City of New Haven
—  City  —
Skyline of Downtown New Haven
Flag of City of New Haven Flag Official seal of City of New Haven Seal
Nickname(s): The Elm City
Location in New Haven County, Connecticut
Coordinates: 41°18′36″N 72°55′25″W / 41.31°N 72.92361°W / 41.31; -72.92361Coordinates: 41°18′36″N 72°55′25″W / 41.31°N 72.92361°W / 41.31; -72.92361
Country	United States
State	Connecticut
NECTA	New Haven
Region	South Central Region
Settled	1638
Incorporated (city)	1784
Consolidated	2010
Government
• Type	Mayor-board of aldermen
• Mayor	John DeStefano, Jr. (D)
Area
• City	20.31 sq mi (52.6 km2)
• Land	18.9 sq mi (49.0 km2)
• Water	1.4 sq mi (3.6 km2)
• Urban	285.3 sq mi (738.9 km2)
Elevation	59 ft (18 m)
Population (2010)[1]
• City	129,779
• Density	6,860/sq mi (2,648.6/km2)
• Urban	569,000
• Metro	846,766
• Demonym	New Havener
	Metro area refers to New Haven County
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code	06501-06540
Area code(s)	203
FIPS code	09-52000
GNIS feature ID	0209231
Airport	Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport (New Haven, CT) – HVN (County)
Website	www.cityofnewhaven.com

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. With a population of 129,779 people,^[1] New Haven is the principal municipality in the Greater New Haven metropolitan area, which had a total population of 571,310 in 2000.^[2][3] It is located in New Haven County, on New Haven Harbor, on the northern shore of Long Island Sound.

New Haven was founded in 1638 by English puritans, and a year later eight streets were laid out in a four-by-four grid, creating what is now commonly known as the "Nine Square Plan",^[4] now recognized by the American Institute of Certified Planners as a National Historic Planning Landmark. The central common block is New Haven Green, a 16-acre (6 ha) square, now a National Historic Landmark and the center of Downtown New Haven.

New Haven is the home of the Ivy League school Yale University. The university is an integral part of the city's economy, being New Haven's biggest taxpayer and employer,^[5] as noted in the Mayor's 2010 State of the City address.^[6] Health care (hospitals and biotechnology), professional services (legal, architectural, marketing, and engineering), financial services, and retail trade also help to form an economic base for the city.

New Haven had the first public tree planting program in America, producing a canopy of mature trees (including some large elms) that gave New Haven the nickname "The Elm City".^[7]

History[link]

Pre-colonial and colonial[link]

The historic New Haven Green.

Before Europeans arrived, the New Haven area was the home of the Quinnipiac tribe of Native Americans, who lived in villages around the harbor and subsisted off local fisheries and the farming of maize. The area was briefly visited by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block in 1614. Dutch traders set up a small trading system of beaver pelts with the local inhabitants, but trade was sporadic and the Dutch did not settle permanently in the area.

In 1637 a small party of Puritans reconnoitered the New Haven harbor area and wintered over. In April 1638, the main party of five hundred Puritans who left the Massachusetts Bay Colony under the leadership of the Reverend John Davenport and the London merchant Theophilus Eaton sailed into the harbor. These settlers were hoping to establish a better theological community than the one they left in Massachusetts and sought to take advantage of the excellent port capabilities of the harbor. The Quinnipiacs, who were under attack by neighboring Pequots, sold their land to the settlers in return for protection.

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Government of New Haven Colony

By 1640, the town's theocratic government and nine-square grid plan were in place, and the town was renamed Newhaven from Quinnipiac. However, the area north of New Haven remained Quinnipiac until 1678, when it was renamed Hamden. The settlement became the headquarters of the New Haven Colony. At the time, the New Haven Colony was separate from the Connecticut Colony, which had been established to the north centering on Hartford. One of the principal differences between the two colonies was that the New Haven colony was an intolerant theocracy that did not permit other churches to be established, while the Connecticut colony permitted the establishment of other churches.

Economic disaster struck the colony in 1646, however, when the town sent its first fully loaded ship of local goods back to England. This ship never reached the Old World, and its disappearance stymied New Haven's development in the face of the rising trade power of Boston and New Amsterdam. In 1660, founder John Davenport's wishes were fulfilled and Hopkins School was founded in New Haven with money from the estate of Edward Hopkins.

