ROOTED HERE
The history of New Haven
New Haven’s Green and Yale campus give the city a central gathering place. Wooster Square and East Rock add neighborhood streets, independent businesses and different starting points for food and culture.
People who shaped New Haven
These milestones are an introduction, not a complete local history. Follow the linked city and museum sources to explore the people and places behind them.Read the Connecticut historical timeline.
Watch the city’s history
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Nine Squares in a “Wilderness”: The Mysteries of Early New Haven
A New Haven Preservation Trust talk examines the founding town's unusual nine-square plan.
Watch on YouTube ↗- 1638
A colonial settlement
English colonists established New Haven in April 1638. John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton led the new colony, whose history developed alongside the Indigenous communities already living in the region.
Connecticut General Assembly historical timeline ↗ - 1640
The New Haven name
The settlement received the New Haven name in August 1640. Connecticut's official town register connects the name with Newhaven on England's Sussex coast.
Connecticut State Library and official town register ↗ - 1784
A city charter
New Haven incorporated as a city in 1784, among Connecticut's earliest chartered cities. The city government initially existed within the older town rather than immediately replacing it.
Connecticut State Library and official town register ↗ - 1895
City and town consolidate
New Haven's city and town governments consolidated in November 1895. The change brought the two municipal structures together after more than a century of separate existence.
Connecticut State Library and official town register ↗
See the history for yourself.
Explore New Haven Green and the surrounding downtown streets. For art collections and exhibitions, check current visiting information at Yale University Art Gallery.
For deeper research, the New Haven Free Public Library provides local-history and research resources. Historic photographs have their own permissions; check collection-specific reuse guidance.
Selected milestones from the linked historical sources. This is an introduction, not a complete account of the city’s history.