F 104 
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 Copy 1 
 
 NEW HAVEN, CONN. 
 FEDERAL BUILDING 
 
 CORNERSTONE LAID JUNE 4, 1914 
 
 ADDRESSES BY 
 
 HON. WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT 
 
 HON. SIMEON E. BALDWIN 
 
 HON. WILLIAM PEABODY MALBURN 
 
 HON. FRANK J. RICE 
 
 COL. ISAAC M. ULLMAN 
 
ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE LAY- 
 ING OF CORNER STONE OF THE 
 FEDERAL BUILDING, IN NEW 
 HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, 
 JUNE 4, 1914 
 
 Address by Col. Isaac M. Ullman, President of the New 
 Haven Chamber of Commerce, as Chairman 
 
 of the occasion 
 
 I'clloTC Citi:::ciis: 
 
 W'c Ivdw as>c'nil)le(l here to-day to witness the institution oi 
 a landmark in the liislor\' of New Haven. It is an event that 
 typifies, anion^' other thinj^s, the awakenin,^' a few years at^o of 
 a civic pride in the citizens of New Haven, whicli thev had not 
 hefore often manifested and which, ever \yhvj; dormant, needed 
 l)Ut the i)roper inspiration and impulse to hrinj^' it into full life. 
 \\ hen the suhject of the necessity of a new federal building 
 for New Haven once became apparent to (uu" citizens, there 
 immediately arose a l)ody of public-spirited men who determined 
 that what New Haven needed it should have. And imbued 
 with this si)irit and at their own time and at their own exi)ense, 
 there journe\ed to the Nation's I'apitol a large, influential and 
 enthusiastic body of our citizens, to place before the Committee 
 of Congress not only the urgent need of a i)roper building fur 
 our cit\', to meet the necessities of the e\er increasing business 
 passing through the postoflice, but also to urge upon such com- 
 mittee the right of a community of the size and importance of 
 New Haven, a cit\ which is the seat of a great university, and 
 to which come learned men from all over the world, to possess 
 a federal building which sh(»uld be re])resentati\e of tlie mighty 
 Nation which is erecting it. 
 
 And well did this committee do its work and much do we owe 
 them for their unselhsh elTorts. 
 
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— 3— 
 
 But however much each member of this committee performed 
 to the best of his power and opportunity the work in hand, it 
 would have been without avail had it not been fur the s])lcn(li(l 
 cooperation and help received from those whom this body of 
 Xew Haven citizens succeeded in interesting- in the cause. 
 
 And in my brief reference to the men that thus aided in the 
 sticcess of this enterprise, I must first place the name of our 
 dear, lamented fellow townsman and friend, the Hon. X. D. 
 Sperry. who was then in his last days as a Congressman. And 
 this fact. I am sure, induced many of the members of Congress 
 who mig^ht otherwise have opposed the project, to vote for it as 
 a memorial to one who. bv reason of his manv \ears of service 
 
 The Fir/t Land Deal 
 
 in the Congress of the United States, had made every one his 
 friend. 
 
 X'or should we forget the splendid help. recei\e(l at a most 
 critical time in the progress of this project, from the Hon. 
 Morgan G. Bulkeley. who with the aid of Senator Frank B. 
 Brandegee succeeded in carrying the l)ill over the dangerous 
 Senate shoals. For here our greatest danger law 
 
 And then, too, we should not forget in our thanks the Hon. 
 John Q. Tilson. the successor of Mr. Sperrv, who devoted so 
 mucli time and energy in the success of the work. 
 
 And then, too, also Congressman Thomas I.. i\eilly. the suc- 
 cessor of Congressman Tilson, who although coming into oltice 
 
after the project had been passed by Congress, should not be for- 
 gotten in the making up of our roll of honor, for the good work 
 that he has since done in aid of this project. 
 