In 1661, the judges who had signed the death warrant of Charles I of England were pursued by Charles II. Two judges, Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe, fled to New Haven to seek refuge from the king's forces. John Davenport arranged for these "Regicides" to hide in the West Rock hills northwest of the town. A third judge, John Dixwell, joined the other regicides at a later time.

New Haven became part of the Connecticut Colony in 1664, when the two colonies were merged under political pressure from England, according to folklore as punishment for harboring the three judges (in reality, done in order to strengthen the case for the takeover of nearby New Amsterdam, which was rapidly losing territory to migrants from Connecticut).^{[citation needed]} Some members of the New Haven Colony seeking to establish a new theocracy elsewhere went on to establish Newark, New Jersey.

It was made co-capital of Connecticut in 1701, a status it retained until 1873. In 1716, the Collegiate School relocated from Old Saybrook to New Haven and established New Haven as a center of learning. In 1718, the name of the Collegiate School was changed to Yale College in response to a large donation from British East India Company merchant Elihu Yale, former Governor of Madras.

For over a century, New Haven citizens had fought in the colonial militia alongside regular British forces, as in the French and Indian War. As the American Revolution approached, General David Wooster and other influential residents hoped that the conflict with the government in Britain could be resolved short of rebellion. On 23 April 1775, which is still celebrated in New Haven as Powder House Day, the Second Company, Governor's Foot Guard, of New Haven entered the struggle against the governing British parliament. Under Captain Benedict Arnold, they broke into the powder house to arm themselves and began a three-day march to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other New Haven militia members were on hand to escort George Washington from his overnight stay in New Haven on his way to Cambridge. Contemporary reports, from both sides, remark on the New Haven volunteers' professional military bearing, including uniforms.

2,600 loyalists and British regulars under General William Tryon, governor of New York raided the 3,500-person town in July 1779, but did not torch it as they had with Danbury in 1777, or Fairfield and Norwalk a week after the New Haven raid, leaving many of the town's colonial features preserved.

Towns in the New Haven area

Post-colonial[link]

New Haven was incorporated as a city in 1784, and Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Constitution and author of the "Connecticut Compromise", became the new city's first mayor.

The city struck fortune in the late 18th century with the inventions and industrial activity of Eli Whitney, a Yale graduate who remained in New Haven to develop the cotton gin and establish a gun-manufacturing factory in the northern part of the city near the Hamden town line. That area is still known as Whitneyville, and the main road through both towns is known as Whitney Avenue. The factory is now the Eli Whitney Museum which has a particular emphasis on activities for children, and exhibits pertaining to the A. C. Gilbert Company. His factory, along with that of Simeon North, and the lively clock-making and brass hardware sectors, contributed to making early Connecticut a powerful manufacturing economy; so many arms manufacturers sprang up that the state became known as 'The Arsenal of America'. It was in Whitney's gun-manufacturing plant that Samuel Colt invented the automatic revolver in 1836.

An 1872 engraving showing the Mill River, which provided water power to early New Haven industry

The Farmington Canal, created in the early 19th century, was a short-lived transporter of goods into the interior regions of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and ran from New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts.

New Haven was home to one of the important early events in the burgeoning anti-slavery movement when, in 1839, the trial of mutineering Mendi tribesmen being transported as slaves on the Spanish slaveship Amistad was held in New Haven's United States District Court. There is a statue of Joseph Cinqué, the informal leader of the slaves, beside City Hall. See "Museums" below for more information. Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech on slavery in New Haven in 1860, shortly before he secured the Republican nomination for President.

The American Civil War boosted the local economy with wartime purchases of industrial goods, including that of the New Haven Arms Company, which would later become the Winchester Repeating Arms Company (Winchester would continue to produce arms in New Haven until 2006, and many of the buildings that were a part of the Winchester plant are now a part of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company Historic District^[9]). After the war, population grew and doubled by the start of the 20th century, most notably due to the influx of immigrants from southern Europe, particularly Italy. Today, roughly half the populations of East Haven, West Haven, and North Haven are Italian-American. Jewish immigration to New Haven has left an enduring mark on the city. Westville was the center of Jewish life in New Haven, though today many have fanned out to suburban communities such as Woodbridge and Cheshire.

