East Rock is a
neighborhood in the city of
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
, named for nearby
East Rock
East Rock of south-central Connecticut, United States, with a high point of , is a long trap rock ridge located primarily in the neighborhood of East Rock on the north side of the city of New Haven. A prominent landscape feature and a popular ...
, a prominent
trap rock
Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. ...
ridge. The area is home to a large group of
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
students, staff, and faculty, as well as many young professionals and families. Writing in the Times Literary Supplement, Hirsh Sawhney describes East Rock as a "yuppie enclave", which is "increasingly composed of wealthy professionals and graduate students, most of whom are affiliated with Yale University, whose lavish campus lies just over a mile away" East Rock is also a popular destination for cyclists, as a city bike lane runs along Orange Street, the neighborhood's spine. East Rock is the safest neighborhood in New Haven County. East Rock is home to East Rock Park, which is frequently visited by families and tourists.
History
![Orange St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Orange_St.1.jpg)
The current East Rock neighborhood remained unsettled farmland into the 1800s, when its largest landowner was Abraham Bishop, a prominent New Haven lawyer and businessman. The southernmost streets were developed first, between the late 1830s and 1860, as these were nearest to the industrializing city center. Following Bishop's death in 1844, the rest of the neighborhood was gradually subdivided and developed.
Sub-neighborhoods developed as New Haven continued to industrialize and grow, with immigrants arriving to take newly available jobs. An Irish community developed in Goatville (around Upper State Street) and a Polish population formed around St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church. A commercial district developed on Upper State Street. By 1900 most of the neighborhood's land was developed. The final blocks, near East Rock Park, were developed in the first decades of the 1900s.
Throughout its history East Rock has contained residences of faculty and alumni from neighboring Yale University. As the university has grown, the East Rock neighborhood has increasingly housed the university's graduate students and researchers while many faculty now live outside New Haven's borders.
During the late 20th century a series of businesses were developed on primarily residential Orange St, including markets and coffee shops. During the 2010s a large-scale addition of 238 apartments was constructed on the 'Corsair' site, a former airplane propeller factory on Upper State Street.
Geography
![Upper State4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Upper_State4.jpg)
The neighborhood is bordered on the north by the town of
Hamden, on the east by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
railroad tracks, on the southeast by
Interstate 91
Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Conne ...
(between Exits 3 and 6), on the south by Trumbull Street, and on the west by Whitney Avenue. The northeast corner of the area, separated from the main neighborhood by the
Mill River and the
East Rock
East Rock of south-central Connecticut, United States, with a high point of , is a long trap rock ridge located primarily in the neighborhood of East Rock on the north side of the city of New Haven. A prominent landscape feature and a popular ...
hill, is part of the community known as
Cedar Hill.
The neighborhood is divided between New Haven's ninth and tenth
alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...
ic
wards. Before
redistricting, it lay in the fifteenth ward; the area was the subject of
William Lee Miller
William Lee Miller (April 21, 1926 – May 27, 2012) was an American journalist, academic, and historian who taught in the University of Virginia's religious studies department for 17 years, and remained affiliated with the university after his 1 ...
's book ''The Fifteenth Ward and the Great Society''. The western half of the neighborhood (west of Orange Street) is within the
Whitney Avenue Historic District
__NOTOC__
The Whitney Avenue Historic District is a historic district in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. It is a district which included 1,084 contributing buildings when it was listed on the National Register of Histori ...
. The southerly parts of the neighborhood are also listed as historic districts:
Upper State Street Historic District
The Upper State Street Historic District encompasses a well-preserved neighborhood commercial district of the late 19th century in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. The district is an irregular strip running NNE to SSW mainly ...
along State Street, and
Orange Street Historic District along Orange Street. The northern portion of the neighborhood is occupied by part of
East Rock Park.
Notable sites
![East Rock from SSS Hall, October 17, 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/East_Rock_from_SSS_Hall%2C_October_17%2C_2008.jpg)
*
East Rock
East Rock of south-central Connecticut, United States, with a high point of , is a long trap rock ridge located primarily in the neighborhood of East Rock on the north side of the city of New Haven. A prominent landscape feature and a popular ...
Park
*
New Haven Lawn Club
The New Haven Lawn Club is a private social club located on Whitney Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, close to Yale University. Founded in 1891, the club is today considered one of the most prestigious in the area. Its facilities offer tennis, sq ...
*
Wilbur Cross High School
Wilbur Cross High School is a four-year public high school in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving ninth through twelfth grades. The school is named after Connecticut Governor Wilbur Lucius Cross and is th ...
*
Worthington Hooker School
*
Cedar Hill neighborhood
*St. John's Episcopal Church
*
St. Joseph's Catholic Church
*The Anderson Mansion
List of streets
References
Bibliography
Print
* Harrison's Illustrated Guide: Greater New Haven
* The Streets of New Haven – The Origin of Their Names, 2nd edition 1998
{{Neighborhoods of New Haven
Neighborhoods in New Haven, Connecticut