THE

HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE

CITY OF NEW HAVEN,

THE ORATION

BY

THOMAS RUTHERFORD BACON,
JULY 4, 1884.  

ALSO A. I’A1’lER. ON

NEW HAVEN IN 1784:,

m}

FRANKLIN BOWDITCH DEXTER.

Publisheclunder the direction or %
NORRIS G. OSBORINT AND BURTON % MANSFIEIJD:
01' the+Gener_a1 Committee on the Centennial Oglebratgcm, %

A 11885.

PREFACE.

N0 apology is needed for the appearance of this book. Although
the events of Centennial Day are fresh in the minds of our citizens, the

oration of Rev. Thomas R. Bacon and the paper by Prof. Franklin B.

, Dexter, contained herein, cannot fail to interest many, unable to hear

them at the time they were delivered ; while it is hoped that the book,

as a whole, will serve a good purpose in years to come.

The expense of publication is defrayed by the committee from the

funds left, after all bills connected with the celebration were paid.

THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE

CITY OF NEVV HAVEN.

»: , BY

BURTON MANSFIELD.

FIVE of the cities of Connecticut were incorporated in
1784. New Haven and New London at an adjourned session
of the Greneral Court or, as it is called now, the General
Assembly, held at New Haven in January; I*Ia1-tford, Middle-
town and Norwich in May, at a sessionheld at Hartford. As
a matter of fact, New Ha‘ven’s charter was granted on January
21, but legally, on January 8, the first day of the session, ac-
cording to the rule that all acts took effect from that time
unless otherwise ordered. The corporate name of the city,
whose birth has so recently been celebrated, was originally
“the Mayor, Aldermen, C‘omrnon Council and Freemen of the
City of New Haven,” but in 1869 this name was changed to
the City of New Haven.  

The charter contained the following provision: “that the
first meeting of said city should be holden at the Statehouse

" in said New Haven, on the tenth day of Febru,aryi next, [1784]

at nine of the clock, in the forenoon, forthe choice of the
mayor, raldermen, common council and sherifis of said city

and to transact such other business as may be necessary,
which meeting maybe from time to time adjourned.” The ,
it first city, election occupied three days in its accomplishment

6 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

and it was not until February 12, that the local government
was established.

The city of New Haven thus reached the hundredth year
of its chartered existence in January, and of its gove1~n1nental
organization in February, 1884. And 110tWll3l1StEL1]Cll1j1g these
one hundred years of the city’s life find her still in compara-
tive youtlifulness, they have, nevertheless, been a period of
steady and, in many respects, re1na1'l~:able growtli. A growtl'.1
in area, population, indu.stry, lea1'ni1:1g, and in all the various
fields, which have combined to glorify her and inalaze her
renowned among the cities of the world. If it were my
province to describe this growth and the elements which have
made it, I would like to show “ how the little one has become
a thousand and the small one a st1'oI1g l11é':Ll3l(')1“1,',” to trace
how the “old and new townships” of former generations
have been merged and extended ; how a portion. of the city’s
seven hundred and fifty l)11,llCllI1g‘S, “destined,” as President
Dwight, of Yale College, wrote early in the century, “ to be
the material of a future confia.gration,” did succi1n1b to that
element in the famous fires of 1820 and 1887,""‘ and how of
the remainder, in the slower and more certain process of
destruction, which all advance produces, there is scarcely “ one
stone left upon another, that has not been thrown ‘down ;’~’
how the four alderrnen and twenty conncilrnen of the original
act have become twenty-four and thirty-six respectively, work-
ing with the same zeal and the same fidelity which distin-
guished the earliest of the city’s councilors, if not with equal
talent and skillfulness ; and how new offices, with their accom-
panying; powers and duties, have been created, and new func-
tions assumed, from time to time, as necessity demanded.

But it is with the history of a day, rather than of one

"“ These fires are commonly known as the great fires of 1820 and 1837,
but appear on the records of the New Haven Fire Department as of
1819 and 1836, respectively. ‘

CENTENNIAL on NEW HAVEN. 7

hundred years, that I have to do in the few pages 1 shall
consurne. " .

When Mayor Lewis, in his message to the Court of Com-
mon Council of 1884, first brought the matter into official
notice by recommending the appointment of a committee to
fix upon “ a time, mode and manner of properly celebrating
the creation and organization of the city,” it was too late to
commemorate the events referred to upon the exact anniver-
sary of their occurrence, even if the season of the year
had permitted it.

The New Haven Colony Historical Society also drew the
attention of the public in this direction, by an able and

interesting paper, entitled “New Haven in 1784:,” prepared

and read by Professor Franklin E. Dexter, before the Society,
January 21, 1884:.

The recommendation of the mayor was acted upon early
and earnestly. A general committee, consisting of representa-
tives from the city government, the citizens and many of the
local organizations, met for the first time on Thursday, May 8,

a 1884, and as its initial step selected July 4, next coming, as

the day on which the celebration should take place. It thus
appears that from the beginning, the nativity of the city and
of the nation were to be commemorated together, although
naturally the city’s share in the festival was to predominate.
Suitable sub-committees to take in charge the details of the
work were appointed forthwith. The undertaking advanced
rapidly and its success was soon assured, in spite of occasional
mutterings and thunderings, which temporarily blocked its
way and threatened its existence. In response to a timely
invitation, the general committee was augmented by the addi-
tion of many well known and influential citizens, and by
representatives from a large number of the civic and military
societies, not already represented; Moral and financial sup»

8 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

port was given by the public at large, all peoples and tongues
joining in the preliminary labors as well as in the final cere-
monies, While the press, at all times, gave Welcome and val-
uable assistance. The a,fi:'air was intended to be substantially
local in its character and constitution, the participants, with
few exceptions, being people born or bred in the city and
grovving With her growth.

The city aided the enterprise in a pecuniary Way, and a
competent finance committee worked steadily to raise the five
thousand dollars, fixed by the gene ‘a1 committee as the 1nini~
xnurn amount with which the Work could be thoroughly
perforrned. And it is a fact Worthy of recognition here, that
at no time during their labors, were the rneniibeivs of the
comrnittee prepared for the general Wave of enth.usi.as1n which
eventually rose in the people’s hearts.

Friday, July 4, 1884, was a day of rejoici.ng. Everything
bore a holiday appearance and almost everybody were some
symbol of the day. Thousands of flags, yards after yards of
hunting and other decorations adorned the private residences
and business places througliout the city, while the public
anclprivate buildings along the line of march were dressed
profusely.

On the evening of the third, there was a concert, with
fireworks and illuminations, upon the green, makirig an intro-
duction to the program of the following day. This pirograrn,

previously arranged with great care, was faithfully carried

out as far as it was in the power of the connnittee so to do.
Witli the rising of the sun on the Fourth, one hundred guns
resounded from the base of East Rock, a signal that the

celebration had begun. Church bells rung merrily and the

sniiall boy fired his crackers and his cannon with joy uncea.s—
ing; already in the early morning the upper portion of the
green resembled an old--tinie market place, booths reach-

CENTENNIAL OF NEW" HAVEN. ' 9

ing f1'on1 Temple street to Temple street again, along Chapel,
College and Elm streets, respectively.

The first really distinctive feature of the day was the recep-
tion of His Excellency, Governor Walle1', and staff, by the
second companies of the Governor’s Foot and Horse Guards
and the Veteran Grays, at the New Haven House; from this
place they were escorted to the City Hall, and there joined by
the chief ofiicials of several of the cities of the State and
other invited guests. The party, thus made up, proceeded to
Wooster‘ Square, where the procession formed. The cars and
boats had ere this brought to the city a large number of vis-
itors, crowding the streets to overflowing. The bands, mili-
tary and firemen frorn other towns and cities, transported at
half rates, were inarching through the streets awalcening every
thing and every body to a full realization of the day.

Witli a promptness contunendable to his military skill, the
chief~rnarshal moved the long procession within five minutes
of the appointed time, eleven o’clocl:. The route of march
was as follows : up Chapel street to York, York to Broadway,
through Broadway around the upper park to ‘York, York to
Chapel, Chapel. to Church, Church to George, George to State,
State to Eld, Eld to Orange, Orange to Chapel, Chapel to
Church, Church to Ehn, Elm to and through the north on»
trance of the Public Square, where the line was dismissed.

The procession was of so great a length that the right of
the line, after passing around the park at Broadway, down
York street to Chapel and thence through Church, George and
State streets, halted in order to allow the rear end of the line,

just starting on its way, to pass up Chapel street ; the counter- T
\ march which was introduced to enable the several parts to see
each other, though long, did not suflice. , Everywhere throngs

greeted the parade, sidewalks and gutters in the central streets
presenting a sea of human faces. Two l1Q111"S and at half were

2

10 CENTENNILAI. on NEW I-IAVEN.

consumed in themarch, incliiding the rests, and the third hour
passed before tl1e review by the Governor and his staff, the
invited guests and the Court of C0n11n0n Council, in front of
the City Hall, was over a.nd the line dismissed.

'Among the objects in the procession of a special interest
may be mentioned the miniature ship, Constitution, borne on
the shoulders of “ six stalwart seamen” and occupying a prom--
i11ent place near the head of the line. This li.ttle ship was

picked up in the English Channel by the Lark, a New Haven 1

rnerchaiitinan, on a voyage from Marseilles, France, to New
Haven, in 17 68; it appeared at the head of the procession,
July 4:, 1788, the year in wl1icl1 Connecticut adopted the Fed-
eral Constituti0n,——-—and in which, also, the same was ratified by
nine of the States———Roger Slierinaii, the iirst mayor of the city,
being one of the signers for Connecticut; it also appeared in
the cornmeinoration of 1816, in honor of the treaty of Grhent,
as well as that of 1838, upon the two hundredth anniversary
of the town of New Haven.

A large barge, the Coliimbia, containiiig one young lady
representing the Goddess of Liberty, and thirty-eight young
ladies representing the States of the Union.

The Harugari Lieclertafel. Society, of New Haven, in deco-
rated barges, with the ineinbers in costurne and ladies repre
senting Columbia and Grerniania.

The Volunteer Firemen, presenting a highly creditable
appearance and showingthe progress in the Fire Department,
as well as the advance i11 fire apparatus, from 1784 to 1860,
when the present cornpetent department was organized. '

A wagon prettily trinnned, containing the shell in which
the Yale crew had carried the blue to the front, at New
London, onlya few days before.

The employees of the New Haven Postal Department, with
the letter carriers on foot, followed by the rnounted carriers

CENTENNIAL on NEW HAVEN. . 11

and mail Wagons; all standing in sharp" contrast to the simple
system of a century ago, indeed, even of a quarter of a
century ago, when an ordinary Wheel-loarrovv served Well its
purpose of carrying the mails from the depot to the post-
office; the old wheel-barrow and the veteran oflicial, who for
so many years had Wheeled it, appeared in this section of the
line.