Modern[link]

Harkness Tower, part of the Yale University campus in downtown New Haven

New Haven's growth continued during the two World Wars, with most new inhabitants being African Americans from the American South and Puerto Ricans. The city reached its peak population after World War II. The area of New Haven is only 17 square miles (44 km²), encouraging further development of new housing after 1950 in adjacent, suburban towns. Moreover, as in other U.S. cities in the 1950s, New Haven began to suffer from an exodus of middle-class workers.

In 1954, then-mayor Richard C. Lee began some of the earliest major urban renewal projects in the United States. Certain sections of Downtown New Haven were destroyed and rebuilt with new office towers, a hotel, and large shopping complexes.^[10] Other parts of the city were affected by the construction of Interstate 95 along the Long Wharf section, Interstate 91 and the Oak Street Connector. The Oak Street Connector (Route 34), running between Interstate 95, downtown and The Hill neighborhood, was originally intended as a highway to the city's western suburbs but was only completed as a highway to the downtown area, with the area to the west becoming a boulevard (See "Redevelopment" below).

In 1970, a series of criminal prosecutions against various members of the Black Panther Party took place in New Haven, inciting mass protests on the New Haven Green involving twelve thousand demonstrators and many well-known New Left political activists. (See "Political Culture" below for more information).

From the 1960s through the late 1990s, central areas of New Haven continued to decline both economically and in terms of population despite attempts to resurrect certain neighborhoods through renewal projects. In conjunction with its declining population, New Haven experienced a steep rise in its crime rate. In 2010, New Haven ranked as the 18th most dangerous city in America, (albeit with crime rating under the significant safety benchmark of 200.00.) ^[11]

Urban redevelopment and notable events[link]

Since approximately 2000, many parts of downtown New Haven have been revitalized, with new restaurants, nightlife, and small retail stores. In particular, the area surrounding the New Haven Green has experienced an influx of apartments and condominiums. In recent years, downtown retail options have increased with the opening of new stores such as Urban Oufitters, J Crew, Origins, American Apparel, Gant Clothing, and an Apple Store, joining older stores such as Barnes & Nobles, Cutlers Records, and Raggs Clothing. In addition, downtown's growing residential population will be served by two new supermarkets, a Stop & Shop just outside of downtown and Elm City Market under construction one block from the Green.^[12] The recent turnaround of downtown New Haven has received positive press from various periodicals.^[13][14][15]

Major projects include the current construction of a new campus for Gateway Community College downtown, and also a 32-story, 500-unit apartment/retail building called 360 State Street. The 360 State Street project is now occupied and is the largest residential building in Connecticut.^[16] A new Boathouse and Dock is planned for New Haven Harbor, and the linear park Farmington Canal Trail is set to extend into downtown New Haven within the coming year. [6] Additionally, foundation and ramp work to widen I-95 to create a new harbor crossing for New Haven, with an extradosed bridge to replace the 1950s-era Q Bridge, has begun.^[17] The city still hopes to redevelop the site of the New Haven Coliseum, which was demolished in 2007.

In April 2009 the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear a suit over reverse discrimination brought by 18 white firefighters against the city. The suit involved the 2003 promotion test for the New Haven Fire Department. After the tests were scored, no blacks scored high enough to qualify for consideration for promotion, so the city announced that no one would be promoted. In the subsequent Ricci v. DeStefano decision the court found 5-4 that New Haven's decision to ignore the test results violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.^[18] As a result, a district court subsequently ordered the city to promote 14 of the white firefighters.^[19]

In 2010 and 2011, both State and Federal funds were awarded to Connecticut (and Massachusetts) to construct the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail line, with a southern terminus at New Haven's Union Station and a northern terminus at Springfield's' Union Station.^[20] According to the White House, "This corridor [currently] has one train per day connecting communities in Connecticut and Massachusetts to the Northeast Corridor and Vermont. The vision for this corridor is to restore the alignment to its original route via the Knowledge Corridor in western Massachusetts, improving trip time and increasing the population base that can be served." ^[21] Set for construction in 2013, the "Knowledge Corridor high speed intercity passenger rail" project will cost approximately $1 billion and the ultimate northern terminus for the project is reported to be Montreal, Canada.^[22] Train speeds between will reportedly exceed 110 mph, and increase both cities' rail traffic exponentially.^[23]

Geography[link]

Aerial view of downtown New Haven, looking toward East Rock

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.2 square miles (52 km²), of which 18.9 square miles (49 km²) is land and 1.4 square miles (3.6 km²) is (6.91%) is water.

