-ty-one of its sous were grad- uates of Yale. Nortliford has its Masonic lodge, Corinthian, No. 103, P. & A. M., instituted in 1868. It meets in Association Hall, which accommodates also Northford 's vigorous Grange, No. 80, established in 1878. There is another Grange in North Branford, Totoket. No. 83, which meets in Totoket Hall. North Branford in 1861 raised a noble hickory flagiDole, the gift of an old -Jackson man, Col. Jonathan Rose, and unfurled a handsome flag on the identical spot where in 1776, after the Sabbath service, Pastor Eells called the young men of the congregation together and led them to war. In further distinction. North Branford was the first town in the United States to erect a memorial to its soldiers of the Civil war. On April 12, 1866, a handsome shaft was unveiled in memory of "Our Soldiers," as these lines, by "M. R., 1866," were read: "The loved ones calmly sleeping Where they fell on field removed, Lone post or picket station. Or starved in dreary prison cell For peace and for the nation." This memorial recognizes the deeds of these men from various regiments, as noted : Albert F. Wheaton, Corporal. Tenth C. V., aged 27. J. Henry Palmer, Co. K, Tenth C. V., aged 26. Walter A. Stone, Connecticut Artillery, aged 20. John S. Robinson, Co. F, Twenty-seventh C. V., aged 27. Josiah Johnson, Co. B, Twenty-seventh C. V., aged 23. Dayton R. Seranton, Co. F, Twelfth C. V.. aged 23. James H. Seranton, Co. F, Twelfth C. V., aged 22. Nathan Harrison, Twenty-seventh C. V. C. A. Harrison, Twenty-seventh C. V. Merwin Wheaton, Twenty-seventh C. V. Alfred Russell. First Sergeant. Co. H, Thirteenth C. V. Theodore Palmer, Thirteenth C. V. Horatio Stone, Sr., Tenth C. V. 420 A MODERN HISTORY OF NEW HAVEN The Tweuty-seveutli Connecticut, in which North Branford had five men, was recruited largely from this part of the state, and '-by the gallantry of it^ conduct has won for itself an enviable name and reputation." There is not a little justified pride of family in North Branford. Here still are the descendants of the Mulfords, the Pettys and the Harrisons. Maltby, Bronson, Page, Rose and Revere are among the names of the town's honored citizens. And abo\e all North Branford preserves such names and such citizens as the Russells and Holabirds. The former go back to that Rev. Samuel Rus- sell of the original Yale founders, in whose house in Branford, as we have seen, the Collegiate school had its actual beginning. His father, Rev. John Russell, came to America in 1635, settling in Cambridge (Newtown), Mass. Thirty- four years later he was leader of the band that settled Hadley, Mass. At his house the regicides Goffe and Whalley found refuge, and there Whalley died about 1678, and was buried in the cellar. Rev. Samuel Russell was born in 1660 at Hadley, was gi-aduated from Harvard in 1681, and came to be pastor of the church at Branford, of which community, up to the time of its incorpora- tion in 1831, North Branford was an essential part. His grandson, Jonathan Russell, born in Branford in 1700, married Eunice Barker in 1720 and settled in North Farms. He had seven children, Eunice, Ebenezer, Jonathan, Abigail, Timothy, Lydia and Mary. Jonathan the younger, born in 1731, married Lydia Barker. They had eight children, Eunice, Lois. Irene. David, Jonathan, Esther, Lucretia and Augustus. With the Russells are associated by marriage the Holabirds, another prom- inent North Branford family. John Holabird, founder of this line, in its New England connection, was born in Litchfield County in 1768. He married in 1788 Mary Belden. Their son, Charles Holabird, born in 1788, married Sarah Butler in 1816, and moved to Sheffield, Mass., where he was town clerk for a number of years — "Esquire Holabird." Their son Hiram B. Holabird married Maryette Vosburgh. Their grandson Charles F. Holabird, who was born in Sheffield in 1856, coming to North Branford in his youth, married there on December 25, 1877, Bertha H., daughter of Alfred and Caroline (Harrison) Russell. The}- have seven children : Roy Russell, who married Lillian Johnson of New Haven in 1899 : Charles Lovell ; Douglas Butler, who married Lelia B. Byington in 1911 ; Ralph Harrison, who married Carrie Kuope in 1910 ; Lucy Russell, May Vosburgh and Effie Rose. In connection with the Russell descent it is of interest to note that John Russell, eldest son of the Rev. Samuel Russell, who was graduated from Harvard and married Sarah Trowbridge of New Haven in 1707, had a daughter Rebecca who married Ezekiel Hayes, and was the grandmother of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, nineteenth president of the United States. To the rule that North Branford of today is a strictly agricultural com- munity there is one exception, but it is important. It is not generally known without the town, and perhaps, so systematically and smoothly is it carried on, not adequately by the people within, that in North Branford there has sprung AND EASTERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY 421 lip in a decade one of the largest industries of its kind in the country, known as the New Haven Trap Rock Company. About the year 1903 some undeveloped farm land at that portion of Totoket Mountain known as Great Hill was acquired and the Totoket Trap Rock Compauj- was organized by a group of men who did not carry the project through, and during the year 1914 the New Haven Trap Rock Company acquired the property. Development of the present quarry was com- pleted early in 1915 by the well known contracting engineers, C. W. Blakeslee & Sons, who also supervised the installation and construction of the crushing plant. Likewise the charter rights of the Branford Steam Railroad Company were purchased and an extension secured to the charter which, with the pur- chase of necessary right of way, made it possible for a six-mile railroad to be completed from the quarry to a connection with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and for the establishment of a dock terminal at Pine Orchard. In addition to these rail and water facilities there is also a connection with the Shore Line Electric Railway Company's tracks at North Branford and the layout of the whole scheme provides for a connection with the trolley tracks of the Connecticut Company at Pine On-hard, at such time as conditions