Captain Traynor, Who, it is alleged, subsequently started
for Europe, With his dog and dory, attracted their share of
attention. V

In the Division of Trade and Industry many of the mer-
chants and manufacturers made elaborate displays, setting
forth the great progress which a century had iproducedin their
respective branches, and exhibiting a variety of home products
which the citizens had seldom seen, though in almost daily
contact with them. *

The Second Regiment of the Connecticut National Guard,
the New Haven Fire Department and the various civic
societies made, as always, an interesting appearance, while
numerous companies of antiques and horribles provoked much
applause and contributed greatly to the merriment of all
observers. V

The procession being dismissed, the local military and fire-
men entertained their guests at places bountifully supplied
with good things, While the gentlemen of the press invited
their fellow-laborers from abroad, to a table prepared for them
in the City Hall. The vast crowd also changed its ‘fbill of

fare” and sought, for a time, refuge in some of the New Haven  

dining-rooms or in the more comfortable surroundings of home.
, Four o’cl_ock arrived and the old green was now the scene
of action. Although the streets were yet Well filled and seemed

_ to feel but lfeebly the influence of the afternoon attractions,

the crowd here was dense and enthusiastic. Day-fireworks to

12 . onNrsNNI.AL or NEW HAVEN.

a majority were a novelty. These fireworks consisted of thirty
shells, shot from a mortar higli into the air, “Where b111‘sting,
they disclosed an i.11te1*estii1g variety of shapes and figures, at
once seized by the wind and soon carried out of sight.
Immecliately followirng, canine the musical. and literary exer~
cises at Center Church. This edifice, the meeting-house of
the First Church in New Haven, stands nearly on the site of
tlie building for public Worship, erected by the early settlers of
the town, in 1668, as ‘Well as upon that of the more recent
Brick Meeting-house,” connnenced about 1753. It vvas, there-
fore, Very properly chosen for these exercises, the order of
which Was:

1. ORGAN VOLUNTARY, - - Mr. Ifaxrry P. Earle.
2. PRAYER, - - - - Rev. Edwin. .H(.t'r"w00cl, .D.D.
3. TRIUMPHAL MA1=coI.-I.

4. READING or "run DECLARATION or INDEPENDENCE,

Rev. W. E’. T/Wbbert, DJ).

5. I-IYMN-——-“ God ever Glorious.”

6.; HISTORICAL ORATION, - - —- Rev. Thomas R. Bacon.
'7. HYMN--—“My Country, ’tis of Thee.”

8. Br.N:e1:>1otrIoN, - - — - Rev. Newman, Smyth.

The singing was by the pupils of the I*Ii.lll1ouse H.igl;1
School, under the direction of Prof. Benjamin Jepson. Each
pupil wore a badge of blue ribbon suitably inscribed with the
letters H. H. S., the occasion which drew them together and
the date thereof. It is pleasant as well as appropriate to note
that the gentleman who read the Declaration of Independence,
perform ed a like service, in this city, fifty years ago.

At sunset, according to a well-established usage, church

bells were rung and a salute of thirty-eight guns fired.

One thing now remained to complete the festivities.
Throughout the day, at the end of the green near Elm street,
men were busy erecting the fra1ne-Work for the evening; fire-
works, an entertainment not to be enjoyed, however, as

CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN. 13

a1'rar1ged; for, during the aztternoon, the blue of the western
sky had gradually yielded to dark, threatening clouds, with an
annual 1'eg11la1*ity whereof the linernory of man scarcely runs to
the contrary, and before the exercises at the church were over,
there was realized, what had already been feared, pa rain-storm.
Fireworks were out of the question, centennial giirlpowder
being n.ot more impervious than any other. The mass of the
people turned away disappointed, while a few yet li11g'e1'ecl,
waiting for soinetl"1i1i.g, yet really expecti.11g; nothing. Surely
the electric lights mi,_o.;l1t and did burn in defiance of the rain,
but the two thousand illurninating~ lanterns, hordering the green,
only aflorded the boys an opportiinity to let off some surplus
hilarity. At eiglit o’clocl§:, the tinue fixed for the fireworks,
the gr.'ee11 was deserted and the quietiiess of a lay-go1'1e century
filled the place,--~—the quietness of 178%, when her citizens did
not even dream of the far-—oi‘f centenary of the city, then just
w 'apped in its swadcllin,<_r clothes. | i

It was not until "Wednesday eve11.i.11.g, July 9, that the dis-
play of fi1'eworl:s occurred. Rain at intervals during Saturday,
Monday and Tuesday, caused a postponement on each day, but
Wediiesday was fair, and the evening, tliough a little too
b1*ig*ll;1t for a py1'otecl.inical display, was a fine one. 'l‘l1ousa:nds
flocked to the green and awaited the signal l:)oom which was
to announce that all was ready. They had not loiig to wait.
Hardly had the City I~Ial.l. bell ceased striking eight, when with.
a hang and a burst the exhibition opened, and a most enjoy-
able one it was.

As fireworks frequently. fall short of common anticipation,
it was highly gratifying that on this occasion they proved suc—
cessful. Without detailing, however, the numerous pieces
given, it is fitting to speak of the final act, which was also the
closing scene of pulolic interest directly connected with the
celel:>ration. S11pp01"l3eCl on eigliit columns and tastily grouped,

14 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

together were the letters of the city’s name and the dates of
the century’s beginning and its ending; all burning in the
most brilliant colors, Withrays of light filling the intervening
spaces. The letters and figures, as they vanished in the smoke,

l momentarily brought to mind the closing century, with all its

changes for weal or Woe and all its chances, lost or Won; While
as the last spark died away, a new century began. ‘ Let us hope
that, in the providence of God, this new century will be blessed
with a greater measure of prosperity than its predecessor, and
that profiting by the experience of years, its brightest hopes
and promises will be fully realized.

ORDER or THE PROCESSION.

Police.
Weed’s Band.
Brig»-Gen. Stephen R. Smith, Grand Marshal.
Brigade Staff C. N. G.
Aids.
Veterans of Second Co. Governor’s Horse Guards of New Haven,
Capt. John G. North commanding.
Members of the General Centennial Committee mounted.
Ship, Constitution.

FIRST DIVISION.

General George M. Harmon, Marshal.
Assistant Marshals.

Second Regiment C. N. ‘G. (10 companies) in following order:
Second Regiment American Band, ‘of New Haven.
Second Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps.

Signal Corps. .
Col. Charles 1?. Graham commanding Regiment and Staff.
Co. I, Eaton Guard, Meriden, Capt. H. B. Wood.
Co. C, Sarsfield Guard, New Haven, Capt. Joseph H. Keefe.
Co. D, National Blues, New Haven, Capt. L. I. Thomas.
Co. H, Mansfield Guard, Middletown, Capt. E. O. Shaler.
Co. F, Grays (colors), New Haven, Capt. Geo. S. Arnold.
Co. A, Chatfield Guard, VVaterbury, Capt. J. B. Doherty.
Co. G, SedgvvickGnard, Waterbury, Capt. P. F. Bannon
Co. B, City Guard, New Haven, Capt. William Kaerhle.
Co. K, Light Guard, Wal1ingiford,. Capt. B. A. Treat.
Co. E, Light Guard, New Haven, Capt. H. R. Loomis.
N on-Commissioned Staff.

16 . CiE‘.N’I‘ENN1AL or NEW HAVEN.

Drum Corps. 1
Wilkiiis Gruard, New Haven (_ Co. A, 5th Battalion) Ca_pt. D. S. Lathrop.
Capt. W. H. Lee, conimanding Battery A, and Staff.
Ofiicers of Second Platoon, Battery A (of Branford).
First Platoon, Battery A, Gruilford, two guns, Lieut. A. S. Fowler.

SECOND DIVISION.

Colon.el John G. Healey, Marshal.
Assistant Mareliale.
Meriden Band.
Admiral Foote Poet, G. A. R., N o. 17, New Haven, Henry F. Peck, Post
.. Commander. it

Drum Corps.
Henry C. Merwin Poet, G. A. R., No. 52, New Haven, Colonel Edward
A M. Grravee, Post Commander.

Duffy Hall’:-is Big 4 Drum. Corps of New Haven.
Nathan Hale Camp, N. 1, Sons of Vete1~a:ne, of New Haven, Capt. C. K.
Fa1'nharn.

Drum Corps.

W. H. Pierpont Camp, No. 6, Sons of Veterans, of Hartford, Capt. L.
Eugene Seymour. .
Both Camps escorting Colonel W. H. Pierpont, Connnander of Connec-
ticut Di”ViSiO11 Sons of Veterans and Staff, in carriages.

Drum Corpe.

Battalion of Inemloere of the Order of United American Mechanics, New
Haven, W. G. Dickinson commanding, comprising:
Pioneer Council, No. 1, C. H. Porter, Councilor.
"Washington Council, No. 7, Z. T. Strong, Councilor.
Garfield Council, No. 14., Wm. G. Dickinson, Councilor.
1 Drum Corps. .
Battalion of niembers of the Order of Patriotic Sons of America,” of New
Haven, E. B. Stebbine, President, conirnanding, comprising:
Wasliingtoii Camp, N o. 1.

Camp No. 2.

Camp No. 3.

Camp No. 4.
Barge Columbia, containing one young lady representing the Goddess

of Liberty, and 38 young ladies, representing the 38 States
of the Union, in appropriate costumes.

CENTENNIAL or NE‘\'7V' HAVEN. 17

‘Sassacus Drum Corps.
Ridgely Degree Camp, No. 3, I. O. O. F., of New Haven, C. B. Foster,
Commander, three companies, comprising:

Sassacus Encampment, No. 1, Peter Terhune, Chief Captain.
Golden Rule Encampment, No. 24, George N. Moses, Chief Captain.
Aurora Encampment, N 0. 2'7, Gottfried Lehr, Chief Captain.
Columbia Band, of Branford.

St. Mary’s Temperance Society of New Haven, John Coleman, Presi-
dent; Martin Flinn, Secretary.

St. Francis T. A. 86 B. Society of New Haven, Wm. A. Kelly, President.
Order of Knights of St. Patrtickz, M. Fahy, President, in coaches.

THIRD DIVISION.

Captain Jacob P. Richards, Marshal.
Assistant Marshals. ~
Band.
New Haven Butchers” Association.
New Haven Bicycle Club, Capt. F. H. Benton.
Ramblers’ Bicycle Club, of New Haven, Capt. Harry Weed.
, Unattached Riders.