New Haven's best-known geographic features are its large deep harbor, and two reddish basalt trap rocks which rise to the northeast and northwest of the city core. These trap rocks are known respectively as East Rock and West Rock, and both serve as extensive parks. West Rock has been tunneled through to make way for the east-west passage of the Wilbur Cross Parkway (the only highway tunnel through a natural obstacle in Connecticut), and once served as the hideout of the "Regicides" (see: Regicides Trail). Most New Haveners refer to these men as "The Three Judges". East Rock features the prominent Soldiers and Sailors war monument on its peak as well as the "Great/Giant Steps" which run up the rock's cliffside.

The city is drained by three rivers; the West, Mill, and Quinnipiac, named in order from west to east. The West River discharges into the West Haven Harbor, while the Mill and Quinnipiac Rivers discharge into the New Haven Harbor. Both harbors are embayments of Long Island Sound. In addition, several smaller streams flow through the city's neighborhoods, including Wintergreen Brook, the Beaver Ponds Outlet, Wilmot Brook, Belden Brook, and Prospect Creek. Not all of these small streams have continuous flow year-round.

Climate[link]

New Haven experiences a warm summer-type humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfa), typical of southern New England. Summers are warm to moderately hot, with high levels of humidity and frequent afternoon thunderstorms. Spring and fall bring cooler temperatures with moderate precipitation. Winters are cold and humid, with frequent snowfalls. The weather patterns that affect New Haven result from a primarily offshore direction, thus minimizing the marine influence of the Atlantic Ocean that would otherwise moderate summer and winter temperatures — although, like other marine areas, differences in temperature between areas right along the coastline and areas a mile or two inland can be very significant at times.

Streetscape[link]

Aerial photograph of New Haven

New Haven has a long tradition of urban planning and a purposeful design for the city's layout. The city could be argued to have some of the first preconceived layouts in the country.^[25][26] Upon founding, New Haven was laid out in a grid plan of nine square blocks; the central square was left open, in the tradition of many New England towns, as the city green (a commons area). The city also instituted the first public tree planting program in America. As in other cities, many of the elms that gave New Haven the nickname "Elm City" perished in the mid-20th century due to Dutch Elm disease, although many have since been replanted. The New Haven Green is currently home to three separate historic churches which speak to the original theocratic nature of the city.^[4] The Green remains the social center of the city today. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

Downtown New Haven, occupied by nearly 7,000 residents, has a more residential character than most downtowns.^[27] The downtown area provides about half of the city's jobs and half of its tax base^[27] and in recent years has become filled with dozens of new upscale restaurants, several of which have garnered national praise (such as Ibiza, recognized by Esquire and Wine Spectator magazines as well as the New York Times as the best Spanish food in the country), in addition to shops and thousands of apartments and condominium units which subsequently help overall growth of the city.^[28]

The Dwight Street Historic District, one of several official historic districts in New Haven

Neighborhoods[link]

The city has many distinct neighborhoods. In addition to Downtown, centered on the central business district and the Green, are the following neighborhoods: the west central neighborhoods of Dixwell and Dwight; the southern neighborhoods of The Hill, historic water-front City Point (or Oyster Point), and the harborside district of Long Wharf; the western neighborhoods of Edgewood, West River, Westville, Amity, and West Rock-Westhills; East Rock, Cedar Hill, Prospect Hill, and Newhallville in the northern side of town; the east central neighborhoods of Mill River and Wooster Square, an Italian-American neighborhood; Fair Haven, an immigrant community located between the Mill and Quinnipiac rivers; Quinnipiac Meadows and Fair Haven Heights across the Quinnipiac River; and facing the eastern side of the harbor, The Annex and East Shore (or Morris Cove).^[29][30]