 And while our thanks go out to the gentlemen that I have 
 named, for securing from the government the authority to erect 
 this building, we should not forget the splendid loyaltv of two of 
 our own citizens, viz : Governor Rollin S. Woodruff and the late 
 Warren A. Spalding, who made this excellent site available by 
 the pledging of their own money and credit, at much risk and 
 at a critical time in the history of this project, and in which 
 pledge other splendid citizens of New Haven later joined. This 
 act upon the part of these gentlemen was one that should serve 
 as an example of civic loyalty which should not soon be forgotten 
 by our people. 
 
 dentlemen, this is an historic occasion. It marks an epoch in 
 the history of our community. May the lesson in civic loyalty 
 which the citizens who took part in the creation of this work 
 have shown, ever serve to keep awake in the breast of all a love 
 for our community which shall always respond to the demand of 
 the public interests. And may this noble structure, when com- 
 pleted, continue to stand as an object lesson to generations yet 
 unborn of the dignity and power and greatness of our beloved 
 country. 
 
 It is now my great pleasure, gentlemen, to introduce to you 
 an honored citizen of New Haven ; the representative of all of 
 the people of the State; a man whose intellectual qualities are 
 not dimmed with age; a man whom all our citizens admire and 
 respect. Need I say to you that I refer to the Governor of the 
 State, the Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin. 
 
 Address of Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, Governor of 
 Connecticut 
 
 Governor Baldwin spoke in part as follows : 
 
 This piece of land on which we are now gathered is slipping 
 away from the State of Connecticut. It is to become the site 
 of important activities of the government of the United States, 
 and that calls for a cession of the State sovereignty over it, at 
 least in ])art. 
 
But the State has hecii 0^d to make the cession. Ahnost 
 nothing' means so nmoh to every hod v as a |)ro{)er mail service. 
 That is a task wliich the State would he utterly inc(inii)etent to 
 perform. It calls for a system nationwide, and part of one 
 larger still — that is, worldwide. 
 
 The post offices of the United States have heen one of the 
 great ag'encies in i)romoting' the Ijrotherhood of nations. In their 
 interest, many years ago, the L'nited States joined with the 
 leading" countries of the world in devising what was called a 
 universal postal union. Idiis was to he a world legislature to 
 regulate the carriag'e of mails from one country to another. 
 Whatever this union determines on, hefore it can take full and 
 l)ermanent ettect, has to he ratified hy all the jxiwers represented 
 in it ; and it always is. Every five years this postal union con- 
 gress meets at one or another of the capitals of the civilized 
 world. It has heen the heginning of I'ennyson's "I^irliament of 
 Man." 
 
 Here, too, is to he erected, in close connection with the post 
 office, a temple of justice. 
 
 A huilding for what contrihutes to such high purposes ennoljles 
 its site. In a great city like this, — and we have a right to call 
 Xew Haven great, ranking- as it now does the thirty-sixth in 
 the list of American cities, — a new post office and court house 
 oug-ht to he of commanding architectural design. This will he. 
 It oug-ht, in order to have that solidity and splendcM- that such 
 a Iniilding- should possess, to he of marble; and this, too, it will 
 he. It ought to face the (ireen, which for nearly three hundred 
 years has been the center of our civic life, and so it will. 
 
 Speaking for the State of Connecticut. I welcome the erection 
 of this new monument upon the line between the sovereignty of 
 the State and the sovereignty of the United States. The welfare 
 of the States and that of the Federal (nwernment are insei)arably 
 connected, and the peoi)le of Connecticut are proud that they 
 form also part of the greater whole — the ])eoi)le of the L'nited 
 States. 
 
 Remarks by the CJiairman: 
 
 The United .States Covernment is ably represented on this 
 occasion bv the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. We arc 
 honored in that the President of the United States and the Secre- 
 
tary of the Treasur}- were anxious to send to us a high officer 
 of the government. Secretary AlciVdoo has been steadfast and 
 helpful to New Haven in the matter of promoting the speedy 
 progress of the plans for this building. It gives me pleasure 
 to introduce the Hon. A\'illiam Peabody Malburn, Assistant 
 Secretarv of the Treasurv. 
 
 Address by Hon. William Peabody Malburn, Assistant 
 Secretary of the Treasury 
 
 Mr. Chainiiait and Fcllozi' Citl::ciis: 
 
 While I regret with you that circumstances have prevented the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. William Gibbs McAdoo. from 
 appearing in person, yet I feel very keenly the pleasure of visiting 
 your beautiful city, of meeting with you, and of expressing to 
 you the pleasure that the United States Government feels in 
 contributing the magnificent structure whose corner stone vou 
 are to-day laying towards the further beautification of your city. 
 