The Harugari Liedertafel Society, of New Haven, Frederick Henn-
inger, President. In decorated barges, members in costume,
and ladies representing Columbia and Germania.

Drum Corps.

Dwight School Cadets, of New Haven, Capt. Fred D. Baldwin.

Drum Corps. A

Gile Continental Guards, of New Haven, Capt. Fred. Adams.
Drum Corps. '
Eighth Ward Zouaves, of New Haven, Capt. Chas. F. Hubbard.
Battalion of Antiques and Horribles.
, New Haven Horn Band, C. M. Harrison, Leader.
First Co. Fantasticals, Antiques and Horribles, Capt. George K. Jewell.
Second Co. The Toocker Guards, Capt. L. E. Toocker.

Third Co. The Millerites, Capt. Chas. H. Miller.

3

18 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

FOURTH DIVISION.

General Edward E. Bradley, Marshal.
Assistant Marshals.
Wallingford Band.
Second Company Governor’s Foot Guards, of New ‘Haven, Capt. E. J.
_ Morse. I
Veteran Grays, of New Haven, Capt. E. A. Gessner.

His Excellency, Governor Thomas M. VValler and Staff, mounted. ~
Major H. H. Strong, commanding Second Company Governor’s Horse
Guards and Stafi”.

Second Company Governor’s Horse Guards, of New Haven, 60 men.
Hon. Henry G. Lewis, Mayor of New Haven; Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley,
Mayor of Hartford; Hon. D. N. Morgan, Mayor of Bridgeport; Hon. D.
Ward Northrop, Mayor of Middletowng Hon. E. J. Doolittle, Mayor of
Meriden; Hon. J. Andrew Pickett, Mayor of New Britain; Hon. George
E. Starr, Mayor of New London; Hon. I-Iugh H. Osgood, Mayor of Nor»
wich; Hon. Richard H. Golden, Mayor of South Norwalk; Hon. Henry
A. Matthews, Mayor of Vlfaterbury, Rev. Thomas R. Bacon, Orator of
the Day, and Rev. W. E. Vibloert, D.D., in carriages.

The Board of Aldermen and the Board of Councilmen of the City of
New Haven and City Officers, in carriages.

FIFTH DIVISION.
VOLUNTEER FIREMEN.

Ex-Chief Engineer Hiram Camp, Marshal.
Assistant Marshals.
Columbia Band, of New Haven.

Ex-Chief Engineer Chas. A. Nettleton and Ex-Assistant Chas. E. Hayes.
New Haven Veteran Firemen’s Association, John H. Pardee, Foreman,
100 men drawing hand-engine Hercules, No. 8.

Eagle Drum Corps.

Chief Engineer Charles S. Brown, Fair Haven East Fire Department.
Quinnipiack Engine Co., No. 1.

Hose Co. No. 1.

Drum Corps.

Pembroke Engine Co.,‘ N o. 1, of West Stratford.

Seymour Band.

Chief Engineer J. N. Whitlock, of the West Ansonia Fire Department.

CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN. 19

Fountain Hose Co., N o. 2, of West Ansonia.
Hotchkiss Hose Co., N o. 1, of Birmingham.
Echo Hose Co., No. 1, of Shelton.
R. M. Bassett Hook and Ladder Co., No. 1, of Birmingham.
Band.
Chief Engineer Stevens, of Danbury Fire Department.
Humane Hose Co., No. 1, of Danbury.
Hook and Ladder Co., N o. 1, of Danbury.
Other visiting Companies.

SIXTH DIVISION.

Fire Commissioner Luther E. Jerome, Marshal.
Assistant Marshals. p
Colt’s Band of Hartford.
Chief Engineer Albert C. Hendrick.
Assistant Engineers Andrew J. Kennedy, William C. Smith, John L.
Disbrovv, and William H. Hubbard.

Steamer Fire Engine Co., No. 1, Capt. E.” I. Barrett.
Steamer Fire Engine Co., No. 2, Capt. Edwin S. Davis.
Steamer Fire Engine Co., N o. 8, Capt. Charles B. Dyer.

Steamer Fire Engine Co., N o. 4, Capt. C. T. Langley.
Hook and Ladder Co., No. 1, Capt. Charles H. Hilton.

Steamer Fire Engine Co., N o. 5, Capt. Henry Tuttle.

Steamer Fire Engine Co., N o. 6, Capt. Wilfred F. Spang.
M Hose Co., No. '7, Capt. John W. Stoddard.
Steamer Fire Engine Co., No. 8, Capt. J arnes J. Bradnaek.
Hook and Ladder Co., No. 3, Capt. Henry J. Wilson.

SEVENTH DIVISION.
In three sections. M
A Major Ruel P. Covvles, Marshal.
Assistant Marshals.

Pequonnoek Drum Corps.

Wagon containing the Yale Shell of 1884..
Tally-ho, with members of Thespian Club, J. E. Geary, President.
Employees of the New Haven Post Office.
In this division appeared a large number of vehicles, upon which were
represented the different branches of TRADE and INDUSTRY. I

20 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

Lieut. W. E. Jackson, Signal Officer, had charge of the signal sta-
tions, and made all necessary details from the Second Regiment.

The General Coinmittee having the celebration in charge was made

up as follows:

His Honor, Mayor Henry G. Lewis, Chairman.

Benj. R. English, Treas.

Frank A. Monson,
James E. McG—ann,

T. R. Trowbridge, Jr.,

Joseph C. Earle,
John J. Flynn,
Hugh Dailey,

John E. Earle,
N. D. Sperry,

A S‘. E. Merwin, Jr.,

A. C. Hendrick,
A. H. Robertson,
John B. Adriance,
Samuel A. York,
Frank D. Sloat,
John 
Thomas K. Dunn,
Luther E. Jerome,
James J. Kennedy,
Benjamin J epson,
J. D. Whitmo1'e,

H. N. Whittelsey, J r.,

E. A. Anketell,
C. W. Scranton,
N. G. Osborn,
F. C. Tuttle,

H. P. Hubbard,

Aldewneaz.

Isaac Strouse,
Alonzo A. Townsend,

Cozmcailmen.

Isaac Wolf,

, Frank P. Mills,

Chas. W. Gunn,
John Merrick,

Oitrizens.

Minott E. Osborn,
John O. Gallagher,
Fred. H. Waldron,
W. J. Atvvater,

"W. H. H. Hewitt,
J. F. Gooding,
Philo S. Bennett,
Wm. J. Bradley,

F. E. Harrison,
Eugene A. Beecher,

_ Samuel H. Crane,

C. P. Jordan,
Charles Dovvnes,

L. B. Hinrnan,
Paul Weil,

H. P. Frost,

Frank H. Hooker,
Chas. H. Townsend,
John McCarthy,
Greo. H. Ford,

Burton Mansfield, Sec’y.

Frank S. Platt,
John C. Bradley.

Burton Mansfield,
Rutherford Trowbridge,
Greo. C. Clarke,

James H. Groodsell.

S. B. Shoninger,

C. M. Loomis,
James H. Wilkins,
Frederick A. Bette,
R. W. Meigs,
Ellery Camp,

C. W. Foster,
John E. Bassett,
R. P. Cowles,

E. E. Bradley,
Jacob P. Richards,
Michael S. Doohan,
S. S. Thompson,
A. 0. Norton,

W. G. Butler,

A. M. Loomis,

E. C. Dow,

Clark Peck,

John W. Lake,
Albert B. Hill,

CENTENNI-Ala OF NEVV HAVEN. 21

W. D. Clarkson, N. Easterbrook, J r., James D. Dewell,

Ezra P. Merriam, Chas. Webster, ' James P. Pigott,
Alfred J. Edwards, A. L. Dillenbeck, Joseph T. English,
Herbert E. Benton, A Fred’k B. Farnsworth, S. J. Fox,
Adolph Asher, Geo. H. Larned, J. P. Studley,
Theo. A. Tuttle, Charles F. Bellman, Max Adler,

L. L. Morgan, John G. Healy, E. C. Beecher,

S. R. Smith, A. H. Kellam, T. H. MacDonald,
Geo. M. Harmon, James Gallagher, J r., F. H. Benton,
Charles P. Graham,  Benj. R. English, Harry Weed,

Eli Mix, S. H. Wagner, W. H. Stowe.
Henry F. Peck, Timothy J. Crowley.

Military and Civic Societies.

Frederick Henninger, Louis Wechesser, L. P. Korn,
John Coleman, W. A. Kelley, M. Schwed,

H. C. Jennings, John E. Thompson, Isaac Mailhouse,
Isaac Koch, James B. Rowe, E. B. Stebbins,
Henry L. Clark, R. H. Johnson, Z. T. Strong,

A. P. Smith, H. J. Landolt, W. H. Warner,
Geo. K. Jewell, D. R. Adams, W. H. Chivers.
J. E. Geary, M. Fahy,

The. following gentlemen acted as Chairmen of the various sub-

committees :

Badges and ScLliu.‘es—S. J. Fox. Literary E.:r:ercises— T. R. Trow-,
Decorations-———~John McCarthy. bridge, Jr.

Finomcem-«B. R. English. Locating cmd Renting Booths —-
Firewo7'lcs——F. A. Monson. . John W. Lake. _
1Zlum.inatio'r2.s—N. Easterbrook, Jr. Music—A. C. Hendrick.
In/oitatio7is—Henry G. Lewis. P7-ocession---S. R. Smith.

T7-aoles-——-John B. Adriance.

22 - CENTENNLAL or NEW HAVEN.

MaYoE’s OFFICE, N0. 7 CITY" HALL.
NEW HAVEN, CONN., July 19, 1884.

REV. THOMAS R. BACON:

My Dear Sz'r—The Centennial Committee, for the proper observance
of the hundredth anniversary of the incorporation and organization of
the City of New Haven, beg leave to present to you their high apprecia-
tion and thanks for your very able and instructive oration, delivered in
the Center Church, on the 4th inst., commemorative of said events.

They also respectfully request, in accordance with a very earnestly
expressed desire of your fellow citizens, that you furnish them a copy
of your discourse, with a view to its publication and preservation.

Permit me to assure you that your compliance with our wishes will
be duly appreciated.

In behalf of the Centennial Comrnittee,
HENRY G. LEWIS, Ohow31~mcm.n

CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN. 23

NEW HAVEN, Or., July 23, 1884.

To TI-IE HON. HENRY G. LEWIS, MAYOR or NEW HAVEN:

Dear Sir»--In accordance with the request of the Centennial Com-
mittee, which you have conveyed to rne in your note of the 19th instant,
I will, at the’ earliest opportunity, hand to you a copy of the address,
which I delivered in the Center Church, upon July 4th.

Allow me also to express my gratification that the address has met
with the approval of the committee, and that they have expressed their
appreciation in such kind and flattering terms.