shall call for such a connection. About 150 men are employed, giving opjiortunity for profitable work by many of the town's people under very favorable conditions. This, for a town whose population is 833, is a large labor opportunity. This is by far the largest trap rock quarry in this section of the country, and its future develop- ment gives promise that it may liecome the largest in America if not in tlie world. The officers and directors of the company are all New Haven men with the exception of E. H. Mather of Boston. The Hayden Stone Company of New York and Boston are very large stockholders in this enterprise and help gi-eatly in its organization and financing. The general ofificers of the company are : President, D. A. Blakeslee; vice president, T. R. Blakeslee: secretary, George E. Hall; treasurer, Clarence Blakeslee; general manager, W. Scott Eames. The general offices of the company are at 67 Church Street, New Haven. INDEX Abbott, Rev. J. S. C, 119 Acme Wire Company, 183, 190, 247 Acoustics of the ' ' Bowl, ' ' 200 " Adiioiidaek Murray," 291 Adler, Max, 228 Admirable Harbor, 64 Advent churches, 135 Advertising age had not arrived, 62 Advertising New Haven products, 185 "Air Line," The, 208 Alien population in New Haven, 218 Amendments in thirty-six years, 101 American Bank & Trust Company, 241 American citizenship taught, 224 Americans in the makmg, 217 Amphitheater, Yale's, 194 "An act for liberty to erect a Collegiate School," 23 Ancestral traditions, 217 Ancient Order of Foresters, 278 Ancient Order of Hibernians, 279 Ancient Order of United Workmen, 278 Andirons and fenders, 192 Andrew, Samuel, 23 And who did not participate? 52 Animosity changed to harmony, 48 Anketell, Edward A., 234 Annexation in 1883, 103 Area of swamps and ponds, 95 Areas and names of city squares, 98 Arms industry, 246 Arnold, Benedict, 252 Artificial Lake, 95 Art School collection, 44 Associate school superintendents, 233 Associated Civic societies, 159 Athletic field at Yale, 194 Athletics at college, 30 Atlantic cable, The, 211 Attendance at Harvard-Yale game '16, 19S Auditorium, The new, 36, 187 Austin, Rev. David, 85 Austrians in New Haven, 221 Automobile fittings, 190, 192 Auto works, 191 ^wakening has results, 41 Bacon, Rev. Dr. Francis, 81 Bacon, Rev. Dr. Leonard, 112 Bailey, William B., 229 Baldwin, Simeon E., 233 Bancroft Foote Boys ' Club, 41 Bank deposits, total of New Haven, 242 Bankers, New Haven 's, 241 Banking institutions of New Haven, 240 Banks and Bankers, 226 Baptist Congregations, 128 Baptist Ministers, 129 Baptist Pastorates, 231 Barnes Tool Company, 189 Bassett & Company, John E., 248 Battell Chapel, 39 Baiunann Rubber Company, 190 Beach, John K., 233 Beacon Hill, 97 Beaver Ponds Park, 95 Bedell, William V., 202 Beecher, E. B., 176 Beede, Frank H., 232. Beers, Clifford W., 228 Begin to build the "Bowl," 196 Beginning of Harmony, 36 Beginning of New Haven manufacturing, 175 Bench, The New Haven, 233 Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. 279 Bennett, Philo S., 87 Bennett, Thomas G. and Winchester, 246 Bennett, William L., 233 Bennett fountain, 87 Berkshire i-ailroad division, 208 Better understanding, 37 Bicentennial, Yale 's, 36 Bigelow Company, The, 183, 191 Billion tons of merchandise, 209 Bingham, Hiram, 232 Blackstone, John, 334 423 424 INDEX Blackstoiie, William, 334 Blake, Heuiy T., 80 Blakeslee, Clarence, 109 Blakeslee, Dennis A., 229 Blakeslee, C. W. & Sons, 249 Blank book making, 192, 246 Blue meeting house, 114 Boaiil of education, 42, 233 Boarilman apprentice shops, 138 Boardman Manual Training School, 71 Boat propellers made in New Haven, 192 Boilers, manufacturers of, 191 Book Binding Exhibit, 192 Book of the Pageant, 40 Books in Public Library, 155 Bo'ston & Maine, The, 209 Bowl, The, 47, 194 Bowl can be enlarged, as regards seating capacity, 200 Bowl now property of Yale, 202 Boy Scout movement, 250 Boys ' Club, 41 Bradley, William, 15, 363 Bradley Park, Merideu, 288 Brauford, 330 Eranford a summer resort, 337 Brauford banks, 334 Branford industries, 335 Brauford 's church history, 331 Branford 's early settlement, 330 Branford 's foreign population, 225 Branford 's fraternal societies, 335 Branford 's schools, 333 Breckenridge, L. P., 232 Brewer, Mrs. Henry, 262 Brewster, Frederick F., 261 Brewster, James, 175, 261 Brick and clay products, 192 "Brick Eow," 17 Bright dreams shattered, 9 "Britannia," 302 Broadway Bank & Trust Company, 241 Brockett, John, 5, 80 Brown, Charles R., 230 "Brown Game," annual institution, 47 Buckingham, Stephen, 22 Building and Loan Associatiou of New Haven, 242 Buildings, Streets and Shade Trees Commit- tee, 161 Bulkeley, Gershom, 22 "Bully Club," The, 30: abolished, 31 "Bunch of Grapes" tavern, 270 Burial grounds must be found, 86 Burton, Rev. R. B., 120 Bury wires, 77 Bushnell, Cornelius S., 250 Bushnell, Nathan T., 248 Bu.shnell memorial, 250 Business Men 's Association, 73 Business schools, 147 Butler Business School, 147 Butterworth, Mrs. F. S., 262 "Button, button, who's got the button?" 193 Calvary Baptist, 129 Camp Hiram, 180, 246 Camp Walter, 246 Camp Meade, 113 Campner, Samuel, 51 Canal, An interesting, 203 ' ' Canal fever ' ' in New Haven, 204 Canal of 1825 a losing venture, 206 Canal project of 1822, 205 Canby, Professor, 40 Candee, Leverette, 175 Candee & Company, The L., 190 Capacity of Yale Bowl compared with other famous structures, 198 Capital invested in New Haven factories, 183 Capital of twelve million in manufactures, 67 Capitalization of Telephone Comjiany, 214 Carnegie Library, 156 Carriage and auto lamps at Manufacturers' exhibit, 192 Cai-riage building, 182 Carriage hardware, 247 Carrington, John B., 243 Castings, steel and semi-steel, 192 Catholic churches, 130; in 1917, 131 Catholic pastors, 131, 231 Cattle and horses pastured on Green, 86 Census figures of New Haven, 217 Center church, 69 Center church on the Green, 51 Center of quarry industry, 338 Center of war service work, 258 Century Brass Company, The, 192 ' ' Century of Meriden, ' ' 300 Cliamber of Commerce, New Haven, 42, 227 Chamber of Commerce History, 158 Chamberlain Company, The, 248 Chancel window of Center church. 111 Changed in 280 years. 