by | Feb 19, 2025 9:47 am | Comments (10)
John T. Hill photo
May Day 1970 rally on the Green.
Allan Appel Photo
Notes from New Haven's underground.
This coming Saturday you might think it’s Feb. 22 and only Washington’s birthday — but not if you happen also to be at the New Haven Museum, where the under-appreciated Whitney Library will be time-traveling back to May 1, 1970, the historic May Day rally on the Green and at Yale.
by | Feb 14, 2025 9:00 am | Comments (17)
Not Godfrey's goat. But you get the idea.
A parking garage under the Green? Not on the Proprietors' watch.
The Green almost had an underground parking garage and a statue of JFK — and it did at one time have a state house and Seth Godfrey’s goat.
As the city, the Proprietors, the just-formed New Haven Green Conservancy and other “stakeholders” of all kinds are weighing in on the next turn in the evolution of the Green’s uses, here is just a taste of what was and what might have been on the city’s central greenspace over the past four centuries.
by | Jan 22, 2025 10:28 am | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photo
The grave of New Haven's first mayor: Not crazy about kings.
Where’s a good place to visit in New Haven in the first days of the Trump administration?
City Historian Michael Morand recommends the grave of Roger Sherman at the National Historic Landmarked Grove Street Cemetery — one of 25 local history stops included on a new list put out by the city in honor of New Haven’s 241st birthday.
by | Jan 13, 2025 3:22 pm | Comments (14)
The Green, as drawn in 1879 by Bailey & Hazen. Note the state house on the Upper Green, behind the Center Church, built in 1831 and demolished in 1889.
And the view from 1824, as engraved by Doolittle.
From a “market place” to a burial ground to a venue for government and education and worship, the Green has seen many different uses over the years.
“However, the one constant over four centuries there is also that the space has been for the public good.”
Continue reading ‘City Historian: The Green's Constant Is Change, & "Public Good"’
by | Jan 8, 2025 9:26 am | Comments (13)
An opening slide from 2002's Convergence.
“The Green is big enough, gracious enough, generous enough to tolerate many different people.”
And public space — well, “public space is not always fun.” That’s kind of the point.
So argues Elihu Rubin, a Yale architecture professor and documentarian of the Green, as he cautioned against too many permanent changes to the city’s great public square at a time when a redesign is on the horizon.
Continue reading ‘Prof/Filmmaker: The Green’s Not Just About Fun’
by | Jan 3, 2025 11:43 am | Comments (2)
Contributed photo
Yours truly, proud inductee in the Lee High Hall of Fame.
New Haven’s Richard C. Lee High School (1964 – 1986) was an experiment.
by | Dec 19, 2024 10:22 am | Comments (0)
Allan Appel photo
The truth is out there. Not just on UFOs, but a whole range of New Haven history, and Allison Botelho's here to help.
Well before mysterious drones started showing up in the skies of New Jersey, a UFO — or so the story goes — appeared above a billboard at Middletown Avenue and Front Street, back in 1953.
That mid-century mysterious flying object was the subject of just one of the many queries, curious and quotidian, that have ended up on the desk of New Haven’s Allison Botelho in her 25-year career as the New Haven Free Public Library’s local history librarian.
Continue reading ‘UFO Spotted In Library's Local History Room’
by | Dec 12, 2024 1:06 pm | Comments (4)
Jabez Choi photo
Morand with New Haven's original charter: "History is everywhere."
From “Dr. Ann E. Garrett Robinson Way” to the Blue Moon Chapel mural to the Q House centennial’s many celebrations, New Haven history is everywhere — and should be accessible to everyone.
For the past eight months, Mike Morand has been working to make that public history ideal a reality – in his official-but-unpaid role as city historian.
by | Dec 6, 2024 12:33 pm | Comments (3)
Contributed photo
Snazzy threads? Yankees seats? Mid-century Enson's had you covered
It’s no small thing to stay in business for a hundred years, but Enson’s Gentlemen’s Fashions at 1050 Chapel St. has accomplished that feat of entrepreneurial longevity.
The reason? There’s a surprisingly old-fashioned thread — pun very much intended — that runs through the decades.
“Nice things, great customer relations, and all these years, we’ve had great tailors.”
by | Nov 22, 2024 3:47 pm | Comments (0)
Contributed photos
Two sides of a Civil War token, and the envelope that connects it to New Haven ...
Dear W.C. Sanders, secretary of the New Haven Numismatic Society circa 1939, resident of 5 Harding Place, or maybe 608 Dixwell Ave.
The New Haven Independent historical research team has an important message for you from the future: We found your Civil War token.
Continue reading ‘An Open Letter To A Civil War Coin Dealer’