Economy and demographics[link]

New Haven's economy originally was based in manufacturing, but the postwar period brought rapid industrial decline; the entire Northeast was affected, and medium-sized cities with large working-class populations, like New Haven, were hit particularly hard. Simultaneously, the growth and expansion of Yale University further affected the economic shift. Today, over half (56%) of the city's economy is now made up of services, in particular education and health care; Yale is the city's largest employer, followed by Yale – New Haven Hospital. Other large employers include St. Raphael Hospital, Smilow Cancer Hospital, Southern Connecticut State University, Assa Abloy Manufacturing, the Knights of Columbus headquarters, Higher One, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Covidien and United Illuminating.^[32] Yale and Yale-New Haven are also among the largest employers in the state, and provide more $100,000+-salaried positions than any other employer in Connecticut.^{[citation needed]}

Industry sectors: Agriculture (.6%), Construction and Mining (4.9%), Manufacturing (2.9%), Transportation and Utilities (2.9%), Trade (21.7%), Finance and Real Estate (7.1%), Services (55.9%), Government (4.0%)

The US Census Bureau estimates a 2010 population of 129,779; the 2010 census lists 47,094 households and 25,854 families within the central municipality, the City of New Haven. The population density is 6,859.8 people per square mile (2,648.6/km²). There are 52,941 housing units at an average density of 2,808.5 per square mile (1,084.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 43.46% White, 37.36% African American, 0.43% Native American, 1.90% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 10.89% from other races, and 3.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 9.39% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 31.8% of the population in 2010,^[33] down from 69.6% in 1970.^[34] The city's demography is shifting rapidly: New Haven has always been a city of immigrants and currently the Latino population is growing rapidly. Previous influxes among ethnic groups have been: African-Americans in the postwar era, and Irish, Italian and (to a lesser degree) Slavic peoples in the prewar period.

As of the 2010 US Census, of the 47,094 households, 29.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.5% include married couples living together, 22.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 45.1% are non-families. 36.1% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.40 and the average family size 3.19.^[35][36]

The ages of New Haven's residents are: 25.4% under the age of 18, 16.4% from 18 to 24, 31.2% from 25 to 44, 16.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age is 29 years, which is statistically very young. There are 91.8 males per 100 females. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 87.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $29,604, and the median income for a family is $35,950. Median income for males is $33,605, compared with $28,424 for females. The per capita income for the city is $16,393. About 20.5% of families and 24.4% of the population live below the poverty line, including 32.2% of those under age 18 and 17.9% of those age 65 or over.^[35][36]

In 2006 the New York Times described New Haven as one of the poorest cities in the United States.^[37] As of 2001, the New Haven-Stamford-Bridgeport-Danbury metropolitan area had the third-highest per capita income in the country, behind San Francisco and Silicon Valley, California.^[38] But Stamford is one of the wealthiest cities in Connecticut, with a median per capita income of $34,987, over twice that in New Haven.^[39]

It is estimated that 14% of New Haven residents are pedestrian commuters, ranking it at number four by highest percentage in the United States^[40] This is primary due to New Havens' small size (geographically) and the presence of Yale University.

Today New Haven is a predominantly Roman Catholic city, as the city's Dominican, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Puerto Rican populations are overwhelmingly Catholic. Jews also make up a considerable portion of the population, as do Black Baptists. There is a growing number of (mostly Puerto Rican) Pentecostals as well. Catholic New Haven is part of the Archdiocese of Hartford. There are churches for all major branches of Christianity within the city, multiple store-front churches, ministries (especially in working-class Latino and Black neighborhoods), a mosque, many synagogues (including two yeshivas), and other places of worship; the level of religious diversity in the city is high.