111 Changed population, 63 Chapman, John Jay, 50 Charter revision a winter sport, 106 Charter revision in 1915, 108 Charter revision of 1821, 101 Chauney, Israel, 22 Cheever, Ezekiel, 7 Cheshire, 357 INDEX 425 Cheshire church history, 358 Cheshire industries, 361 Cheshire lodges, etc., 361 Cheshire public library, 361 Cheshire 's early settlers, 357 Cheshire 's pioneer beginnings, 357 Cheshire's schools, 360 Cheshire's Soldiers' Monument, 361 Chief Justice, 233 Children's building, 164 Children's jubilees, 90 Children's room in library oijened, 152 Chillingwortli, Felix, 95 Chinese, Japanese, Indians represented in New Haven, 222 Chittenden, Russell H., 232 Chorus of 500 people, 54 Clirist church, 130 Christian Culture Associations, 71 Christian Science, 135 "Chronicles" (Blake's), 93 Church blown down, 88 Church of the Ascension, 125 Church of the Redeemer, 41 Churchmen of New Haven, 226, 230 Chureh-State Republic, 8 Churches of New Haven, 111 Cigar making, 182 Citizens of prominence, New Haven, 238 City and town consolidated, 104 "City Beautiful" plan, 45, 227 City Hall, New Haven, 238 City Manager plan, 108 City Mission founded, 41 City of Elms, 85 City of churches, 230 City Point, 96 City squares, 92 City squares, their names and areas, 98 City wards increased to 10, 102 Civic development, 158, 172 Civic Federation, The, 41, 72 Civic Federation Committee, 165 Civic Improvement Committee, 75 Civil Service Board, 42 Civil Service Commission created, 104 Clark, Captain Daniel, 15 Clay products, 192 Clean City Week, 65 Clean New Haven, 65 Cleaveland, L. W., 235 Clinton Parkway, 97 Clock industry. The, 175, 189, 246 Clock movements, 180 Closing scenes of pdgeant at ' ' Bowl, ' ' 58 Clothing- firms of New Haven, 248 Clubs for boys, girls, men, women, 69 Coal imported into New Haven district, 209 College ' ' pranks, ' ' 33 College Street church, 118; sells building, 66 Collegiate and Commercial Institute, 137 Collegiate School, The, 16 Colonial legislature, 85 Colonial origins and history of Meriden, 284 Colonial Wallingford, 319 Color printers, 246 Colored Methodists, 127 Colored population, 222 Commencement for "All of College," 25 Commission ou Public Memorials, 105 Committee cliosen by Mrs. Ives, 154 Committee of 15, 109 Committee of 50, 10,S Committee of 21, 196 Communication and transportation, 203 Community Center work, 224 Compensation to Indians, 12 Compulsory school system, 20 Condemn encroachment on Green, 83 Condensed tho' crude charter, 101 Confectionery industry, 247 Congested regions of New Haven, 223 Congestion in city 's center, 163 Congregational Club, 281 Congregational pastorates, 231 Congress, members of, from New Haven, 234 Connecticut bar, leaders of the, 233 Connecticut Business University, 147 Connecticut Company, The, 243 Connecticut Congress of Mothers, 267 Connecticut Journal, 243 Connecticut river and canal project, 205 Connecticut Savings Bank, New Haven, 239 Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars, 94 Connecticut Telephone Company, 213 Consolidation of smaller railroads, 208 Consolidation of town and city, 104 Construction engineers, 249 Construction of street car lines, 210 Construction of the "Bowl," 197 Contagious Disease Hospital, 104 Contractor, a foremost, 229 Contrast, New Haven now and in 1720, 28 Contrast of the centuries, 61 Corset Industry, The, 182, 190 Cost of "Bowl," 202 Cost of Canal project of 1822, 205 Cost of New Haven Courthouse, 234 Cotton gin, 175 Council of Trade and Labor unions, 281 Country Club, 281 County Courthouse, New Haven, 235 County seat. New Haven as the, 233 426 INDEX Courier, The, 243 Course of lectures (civic matters), 75 Courthouse, architects of new, 234 Courthouse, building of the new, 234 Courthouse, committee on building new, 234 Courthouse, contractors of, 234; cost of, 234 (jourthouse, paintings in new, 234 Courthouses of New Haven, 233 Courts and Lawyers, 226, 233 Cowles & Company, 190 Coy, George W., 211 Crawford, George W., 109 Crawford Sectional Oven, 191 Crosby, Mr. and Mrs. Robert A., 223 Cutler, Rev. Timothy, 25 Cuyier, T. DeWitt, Yale 74, 196 D Daggett, David, Yale 79, 196 Daggett, Leonard M., 109 Dairy products excel, 193 Dancing under projjer conditions, 265 D. A. R. Chapters, 263 Davenport church, 69 Davenport, Pastor John, 1 Day Company, The, 191 Day, George P., 232 Death of Theodore Winthrop, Scene of Pageant, G. A. R. participating, 57 Defense against British invasion, 90 Degree of Honor, The, 278 Delaware Company, The, 9 Delicacies from Connecticut farms, 190 Denisou, Rev. R. C, 114 Dennen, Rev. S. R., 115 Department of Charities and Correction, 105 Derby Choral Society, 54 Derby Turnpike tolls, 104 Detail work left to women, 260 Development, The Dual, 19 Development, Civic and Material, 172 Development of Park System. 92 Diamond, Frank J., 144 Diamond Match Company, 190 Dickermau, Emma E., 352 Dickerman family, 353 Dies and molds at Manufacturers' Exhibit, 191 Digging the ditch of 1825, 206 Dillon & Douglass, 248 Dimensions of Yale Bowl, 198 Directors Chamber of Commerce, 168 Directors of Manufacturers' Exhibit, 186 Directory printing. New Haven center for, 192, 227 Discipline of Governor Eaton, 19 Dispensary, The New Haven, 236 Display rooms of Manufacturers' Exhibit, 187 Distances of perspectives at "Bowl," 199 Distinguished men receive Yale degrees, 38 Dixwell Monument, 1849, 86 Doors thrown open, 44 Doyle Company, John T., 190 Dreams of new modes of communication, 215 Dress coat of scarlet, etc., 252 Drills on Green in 1917, for World War, 90 Drummer calls to worship, 6 Dummer, Jeremiah, 10 Dummer's aid sought, 26 Dunn, Abigail, 148 Dutch pioneers, 1 Dwight Place church, 119 Dwig-ht, President, 232 E Eagles, The, 279 Early and later growth of Methodist churches, 126 Early churches clustered on Green, 67 Early clockmakers of Connecticut, 180 Early families of North Haven, 364 Early life of Wallingford, 319 Early means of communication, 203 Early Orange, 309 Early settlers in North Branford, 416 East and West Rock, 92 Eastern Machinery Company, 192 Eastern Screw Corporation, 192 "East Farms," 14 East Haven, 368 East Haven as a suburban residence, 369 East Haven churches, 371 East Haven industries, 372 East Rock Park, 93 Eaton, Theophilus, 2 Echoing portals of the Bowl, 54 Economic Club, 173 Edgewood Park, 63 Edgewood, "Show Park," 94 Editors, prominent New Haven, 243 Educational leaders, 226 Education of foreigners, 223 Educator, an eminent, 229 Educators of New Haven, 232 