History of New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut, after Bridgeport. It is in New Haven County, on New Haven Harbor, on the northern coast of Long Island Sound.
Founded in 1638, New Haven could be considered to be the oldest formally planned community in the United States due to the original Grid plan of four streets by four streets. This created what is now commonly known as the "Nine Squares, now the center of Downtown New Haven. The city instituted the first public tree planting program in America, eventually producing a canopy of mature trees (including some large elms) that gave New Haven the nickname "The Elm City."
The city is best known as the home of Yale University and the National Historic Landmark New Haven Green. Along with Yale, healthcare (hospitals, biotechnology), professional services (legal, architectural, marketing, engineering), financial services and retail trade form the base of the economy. Since the mid-1990s, the city's Downtown New Haven and many of its neighborhoods have seen extensive revitalization.
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