Historic Tidbits

The old Italian Consulate

The Wooster Square neighborhood and surrounding area played a pivotal part in the development of our state and young nation. For those new to the community or those of you with inquiring minds that need to know, we heartily recommend the archives, bookshop, and historians of the New Haven Museum located at 114 Whitney Avenue. The New Haven Free Public Library on the Green also has a special Local History Room filled with wonderful surprises.

• Who was Gen. David Wooster and why is the park named for him?

  General David Wooster was a hero and highest-ranking officer to die in the Revolutionary War. He was born in Stratford, CT, graduated from Yale, and had a long and distinguished military career.

  Gen. Wooster came out of retirement to lead successful campaigns during the Revolution. He was felled in the Battle of Ridgefield, and taken to a home in Danbury where he died in the spring of 1777.

  He is buried on Mt. Moriah in what is now the Wooster Cemetery in Danbury, CT.

  Did you know… ?
  Wooster Street in SOHO (NYC) and Wooster, Ohio were also named for our hero.

• Who was Capt. Daniel Greene and why was a street named for him?

  Captain Daniel Greene was a renowned merchant sea captain and neighbor of yore. He commanded the famous ship Neptune on a 3-year voyage around the world to China, from 1796-1799.

  He returned with riches of silk, nankeen cotton, tea, and porcelain dinnerware valued at $280,000!

  Did you know… ?
  The Neptune was a 350-ton, full-rigged sailing ship armed with 20 carriage guns, built at New Haven's Olive Street shipyard and was the largest vessel ever crafted in our city.

• So how was Academy Street named?

  It was named for New Township Academy, a school built on that street in 1809. “The New Township” is what the Wooster Square area was called before the park was constructed.

  This street also boasts #20, the former Italian Consulate, now a private home and still flying the Italian flag.

  Did you know… ?
  The Italian Consulate was established in 1910 by the Italian government because there were thousands of Italian immigrants, the largest foreign group to come to New Haven up to that time.

• Why is Court Street so named, without a court in sight?

  In the early 19th century, the area that became Court Street was Mix's Museum and the Columbian Gardens – a combination beer house and ice cream parlor, wax museum, and public bath. But after it went out of business, the gardens were sold for house sites. These houses were torn down in the 1870's as part of an ambitious project to redevelop the Academy Street side of Wooster Square. This housing project – sponsored by the Home Insurance Company – had a longer life than the first buildings erected in the area. They were among the first to be rehabilitated in Wooster Square.

  Court Street is an attractive street. It is a pleasant walkway leading from the park to the heart of the city. The street was renamed Court Street as an extension of the original street leading to the courthouse on the Green, and appropriate to the court action taken.

• Who is William Lanson and why is he important?

  William Lanson is a New Haven native who was a descendent of a prestigious family that had been in CT for four generations. He was an influential and prosperous building engineer / contractor who was known as New Haven’s African King. He transformed old barns into affordable housing for New Haven’s developing African American community.

  He also sold land he owned in a community east of Wooster Square whose residents were of African descent, then purchased the old slaughterhouse at the end of Greene Street, which he renovated into the Liberian Hotel.

  Did you know… ?
  Mr. Lanson is best remembered as the individual responsible for extending New Haven’s Long Wharf to almost ¾ of a mile out to the harbor’s mouth. He accomplished this between 1810-1812, making the wharf the longest in the U.S.

• Our predecessors were an industrious bunch! What else were they doing?

  Minting coins
  “Money flows like water” is appropriate for Abel Buell’s mint on Water Street established in 1785. He perfected a machine that in two years minted 29,000 copper coins, eventually producing coins for our Federal Government.

  Manufacturing hardware
  SARGENT factory’s catalog listed some 60,000 different items, making it one of the largest hardware manufacturing plants in the US. It is still in operation today.

  Building a carriage industry
  In 1832 James Brewster moved from downtown to a larger factory on Wooster Street, and became to the carriage industry what General Motors would become to the auto industry.

  Did you know…? He was respected world-wide for beautiful carriages, which were purchased by both Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.

  This “can do” spirit continued to grow Wooster Square into a booming community – we were the cat’s meow (with apologies to the dogs of Wooster Square) during New Haven’s ‘Golden Age’.