 The Federal Government has engaged in the real estate business 
 for over a century, and there are to-day scattered over this great 
 country hundreds of monuments in the form of public buildings, 
 which while actually standing in the name of the United States 
 and occupied by its officials, are in a broader sense the property 
 of the people, for whose benefit they exist. 
 
 Your own fair city has borne an important part in the historv of 
 federal public buildings. Up to the year 1813 the Government had 
 acquired but seven properties, and the importance of New Haven 
 in these early days is demonstrated by the fact that one of the 
 first of these seven buildings was located in your city in the year 
 1799. Thus, early in the history of the country was the import- 
 ance of this city impressed upon the Federal Government, and 
 due recognition aft'orded. 
 
 But New Haven did not rest content with its early achieve- 
 ments, and with the energy so characteristic of the people of 
 this country, and especially of your own beautiful State, the 
 city outgrew the original federal quarters and by its very growth 
 and importance demanded further recognition on the part of the 
 Federal (Government. So in 1855 the old building was sold and 
 an Act of Congress was secured providing for a custom house 
 
and post office. Upon the site thus authorized a building- was 
 erected at a cost of $158,600, and since February 14. i860, it has 
 been the home of rei^resentatives of the L'nited States Govern- 
 ment, who have been so fortunate as to dwell in your midst. 
 
 Rut you are a progressive city and you have swept forward 
 with such irresistible force in the commercial life of the country, 
 that the Federal Government has again seen the necessity of 
 responding to the call for larger and better quarters for its 
 various activities, and has gladly authorized the erection of a 
 building more in keeping with its own dignit}- and the enterprise 
 
 New Haven in 1786. 
 
 of the community. And, in iQio. authority was obtained for 
 the building whose corner stone we lay to-day, with a limit of 
 cost of Si. 200,000, which limit was raised in 191 3 by $400,000. 
 A com])arison of the cost of this building with that erected 
 over half a century ago aft'ords untleniable proof of the consistent 
 and remarkable growth of your city. And the Government is 
 proud, and I believe you will be proud, of the beautiful struc- 
 ture which within a short time will grace this comnnmity; a 
 Iniilding architecturally beautiful, for which the credit rightfully 
 bel<mgs to that master architect, Mr. James Gamble Kogers; 
 a building commodious enough to care for the needs of the 
 Government; a building which when completed should be second 
 to nrme. 
 
— 8— 
 
 The presence of a federal building- in any city of our land 
 is a visible evidence of the Federal Government. Engrossed 
 as one becomes in his more intimate local and State affairs, 
 there is a lack of close connection on the part of the public 
 generally with the National Government. No one, however, can 
 see in his city a handsome and substantial public building- 
 dedicated exclusively to the federal business without a quickening- 
 of his pride and patriotism and a realization of the power and 
 importance of the country to which he has sworn allegiance. 
 
 In this building- will be localized the great functions of the 
 Federal Government, and here, your city and State are brought 
 in touch with and made parts of the whole country, and, indeed, 
 the whole world. Here is the custom house with its exporta- 
 tions and importations ; the post office with its millions of 
 pieces of incoming and outgoing mail. Besides these, within 
 its walls will be found the United States courts, dispensing- 
 justice to all, and the various field services of the Treasurv 
 Department and the Departments of Agriculture and Justice. 
 
 This beautiful building when completed will symbolize the 
 material structure of the Republic, built upon a rock, designed 
 by highly trained minds, constructed by the united efforts of 
 all sorts and conditions of workmen out of materials brought 
 from all parts of the world. Some rare and of fine quality and 
 others coarser and cheaper, but all equally necessary to the 
 completed structure. 
 
 Well may you be proud of this beautiful l)uilding, which 
 typifies, as I have stated, the material structure of the Republic ; 
 and you may well be proud of the material success which the 
 United States has achieved, but let us not forget that it is not 
 the only success to the achievement of which we should aspire. 
 A people whose progress is limited to the attainment of material 
 success only will not hold a high rank among the nations. 
 