Business headquarters[link]

The Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization and a Fortune 1000 company, is headquartered in New Haven.^[41] Two more Fortune 1000 companies are based in Greater New Haven: the electrical equipment producers Hubbell, based in Orange,^[42] and Amphenol, based in Wallingford.^[43] Eight Courant 100 companies are based in Greater New Haven, with four headquartered in New Haven proper.^[44] New Haven-based companies traded on stock exchanges include NewAlliance Bank, the second largest bank in Connecticut and fourth-largest in New England (NYSE: NAL), Higher One Holdings (NYSE: ONE), a financial services firm United Illuminating, the electricity distributor for southern Connecticut (NYSE: UIL), Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACHN), Alexicon Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS: ALXN), and Transpro Inc. (AMEX: TPR). Vion Pharmaceuticals is traded OTC (OTC BB: VIONQ.OB). Other notable companies based in the city include the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company (the candy-making division of the Hershey Company), the American division of Assa Abloy (one of the world's leading manufacturers of locks), Yale University Press, and the Russell Trust Association (the business arm of the Skull and Bones Society). The Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET) began operations in the city as the District Telephone Company of New Haven in 1878; the company remains headquartered in New Haven as a subsidiary of AT&T, now doing business as AT&T Connecticut, and provides telephone service for all but two municipalities in Connecticut.^[45]

Government[link]

Statue of Roman orator Cicero at the New Haven County Courthouse

Typical of New England towns, New Haven is governed via the mayor-council system. Connecticut municipalities (like those of neighboring states Massachusetts and Rhode Island) provide nearly all local services (such as fire and rescue, education, snow removal, etc.) as county government has been completely abolished since 1960.^[46] New Haven County merely refers to a grouping of towns and a judicial district, not a governmental entity. New Haven is a member of the South Central Connecticut Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG), a regional agency created to facilitate coordination between area municipal governments and state and federal agencies, in the absence of county government.^[47]

John DeStefano, Jr., the current mayor of New Haven, has served eight consecutive terms and was re-elected for a record ninth term in November 2009. Mayor DeStefano has focused his tenure on improving education and public safety, as well as on economic development. Notable initiatives include the Livable City Initiative, begun in 1996, which promotes homeownership and removes blight, and the Citywide Youth Initiative. In 1995, DeStefano launched a 15-year, $1.5 billion School Construction Program, already half finished, to replace or renovate every New Haven public school.^[48] The mayor is elected by the entire city. The first mayor of New Haven was Roger Sherman.

The city council, called the Board of Aldermen, consists of thirty members, each elected from single member wards.^[49][50] New Haven is served by the New Haven Police Department and the New Haven Fire Department.

New Haven lies within Connecticut's 3rd congressional district and has been represented by Rosa DeLauro since 1991. Martin Looney and Toni Harp represent New Haven in the Connecticut State Senate, and the city lies within six districts (numbers 92 through 97) of the Connecticut House of Representatives^[51]

The Greater New Haven area is served by the New Haven Judicial District Court and the New Haven Superior Court, both headquartered at the New Haven County Courthouse.^[52] The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut has an office in New Haven, located in the Richard C. Lee U.S. Courthouse.

Crime[link]

Crime increased in the 1990s, with New Haven having one of the ten highest violent crime rates per capita in the United States.^[53] In the late 1990s New Haven's crime began to stabilize. The city, adopting a policy of community policing, saw crime rates drop during the 2000s.^[54][55]

Violent crime levels vary dramatically between New Haven's neighborhoods, with some areas having crime rates in line with the state of Connecticut average, and others having extremely high rates of crime. A 2011 New Haven Health Department report identifies these issues in greater detail.^[56]

In 2010, New Haven ranked as the 18th most dangerous city in the United States (albeit below the safety benchmark of 200.00 for the second year in a row.) ^[11] However, according to a completely different analysis conducted by the "24/7 Wall Street Blog," in 2011 New Haven had risen to become the fourth most dangerous city in the United States, and was widely cited in the press as such.^[57][58]

However, an analysis by the Regional Data Cooperative for Greater New Haven, Inc., has shown that due to issues of comparative denominators and other factors, such municipality-based rankings can be considered inaccurate.^[59] For example, two cities of identical population can cover widely differing land areas, making such analyses irrelevant. The research organization called for comparisons based on neighborhoods, blocks, or standard methodologies (similar to those used by Brookings, DiversityData, and other established institutions), not based on municipalities.

• See America's Safest and Most Dangerous Cities for more information.

Political culture[link]

A portrait of Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, author of the Connecticut Compromise, and the first mayor of New Haven.