Yours very respectfully,

THOMAS R. BACON.

LESSONS FROM A CITYS LIFE.

AN ORAT1 ON

DELIVERED IN THE MEETING HOUSE 013' THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEW

HAVEN, J ULY 4, 1884, ON THE HUNDREDTIEI ANNIVERSARY
EN 013‘ THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN,

BY

THOMAS RUTHERFORD BACON.

LESSONS FROM AClTY’S LIFE.

FELLOW CITIZENS :

; WE celebrate to—day two events which seem at first sight

too far separate in importance to be cornrnemorated upon the

same day, and to have in fact only the slightest relation to one
another. The first of these We remember every year with
much of noise and pomp, the declaration of the independence
of the United Colonies, the sudden uprising of a nation,
already great, and holding the promise of irnrneasurable
greatness in the future. It was recognized as an event of

Inighty importance, and the echo of the bell, which upon the l
l fourth day of July, in the year of grace one thousand. seven

hundred and seventy~six, proclaimed liberty through all the
land, was heard throughout the World. , ,

Of a very different sort was the second event which We
to—daycelebrate. A little village of less than 3,500 inhab-
itants changed its form of self-governrnent, and thenceforth

called itself a city. For in the year 1784 the State of Con— V

rnecticut broke out with an eruption of cities. , By acts of
legislature the villages of New Haven, Hartford, Middletown,
New London, and Norwich were all invested with the new
dignity. I cannot discover that these events produced any
particular commotion in the outside world, except that our
good neighbors of Massachusetts sent up a shout of derisive
laughter at these funny little cities that Connecticut had
brought forth, while» their great and noble town of Boston

28 CENTENNIAL on NEW HAVEN.

was then only a town, and desired to be nothing more. And

even within the boundaries of Connecticut, and in “the glad,

aspiring little burghs” themselves, these acts of the legisla~

ture were not hailed with the ringing of bells and the boom of
artillery. Each new—born city upon its appointed day
met and chose its officers. The city of New Haven met for
the first time on February 10, 1784, and elected as mayor its
most distinguished citizen, Roger Sherman, then absent from
the city because Congress, of which he was a member, was in
session, who eight years before as representative of the Colony
of Connecticut had written his name beneath the declaration
of independence, and who three years later as the representa-
tive of the sovereign Commonwealth of Connecticut was to
write his name beneath the Constitution of the United States.
And he did not decline to be the mayor of this little city of
his habitation. And he was right; for today it adds luster
even to his honored name, that he was the first chief-magis-
trate of this City of New Haven. It tool: the voters three
days to elect all the officers, and it was only upon February 12
that the city fairly got going. But it has kept going ever
since. N
The reason for the sudden blossoming of the Connecticut
cities is largely a matter of conjecture. It has been suggested
that New Haven was seized with the desire to be as big as
New York. Now New York had a city charter, therefore
New Haven must have one, so she petitioned the legislature
with success. Then all the promising little towns of Con
necticut were seized with a desire to be as big as New Haven ;
so they petitioned likewise, and the legislature, desiring to be
impartial, gave to all alike. This theory is supported only by
the slightest evidence, and I am happy to discard it as being
unworthy. I prefer to believe that the inhabitants of these
towns and the Legislature of Connecticut were possessed of a

IJ]l3SSON‘S l.*‘.lrlOl\/II  CI’I.‘Y"S LIFE. 29

spirit of prophecy. These little towns were really rather too
small for such a pretentious thing as a city charter. , But they
had a sublime faith that they would grow up to it. The
careful mother may make a suit of clothes several times too
large for her small boy. And when he appears in them the
neigrhbors may lauglri. But she has a full assurance of hope
that before they are worn ou.t they will have to be enlarged.
The State of Connecticut seems to have exercised a similar
prescience in the clotliiiig of lier infants. People la11gl‘1ed at
them then, but no one laiiglis at them to-day. The charters
that seemed so much too l.)?l.,g‘, have had to be eiilarged again
and agaiii. For down the long; century with steady, stately
tread, has marcliied the fair sisterliood of the Connecticut
cities, in eve1*—i11c1;'eza,si111g; numbers and in ever-increasing beauty,
with New Ilaven in the van. Can any space of the wide
earth, so small as C.onnecticut, show such a sisterhood, so
prosperous, so abounding in moral health, of such rare and
varied beauty? Verily I believe not.

This second event which we celebrate to-«day, namely, the
incorporation of the City of New Haven, had reall.y a great
Slg1..1l'fl(3Et1TlG8. It was not only the l.i)€f7:’,‘l,1111l1'il,{!,‘ of the corporate
life of this fair and famous city, but it was the begiiining of
anew order of tliiiiigs for the State of Connecticut. For it is
not the incorporation of New lglaveii alone that we now com-

memorate, nor yet the incorporation of those five cities of

17841». We commemorate rather the l')8glI1I1l_B,g' of municipal
life in this Commonwealth, the commencement of that
phenomenon which in these days has changed the whole face
of the State, and poured its life and eiieifgies through channels
of which the fathers never dreamed. This celebration,
therefore, is not for ourselves alone. Nor is it in behalf of
those five o1*i,sr_,ri,1ial cities. The act which became a law January
21, 1784:, and incorporated New Haven, laid the foundation

30 A CENTENNIAL on NEW HAVEN.

and :furnished the model for the municipal government of all
the cities of Connecticut. But the event had even a Wider
significance. There were already, indeed, several cities in the
United States. New York and Albany had received charters
from Jaines II. in the year 1686. Richmond, then. a very
small village, had been incorporated in 1742. Philadelpliia
had also received a charter in 1701 from the proprietor of
Pennsylvania. Besides these there were doubtless others.

But the incorporation of New Haven Was, I believe, the
first instance, certainly one of the iirst, in vvhich one of the
United States, acting in its independent and sc>'ve1-eigii capacity,
granted a city charter. And New Haven Was, therefore, in
its origin, the first distinctively American city incorporated by
the law of an American state. Therefore this event lias a real
connection with the Declaration of Independence. For the
growth. of the cities has been one of the most 1'e1nan;'l:<:.=tl:>l.e an.d
important features of the eXtraordina1'y develo'p1ncnt of the
nation which came into l)ei11g July 4, 17 7 6. F011‘ upon the life
of its cities depends in large measure the life of the nation..
With its cities, the nation must stand or fall. In. tlicrzn are
found concentrated its most tl11'eate11ing dzL1:1.gei's, its b’11"l§§lI).t6St
hopes. In the cities are all the extremes of culture amtl :ig'1'1or-
ance, of wealth and poverty, of virtue and vice, of lofty jpublic
spirit and of selfish g;reed. The more scattered. ru.ral. , popula-
tion can onlyact as a check upon them, for, in concentration
there is st1'er1gtl1, be it for good or evil. The cities, theretfore,
hold the future of the nation in their control; With their). is the
weal or the woe of this majestic republic. Not then as a l.igil1t
or trifling tliiiig do We remember the first incorporation oi? a
city in the United States. We remember it rather as an event
of the highest significance, important not only in itself, but
inexpressibly important in What it stands for, the municipal
life of a great nation. A

LESSONS men A. crrY’s LIFE. 31

It has been announced that I was to deliver to you an

historical address, and it might be expected that I would give

you a sketch of what New Haven was 100 years ago. I But
that has already been done by a far more competent hand than
mine, and with a completeness that leaves nothing to be
desired. The paper read by Professor Dexter before the New
Haven Colony Historical Society, and which is to be printed,
has furnished me with almost all the information concerning
New Haven in 1784:, which I may incidentally use in the course
of this address. To attempt to do what has been already so
well done, would be an evidently superfluous work. Further-
more it is plainly impossible, in this short hour of a crowded
day, to trace with any detail the history of the entire growth
for a century. That is the work of the careful and laborious
historian, who has unlimited time and the scope of printed
volumes. And that such an historian is among us and that we
shall in due time receive the fruits of his labors, we are glad to
know. But the most that we can hope now to do, is to point
out some of the lines along which the city has moved in its
progress through the years.

The line along which the city has had its fullest develop-
ment, is one of which the petitioners for the charter never
thought. They hoped for a great commercial city sending out
its merchant fleets to the ends of the earth; they did not
expect a great manufacturing city, and yet New Haven has
become such. In 178-I the manufactories of New Haven were
apparently a paper mill and a blacksmith shop, and now our
manufactured products in vast variety are found throughout
the civilized world--—-and to the rise of the manufacturing inter—
ests more than to any other agency, nay, more than to all the rest
put together, has been due the growth of the city from 3,500
to some 70,000 inhabitants. These vast industries of to—day,
which have sprung from the mechanical inventions and discov-

32 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

eries of the century, have given to .American civilization an
unexpected aspect and development. In the history of its
manufacturing industries New Haven has been peculiarly
happy. Their great variety has saved us from those prolonged
and extensive periods of depression and paralysis, which have
fallen upon towns devoted to a single industry. The same
cause has prevented such great struggles between labor and

capital, culminating in wholesale stril»::es and lockonts, and en—»

tailing much misery and suii"ering, which have been so frequent
elsewhere. This growth of manufactures in the State of Con-
necticut has had the effect of driving the population away from
the barren farm lands to the villages and cities, and thus
changing the whole cl1aracter of its life. And in this great
change New Haven has taken the lead, until, by the census of
1880, our gross ma11u.facturi.ng products were valued at

$24,040,225, our net products at $9,558,062. The number of y

hands employed was 15,156, and the amount paid in wages
$5,’? 61,37 5. Surely here is something that helps to account
for the century’s growth. And we cannot leave the subject
without calling to mind how much New Haven has contributed,
by the inventive genius of her sons, to the general prosperity of
this and of all civilized lands. It is not, therefore, by statistics
of her own products, nor indeed by any other means, that we
can measure the contributions of our city to the industrial
progress of the world.

The discordant sounds of the factories; the rush of steam,
the whirl of wheels, the clang of machinery, the beating of
hammers to the finer ear blend into the harmony of a mighty
creative music. It is fabled that the sweet lyre of Amphion,
touched by the fingers of the master, availed to build the walls
of Thebes, the insensate stones moving to its dulcet cadences.

And this loftier, diviner music has built, not one city alone, but

the cities of a continent, and has covered the face of the land

10

LESSONS rnoiw A cIr'r’s LIFE.   

with prosperous villages and thriving towns. And doubtless
for us this is the music of the future.