 The charge has been made that the American's chief aim is 
 materialistic, and that the pursuit of the almighty dollar is his 
 controlling- j^assion. IJut this charge is not substantiated, and 
 is based on a superficial knowledge of our country and our 
 people. Everywhere in the United States are evidences of the 
 fact that we arc not purely a materialistic people. \\'e have 
 our idealistic side. Here in your city is one of the strongest 
 of these evidences. The noble university which is the pride of 
 
— 9— 
 
 New Haven is a nioiuiment to ideals and a witness that wc as 
 a nation are not entirely given over to materialism. This uni- 
 versitv may well typify the idealistic side of our national 
 character, as contrasted with the materialistic of which this 
 huilding will l)e a symhol. And it cannot be said that the ideals 
 of the Republic are being sacritied ti> materialism when this 
 great university invites to its bosom even one who has occu])ied 
 the highest position which the Republic has to bestow and one 
 who is amply fitted and destined to fill an important jilace in 
 the great work which has always kept Yale Universit}- in the 
 front rank of the world's institutions of learning. 
 
 SiH'-'^.'l.'i 
 
 
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 Bile inifirs 
 
 iiJiitP 
 
 The Homespun Class of '6$ 
 
 Let us congratulate ourselves then that high ideals continue 
 to be honored among us. Who can doubt that back of the 
 efficient, patriotic and common sense administration of our 
 present Chief Executive there lies the highest ideals? ( )ne has 
 l)Ut to follow the course of his thoughts and the trend of his 
 actions, whether or not he agrees with his political beliefs, to 
 be convinced of the lofty idealism of President W'oodrow 
 Wilson. 
 
 Remarks by the i'hainiuiii : 
 
 ll is fitting that we hear a few words from our honored mayor 
 in behalf of the nnmicipalily. ^"ou all know .Maxor b^-ank J. 
 Ivice. 
 
FIRST TOWN I'LAN OF NEW IIAVKN 
 
-12- 
 
 Remarks by Hon. Frank J. Rice, Mayor of New Haven 
 
 Mr. President of the Chamber of Commerce, and Gentlemen: 
 
 It is a great honor and privilege for me to represent the city 
 at the laying of the corner stone of this new federal huilding, 
 and I heartily congratulate the officers of the Chamber of Com- 
 merce on the progress that has been made toward the comple- 
 tion of the building. They performed a valuable service to the 
 city in taking the initiative in securing a site and in directing 
 the movement to open negotiations with the Federal Government 
 for the building. The delegation which went to Washington 
 to urge activity on the part of Congress rendered timely assist- 
 ance towards securing and pushing to completion the plans for 
 the building, and if it had not been for the activity and interest 
 of the President of the United States, who is with us to-day 
 as speaker at the laying of this corner stone, I do not believe 
 that we should be here this afternoon. 
 
 The completion of the new federal building will fill a long-felt 
 want in this city, and I trust that the same energy and activity 
 that has marked the progress on the building to date will 
 continue until the last stone is laid and the handsome structure 
 is open to the public. 
 
 Remarks by the Chairman: 
 
 Whatever the Congressmen and the Senators from Connecticut 
 might have been willing to do and did do, to secure the passage 
 of the bill authorizing the erection of this building; whatever 
 enthusiasm our own citizens may have had ; whatever efl:'orts 
 they may have put forth ; all would have failed in the last 
 analysis had it not been for the fact that there was in the office 
 of the Presidency of the United States at the time a gentleman 
 who loved the New Haven of his college days not less than 
 he expected to love the New Haven of his later professorship. 
 And it was the personal and official infiuence of this great citizen 
 of our countr\' that carried the project into the realm of 
 successful accomplishment. 
 
 And so, gentlemen, it is but fitting tliat to llfis honored and 
 respected citizen of our count r\' and beloved resident of New 
 Haven, the Hon. William 11. Taft. should go the honor of laving 
 the corner stone of this structure, which he so earnestly helped 
 to brinij into beinp'. 
 
And now. Air. Taft, I hand to you this trowel with which 
 to perform the work and 1 am sure that when the corner stone 
 is set, it will set as squarely and truly as those ethical and 
 moral truths which you, in your own character, so fully 
 exemplify. 
 
 Address by Hon. William Howard Taft, President of the 
 
 United States, 1909-1913 
 
 The mere dedication of a ])ost otiice huildin^- in an ordinarx" 
 city, on an ordinary site, would properly arouse the interest of 
 those who were to use the post office and who would wish 
 to have it in a convenient place and sufficiently equipped to 
 enable the post office department to discharge its function well, 
 but I doubt if in such a case it would have been thought imix^rt- 
 ant enough to suggest any ceremony or i)ul)lic meeting. This 
 occasion is of different and higher import. 
 