Edwards, Jonathan, 17 Eells, Rev. Samuel, 416 Eight hundred manufacturing establish- ments, 67 Eighty-two churches, 70 Electric fans, 183 INDEX 427 Electric lights come, 62 Electric line, the first in New Haven, 210 Electric railway had come, 62 Electric toys, 183 Electric toy railway.s exhibit, 192 Electrification of railroads, 209 Elevators "made in New Haven," 192 Eleven coats of trucking cloth, etc., 12 Elks, B. P. 0. E., 279 Elliott, Howard, 243 Elliott, Thomas E., engraver, 192 Elm City Free Kindergarten Society, 262 Elm City Hospital, 237 Elms and maples planted on Green iu 1839, 85 Ely & Son, A. G., 193 Emery manufacture, 190 Emigrants in New Haven, 216 End justified faith, 50 Engineering activities of New Haven, 24S Engineering problems of the "Bowl," 196 Engineers of promiueuee, 249 English & Mersick Company, 192 English and Scotch cla&sed as ' ' foreigners, 218 English, Henry F., 93 English stock, the original settlers, 216 Engravers' Exhibit, 192 Envious eyes on the Green, 82 Episcopal pastorates, 231 Erector & Mysto sets, 183 Ericsson, John, 250 Escort to General Washington, 254 Evening Leader, The, 244 Evening schools, 142, 223 Every man a soldier, 251 Evolution of New Haven, 216 Excavation for the "Bowl," 197 Excursion steamers, 208 Exhibit of manufactures, 185 : first com- mittee, 186; building of, 186 Expansion of electric street railways, 210 Expense of library maintenance, 156 Factories outwardly old-fashioned, 66 "Fair Haven East," 14 Fair Haven Heights, 97 "Faire Haven," A, 13 Famous football games, 194 Farm Bureau Association, 170, 263 Farm supply business, 248 Farmington Canal Company, 20.j Farmington canal completed, 206 Faruam, Henry W., 232 Farnsworth, Fred B., 239 Federated Council of One Hundred, 159 Fenwick, Col. George, 13 Ferry, C. A., builder of the "Bowl," 195 Ferry Street Congregational church, 122 Field, Cyrus West, 211 Fifty nationalities, 88 Filing cases exhibit, 192 Fine drives, 95 Fire brick manufacture, 192 Fire escapes, manufacture of, 192 Fireplace fixtures, 192 Fireplace screens, 191 Firemen and students clash, 31 First board of directors, 150 First charter, 100 First electric car "stuck," 62 First game at the "Bowl," 198 First meeting house, 6 First Methodist church, 88 First National Bank, New Haven, 241 First place of Yale, 25 First state house, 85 First surveyor, 5 First Swedish church, 128 First telephone exchange in America, 62 First telephone, 16 First to match hopes and faith with work, 74 First telephone in New Haven, 211 First town library, 89 First trains running, 207 Fisher, Irving, 232 Fiske, Phineas, 25 Fitch, Major John, 24 Five hundred manufacturing establish- ments, 177 Five wells on the Green, 87 Florence Crittenton Home, 261 Flour mill near East Rock, 7 Folding Boxes manufacture, 191 Folding Mattress Company, 193 Folk ilances, drills, etc., 91 Football and baseball fields, 95 Football at Yale, 194 Football crowds at Bowl, 198 "Football nights" at the Hyperion, 32 Football tickets as rewards of merit, 47 Foot Guards, 90 Foot Ciuards iu World War, 255 Foreign population of New Haven in 1918, 219 Foreign races flock to New Haven indus- tries, 216 Foresters of America, 278 Fort Hale, 97 "Fort Hill," 368 Fort St. George, 10 428 INDEX Fort Wooster, 97 Founding of Mauufaeturers' Exhibit, 186 Four schools in one, 71 Frances Benton Memorial School, 146 Fraternal Benefit League, 27S Fraternities and clubs, 269 "Free Planters," The, 82 Freight elevators made in New Haven, 192 French Canadians small in number, 222 Functions of Civic Federation, 165 Furniture firms of New Haven, 248 Furniture, manufacture of, 193 G Gallagher, John C, 234 Gamble & Desmond, 248 Gaol, The, 7 Gaol and whipping post, 85 Gas appliances on exhibit, 191 Gas coke on exhibit, 191 Gas Company, New Haven, 242 Gas fittings, 192 "Gas for all purposes," 191 Gas Light Company, The, 191 Gates chained at "Curfew," 5 Ga^'lord Farm Sanatorium, 323 General Washington welcomed on the Green, 90 Geometric Tool Companj-, 190, 247 German Baptists, 129 German element, 221 German Methodist church, 127 German population in New Haven, 218 Ghetto, New Haven's, 220 Gilbert, Albert C, 183 Gilbert, Cass, 77 Gilbert, Jonathan, 15, 285 Gilbert toys, 183 Girl delinquency, a study of problem, 164 Globe Silk Works, 193 Goffe and Whalley, 94 Golden Cross, 279 Good Government Club, 47 Good old New England days, 216 Goodyear, Charles, 175 Government leaders, 226 Governor Yale, 26 Governor's Foot Guard, 251 Governors New Haven furnished, 233 Gown laid aside, 38 Grace Hospital, 237 Grades taught in various schools, 139 Graham & Company, James, 192 G. A. R. in Pageant (Hooker), 57 Grand Army posts, 279 Grand Avenue Baptist, 129 Graduates' Club, 159, 237, 280 Graves, S. I., 144 Grays in Civil War, 25 1 "Greate Shippe," lost with £5000, 9 Great variety of products, 64 Greeley, General, 229 Green an arena of free speech, 89 Green an educational campus, 89 Green a training ground and military field, 90 Green first fenced in 1800, 86 Green in New Haven model for other towns, 91 Green, The, 6 Green the heart and center of New Haven life, 87 Green the seat of judicial tribunals, 90 Greist Manufacturing Company, 190 Gridiron, the Yale, 196 Grocery houses of New Haven, 248 Grove Street Cemetery opened, 1797, 86 Ground covered by "Bowl," 197 Growth of Meriden, 301 Growth of telephone system, 213 Guide books for immigrants, 263 Guilford, 374 Guilford a melting pot, 374 Guilford a paradox, 374 Guilford banks, 380 Guilford Church History, 377 Guilford fraternal societies, etc., 380 Gnilford Free Library, 380 Guilford geographically, 374 Guilford industries, 381 (tuilford, two sous of, 383 (Juilford's founders, 376 Guilford 's newspapers, 380 Guilford's origin, 375 (iuilford's prominent families, 382 (iuilford 's schools, 379 Gunu, George M., 241 H Hack-saws a specialty, 193 Hadley, President, 39, 232 Hale, Nathan, monument, 227 Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 383 Halleck 's writings, 386 Hamden, 342 Hamden brick industry in 1645, 346 Hamden churches, 347 Hamden industries, 345 Hamden schools, 347 Hammonassctt settlement, 400 Hampden, John, 15 Handling crowds at the "Bowl," 199 Hanging Hills of Meriden, 93 Hard to start New Haven, 74 Hardware stores. New Haven, 248 Harmonic Club, 280 INDEX 429 Harmony "s beginnings, 36 Hartford and New Haven