New Haven is the birthplace of former president George W. Bush,^[60] who was born when his father, former president George H. W. Bush, was living in New Haven while a student at Yale. In addition to being the site of the college educations of both Presidents Bush, New Haven was also the temporary home of former presidents William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton. Clinton met his wife, current U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, while the two were students at Yale Law School. Former vice presidents John C. Calhoun and Dick Cheney also studied in New Haven (the latter did not graduate from Yale). Before the 2008 election, the last time there was not a person with ties to New Haven and Yale on either major party's ticket was 1968. James Hillhouse, a New Haven native, served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate in 1801.

A predominantly Democratic city, New Haven voters overwhelmingly supported Al Gore in the 2000 election, Yale graduate John Kerry in 2004,^[61] and Barack Obama in 2008. In the 2008 election, New Haven County was third among all Connecticut counties in campaign contributions, after Fairfield and Hartford counties (Connecticut, in turn, was ranked 14th among all states in total campaign contributions).^[62][63]

New Haven was the subject of Who Governs? Democracy and Power in An American City, a very influential book in political science by preeminent Yale professor Robert Dahl, which includes an extensive history of the city and thorough description of its politics in the 1950s. New Haven's theocratic history is also mentioned several times by Alexis de Tocqueville in his classic volume on 19th century American political life, Democracy in America.^[64] New Haven was also the residence of conservative thinker William F. Buckley, Jr. in 1951, when he wrote his influential God and Man at Yale.

In 1970, the New Haven Black Panther trials took place, the largest and longest trials in Connecticut history. Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale and ten other Party members were tried for murdering an alleged informant. Beginning on May Day, the city became a center of protest for 12,000 Panther supporters, college students, and New Left activists (including Jean Genet, Benjamin Spock, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and John Froines), who amassed on the New Haven Green, across the street from where the trials were being held. Violent confrontations between the demonstrators and the New Haven police occurred, and several bombs were set off in the area by radicals. The event became a rallying point for the New Left and critics of the Nixon Administration.^[65][66]

During the summer of 2007, New Haven was the center of protests by anti-immigration groups who opposed the city's program of offering municipal ID cards, known as the Elm City Resident Card, to illegal aliens.^[67][68][69] In 2008, the country of Ecuador opened a consulate in New Haven to serve the large Ecuadorean immigrant population in the area. It is the first foreign mission to open in New Haven since Italy opened a consulate (now closed) in the city in 1910.^[70][71]

In April 2009, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear a suit over reverse discrimination brought by 20 white and Hispanic firefighters against the city. The suit involved the 2003 promotion test for the New Haven Fire Department. After the tests were scored, no blacks scored high enough to qualify for consideration for promotion, so the city announced that no one would be promoted. On 29 June 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firefighters, agreeing that they were improperly denied promotion because of their race.^[72] The case, Ricci v. DeStefano, became highly publicized and brought national attention to New Haven politics due to the involvement of then-Supreme Court nominee (and Yale Law School graduate) Sonia Sotomayor in a lower court decision.^[73]

Garry Trudeau, creator of the political Doonesbury comic-strip, attended Yale University. There he met fellow student and later Green Party candidate for Congress Charles Pillsbury, a long-time New Haven resident for whom Trudeau's comic strip is named. During his college years, Pillsbury was known by the nickname "The Doones". A theory of international law, which argues for a sociological normative approach in regards to jurisprudence, is named the New Haven Approach, after the city. Current Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was a New Haven resident for years, before moving back to his hometown of Stamford.^[74]

Education[link]

Colleges and universities[link]

New Haven is a notable center for higher education. Yale University, at the heart of downtown, is one of the city's best known features and its largest employer.^[75] New Haven is also home to Southern Connecticut State University, part of the Connecticut State University System, and Albertus Magnus College, a private institution. Gateway Community College has a campus in New Haven, located in the Long Wharf district; Gateway is in the process of consolidating into one campus and will move downtown into a new state-of-the-art campus (on the site of the old Macy's building) which is slated to open for the Fall 2012 semester.^[76]

There are several institutions immediately outside of New Haven, as well. Quinnipiac University and the Paier College of Art are located just to the north, in the town of Hamden. The University of New Haven is located not in New Haven but in neighboring West Haven.