As I have already said, the hopes of the petitioners for the
charter looked towards the growth of New Havenas a com-
mercial port, engaged in foreign trade, and it may seem at first
glance as if these hopes had been disappointed. But however
illusive they have proved, they certainly were grounded in
experience. From the very earliest times the commerce of
New Haven with foreign ports, and especially with the West
Indies, was considerable. Just before the opening of the
revolutionary war in 1775, there had been forty vessels,
engaged in foreign trade, owned in New Haven. At the close
of the war there was but one. And now in 1784,1ess than
two years after the signing of the treaty of peace, there were
thirty-three, most of them in the West India trade, though
some of them sailed for other foreign ports. This extraordi-
nary revival of shipping might well lead men to believe, that
New Haven was to bergreat in virtue of its foreign trade.
But the far superior harbors of New York to the west, and
Boston to the east, and various great changes in the courses of
trade, to which I shall refer in a moment, left New Haven far
behind in the matter.   And yet the foreign trade” of New
Haven has steadily increased from that day to this, except
during the years of the last war with England. It was a
matter of surprise to me to learn upon unquestionable author-
ity, that there is more tonnage engaged in foreign trade owned
in New Haven to—day than ever before. But we almost lose
sight of the foreign trade of New Haven, in the development
of a domestic commerce, which was as unexpected by the
fathers, as was the rise of the manufacturing industries. The
extension and settlement of the territory of the United States,
and the wise provision of the constitution whereby the states

surrendered the right to lay import duties against one another,
5

34 CENTENNIAL on NEW HAVEN.

have opened the breadth of a continent tounrestricted trade.
From Maine to Florida and California, among 50,000,000 of
people, commerce is absolutely unshackled. Freedom of trade
between the States, accelerated by the introduction of railroads,
steam navigation, and the telegraph, has resulted in an internal
commerce of astonishing proportions. In this development of
commerce New Haven has had its full share. How little
could our predecessors, of one hundred years ago and more,
guess that the steadily increasing and important foreign trade
of New Haven would be almost lost to sight in the mighty
flood of an unrestricted and unfettered domestic commerce.
The change can hardly be better illustrated than by the fact
that in the year of incorporation, the city had no bank and
needed none. And this commercial greatness of the nation
and the city has come from absolute freedoni of trade between
the thirty-eight United States, and the vast territories which
they control. '

And these considerations of the growth of rnanufactures
and commerce, lead naturally to the subject of the increase of

. wealth in the land, and especially in the cities. New Haven is

one of the richest cities in the country in proportion to its
population, and in no city of the same or greater size is wealth
more evenly distributed. And yet here as everywhere, by a
natural law which no human legislation can annul, we see the
tendency of wealth to accumulate in the hands of the few.
The truth, “ To him that hath shall be given,” is written; in
the very constitution of the human race. There is gradually
growing up in this city, as in every city, a class of men who
do not feel it necessary to work for a living, and who are able
to live on the interest of invested money. The growth of
such a class in any community is its greatest blessing or its
greatest curse. For there is a vast amount of work which

imust be done for the public good, which does notpay, and H

LESSONS FROM A crrv’s LIFE. 35

which cannot be done by men who earn their bread in the
sweat of their brows. They have no time for these things.
Their energy is absorbed by more primitive and intimate

I duties. But they, who have financial competence, are called to

other Work and other duties, no less important, though they
may seem less pressing. Moneyed men may be the salvation
of any community in vvhicli they live, if they will devote the
time which their lot has given them to the public good. They
have time, that blessing vvhich is denied to most of ‘us. They
may devote themsel.ves to the study of scientific and social and
economic problems, Whose solution shall benefit mankind.
They may look to the administration of justice and the
enforcement of law. They may enter into our political life,

Without the necessity of making a living out of politics, and

without the temptations which beset poorer men in the same
sphere. They can afford to give attention to the sanitary and
moral conditions of our life, to public improvements, to the
health and morality and prosperity and beauty of the place of
their habitation. Wllell men of Wealth thus conduct them-
selves, they are the ‘safeguard and glory of the city Where they
dwell. But when you see a city, Where the men of Wealth
give themselves up to making a vanity fair of life; Where they
devote their whole energy to musical festivals, and dramatic
festivals, to alleged high art and queer pottery, Where they make
the collection of brie-a—bi'ac the business of life, and devote
their abilities to tryingto live up to some ugly piece of blue

T S china; in such a city you may also see misrule,‘ the miscarriage

of justice, disorder, mob—law, violence, riot and bloodshed,
with nights of terror and with days of fear. And where a
class of moneyed men devote themselves to gambling in stocks
and the produce of honest industry, to making, for their own
behoof and pleasure, factitious fluctuations in the prices of the
necessaries of life, and arbitrary changes in the value of Work-

36 CENTENNIAL on NEW IIAVEN.

ingmen’s investments, there you will see demoralization, dis-
honesty, ruin, and the grincling of the faces of the poor; and
behind all these, ‘you may see the ill-omened working of
dangerous forces, which may one day blow the Whole social
fabric into the air. '

This land and the world has already seen en oug-l'1, and more
than enough, of the flippancy and tyranny of Wealth; so great
are the perils of the misuse of wealth in the hands of the few,
Where it has been put by the inevitable operation of natural.
law. History is ever repeating itself in lll.l]St1‘fl.tl.C)l"1.S of the
evils of riches unvvorthily used. And yet the operatiori of the
law is beneficent. Wheri men of financial competence 'lIi1VGSt
their money in sound and honest enterprises, so that it niay
give employment to sound and honest industry, they are
making the best use of it, and are contributing to the pros-
perity of every class. And vvhen such men give the time,
which has been given to them, to these public affairs which
do not pay, and to those measures for the public good to
Which most men have no time to give, they are doing the
work appointed for them in this ‘W01‘lCl. At no time in the
history of our country has the responsibility of Wealth been so

great as now. It is in this regard a very critical period. And

the course of our men of Wealth will largely determine the
future of our nation. And, thank God! there are unmistal«:—
able signs that rich men are more and more feeling their
responsibility and the burden of duty Which is laid upon
them. More and more, men who are born to Wealth are
growing up to know that‘, because the necessity to vvorlc for
a living is not theirs, therefore there rests upon them the
larger and grander necessity of working for the life of the
nation and of the race. I am persuaded from the signs of
the times that the next generation shall know the blessings
that come from the faithful ministry of Wealth.

mesons FROMJ A orrY’s LIFE. 37

It would he in vain, at this hour,‘ to try to enumera.te the
prosperous citizens of New Hzwen who have made honest and
benefieie11t use of their opportunities for the public w'el.fa,re,
from the days when the wealthy Theopliilus Eaton led out his
colony from England to the wilderness of Qninnipizto, encl.
devoted his life, his e1'1erg*y,l1is means, a.n.d his 1':an'e wisdom
to the prosperity zmd good of the plantation of New Haven.
The ggoc3<:lley sneeession of pnlblie spiri ted citizens which li)egen
with 1;n'n1 has never feo;i_lecl. The mnries of irmliy whose *WO1'.{
lies enterecil. into tl1e'Ve1-y life of the eity, would sound st1'eng;e
in the €3i??L1"£:‘» of this gBI‘.1(3'ZttiC)11. But to~dey a, l)leesii*;:1g; hreethes

11_1i)()1[i1 the poorest chilcl, t1:o11*o'11gl1 the hi-ztneliixes of these stately V

ehns erotmcl. ne, the glory of the town, Wl§7ll.(3l.]. keep green the
1ne1on<:>ry of II?Iilil.l“1o11se, ericl unborn g6l.1G1‘£tl1l.O1f1S sl1el.1 utter with
tl1zn'1ls:f11lt1.1.ess the 1t12un‘1e of him, eo leteliy gone from e1:11o1'1g us,
who in his last (lays led the si.11nons way along the 1nounta.in
side, which opened. up to the people the 1TlI1l{11C)WI’1 beauty of
East ilitoolzz, end which shall add to tl1e"fm:r1e of New I~Iztve11
a.1:r1ong the cities of the ea;rtl1. And I feel sure that the
sueeessors of these nien will not be V"V.‘c111ii3i,1f1§:’; in the years to

come. ,"H§e1'e as everyw1'.1ere, there will be those who will 1:x‘1el<e

evil. use of WGt1.ltl'1, but I t‘t11‘il ]i:>e1's1i1::tc1ecli tliet there will. also he,
in ever i.o11e1'eztsi11g nmnhers, those who will he fzztitloiinl stew-
ards of the greet trusts ooniinzntted to their ollerge.

The most iimn-ked difference between the New Ilzwen of
1784., and the sanfne oity in 1884, is in the increase of popnla.-
tion. Bntherdly less ifnerkzecl tliieii this, is the eheiige in the
elmreeter of the pojpnletion. The people of New Haven, a.
hundred years ago, were almost all natives of New England
and of tmnitixed English blood. The great emigration to New
Exiglend, which began in 1620, ceased after 1610. The people
who came were Ineinly of the sturdy Eriglieli middle class,
who preferred exile to tyr:.«tI1ny.l A few more of the seine sort

38 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

jomed them after the, restoration of the Stuarts in 1660.
Thenceforth there was Very little immigration of any sort to
New England until after the revolution. These people were
industrious, and soon became prosperous, in this new land.
Their n1a1‘1*iag‘es were early and fruitful, and they increased
and multiplied, and their descendants constituted almost the
entire population of New Eiiglaiid one hundred years ago,
except for the comparatively small number of imported
negroes. As late as 1801, when the population of New
Haven was estimated at 4,000, the numbe;1,- of persons of
foreign birth was 149. And today about one—half of our
population are foreign born, or the children of fo1'eig11 born
parents. And here we touch upon the cause of the icnarvelous
development of the city and of the nation. Had we had. to
depend upon the descendants of the Americans of the revo-
lution for population, we should to-day be weak and small
among the nations of the earth. But we have been made
strong and great by the Vast flood of i.1,111i1i,ga.tio1"1 which has
come to us from foreign lands. These aliens, co1ni1i1g; to us,
have built up our industries, have developed our a.gr;'ri.c11lt1i,re,
have constructed our railroads, have made us what we are.
And we have welcomed them and made them our bretliren
and our fellowcitizens, and they are no more aliens among us.
‘Wherever in the old world, men have felt the stress of over-
population or social and political swrongg, they have turned
their eyes with hope to this free land, and mi.llions have come
to begin a new and prosperous life in a new and uncrowded
world. And now they are with us and of us. Their old
national names may be remembered for a time, but they have
become in very deed Americans.