Railroad, 207 Harvard games at Yale, 194 Haynes, Rev. A. J., 114 Health Survey of New Haven, 165 Hector, The, 1 Hemingway, Samuel, 241 Henderson, Yaudell, 109 Hendryx Company, A. B., 183 Hewlett, George T., 233 Highways, Old-time, 204 Hill, Everett G., 109 Hillhouse, Jamea, 85, 137 Hillhouse, James A., 233 Hillhouse high school, 70 Hindinger, George W., 192 History of New Haven Banks, 240 History of New Haven Telephone, 211 Hogg.son & Pettis Company, 191 Home for Friendles,s, 261 Home Rule Bill, 105 Hooker, Brian, on Pageant, 57 Hooker, Thomas, 241 Hojikins, Edward, 9, 21 Hopkins Grammar School, ii Horse Guands, 251 Hospitals, New Haven, 236 Hotel men, well known New Haven, 243 Hotel Taft, 243 Hotels in New Haven, 243 Houghton, Rev. R. M., 116 Housing conditions, 163 Howard Avenue Church, 121 Howards' Company, The, 192 Humphrey Street Church, 121 Hyperion Theater, 39 Interior house trim on exhibit, 193 Insurance commissioner, 234 Insurance companies. New Haven, 242 Intolerance, 4 "Iphigeuia in Tauris, " presented at "Bowl," 200 Irish immigration, 216 Irish population drops in percentage, 221 Iron, 220 million tons of, 209 Italian Baptist, 130 Italian invasion. The, 218 Italian physicians, 238 Ives Company, H. B., 189 Ives, Joseph, 357 Ives, Mrs. Mary E., 153 Japanese know New Haven products, 190 Jcpson, Harry B., 46 Jepson, Prof. Benjamin, 46 Jewish congregations, 132 Jewish Rabbis, 133, 231 Jewish Russians arrive in large numbers, 218 Job printing exhibit, 192 Jocelyn, Rev. S. E., 116 Journal-Courier, The, 243 Journals, technical and scientific, 244 Judd, Edward P., long the bookseller of New- Haven, 248 "Judge's Cave," 94 Judges of New Haven, 233 Julin, Charles, 109 Julin, Charles E., 185, 227 Junior high school, 139 Justice meted on the Green, 84 Ideal New Haven, The, 74 Ik Marvel, 40 Illiteracy restriction, 219 Immauuel Baptist, 129 Immigrant development of New Haven, 217 Imports and exports of New Haven, 209 Improved housing for wage-earners, 162 Improved Order of Heptasophs, 278 Improved Order of Red Men, 278 Independent Order of B 'rith Abraham, 279 Independent Order of Foresters, 278 Indian Head, 93 Individual Manufacturers' Exhibits, ISS Industrial concerns, 183 Industrial expansion, 63 Industries multiply, 177 Interesting things for the machinist, 192 Keep Green clear of buildings, 90 Kennedy, Major John B., 255 Kent, Charles Foster, 232 Kingsbury, Frederick J., 228 Knight, H. C, 109 Knights of Columbus, 274 Knights of Columlnis Club, 280 Knights of Columbus Fund, 145 Knights of the Golden Eagle, 278 Knights of the Maccabees, 278 Knights of Pythias, 278 Knights of St. Patrick, 280 Knitting for Red Cross, 145 Labor papers, 245 Ladies of the Maccabees, 278 Lafayette visits New Haven, 254 Lake Saltoustall watershed, 79 430 INDEX Lambert, T). D., 144 Lamps and fixtures, 192 Lamps "made in New Haven," 247 Lancasterian School, 137 ■ Landing of Quiunipiac Pilgrims, 1 Languages and races represented in New Haven, 219 Lathes "made in New Haven," 191 Launching the James Hillhouse at Farm- ington, 206 Law firms in New Haven, 235 Law history of New Haven, 233 Lawyers and judges, 233 Lawyers of New Haven, 226, 228, 234 Leaders in education, 226 Leaders in Meriden life, 290 Leading engineers, 249 Lee, Wilson H., 227 Lee Company, The Wilson H., 192, 246 Leete, Rev. W. W., 120 Legal history of New Haven, 233 Lewis, Henry G., 149 Liberty bonds, thrift stamps, 145 Liberty pole on Green, 86 Libraries of New Haven, 148 Library building ready in 1911, 154 Library opened, February, 1887, 151 Library opens children's room, 152 Library's first board of directors, 150 Lighthouse Point, 14 Lincoln, Allen B., 70, 229 Lines of manufacture in New Haven, 183 Lionel Mfg. Company, 183, 192 Lithographers, 192 ' ■ Living conditions among negroes in niiif li ward," 164 Location and area of city squares, 98 Locks and hinges exhibit, 192 Long Island Navigation Company, 208 Looking backward to beginnings, 1 Lowell House, 223; children's drills at, 91; settlement work, 262 Loyal Temperance leagues, 279 Lumber used in New Haven manufactures, 209 Luther, Rev. C. P., 119 Lutheran congregations, 134 Lutheran pastors, 231 M Machine fittings, 191 Machine Gun Comi)aiiy, 258 "Made in New Haven," 187 Machinery makers, 182 "Made a day of it," 84 Madison, 397 Madison churches, 400 Madison industries, 402 Madison shipbuilding, 402 Madison 's fine beach, 402 Madison 's modern industries, 403 Madison 's schools, 404 Madison's two public lilirarifs, 404 Magic Token, 26 Maher, Stephen J., 237 Makers of modern New Haven, 226 Making Americans, 217 Malleable Iron Fittings Company, 192 Malley Company, Edward, 248 Mansfield, Burton, 234 Manufactories, New- Haven's foremost, 183 Manufacturer, A leading, 227 Manufacturers ' exhibit, 185 Manufacturers of Wallingford, 325 Manufacturing in New Haven, 174 Many charter amendments, 102 Marble, Edwin, 166 Marett, Philip, 148 Marett credited on book plates, 151 Marett 's library fund, 149 Jfarine hardware, 192 Maritime transportation, 207 Market house of 1785, 85 Market place, 6 Marshall, Smith & Co., 192 Masonry in New Haven, 269 Master of Pageant, 49 Matches and match niacliinery, 176 Mather, Cotton, 10 Mather, Samuel, 22 Mathewson, Judge A. McClcllan, 47 Mattresses, A tempting line of, 193 Maurer, Rev. Dr. O. E., 51, 230 Mayo Radiator Company, 192 Mayor Manager plan, 108 Mayors of New Haven, several, 2.39 Mechanics Bank, 241 Mechanics Library, 148 Medical College riot, 31 Medical notables of New Haven, 237 Medical practitioners, 226 Medical School, Yale, 236 Meeting house voted in 1724, 415 Meigs, Frederick, 248 Mellen, Charles S., 243 Melting pot, New Haven as, 216 Men in public service, 226 Men who have made Meriden, 290 Men's Clubs, Confederation of, 172 Mendel & Freedman, 248 Mental Hygiene, 228 Merchants National Bank, New Haven, 241 Mercliants of New Haven, 247 INDEX 431 Merick, Rev. Jouathau, 416 Meriden, 284 Merideu, Accessible city, 288 Meriden, Area of, 287 Meriden, Men who have made, 290 Merideu census, 1910, 301 Merideu City Hospital, 296 Merideu churches, 287 Meriden churches and schools, 290 Meriden cutlery, 303 Meriden cut glass, 304 Meriden Farm, 285 Merideu tire department, 289 Merideu fraternal orders, 296 Merideu lawyers, 290 Meriden manufactories, 305 Merideu physicians, 290 Meriden printing and publishing concerns, 305 Meriden