From Farmlands to a Residential Community
1800s - 1925
return to previous page
Throughout the 1800s,
the lands that the Newhall Street neighborhood
sits upon were sparsely populated areas with
many wetlands and large farms. One of the largest
farms in the area was the Goodrich Farm, which
was approximately 122 acres in size (Haley &
Aldrich, p. 26). An 1852 map of the area (shown
below) indicates the location of occasional
buildings (small squares) along the main roads,
sometimes with the owner’s name, but overall
shows very little development.
|
A detail
of the Map of the County of New Haven, 1852,
showing the buildings, some landowners,
and landforms present at that time in the
vicinity of today’s Newhall Street
neighborhood in Hamden. The boundary line
between Hamden (in green) and New Haven
(in tan) is visible in the middle of the
map. Dixwell Avenue and the railroad line
run north-south at the left. The Goodrich
Farm, not labeled on the 1852 map, was approximately
in the center of the map and included the
lands now occupied by the Hamden Middle
School and athletic fields. |
The area east of Newhall
Street was slowly developing during the 1850s, as shown
in a map from 1855 (below). It was
during this period that the southeast section of Hamden
just north of the New Haven town line became known as
Whitneyville, in honor of the Whitney manufacturing
operations located east of the Lake Whitney (called
Lake Whitneyville at the time).
|
A detail
of the Whitneyville section of Hamden (later
the Newhall Street neighborhood) from an
1855 map. |
In those years there were
a number of small ponds, lakes and streams in
the area. In the map below, there is a stream
beginning at Goodrich Street, running north
and northwesterly, cutting through what is now
the Hamden Middle School property,towards Pine
Swamp. Mix Pond was located just north of Morse
Street and west of what are now the Newhall
Street Soccer fields. As late as 1920, a small
“duck pond” was located east of
Winchester Avenue and south of Morse Street
(Haley & Aldrich, p.27). Prior to 1917,
a “skating pond” existed in the
block bound by Morse, Goodrich, St Mary’s
and Edwards Streets. A large wetland area was
located on the western and southern portions
of what are now the Newhall Street Athletic
Fields all the way to Newbury Street and along
the eastern side of Winchester Avenue. Another
wetland of approximately four acres occurred
in the block surrounded by Goodrich, Newhall,
Butler and Marlboro Streets.
Sometime in the 1860s, the
Goodrich property was sold. Subdivision of the
land into smaller building lots began in 1870
(Haley & Aldrich, p. 26). According to an
1870 map of Hamden, streetcar (trolley) service
ran along Shelton and Winchester Avenues by
this time, indicating that more people needed
to travel to and from that area. There was even
a trolley station located at the corner of Shelton
and Goodrich Streets (Haley & Aldrich, p.
27). Despite these signs of residential growth,
an 1879 map shows that homes were still uncommon
in the area, although a grid of streets was
forming.
|
View
of New Haven, including the southern portion
of Hamden, 1879. The map shows many of the
streets that are in existence today. Note
that Newhall Street was once called Cohansey
Avenue. |
In the early 1900s, this District included
approximately 121 building lots between Winchester and
Shelton Avenues. During this time, Morse Street was
also extended further east to make room for more houses
(Haley & Aldrich, p. 27). Much of the new growth
was needed to provide housing for workers employed at
the Winchester Repeating Arms Factory. It was during
this period at the beginning of the last century that
a community was formed and the area surrounding Newhall
Street became known as the Highwood District.
Winchester Repeating Arms
(WRA) was the largest employer in the neighborhood.
Around 1900, WRA employed over 2,600 workers.
Formed in 1866, WRA made rifles, ammunition,
and shotguns at their Winchester Avenue factory
in New Haven (Haley & Aldrich, p. 64). Many
of the residents in the Highwood District of
Hamden, Whitneyville, and the neighboring districts
of Whitneyville and Newhallville on the Hamden/New
Haven border were employed by WRA. Newhallville
was named for George T. Newhall, who owned a
successful carriage factory in the late 1800s
that employed many workers in this part of New
Haven.
During World War I (1914-1918),
arms and munitions production at the WRA plant expanded
to meet the needs of the military campaign. This expansion
required more workers and so the surrounding communities
continued to grow.
|
Image
of the massive Winchester Repeating Arms
Factory in New Haven. During this period
(in 1917), a new elementary school -- the
Newhall Street School (the building that
is now the Hamden Community Center) -- was
built to serve the growing neighborhood
(Haley & Aldrich, p. 47). |
By 1924, the number of homes
in the area had greatly increased, as seen on
maps from that year. In addition, several small
businesses were present. Other changes in land
use came in the following decade. Hamden Airport
was located on the site of the current industrial
park in the early 1930s (Haley & Aldrich,
p. 63). Mill Rock Park was developed as a park
in 1939 and 1940, after being used for many
years as a refuse dump (Haley & Aldrich,
p. 49). Rochford Field was built in 1939 over
the dump.
Shortly after World War I, WRA began manufacturing
much more than weapons. They made items ranging
from refrigerators to batteries and roller skates.
The manufacture of such a variety of products
was not successful and by 1931,
WRA was broke. The company was purchased that
same year by the Western Cartridge Company,
a subsidiary of the Olin Corporation (Haley
& Aldrich, p.65). After 1931, the company
was known as Winchester-Western, which would
later become Olin Industries (Haley & Aldrich,
p. 65).
|