Who are they who to-day partake in this celebration ? Some
of them are indeed the descendants of those who petitioned
for the charter of 1784. And more are descendants of the old

LESSONS FROM A crrY’s LIFE. 39

Puritan stock. But a vast proportion are those, whose ances-
tors one hundred years ago were dwellers in foreign lands and
who had no faintest thought or vision that their children of
the third and fourth generations would be Americans. In
thus opening her doors to the poor and distressed in every
land, our land has become the benefactor of the world, and in
her benefaction has found her own Iniglit and greatness. In
h.er has been fulfilled the word of the prophet, which he spake,
saying: “Thy gzites shall be open continually; they shall not
be shut day nor Iiiglit, that men mayl)1°i11gu11to thee the forces
of the Grentile;:.” And now in these l.atter days We seem to be
getting fr'ig;lr1,te1o1ecl at our own greatness, and at the sources
from whence it has spruncr. Wlieii we look about and see
what a vast number of people there are in the world, and how
many of them have set their faces toward our shores, we
begin to fear that we shall be swamped in the great incoming
tide. And then these foreigners who make the bone a11d
sinew of our nation, have brought a great many undesirable
persons with them, the oifscourings of other nations, and these
make us very 11I1C01'II1fO1‘i3tLblf3.

N ow fellow citizens, Americans, wheresoever born, if we
have not the st1'eng;tlo:i and force not to be swamped, we had
better gracefully go down, and let a stronger and abler people
take our place. F111'tlt1e1*n1o1~e, immigration however good must
always bring with it this wretched and evil class. Even when
the Puritan planters of New Eiiglarld came over, they brought
with them at set of lawless, worthless, depraved rascals, the
very dregs of Eriglish society, scamps whom it would be hard
to match in any subsequent immigration, and yet the country
has survived it--—-—-«so far. I do not know whether it is because I
am so old and conservative, or because I am so young and enthu-4
siastic, but I have a firm, unshaken faith that still this country,
your mighty motl1er,l1as “room about her hearth for allman-

40 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

kind,” and will have for centuries to come. I have such
belief in our institutions, in their beneficence and elasticity
and power, that I am persuaded that they can mould into
one homogeneous people, all who come to our shores; that
we have a place for any man, who flees from poverty and
oppression in other lands, and who is able and willing to earn

his living, be he Parthian, Mede, Elamite or a dweller in Meso-

potamia. Therefore I say, “ Whosoeve1' will, let him come.”
In thus reviewing the lines along which New Haven has
developed, it is impossible to ignore that feature of its life
which has given it its widest fame, and which has made it
known above so many of its cotemporaries, the fact that it is
an academic town. Since the Collegiate School of Connecticut
was removed to New Haven in 1718, and was named Yale Col-
lege, it has always given to the place a peculiar renown, which

has drawn hither distinguished residents and guests. In 1784:"

the college had nominally some two hundred and sixty students,
but probably the number actually in attendance at any one
time did not much exceed two hundred. The oflicers of the
college were eight in number, including the treasurer and
steward. T The growth of the university since that day, if it
has not kept pace in numbers with the growth of the city, has
certainly kept up with the progress of sound learning, and the
rapid increase of scientific knowledge. We, citizens of New
Haven, are proud of the long list of the illustrious names of
those who have here become famous as scholars and educators,
some of whom have gone hence, but many of whom are with
us today, and who by their laborshave made our city known,
wherever culture andknowledge are cherished. ,And we feel

to-day in the hair the greeting of the thousands who look back
to New Haven with affection, as the beautiful city of their

beloved alma maczfer. The city‘ and the university are now

both. too -large to feel that petty jealousy and hatred which in

LESSONS FROM A oIrY’s LIFE. 41

other days had often most serious consequences. Time was,
when dread of a collision between the two made life here
somewhat uncomfortable. Time was, and not so long ago but
that many of us remember it, when instead of firing cannon
to celebrate a boating victory of Yale, citizens of New I-Iaven
leveled their artillery, loaded to the muzzle, at the college
buildings, and would have fired, too, had not a sagacioiis public
officer spiked the guns. But such days are, We believe, over
forever. Certainly the feeling; which i exists between the col—
legs and the city today is such, that each is proud of the other.

It would be easy and profitable to treat the development of
the city al_ong; various other lines; to show the growth of
professions, the increase of various trades, the upspringing of our
educational System, and many other Ways in which there have
been marked cliaiiges and advancement in the last hundred
years. But for this time fails. But I cannot leave the matter
entirely Without allusion to that which lay at the very root of
the colony, and which moulded its life into such peculiar
t'orms. I mean its religious and ecclesiastical institutions. ‘It
Was for religious and political freedom that the planters of this
colony came forth from their own country, not knowing
"Whither they Went. For this liberty they rforsook homes and
lands and friends, and here in the wilderness they built their
shrine for conscience sake. They came for their freedom,
and if in its defense, in fear of encroachments upon it, they
took :measures which seem to us intolerant, it is not for us to
cast stones at their sepulchres. If We blame them, little do We

know
“ What sorrow of heart was theirs,

Who travailed in pain with the births of God,
And planted a State with prayers.”

This ancient church, in Whose house of Worship We meet
to—day, is coeval with the town. In fact, it was the town in

6

42 CENTENNIAL on NEW rravnn.

the early days. None but communicants here were allowed
to take part in public afiairs. These men had come hither, at
mighty cost to themselves, in order that they might worship
God in their own way. This was their place, for they had
made it; and they proposed to keep it, and to guard against
every possible danger. At a great price they had obtained
this liberty, and they were freemen who knew their rights and,
knowing, dared maintain! And this manly and persistent
defence of their own liberty, singularly enough and unex-

, lpectedly to them, laid the foundation of that liberty. which we
all enjoy to-day. They sowed the seeds of freedom with toil
and pain. To-—day we reap the harvest with great rejoicing. -

The principle, which they bravely and persistently maintained,
has in the intervening years matured ‘ its legitimate fruits, and
liberty of conscience is secured for all men. fAlready in 1784
there were two other churches of this order, and a little
Episcopal church on Church Street, still regarded with sus-

T picion by thorough-going patriots, and a small dwindling con»

gregation of a peculiar sect known as Sandemanians.
And now ‘around this central spire how many houses of

if worship rise, at the sight of many of which our fathers would

have lifted their hands in holy horror. For not only has the
Congregational order increased and multiplied, but that Prot-
estant Episcopal Church which was so much suspected one
hundred years ago, has waxed strong and useful, and has
commanded the respect and honor of all men; And here are
the Methodist churches, monuments of C that mighty revival of
religion in which Wesley led. And here are the churches

distinguished by their adherence to that principle for which if
it a R,oger Williams suffered exile from Massachusetts. And hither

has come the great historic church of Christendom, which is in
so true a sense the motherof us all, which regards us indeed
with pity, as erring and prodigal children, but whose pity we

LESSONS FROM A c1rY’s LIFE. 43

repay with reverence for her august history, for the brave

strength with which she brought down from the ancient to the

modern world the ‘lights of pure religion and sound learning,
which were like to go out in the darkness and tempest of inedi-

aeval Europe, for the courage and inagnanimity with which, in .

the days of her strength, she spread her protecting wings over
the poor and oppressed in every land to save them from the
spoiler--—-—whose pity, I say, we repay with reverence for what
she has been, yea, and for what she now is. And hither, too,
have come the children of that most ancient faith from which
the Christian faith has sprung, and here Israel after the flesh
have reared their synagogues, and here they worship the God
of their fathers in their fathers” way. Verily a great change
has come over the place since the days when this was the only
church, and every one in the plantation had to come here on

. Sunday, whether he wanted to or not. And it was because the

first planters so sturdily contended for their own liberty, that

they won this liberty for us. AWhe1'ever honest lmen success» a

fully battle for their own rights, they always win high privi-
leges for those who come after them.

But we can pursue no further the course of the city’s devel-
opment. It is time now to turn in closing to the thought with
which we began, that the right government of cities in a
republic is the great problem which now faces us. If we can
in practice reach the true solution of this problem, all will be

a well; if we cannot reach a true solution, woe be to us? We

are not yet a large enough city to feel greatly the pressure of
this problem upon ourselves, but its shadow is already over us,

A and, if our growth and prosperity continue, weshall soon have

to face it in all its magnitude. 4 And it can only be met success-
fully by all good citizens giving their first interest to municipal

A affairs. If the dwellers in cities would give as much and as

intelligent attentionAA to a municipal election, as they do to a

44 CENTENNIAL on NEW "HAVEN.

national one, the greatest dangers to our‘ civilization Would
disappear. If We will take care of the cities, the republic Will
be very Well able to take care of itself. It is a matter for keen
regret that the politics of our cities have become so entangled
with national politics. When a man is a candidate for an ofiice
in the city government, the first question that we ask concern-
ing him is the very irrelevant one: to What political party does
he belong? as if that ought to make any difference. The
questions which We ought to ask are : What are his views upon
sewerage and sanitation, upon public iniproveinents, upon vari—

‘W ous subjects which may be within the reach of city ordinances

Are his character and energy such as to niake «- him a good
public servant‘? Will he feel his responsibility to the people
in the exercise of the “trust lcoinrnitted to his charge? What
have his views upon the tarifi“ or upon the interpretation of the
Constitution of the United States, or his preference for any
national party, to do with his fitness for a municipal oflice?
But the Working of our political system has unfortunately been
such, that in local elections We are apt to look beyond local
interests to the necessity of carrying the State or the Nation,
and so our cities are largely governed by accident, or :rnisgov-
erned, or scarcely governed at all. If there is salvation in
store for this land, it must come by renewed attention on the
part of citizens ‘to municipal affairs. City government must be
disentangled from national politics, and this can only come

about when the great bulk of citizens, who have no axes to r
grind, no political prefernient to seek, nothing but the Well- ,
being of the city at heart, will set theniselves to this Work;

We must work out our own political salvation, and eternal
vigilance must be its price. And We have reason to rejoice
that in some of the larger cities, Where the evils of lax and

corrupt government have been becoming intolerable,this sim-- , W
1 pi ple principle is being practically recognized, and in the question

IJESSONS neon A crrv’s LIFE. 45

as to who shall hold a city office, fitness for the office is some-
what consi.dered. Even here where these evils are in a less
evident stage of their development, we have sporadic attacks
of this same uncominon sense. The gentleman who now holds
the chief magistracy of this city, holds it not b.ecause he is a
Democrat, certainly not because he is a Republican, but
because he has been weighed in the municipal balance and not
found Wanting. '

Fellow Citizens: “The lines are fallen to us in pleasant
places, yea, we have a goodly heritage.” It has (301118 to us
from the fathers, we hold it in trust for the generations to

come. What shall we do with it? Shall we transmit it to

posterity, more beautiful in outward seeming and in inward
grace than it came to us ‘Q Or shall we waste our fair portion
in riotous living, and by our unfaithfulness give to our succes-

sors only the broken reninants,.the shattered residue of what 

was once so goodly and so great? Upon the dwellers in cities

~ rests a double duty, at double responsibility. According as we
a discharge that duty and responsibility, the future of this nation

shall be bright and splendid, or its government shall be from
top to bottom, not government at all, but one wild ochlocracy.
It is ours to determine what shall be, and I have faith that we
shall deterrnine arigl.1t. We must lose sight neither of the

actual. nor of the ideal. , We must not forget or ignore the

mean and petty details of our political life, its paltry corrup- .