jmblie library, 296 Merideu pulilic parks, 288 Meriden social clubs, etc., 296 Meriden water supply, 289 iteriden 's banks, 298 Jleriden 's big fire, 289 Meriden 's educational equipment, 294 Meriden 's foreign population, 224 Meriden 's growth, 301 Meriden 's lawyers, 297 Meriden 's newspapers, past and present, 298 Meriden 's physicians, 297 Meriden 's sewer system, 289 Merideu 's social progress, 290 Mersick & Company, C. S., 248 Meserve, Eev. I. C, 120 Metal cornices, Manufacture of, 191 Metal racks, 192 Methodist ministers, 127, 231 Mexican bonier service, 257 Mileage of New Haven railroad system, 209 "Milford" hack saw blades, 189 Military New Haven, 251 Mill River, 342 Mill Rock, 342 Miner, Read and Tullock, 248 Mirrors made iu New Haven, 193 Mishkan, Israel, 132 Mistakes of two and three-quarters cen- turies, 161 Mrs. Ives donates library building, 153 Mitchel, Donald G., 40 Mitchell, Rev. John, 117 Modern charter ' ' on its way, ' ' 72 Modern New Haven, 226 Modern "Woodmen of America, 278 Momauguin, 54 Monitor, The first, 250 Monitor Park, 250 Monson Company, Charles, 248 Montowese, 12 Moran, James T., 229 More foreigners than "natives," 220 More Germans and Swedes arrive, 219 Morehouse, Cornelius S., 246 More trees planted in 1808, 85 Morgan & Humiston Co., 192 Mormons, 135 Morning News, The, 244 Morrill, A. B., 70, 232 Morris Cove, 2 Morris Plan Bank, 242 "Mosquito Control," 163 Moss, Joseph, 23 Mossman, Rev. W. D., 41 Mother and the daughters, The, 11 Mothers' Aid Society, 229, 262 Motor vehicle manufacture, 191 Mount Carmel, 348 Mount Carmel Children's Home, 352 Mount Carmel churches, 351 Mount Carmel manufacturers, 350 Mount Carmel, Prominent families of, 354 Mount Carmel rauge, 342 Mount Carmel scenery, 355 Mount Carmel schools, 352 Mount Tom, 348 Multiplying motor cars, 83 Mnnger, Rev. Dr. T. T., 114 Munitions manufacture, 177 Murray, William H. H., 291, 383 JTurray, A joke he told on himself, 393 Murray 's discovery of the Adirondacks, 390 Murray's love for "the perfect horse," 389 Musical attractions at the "Bowl," 200 Musical instruments, 304 Mysto Manufacturing Company, 183 N Nathan Hale statue, 227 Nationalities represented in New Haven, 219 National Folding Box & Paper Company, 183, 191 National Guard to Mexican border, 118 National Pipe Bending Company, The, 191 National Savings Bank, 243 National Tradesmen's Bank, 241 Naval Militia, 168 Naval Veterans, 279 Negro population, 222 Nettleton, C. H., 242 New England community, A typical, 217 New England and foreigners, 217 New Haven— a Babel, 217 New Haven and New York steamboat lines, 207 432 INDEX New Haven banks, 240 New Haven Button Company, The, 193 New Haven Cailets, 254 New Haven charters, 100 New Haven eloeks, 180 New Haven Clock Company, Exhiljit of, 189 New Haven Council of Jewish Women, 263 New Haven County Courthouse, 235 New Haven County Farm Bureau, 263 New Haven Dairy Company, 193 New Haven-Derby turnpike, 203 New Haven Dispensary, 236 New Haven District Telephone Company, 211 New Haveners want Yale to pay taxes, 34 New Haven Gas Light Company, 191, 242 New Haven Girls' Club, 263 New Haven Grays, 256 New Haven Green, 80 New Haven Harbor, 77 New Haven Hospital, 2.16 New Haven in world war, 258 New Haven, headquarters of the railroad, quarters, 209 New Haven Lawn Club, 281 New Haven Machine Screw Comj)any, 193 New Haven Manufacturers' Exhibit, 185 New Haven Manufacturing, 174 New Haven Manufacturing Company, 191 New Haven merchandise demands 120,000 railroad cars, 209 New Haven Mirror and Novelty Company, 193 New Haven never a boom town, 61 New Haven Palladium, 244 New Haven Pastors' Union, 162 New Haven Post Boy, 243 New Haven Register, 244 New Haven schools, 136 New Haven State Normal and Training School, 145 New Haven Steamboat Company, The, 207 New Haven Symphony Orchestra, 36 New Haven telephone history, 211 New Haven Trades Council, 282 New Haven Truck & Auto Works, 191 New- Haven Water Company, 78, 242 New Haven Woman 's Club, 263 New Haven 's churches. 111 New Haven's industrial establishments, 183 New Haven 's libraries, 148 New Haven's park system, 92 New London Railroad, 208 Newman & Sons, I., 190 Newspapers, 226, 243 Newspapers, Foreign, 245 News, The Yale, 245 New World field of democracv, 91 New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R., Be- ginnings of, 208 ' ' Nibbling ' ' process begun, 83 Normal school at New Haven, 232 North Branford, 414 North Branford family names, 420 North Branford industries, 418 North Branford Masons, 419 North Branford slaveholders, 416 North Branford Soldiers' monument, 419 North Branford 's early pastors, 417 North Branford 's first meeting house, 417 North church, 113 "North Farms," 15, 414 North Haven, 363 North Haven agriculture, 366 . North Haven Memorial Library, 367 North Haven schools, 367 North Haven's church history, 365 North Haven's industries, 365 Notable medical men, 237 Noyes, James, 23 Noyes, Moses, 23 O Odd Fellows Lodges, 272 Officers of Civic Federation, 165 Officers of Yale, 232 Old and the New, The, 61 "Old Doctor Sauford," 237 Old elms sufficed, 64 Oldest military organization in America, 251 Oldest school, 136 Old Hiram, No. 1, 269 Old hotels, 243 Old houses of Woodbridge, 411 ' ' Old Stone Church, ' ' 370 "Old Stone House," 376 Olivet Baptist, 129 Olmsted, Frederick. L., 77 O 'Meara, P. F., 109 One student, 25 "On this rock will I build," 111 Opening canal in 1825, 206 Orange, 308 Orange dairy farming, 311 Orange, foreign population of, 224 Orange's church history, 310 Order of Shepherds of Bethlehem, 279 Order of L'nited American Mechanics, 278 Organized Charities, 42, 229 Oriental Emery Company, 190 Original bounds of city, 100 Origin of Civic Federation, 158 Orphan Asylum School, 139 Orjihan Societies, Women 's, 261 INDEX 433 Osborn, Norris 6., 243 Out of its century's dream, 6-t Outside telephone exchanges, 214 Oven Equipment & Manufacturing Company, 191 "Oyster Point," 96 Oysters, 100,000 tons of, 209 Pageant of 1916, 49, 201 Pardee, W. S., 106, 109, 228 "Parish of Amity," 407 Park bonds of 1889, 104 Parks in 1910, 78 Part of woman. The, 260 Passenger elevators, 192 Passenger vessels, till 1915, 208 Pastor and Governor the rulers, 4 Patriotic Order Sons of America, 278 Peabody Museum, 44 Peek Brothers & Co., 189 Penmanship in schools, 143 Peoples Bank & Trust Co., New Haven, 