The Hill is the southwesternmost neighborhood 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 134,02 ...
,
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 cap ...
. As early as 1800, this area was known as "Sodom Hill".
[E. M. Brown, New Haven: A guide to architecture and urban design, Yale University Press, 1976.] Located directly south of
Downtown New Haven
Downtown New Haven is the neighborhood located in the heart of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It is made up of the original nine squares laid out in 1638 to form New Haven, including the New Haven Green, and the immediate surrounding central ...
, this neighborhood is home to residential areas, some light industry,
New Haven Union Station
Union Station, also known as New Haven Railroad Station or simply New Haven, is the main railroad passenger station in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the third such station in the city of New Haven, preceded by both an 1848 built station in a di ...
as well as
Yale-New Haven Hospital
Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a 1,541-bed hospital located in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned and operated by the Yale New Haven Health System. YNHH includes the 168-bed Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, the 201-bed Yale New Have ...
and the
Yale School of Medicine
The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813.
The primary te ...
.
History
Originally a distinct suburb of New Haven, The Hill began its urban development in the early 1800s. The sub-neighborhood south of Columbus Ave now known as Trowbridge Square was established in the 1830s by brothers Nathaniel and
Simeon Jocelyn Simeon Jocelyn (1799-1879) was a white pastor, abolitionist, and social activist for African-American civil rights and educational opportunities in New Haven, Connecticut, during the 19th century. He is known for his attempt to establish America's f ...
. Known at first as the village of Spireworth, this enclave was founded as a rare example of a racially integrated planned community.
In the middle of the century, waves of Irish and German immigrants began pouring into the neighborhood. African-Americans migrated from the American South, and this neighborhood also served as a stop on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
.
In 1957 a sizable swath of the Hill containing 881 households and 350 businesses was flattened to make way for the
Oak Street Connector
The Oak Street Connector, officially known as the Richard C. Lee Highway (named after former New Haven mayor Richard C. Lee), is a freeway section of Route 34 that is located in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The freeway begins ...
, a 1.1 mile highway stub that was never extended toward
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
as originally planned. In 2013, New Haven began work to downgrade the Oak Street Connector into city streets in an effort to reconnect The Hill to
Downtown New Haven
Downtown New Haven is the neighborhood located in the heart of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. It is made up of the original nine squares laid out in 1638 to form New Haven, including the New Haven Green, and the immediate surrounding central ...
.
The neighborhood includes a number of historic structures, including the former
Ahavas Sholem Synagogue, the
New Haven Jewish Home for the Aged, and the former
Welch Training School
The Welch Training School, also known as the Welch School, is a historic school building at 495 Congress Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Built in 1883, it is a good example of Queen Anne architecture as applied to school buildings, and was the ci ...
, all on the National Register of Historic Places.
Geography
The Hill is bounded by the
Route 34/Oak Street Connector and Legion Ave. at the north, the
Long Wharf neighborhood at the east, the city of
West Haven
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
at the west, and
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
at the south.
[Hello New Haven](_blank)
/ref> The southeastern part of the neighborhood (south of Columbus Avenue) is roughly divided into three sections: Kimberly Square, Trowbridge Square, and City Point. This area south of Columbus Avenue originally was known as the Oyster Point Quarter, while the area north of Columbus Avenue was known as Sodom Hill. The Trowbridge Square section and the southern half of the City Point section are listed as historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. City Point, which is located south of the railroad tracks, was traditionally a separate neighborhood but official neighborhood planning maps now include it in The Hill. The block formed by Redfield, West, Congress, and Columbus is also a state historic district known as Redfield & West Streets Historic District Redfield & West Streets Historic District is a state-designated historic district in New Haven, Connecticut. It is located in The Hill neighborhood in southern New Haven.
It consists of a single city block, bordered on the south by Columbus Ave (US ...
.
Columbus Avenue, Washington Avenue, and Howard Avenue are the three main arteries of the Hill. Between Washington Avenue and I-95, the area immediately fronting Howard Avenue has been designated as the Howard Avenue Historic District.
Economy
The Hill neighborhood contains the majority of buildings of Yale-New Haven Hospital
Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a 1,541-bed hospital located in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned and operated by the Yale New Haven Health System. YNHH includes the 168-bed Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, the 201-bed Yale New Have ...
and Yale Medical School
The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813.
The primary te ...
. The expansion of this Medical campus area is a source of tension with the bordering residential areas. The residential areas of the Hill are mostly working-class and minority neighborhoods.
The Hill is also home to New Haven's main railroad station, Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
, and some light-industrial businesses such as the Lupi-Legna Bakery. Public schools and libraries include Hill Regional Career High School
Hill Regional Career High School is a magnet school, magnet high school located in the Hill (New Haven), the Hill area of New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Its original name was Lee High School, named after one of New Haven's most famous mayo ...
, Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, Roberto Clemente
Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early death, he was pos ...
Leadership Academy and the Wilson Library.
Demographics
The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 06519. As of 2010, the population of this ZIP code was 16,428 with an ethnic makeup of 50.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% non-Hispanic white, 36.9% non-Hispanic African American, 0.7% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.1% non-Hispanic from some other race and 3.6% from two or more races.[2010 census report for 06519 zip code]
References
{{Neighborhoods of New Haven
Neighborhoods in New Haven, Connecticut