tions, its wearisome particulars. We must not lose” sight of

these things, for in their correction and in their administra-

tion, lies the work which is given us to do. But wernust

not dwell on these things alone. If we do, we shall become

depraved or disgusted. We must look, not only at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are unseen. We must
ever keep in sightthat ideal city, which rises above these gross

A , particulars, that fair cityof hope and beauty and righteousness

Q

46 CEENTENNIAIJ or NEW HAVEN.

and splendor, to which We may never attain, but towards
which We may ever approximate. If We lose sight of the
actual, we shall become unpractical and useless; if We lose sight
of the ideal We shall miss our inspiration and become mere
material laborers for the meat which perisheth. And not from
the ideal of the future alone may We draw inspiration, but
also from the memory of the past. As We look backward, our
eyes must rest to-day upon the famous Sunday in “‘ the far old
year,” 1638. The bay stretched out in blue beauty to the
sound. The grand sheer faces of the everlasting hills rose in
solemn majesty to the north; and between the Water and the
cliffs sloped upward the budding verdure of the Wooded plain,
and beneath the spreading branches of an oak, sat a little com--
pany upon whose ears fell the voice of one crying in the
Wilderness, “Prepare ye the Way of the Lord.” And when
the service was ended, they arose, and Went to prepare the Way.
“And the Wilderness and solitary place were glad for them.”
“ And all these, having obtained a good report through faith,
received not the promise, God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
For to-day, from the blue Waters to the stately hills, the forest
is gone, and in its place rise the spires and habitations of this

i beautiful and prosperous city, whose glory we now celebrate.

Wliat has happened in the intervening time? Who hath done
this? Davenport and Eaton" laid the foundation, but other
men have builded thereon. Walk through the silent streets

of yonder cemetery, and read there the “names of soldiers,

sages, saints, who have given their strength and greatness to
the place of their abode. And there, too, you will read the
names of many wliose record is forgotten, but Who, not less
than their more famous fe1loW~citizens, have contributed to the
Vvelfare of the city. They rest from their labors, but their

Works do follow them, because, they prized their own J eru-

LESSONS FROM A o1rY’s LIFE. 47

salem beyond their chiefest  From the dust of the re1nein-

sbered and the unr-e1ne1'nbered dead, who served their genera~

tion in faithfulness and hope, who through faith and patience
labored for the common good, there comes to us to day a
conimanclrnent and an inspiration that We also serve our gener-
ation and the generations that are to be. The hope of the
future and Inernory of the past alike cal.l upon us to do the

duty that lies nearest to us. And the glorified city glitters ,

from the skies. iNo free institutions can ever perish, unless,
first, faitlix in them has died out from the hearts of the people.
We 1”.l.’.l.l1Sl3 believe in our city and our nation. We must Wall:
by faith and not by sight. And We know that this high devo-
tion to ideals is yet strong among us. The turf upon the
g1'a.ves, Where We strevv flowers from year to yea.r, is yet too
young, there are left aniong us too many of the heroes of the
vvar for the ’111“1"l01'1, for us to think that high devotion and
disintereste<:l patriotism are things of the past.

Well We remember the days, when the flower and strength

of the North rushed’ forth to war, not counting their lives dear
unto tlminselves, for the sake of that ideal, that abstraction,
the integrity of the national union. Vast as were the practical
gains for freedoin which resulted from that war in the liberty
of a race, it was not for this, but for a pure abstraction, a lofty
ideal, that men were Willing to forego honae and friends and
the promise of youth, yea, even life itself. The ixnpulse which
sent them forth was not sensible,-—~——it was sentimental, it was

divine. And this same spirit has not departed from among us,

and it must set itself to harder work, work which is harder

because it has no crown of glory, no wreath of bays. The
high faith must lend itself to the Work-a-day business of

A orderly government. But the faith must ever be kept high

and pure. It must be real faith. i

“ No ageiwas e’er degenerate,
Unless men held it at too cheap a rate.”

48 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

Therefore, I say, believe in our country. Dare not to
think that the triumph of any political. party can ruin her.
For when we thi11l;: that, she is already ruined. Let us keep
bright our faith in tl1is sturdy little State of Connecticut, for
when that fails, she will not be worth saving. And fellow-
citizens of New Haven, let us 1nal~:e firm our faith in the
future of our beautiful city, and let it be the faith which is
manifest in works. Let us continually labor, that here, first of
all, may be good governinent, sound morality, honest 17>ros-
perity. And while we care for this fair city of our eartlily
habitation, we are "‘ seeking a city which hath fou1;1clations
whose builder and maker is God.”

The story of revelation, which begins in  garden, ends in a
city. It starts in Eden, but it brings us to the New Jerusalem.
And liurnan l.ife must ever find its finest and liilgliest develop--
ment in the cities. And to us is given the o1;>portuni.ty for that
highest success. If in our city life we reach. the level which
we ought to reach and which we have the ability to reach, we
shall be workers together with Him who out of the old is ever
evolving; a new heaven -and a new earth, wlierein dwelleth
rigliteousness. If we can set our cities 1'igl1t, then will all
things prosper.

NEW HAVEN IN 1784.

A PAPER

READ BEFORE THE NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

JANUARY 21, 1884,

BY

FRANKLIN BOWDITOH DEXTER.

NEW “HAVEN IN 1784.

ON the evening of January 21, 1784:, the President of Yale
College wrote in his diary: “This afternoon the Bill or Charter
of the City of New Haven passed the Governor and Council,
and completes the incorporation of the Mayor, four Aldermen
and twenty Common Council.” It is fitting to recall on this
anniversary some characteristics of the New Haven of 1784.

The town then covered the territory now occupied, not
only by the present town, but also by West Haven, East
Haven, North Haven, (the greater part of) Wooclbridge,sr Ham-—
den, and Bethany, in all an area. of perhaps ten by thirteen

0 miles, or from ten to twelve times as extensive as now.

0 The inhabitants were estimated at 7,960 souls ; of whom
3,350, less than almost any one of our wards to—day, were in
that part which was chartered as a city. There are now within
the town-limits of 1784, by a more than tenfold increase, some
87,000 inhabitants, while the city proper has multiplied more

than twentyfold.

In the settled part of the city (that is, the original nine
squares, called “the town-plat,” and the south-eastward exten-
sion to the water, known as “ the new township”), there were

some 400 dwellings, mostly of wood, but a good number of

brick, and one or two of stone. A nearly contemporaneous
map (17 7 5) on our Walls shows that these dwellings lay almost

wholly in the area bounded by Meadow, George, York, Grove,

52 CENTENNIAL on NEW HAVEN.

Olive and Wate1' streets,-——-——the northern part of this area being
by far the least fully inhabited.

The streets were without regular lines of trees, without
pavements, sidewalks, or names; but it was an awkward mode
of designation by localities identified with personal names (as
we still speak of Cutler Corner) ; and eight months after the
charter was given, 521 of the principal streets (Broadway,
Chapel, Che:rry, Church, College, Court, Crown, Elm, Fair,
Fleet, George, Grove, High, Meadow, Olive, Orange, State,
Temple, Union, Water, and York) received at a city meeting
their present names. A few may have been already known by
these titles; I dare not afiirm it of any but College and Chapel
streets, in both which cases the names were applied only to the
immediate vicinity of the two college buildings wl;1ich occa-
sioned them. A few more had been known by other names:
thus, the lower part of Church street was called. Market street,
from the market-house at the open intersection of George and
Church; State street is called on the map of 17 7 5 Queen
street, a designation which would seem to go back to distant
Queen Anne 3 part of C~:‘reoI*ge street was long l{1.1OWI1 as
Leather lane; York street was sometimes called ”West street,
and Grove street North street.

Of the new names Clrurch street was suggested by the
Episcopal Church which stood on the east side of that street, a
little nearer to Chapel than to Center street; Temple street,
from the two churches on the Grreen, in front of which it ran ;
York street, from the name of the “Yorkshire quarter,” given

at the very beginning to that neighborliood where some leading A

immigrants from Yorkshire sat down; Elm street from the
already patriarchal trees planted in 1686 in front of the Rev.

Mr; Pierpont’s dwelling and remaining almost to our day; and ,

Court street, because it was intended that it should run across
the Green ‘past the Court House. ‘

NEW HAVEN IN 1784. 53

New Haven had already been described in print (Peters’
History of Connecticut) as “the most beautiful town in New
England” ; and one special feature which contributed to this
i.mpression was the Green, usually called the market place,
because the southern border was used for this purpose. Dr.
Jedidiah Morse, however, states i.n the first edition of his
American (3‘reography (1789) that “the beauty of the public
square is greatly diminished by the burial ground and several
of the public buildings which occupy a considerable part
of it.” 1

Chief iarnong these buildings was an elegant and commodi-
ous brick State House or County Court House, built in
17 61-64 by the State and County jointly, and standing a little
to the north of, and much nearer Temple street than the
present Trinity church; it had both east and west doors, fur-
nished with stone steps; the first floor was devoted to court
rooms and offices, and the second to the use of the two houses
of the General Assembly at its October sessions, while the third
floor was an open hall. The judge of the County Court was
Col. James Wzidswo1°tl1, a graduate at Yale in 1748, of whose
college days an interesting reminiscence is preserved in the
plan which he drew of New Haven in his senior year and
which was engraved in 1806.

Next to this building stood what was still the “'7 New
Brick” meeting-—house of the First Church, built in 1753-57,
measuring about seventy-five by fifty feet, and holding an aver-
age congregation of not 1nucl1 over nine hundred persons; it
was on the site of the present Center Church, and was arranged

internally in a corresponding way, with the pulpit toward the

west, but it was as if the church now standing were shifted '

around sidewise, the north and south length being the greatest,
and the bell—tower at the northern end. The minister was the
Rev. Chauncey gwhittelsey, now near the end of his life,

54: CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

having reached the age of sixty-six, and having been settled
for thirty-six years.

The earliest secession or separation from the common church

of the Whole town had been the society formed in consequence
of the Whitefieldian revival, and after a long struggle finally
recognized by authority of the General Assembly in 17 59, and

dubbed with the unaccountable name of the White Haven

Societyfx‘ Their wooden meeting-house, built in 174.4 and
much enlarged in 1764, measuring about sixty feet square, and
called from its color the Blue Meeting-house, stood on the
southeast corner of Elm and Church streets. r The congregation

‘ worshiping there had dwindled from a much larger itiiimher ,

than that of the parent society, to less than eight hundred
hearers, under the dry preacliing of that acute metapliysician,
Jonathan Edwards, the younger, now aged thirty-nine, and
for fifteen years their pastor. .