 The Ton.±ine. Coffee Hou/c 
 
 The site itself has a historical significance in that the first 
 Xew Haven post office was established in the year iiS^i in the 
 basement of the Tontine Hotel built in 182S. IJut far more than 
 this, our meeting to-day welcomes the construction of this 
 l)eautiful edifice here facing the citv ( ireen as a step in fulfilling 
 a city plan for New blaven, the first city ])lan e\er conceixed 
 
—14— 
 
 in this country. There is certainly no city in the United States, 
 and I think I might say, in the world, that has a centrally 
 located, formal public square or civic center as large, as the 
 city of New Haven. Of course there are parks in cities of 
 larger area than this square, but what I mean to say is that there 
 is in this country no city with a public square centrally located 
 and originally designed as part of an organic city plan like this 
 open space that we have before us. In the early records it is 
 spoken of as the "market place" and the "public square,'' and 
 it is rich with historical reminiscence. Without having title to 
 
 y« Fira MeetynS'e Houfe 
 
 a foot of the land, three churches stand on its surface; Center 
 Church, the United Church and Trinity Church, all built during 
 the War of 1812, and forming a group of buildings unsurpassed 
 of their kind in the country. Center Church is the fourth house 
 of worship on substantially the same site of the First Ecclesias- 
 tical Society in New Haven, organized in 1639, ^ year after 
 the square was surveyed and laid out. The United Church 
 replaced an earlier church Iniilt in 1770 on the same site. Trinity 
 Church replaced an earlier house of worship which stood on 
 Church Street near Chapel. These three beautiful buildings 
 standing before us to-day, have come dcnvn to us as a living 
 evidence of the i)ul)lic service to which the churches were devoted 
 
and which they continue to-day, and as an incHcation of the 
 fundamental rehition of ninrahty and rehgion to useful 
 government. 
 
 The city of Xew Haven, including the Green, was laid out 
 in Jnly, 1638. by John Brockett, surveyor, the friend and associate 
 of the Rev. John Davenport, the first New Haven minister, and 
 of Governor Theophilus Eaton, the successful shipping merchant 
 and wealthy friend of Davenport, whose dream and purpose 
 was to found here on the New Haven plain by our capacious 
 harbor, a great commercial city. Governor Eaton, therefore, 
 insisted, as is supposed, on a public square much larger than 
 would have been necessary for the commercial necessities of a 
 city of the present size of New Haven. It is due to Eaton's 
 realized anticipation of New Haven's commercial importance 
 near the harbor that we have this great boon and unusual 
 municipal asset in our great square. 
 
 The Green has so well ftilfilled its original ptu'pose of provid- 
 ing a center for the life of the city, that the history of New 
 Haven is the history of the Green. For nearly three hundred 
 years the current of New Haven life has swept over the square. 
 It has been a political and civic forum, a religious and ecclesias- 
 tical arena, a field of military parades and councils, a seat of 
 judicial tribunals, an educational campus, a market place, a 
 burial place and a playground. \\'e are to-day but rededicating 
 it to its original purposes as a civic center. ]\Ir. Blake says that 
 since the (ireen was first set apart in 1638 as a market place, 
 it has been under the jurisdiction of nine distinct governments, 
 including the Royal government of Great Britain, the English 
 Commonwealth, the United States government imder the Con- 
 federation and the present national government under the 
 Eederal Constitution. It seems strange to us, but here on the 
 Green the accessions of Charles the Second, William and Mary, 
 George the First, George the Second and George the Third, 
 were formally proclaimed to the beating of drums, with royal 
 salutes and cries of "God Save the King." Here we must not 
 forget the Regicides, Gofi:'e, W'halley and Dixwell, who tnul the 
 Green and whose names are ])reserved in three of ouv city 
 streets. The bones of Dixwell lie back of Center Church, and nut 
 far awav lie the bones of Governor Theophilus Eaton. Some- 
 where under the Green, iiresumably near the liberty pole, lies 
 
— 16— 
 
 the dust of Capt. Isaac AUerton, a Pilgrim on the Mayflower, 
 and the "Father of American Commerce." 
 