241 People saving money, 66 Permanent pavement commission, 105 Perry, F. L., 109 Pesaturo, Rev. Francesco, 69 Phillips, Rev. W. L., 70, 115 Physical culture movement, 147 Physical training in schools, 144 Physicians of New Haven, 226, 236 Piano manufacture, 193 Picture frames, Manufacturer of, 193 Picturesque Woodbridge, 408 Pierson, Abraham, 13 Pierpont, Rev. James, 21 Pilgrim Church, 123 Pipe cutters, 189 Piatt, Frank S., 248 Pliers, nippers and punches, 189 Plumbers' and steamfitters ' supplies, 176 Pond rocks, 368 Poll, Sylvester Z., 230 Politicians, 226 Population figures of New Haven, 217 Population of Woodbridge, 406 Population sliifts, 140 Post, George D., 248 Post-coach acme of speed, 205 Postoffice building problem, 161 £1,324 "and a negar," 21 Practice of medicine in New Haven, 236 ' ' Praising God and raising hell, ' ' 39 Preachers of New Haven, 2.30 Prentiss, Rev. W. C, 117 Prescott, Harry, 166 Vol. I — 2 8 President Hadley opened exercises, 31 Presidents of Yale, 232 Present officers of Telephone Company in New Haven, 214 Press stand at the "Bowl," 198 Preston, Isaac T., 30 Price & Lee Company, 183, 246 Price, Lee & Adkins Company, 246 Printer, A famous, 227 Printers, 226 Printing companies, 192 Printing houses, 246 Private music schools, 147 Process of assimilation of immigrants, 216 Products brought to New Haven, 209 Progress toward Americanism by foreign pop- ulation, 224 Prominent New Haven citizens, 226 Propeller Line, The, 207 Proprietors committee, 82 Provision in 1843 for wards, 101 Provisions of Home Rule Bill, 107 Publications of New Haven, 243 Publicity Club, The, 73 Public library described, 154 Public library established, 103 Public service institutions of New Haven, 242 Publis service, men in, 226 Public wells, 87 Publishing companies, 192 Pupils in various schools, 139 Pupils of forty-five nationalities, 139 Purchase of New Haven site, 11 Putnam, Israel, 351 Quakers, The, 216 Quinnipiac Club, 279 Quinnipiac Park, 97 Quinnipiacs, The, 2 Quinnipiacs welcome whites, 11 R Racebrook Country Club, 281 Race riot at Long Wharf, 2.54 Race troubles absent, 222 Races represented in New Haven, 216 Radiators, New Haven made, 192 Railroad between Hartford and New Haven opened, 207 Railroading in its infancy, 208 Railroad lines, 203 Railroad officials, prominent, 243 Railroads put canal out of business, 207 Railroad system. New Haven's, 243 434 INDEX Raw materials carried to New Haven, 209 Recommendations for civic improvement, 76 Red Cross and Y. M. C. A. work, 145 Regal Silver Company, 183, 193 Religious intolerance, 375 Remodeled church building for library, 151 Report on county affairs, 162 Residents of New Haven, 226 Retired jurists and lawyers, 235 Ke\'iews and journals, 244 Revision of 1881, 103 Revision of 1897-1900, 103 Reynolds, M. A., 109 Rice, Frank J., and sidewalks, 65 Rice, Mayor Frank J., 51, 239 Rivers as highways, 205 Roger Sherman, 233 Rogers, Henry Wade, 233 Roman Catholic churches, 130 Romance of New Haven manufactures, 185-193 Root, Edwin P., 246 Royal Arcanum, 278 Rubber boots, 190 Rubber industry, 181 Rubber manufacture, 190 Ruggles, Thomas, 23 Russel, Rev. Samuel, 23 Rnssell Military School, 137 Russell, Noadiah, 22 Russian district of New Haven, 220 Russian influence, The, 218 S St. Andrew's Chapel, 125 St. Elmo Hall, 195 St. Francis, 261 St. James' in Westville, 123 St. John's, 130 St. John 's Episcopal, 124 St. Luke's, 123 St. Mary's, 130 St. Patrick's, 130 St. Paul's, 123 St. Paul's Episcopal, 69 St. Raphael's Hospital, 237 St. Thomas, 124 Sabin, Hezekiah, Jr., 255 Sacred Heart Church, 130 "Salt Meadow," 368 Saltonstall, Gurdon, 23 Sandy, Grassless tract, 84 Sargent & Company, 181; Exhibit of, 189 Sash, doors and blinds, 192 Saturday Qironicle, The, 244 Sausenunck, 12 Savin Rock, 63, 316 Savings banks of New Haven, 241 Sawyer, Rev. L. A., 119 SchoUhorn Company, William, 189 School a melting pot, 144 School Board, 1918, 140 School circulation. Library books, 156 School oflScers, 1918, 140 School organization, 140 Schools, Grades taught in various, 139 Schools of New Haven, 136 Schools teach forty-five nationalities, 139 Scientific journals, 244 Seal of the Union, 49 Seamless Rubber Company, The, 190 Seaside and Waterside Parks, 96 "Seat of Yale College," 61 Seating capacity of "Bowl," 198 Second Company, Governor 's Horse Guard, 255 Second game of Harvard- Yale on new grid- iron (Bowl), 198 Second National Bank of New Haven, 241 Second National Bank Building, 115 Secretaries of Y. M. C. A., New Haven, 250 Security Insurance Company, 242 Seed companies, 248 .Settlement work among foreigners, 223 Seventy thousand spectators, 198 Sewage disposal, 77 Sewing in schools, 144 Seymour, George Dudley, 44, 185, 226 Shaar, Shalom, 132 Shartcnberg 's, 248 Shaumpishuh, .54 Sheet metal and copper, 191 Sherman, Roger, 233 Shifts of population, 140 Shipbuilding, 176 Ships for foreign trade, 9 Shore expansion, 63 Short Line Electric Railway, 210 Short on playgrounds, 78 ' ' Shot heard round the world, ' ' 252 "Silver City," 287 Silver goods, 193 Silk yarns of every variety, 193 "Six generations buried their dead," 81 Six wards provided in 1857, 101 Slaughter house district, 95 "Sleeping Giant," 93, 348 Small rubber articles "made in New Haven," 190 Smith & Company, John P., 191 Smyth, Dr. Newman, 112 Snow & Petrelli Manufacturing Company, 192 Social Evolution, 216 Social Library, 148 Social Service Dance Committee, 266 INDEX 435 Social uplift, 223 Soldiers ' monument a town hall, 405 Sons of American Revolution, 279 Sons of Liberty, 86 Sons of Temperance, 279 Sons of Veterans, 279 Southern New England Telephone Com- pany, 213 Sowheag, 12 Spanish Veterans, 279 Spanish War, 255 Specialists in the medical line, 237 Sperry, Nehemiah D., 238 Sperry & Amos Company, 193 Sport at Yale, 194 Spreading of population, 66 Star of Bethlehem, 279 Starin Line, The, 207 Starr, Rev. H. E., 120 State game farm, 404 State museum, Guilford, 380 State House, The old, 233 Statistics of raw materials brought to New Haven, 209 Steamboat competition in early days, 207 Steamboat lines, 203 Steamboat transportation, early, 207 Stebbing Commercial and Secretarial School, 147 Steel and steam fittings, 192 Steel gates "made in New Haven," 192 Steel toys, manufacture of, 183 Stewart, M. J., 92 Stocks and pillory on upper Green, 84 Stocks for