Primary and secondary schools[link]

New Haven Public Schools is the school district serving New Haven, Connecticut. Wilbur Cross High School and Hillhouse High School are New Haven's two largest public secondary schools.

Hopkins School, a private school, was founded in 1660 and is the fifth-oldest educational institution in the United States.^[77] New Haven is home to a number of other private schools as well as public magnet schools including Metropolitan Business Academy, High School in the Community, Hill Regional Career High School, Co-op High School, New Haven Academy, ACES Educational Center for the Arts, the Foote School and the Sound School, all of which draw students from New Haven and suburban towns. New Haven is also home to two Achievement First charter schools, Amistad Academy and Elm City College Prep. It is also home to Common Ground, an environmental charter school.

Culture and notable features[link]

Architecture[link]

A view of the buildings around Yale University in New Haven, with its distinctive architecture.

New Haven has many architectural landmarks dating from every important time period and architectural style in American history. The city has been home to a number of architects and architectural firms that have also left their mark on the city including Ithiel Town and Henry Austin in the 19th century and Cesar Pelli, Warren Platner, Kevin Roche, Herbert Newman and Barry Svigals in the 20th. The Yale School of Architecture has fostered this important component of the city's economy. Cass Gilbert, of the Beaux-Arts school, designed New Haven's Union Station and the New Haven Free Public Library and was also commissioned for a City Beautiful plan in 1919. Frank Lloyd Wright, Marcel Breuer, Alexander Jackson Davis, Philip C. Johnson, Gordon Bunshaft, Louis Kahn, James Gamble Rogers, Frank Gehry, Charles Willard Moore, Stefan Behnisch, James Polshek, Paul Rudolph, Eero Saarinen and Robert Venturi all have designed buildings in New Haven. Yale's 1950s-era Ingalls Rink, designed by Eero Saarinen, was included on the America's Favorite Architecture list created in 2007.^[78]

Many of the city's neighborhoods are well-preserved as walkable "museums" of 19th and 20th century American architecture, particularly by the New Haven Green, Hillhouse Avenue and other residential sections close to Downtown New Haven. Overall, a large proportion of the city's land area is National (NRHP) historic districts. One of the best sources on local architecture is "New Haven: Architecture and Urban Design", by Elizabeth Mills Brown.^[79]

The five tallest buildings in New Haven are:^[80]

1. Connecticut Financial Center 383 ft (117 m) 26 Floors
2. 360 State Street 338 ft (103 m) 32 Floors
3. Knights of Columbus Building 321 ft (98 m) 23 Floors
4. Kline Biology Tower 250 ft (76 m) 16 Floors
5. Crown Towers 233 ft (71 m) 22 Floors

Cuisine[link]

There are 95 top Zagat-rated restaurants in New Haven, the second most in Connecticut and the fourth most in New England (after Boston, Stamford and Cambridge).^[81] More than 120 restaurants are located within two blocks of the New Haven Green.^[82] The city is home to an eclectic mix of ethnic restaurants and small markets specializing in various foreign foods.^[83][84] Represented cuisines include Malaysian, Ethiopian, Spanish, French, Greek, Latin, Mexican, Italian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Cuban, Peruvian, Syrian/Lebanese, and Turkish.^[85]

White clam pizza pie from Pepe's, a unique New Haven favorite

New Haven's greatest culinary claim to fame may be its pizza, which has been claimed to be among the best in the country,^{[86][87][88][89]} or even in the world.^[90][91] New-Haven-style pizza, called apizza (pronounced ah-BEETS in the local dialect), made its debut at the iconic Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana (known as Pepe's) in 1925.^[92] Apizza is baked in coal- or wood-fired brick ovens, and is notable for its thin crust. Apizza may be Red (with a tomato-based sauce) or White (with a sauce of garlic and olive oil), and pies ordered "plain" are made without the otherwise customary mozzarella cheese (pronounced sca-MOTZ, as it was originally smoked mozzarella, known as "scamorza" in Italian). A white clam pie is a well known specialty of the restaurants on Wooster Street in the Little Italy section of New Haven, including Pepe's and Sally's Apizza (which opened in 1938). Modern Apizza, which opened in 1934 and is located on State Street, is also well-known.^[93]