 W^ashington looked upon the Green when on his way to assume 
 command of the federal troops in 1775 at Cambridge; he 
 stopped over Sunday at Beer's Tavern on the site of the present 
 hotel at the corner of College and Chapel Streets. Lafayette 
 in 1824 reviewed the Foot Guards, the Horse Guards and the 
 Grays on the Green. 
 
 Admiral Foote lived in a house on Chapel Street facing the 
 Green. Roger Sherman, the great patriot, jurist and construc- 
 tive statesman, the first Mayor of New Haven, and the first 
 President of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, lived near 
 the corner of College and Chapel Streets. Here in ofiices 
 facing the Green, members of the historic Ingersoll familv con- 
 tinuously practiced law for over 160 years. James Hillhouse, 
 the Revolutionary patriot and treasurer of Yale College for 
 fifty years, was the prime mover in planting on the Green and 
 elsewhere in our streets, the elm trees which have made New 
 Haven renowned as "The City of Elms." Yale College received 
 its charter in 1701 from a meeting of the General Assembly in 
 a building on the Green; in the old State House on the Green 
 the City Government was organized in 1784. In the same build- 
 ing, the New Haven Chamber of Commerce was organized in 
 1794. 'Tn 1701," said Mr. Blake in his "Chronicles of New 
 Haven Green," "New Haven became a co-capital with Hartford 
 and the General Assembly commenced holding" its October ses- 
 sions here. In 1719 the first State House in New Haven was 
 built on the northwest corner of the Green adjoining the County 
 House." In 1763 a new State House was erected on a site 
 between the sites now occupied by Center and Trinity Churches 
 about opposite where the Phelps Gateway now stands. Most 
 of us remember this building in the classical stvle erected from 
 designs by Ithiel Town. Its south portico provided an admirable 
 site for public receptions. President Jackson was given a rous- 
 ing reception there in 1833, President Polk in 1847 and President 
 Buchanan in 1858. In 1852 on this same portico Kossuth, the 
 Hungarian patriot, was received by one of the greatest and most 
 enthusiastic multitudes that ever assembled on the Green for 
 a like occasion. This l)ui]ding was demolished in 1889. It was 
 standing when I was in colleo'e and makes the background for 
 
the first class picture of my class, llie tirst structure on the 
 (ireen was the stocks and whipijin,^" post. That instrument 
 of correction was followed, as the records show, hy at least 
 eight churches, three state houses, several school houses, jails 
 antl some other buildint^s of less importance. 
 
 And now facing" the Green g'iving' forth all these g'reat historic 
 memories, we have a beautiful Court House, a beautiful Public 
 Li])rar\- building, the vine-clad College Street facade of Yale 
 
 The La^t 5tat« Hou/e 
 
 University ; and we are dedicating to-day a building" which will 
 evidence the majesty and usefulness of the United vStates 
 Government and will add sig'nificance and importance to this 
 wonderful municipal center. 
 
 Opposite the new post office and with it facing" the Green, 
 stands the City Hall built in 1862, the ofticial residence of the 
 municipality of New Haven. If we are wise we shall ac(|uire 
 for our city the additional land needed and reconstruct that home 
 of the city fathers, so as to make it worthy of its association 
 with the dignified and l)eautiful seats of federal and county 
 authoritv. Congress has recognized the unique character of this 
 site, and has given large additional a])])ropriations because of 
 its surrounding"s and the memories that crowd u\Hm one as he 
 looks out upon the Green. 
 
— 18— 
 
 In the early days the Green was used for mihtary as well as 
 civil purposes, and down to 1858 was used as a playground 
 for the town boys and the college students. For many years 
 the marks w^ere preserved upon the Green of a famous broad 
 jump made during- his college days by Captain Nathan Hale. 
 
 This allusion to the supreme youthful hero and martyr of 
 the Revolutionary War betrays the reliable source of my review 
 of the history of the Green as Mr. George Dudley Seymour, who 
 has done much to instill in this generation the gratitude we should 
 feel to the patriot spy, and whose effective work in the proper 
 development and preservation of New Haven's civic beauty and 
 prosperity, everyone know^s. 
 