offenders, 20 Stoddard, Ezekiel .G., 241 Stokes, Rev. Anson Phelps, 232 Stone Business College, 233 Stony Creek, 338 Stony Creek granite deposits, 340 Stony Creek hotels, 339 Ston_y Creek oysters, 341 Stony Creek transportation, 341 Stoughton, Captain, 2 Street, Rev. Nicholas, 21 Street building lines, 77, 160 Street lighting, 86 Street railway development, 209 Streets well paved, well kept, 65 Strife of town and gown, 29 Strouse, Adler & Company, 190 Strouse Corset Company, 190 Students and Firemen Clash, 31 Studley, Mayor J. P., 75, 235 Study of problem of girl delinquency, 164 Subscribers to first telephone, 212 Subscriptions to canal projei-t of 1822, 205 Suburban electric lines, 210 Summary of New Haven manufactories, 183 Superintendent of schools, 232 Surface of the "Bowl," 198 Surgeons of eminence in New Haven, 237 Surplus school population, 66 Surroundings of the "Bowl," 198 Survey of Canal of 1822, 205 "Survey of New Haven District," A, 163 Swamps and marshes drained, 95 Swede immigrants, 218 Swedish Baptist church, 130 Switchboard, the first telephone, 212 Symphony orchestra, 36 Symphony orchestra concerts, 44 System of city squares, 92 System of education better, 70 T. A. B., 279 Taft, William Howard, 226 Tar products exhibited, 191 Tardy appearance of public library, 148 Taylor Congregational church, 121 Taylor, Rev. N. W., 115 Teachers at Yale, 232 Teaching foreigners to become Americana, 223 Technical journals, 244 Teele, Dr. Julia E., 223 Telegraph service, 211 Telephone building of New Haven, 214 Telephone charter, first, 211 Telephone established in New Haven, 211 Telephone exchanges, 214 Telephone in New Haven, 203, 213 Telephone managers, 214 Telephone subscribers, first, 212 Tenement house committee, 162 Teutons in New Haven, 220 Theaters, a chain of, 230 Theatrical reproductions at the "Bowl," 200 The Key to New England, 64 "The perfect horse," 391 "The Steps," 350 "Things good to eat," 190 Things New Haven makes, 66 "Thirty or forty books in 1714," 27 Thompson, Everard, 46, 201 Thompson & Sons Company, Henry G., 189 Three types of street paving, 65 Thrift stamps. Liberty bonds, 145 Thrifty foreign workers, 225 Thurston, Asa, 30 Ticket speculation for ball games, 195 436 LNDEX Tile hrifk maunfacturo, 19i Til!«B, John Q.. 23S Times-Leader. The, 244 Tire holders, 192 Todd, B«T, Jonathan, TO Toll^te. the last, CiM Tools for s^ieei*! purposes, 191 ■ ■ Too jiretty to burn, " ' So Tornado of 1ST6, 324 Totoket, 14 Townsend, VTUlianj K.. 2S5 Tot motors, 1S3 Tov railwavs, 192 Trade sehools, ISS, 2S3 Trades Coiuwil of Xew Haven, 2S2 Transportation, 2l>3 Trap rotfi quarry, 421 Tree guards, manufaeturers of, 191 Trinity parish. 122 Trolley lines out of Xew Haven, 210 Truei manufaeture, 191 Trustees, State Museum, SSO Tuberculosis specialists, 257 Turnpiie a ••toll line,"' 351 Turnpikes, 203 Tattle, Morehouse & Taylor Oompanv, 192, 246 Turtle "s Inn, 270 Tvrifhell, Be v. Joseph H., 3S Two centuries of legal history, 233 Tw»-hottT prayer and two-hour sermon. S4 Two sons of Guilford, 3S3 V niman, I. M^ 1(^, IS*, 1S6, 227 TTneas^ 13 ••rneiur*hed," The, 112 Union and Xew Haven Trust Company, 241 TTaioB League Chib, ^0 Union, The, 244 Union Veterans, 279 Uniqueness of tie •'Bowl." 199 Uniqne *hoTe resort, 3SS United nimninatiag- Oompanv, 190 243 U. S. Weather Signal Station, 16S United Workers, 262 United Workers" Boys" Qub, 41 Uaiversalist ehureh, 134 Universalis* pastors, 231 r. O. G. F. lodges, 27S UtiBty coaqianies, publie, 242 Variety of Xew Haven 's products, 1S9, 193 Terdi, Antioiiv, 109 Versatile in its industries, 6« Vessels calling at Xew Haven within year, number of, 209 Visiting Xuise Association, 262 Vocal music in graded schools, 143 W Waldeu, Mrs. Percy T.. 264 Walker. Prof. WiUiston. 52 Wallingford, 319 Wallingford l^uks. 323 Wallingford church history. 320 Wallingford fire dei\-jrtment. 322 W.^Uingford foreign impwlation, 224 Wallingford fraternal and social societies 323 Wallingford industries. 325 Wallingford in World War, 324 Wallingford public Ubrary, 323 Wallingford schools. 322 Wallingford water supply. 322 Want to tax Tale, 34 War gardens. 145 W.^ird. Frederick M.. 230 W.^rds established in ISoS 101 Water Company, Xew Haven. 242 Water heaters and coils, 191 Water supply sources, 79 Water transportation, early. 204 Watrous, Eliot, 109 Wealth of modem episode. 53 Webb, James H.. 233 Webb, Joseph, 22 •Wedding" of Xew Haven and Tale, 49 Weekly publications, 244-Jo Weir, Prof. J. F,, 75 'W'elch, Lewis S_ 22S Welcome Hall, 41, 223 West and East Kock. 92 West End lastiniie, 137 •WesT Farms,"" 14, 313 ^esT Haven. 313 West Haven church history. 314 West Haven incorporated 1S37, 315 West Haven industries, 316 West Haven schools, 315 West Haven loday. 315 West Haven Manufacturing Companv. 193 WesT Haven "s Knni. 316 What doing between meals? 62 Wie^Jex Beeccer Memorial School, 146 " • WhiiBfenpoof s ■ " The. 47 Whipple. Harry V,. 541 While Haven church. 113 •White Way,-- 63 Whitfield. Bev. Henry, 13 Whitney. Elj, uj, <.jj 0^0 INDEX 4:j7 Whitney Arms Company, 175 Whittlesey, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph, 264 Widening of Chapel street, 77 Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 299 Willard, Rev. J. L,, 118 Williams, Elisha, 25 Wilson, Wood row, .'J9 Winchester Repeating Arms Company, 142, 188 Wire manufactories, 247 Wire, ornamental and useful, 191 Woman, The j)art of, 260 W. C. T. U., 279 Wonder of the "Bowl," The, 199 Woodliridge, Rev. Benjamin, 14 Woodbridge, Timothy, 22 Woodbridge, 406 "Woodbridge Hills," 408 Woodbridge 's industries, 409 Woodmen of the World, 278 Woodruff, Arthur E., 354 Woodruff, Rollin S., 238 Woolscy Hall, .'ie Wooster, General David, 270 Wooster Square, 92 W'ork of Chamber of Commerce, 169 Wright, J. P., 176 Wright, William A., 233 Wynne, Kenneth, 109 Yale, Anne, 21 Yale, Elihu, 3, 27 Yale, Thomas, 9 Yale Alumni Weekly, 245 Yale and New Haven Union, 41 Yale athletic games, 44 Yale Bicentennial Celebration, 38 Yale Bowl, The, 194 Yale Business College, 147 Yale College, 16 Yale football, 194 Yale-Harvard games, ](H Yale Hope .Vfi;«^'., ,-,,,.. „>o >"-^<^. "5^ ■^0 ^ f° ^ "' <«-" ,*ii7; - . . . u \ Ma >°\*>^ ,>' - 0' ■/ "^^ ^< .4^ ^v^ • • - *> "^ A** . • • .t> .0^ lrf. ^0 ^■ ■^..^ ,<< G^' .♦"'-■ A -^^ .'Sv' ■"'^. 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