Neighborhood Firsts

612 Chapel Street became home to Herrick Frost, general manager of the Connecticut Telephone Company. After Alexander Graham Bell won a patent for the first telephone in 1876, Frost and New Haven friend George Coy built an experimental switchboard. Together they opened the world’s first telephone exchange here in 1878 with 22 subscribers. The first one-page telephone directory was published by their company the following month.

Smoothies – corsets, not health drinks! Bavarian Jews Max Adler and Isaac Strouse became leaders of New Haven’s corset industry. In 1866 Strouse established the first corset factory in the United States. This led to the Strouse, Adler Company Corset Factory housed in buildings on Olive Street and later known as Smoothie Foundation Garments.

Historic Note

Wooster Square Historic District was named in 1970 when it became New Haven’s first local historic district, and was subsequently placed on the National Historic Registry in 1971.