 Accompanying this sincere and just appreciation of our most 
 valuable city treasure, I think it not inappropriate to utter a 
 note of warning against all the plans wdiich are prompted by 
 thoughtless persons unappreciative of the historic significance 
 of the Green and its value as a civic center, who would in any 
 way curtail its superficial area or appropriate its beautiful 
 expanse to inappropriate purpose. The suggestion of waiting 
 stations to be put upon the Green is out of all keeping with 
 its sacred character, its beauty, its convenience for public 
 gatherings, and its value as an open breathing space in the 
 heart of the city. The comfort of the people in this regard 
 can be promoted in some other way. The idea of curtailing the 
 Green to widen Church Street would destroy the original New 
 Haven plan and w^ould seriously impair the commanding position 
 of your County Court House. We ought to congratulate our- 
 selves that the suggestions made only so lately as 1907 that 
 the Public Library be put on the Green back of Center Church 
 was not carried out. The proposition to widen Chapel Street 
 by cutting the Green back to Trinity Church would destroy the 
 symmetry of the Green itself in more ways than one. 
 
 You will do well also to arrest all propositions looking toward 
 any special uses of your Public Square w'hich will either dis- 
 figure it or prevent its use and enjoyment bv all classes of 
 your citizens. You should therefore oppose any plan to widen 
 Temple Street as it passes through the Green for the purpose 
 of providing a ])arking space for automobiles. Owners of 
 automobiles should have no privileges on the Green not extended 
 to all classes of citizens. To grant to owners of automobiles 
 
—19— 
 
 special privileges would form a precedent for ^rantiii^" exj^ress 
 wagons, hucksters and others, s])ecial ])laces for their \- chicles 
 on the (Ireen. 
 
 Recent hji^lisji and American le,!^islalii )n is a,L;ainst the erec- 
 tion of unduly tall huildin^s on sites f.acin.i;' puhlic s(|uares and 
 l)arks, on the i^round that excessi\'el_\' hi.^ii huildint^s exclude 
 li^ht and aii' frinn such ])laces and so pre\ent the full use and 
 enjo\inent nf them h\- the puhlic at large. You were wise in 
 
 YE NEW i;kiik meetini: HCiuSE, 1757-1S12 
 
 going" to the legislature last year and securing the passag'e 
 of an act for the creation of the Munici])al :\rt Commission, 
 which has heen gi\'en the ])ower of limiting the heights of all 
 future buildings on sites facing the t ireen. 
 
 The ever present dang'er to the preservation of the integrity 
 of the (Ireen is that in tjur dail\- associatic^n with it, we fail to 
 realize how great an advantage it is to the city and fail to see 
 that other less favored cities over our broad land are spending 
 millions of dollars to carve out municipal centers which do not 
 comijare with New Haven Green in size, location and, of course, 
 not in its rich and great traditions. Our visitors api)reciate the 
 Green more than we do. It would be a reproach to us not to 
 guard our legacy well, just consider that to-day we have in 
 
20 
 
 New Haven Green a public square sixteen acres in extent that 
 has been handed down to us in exactly its present form two 
 hundred and seventy-six years. Consider again that this Green 
 is the central feature of the oldest existing city plan in the 
 United States. 
 
 Let us, therefore, highly resolve here at dedication of this 
 addition to New Haven's beauty as a city, that the Green shall 
 always remain sacred, protected from offense and immune from 
 invasion by the utilitarian reformer with no imagination and 
 no appreciation of the exalting character of historical association. 
 
 In an oration delivered thirty-tive years ago by Dr. Bacon, 
 he said : 
 
 "The entire plan, from river to river, and from the harbor 
 to the guardian mountains, may be crowded with the city's 
 growth and wealth ; the number of inhabitants may be doubled 
 and redoubled in successive generations ; surrounding towns 
 and villages mav be enriched and beautified bv the over-flowing 
 prosperity of the city ; but, till New Haven shall have lost its 
 identitv, this Public Square will be its heart, the center of its 
 life. Call it a park, and it is too diminutive to be respectable; 
 but as a Forum, an Athenian Agora, a central place of concourse, 
 its capabilities are magnificent." 
 
 Line aits by Courtesy of Mr. George J. Bassett. 
 Maps /'y Courtesy of Mr. George D. Seymour. 
 
JUN 30 1914 
 
 LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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