The majority of those who had left Mr. Edwards’s meeting,
as much from dislike of his extreme “ New Di:vi.nity ” views
as from his dull preaching, had formed anew co1;1g1'eg::Lti.o11,

called the Fair Haven Society, now the largest in town, or

about one thousand persons, who worshiped in a house the
size of the ‘-T‘ New Briclz,” built of wood, in 17 70, on the site
of the present church of theUnited Society. Their minister
was Mr. Allyn Mather, a young man of tl1i1'ty—si:x:., now in
feeble health, and among the congregation was the Rev.

Samuel Bird, Mr; Edvvards’s predecessor, and Mr. Mather’s

frequent substitute in the pulpit; both of them died Within
the year. It is one of the curious felicities of history that

T not only have these two divergent ofishoots from the old First
 Church long ago come together in the United Society, but now

they are preparing to absorb also another organization (the

* May this name have been given with a covert reference to White
field? T . ‘ T

NEW HAVEN IN 1784. 55

Third Church) which represented in its origin an opposite
extremefof theological belief. T

The great majority of New Haven in 1784: was thus of one
religious faith. But besides these societies of the Congrega~
tional order there was a small Episcopal society, not numbering
much over two hundred’ members, which occupied what was
distinctively known as “The Church,” built in 1754;~55, on
Church Street,with the Rev. Bela Hubbard as rector, now
forty—four years of age, and having been here for fourteen
years; this was the smallest in size of any of the church build-
ings mentioned, somewhat less than sixty by forty feet.

Besides the Episcopalians there was a handful of Sa1ideina-
nians, the most radical of “ N ew—Light” sects, too much so for
even Mr. Edwards to tolerate, who had held separate services
fora dozen years or more ; for a time they had had two elders
or ministers in charge of their simple worship, but these
leaders had sympathized (_ as did others of the flock) too plainly
with Tory principles to remain here in the Revolution ; and
the remnant that was left had dwindled into insignificance.
There were also one or two Jewish families, the first of which
appeared here in 1772. if

I have mentioned the chief buildings on the Green.
There was, besides, a wooden jail, on College Street, built in
17 35, with StephenlMunson, a college graduate, for jailor; but
this dilapidated structure was replaced, late in the year 1784,

by a new jail, built just across the street, under the eaves of ”
  the college. Adjacent to the jail on the south was the old

County Court House, the upper floor of which had been used also
as a State House for many years before the new one was built;
in this building, or in a. separate building near it, the Hopkins
Grammar School, which was now in a very low condition, was

i kept by Mr. Richard Woodhull, a middleaged rnan,Jof coinpe-

tent learning, whose career as a college tutor had been inter-

U

56 ‘ CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

rupted many years before by his conversion to Sande1nanian—
ism, and whose attitude in the Revolution as a non—resistant and
loyalist had interfered still further with his prospects. Besides
this, there was a brick school»-house on the Elm street side of
the Green, north of and older than the Fair Haven meeting-
house, and here youth of both sexes were taught.

Occupying a good part of the upper Green, which then
sloped much more than now from west to east, on the sides
and at the back of the Brick ineeting-house, was the
ancient burial-ground, of irregular shape, which had lately
been inclosed by a rough board fence. This was, I suppose,
the only fence on or about the whole Green, the rest being
entirely open to the surrounding streets, and the more level
lower Green especially being a connnon thoroughfare for all
sorts of travel. A

Two hundred and fifty buttonwood and elm trees, set out
in 17 59 around the Green, were now half grown; of these I
take it that the solitary buttonwood, ‘still standing opposite the

 ~First Methodist Church, is a survivor; the veteran elm at the

southeast corner of the Green may be older, and a few others

of our oldest ehns may be relics of this planting. On the Green

itself no trees were standing; but a single row of ehns was
placed, a year or two later, on the line of Teinple street, in
front of the State House and the churches.

Next in interest to the Green was the College which
fronted upon it. The building originally named Yale College,
which had stood in the front corner of the yard, had recently
been torn down; and the three buildings which in 1784 repre-

sented the College are all now standing, though greatly trans
formed. The oldest, Connecticut Hall, or South Middle, built l

in 1750-51, instead of being the four—storied structure which it

A is to—day, had but three stories with a garnbrelroof, and lodged

about one-third of the students; what is now the Athenaeum,

NEW HAVEN IN 1784. 57

built in 17 61———-63, was of three stories, with steeple and bell,
and contained the chapel, l.ibrary, and apparatus-room ; and in
the rear was the new dining-hall, built in 1782, later the
chemical laboratory. Besides these there were the President’s
house, built of wood in 1722, and an elegant mansion for that
date, standing a little :north of the present College street
Church; and the Professor of Divinity’s house, also belonging
to the College, on York street, on the ground now appro-
priated to the Medical School.

The President was Dr. Ezra Stiles, one of the most learned
Americans of his generation, now 56 years of age, having been
six years in oflice; while the Professor of Divinity, or College
pastor, and at the same time lecturer on theological topics, was
the Rev, Samuel Wales, a young man of 36, installed only two
years before, and now at the height of his usefulness, his
remarltable power as a preacher as yet unaflected by the
insidious disease which soon ended his career.

There were enrolled as students during the current term

(Nov. 12———J an. 13), the first term of the College year, 260 ,

undergraduates, twenty-five per cent. more than in any other
American college; but the great irregularity of attendance

which was then common reduced the number actually present T

to less than 225. The Junior class was instructed by Tutor
Josiah Meigs, and the Sophomores by Tutor Matthew Talcott
Russell, while the Freshrnan class was so unusually large as to
be divided under the care of the two youngest tutors,
Simeon Baldwin and Henry Channing. The other officers

were, James I-Iillphouse, a young lawyer, treasurer, and Jere» r

miah Atwater, steward. , H i
I have thus named all that can be called public buildings in

l the town; certainly there was no bank,-—-—-that luxury did not

come till 1792; no post—oflice,—-—the infrequent mails were
handled in a corner of an small cou11try——store; no alrrrsliouse,-e-4
r 3

58 .CENTENNIA_L on NEW HAVEN.
3

for was it not Voted, at the town—meeting" in March, 1783,
“That the selectmen vendue [that is, farm out at auction] the
poor of the town which are now supported by the town so that
they may be supported in the cheapest 1nar111e1';” no hospital,
except the town pest-house on Grapevine Point, for the inocu-
lation and t.reatn1ent of s1:nal.l—po:~:, then so formidable ; and no
public library, though this is less a wonder, since it is also true
of New Haven in 1884.

Turning to the classes which made up society, besides the
professional men already mentioned, there were eight or nine
lawyers inactive practice 5 but the Very recent growth of that
profession in importance and public favor, and the losses it had
suflered through loyalty to the British crown, are shown by
the fact that the senior member of the bar was Charles
Chauncey, only thirty»-six years of age, while the leader of the
profession in brilliancy was Pierpont Edwards, two years

  younger, whose annual income of $2000 was said a little later
“ to be the largest earned by any lawyer in the State.

The medical profession had also eight or nine representa-

tives in what became the city,——the leading physician, alike in 1

reputed skill and in social status, being Dr. Leverett Hubbard,
President of the County Medical Society which was founded
this same month, who lived in his new stone dwelling still

standing at the junction of George and Meadow. streets. Dr.

John Spalding, after his removal here in the spring of 17 84,
was considered the leading surgeon. ‘

As for the business of the city, there was the usual provision

for domestic trading common to a place of this size. A; statis-
tical enumeration gives fifty-six shops, half a dozen of which
carried from two to three thousand pounds (sterling) worth of
goods, and the rest from £500 to £150 worth. What after-
wards became the leading retail house of Brooms & Flatt was
not removed here from New York till iSepte1nber,:1784:;

NEW IIAVEN IN.l.78+iL . 59

Sls1oip1na,n, Drake, llcwvell, Perit, Helms, Austin, are among tl1e
other lez1.cli11g names. There were no local 1nannfactnres,—~—~the
long course of British rule had thoroughly, stamped out every-
thing of that ‘sort; the utmost that was done was the ordinary
spinning and weaving for domestic use, and a little ironworl~:—
".l].l,1g‘ {t”1’1(l })ape1°1onoal{i11g*. N

In one direction, however, there was activity. New Haven,
in fliloiilhnent of the dreein of its founders and of all the early
generat"isons, was alreedy of l1I'I'1p()1‘til11C.fie as a sea-port; it had in
operation e:s:to.*r1sri.‘ve <t:>yste1*~fisls1eries; it had its Union Wh&1‘f
and iIJ(;)1].g Wharf, t1:1onggl1 not so long as now; already, since
the annonneement of peace, vessels had begun to sail direct
‘for E1:r'1g1:t11s<ls and Ireland, tl1C)11gls?l the 1f1:1e.'i11 stay was concnnerce
with the West Indies, so "far as they were open to us, in the
e;xpo1r't of horses, oxen, pork, beef, and lmnber, with return
c:22t1'gc)es of sng;a.r and molasses. In 1784 thirty-six A_1nerican
vessels, with one :1l3l1‘itiwS}‘1L sl.s1ip and one Danish, are recorded as
entczringg this port, while tlfiirty-three sea»-going vessels were

owne<;1 here, all e1r1g;atge<l in fo1'eig11 and VVest—Ind;ia trade, as «

a,g;a*i‘i1st forty that were owned just before the war begaii in
177 at the close of warlike operations in 1781, this number
lyiactl dwindl.ed to one solitary ‘V“GSS(-Bl, so that the return of pros
perity lznni been 1**apis<:1 in this lf)1‘2'.11(3lI1 ; most of those now owned
were built here or in the iiintmediate ‘[1€3lg‘.l‘,‘ll)O1“l10()(l. There was
at least one line of pecltets carrying both passengers and
f1'eigl;1t to New York ‘weekly during the open season; and
another weekly line running to New London and Norwich.
The collector of customs for the United States Government
was Jonathan Fitch, a son of Governor Fitcli, of Norwalk,
Aand a Yale graduate, who had married early a step-daughter of

President Clap and had served for a generation before the war A

as ‘steward of the college.  i s A
The central government was also rep1*es6hte(l by the post-

60 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

master, Elias Beers, whose ofiice was next the store of his elder
brother, Isaac Beers, on the College street side of the corner
now occupied by the New Haven House. Post-riders took
letters twice (or in severe weather, once) a week to New York,
doing a large coinmission business, to the benefit of their own
pockets, by th.e way. The return mails from New York
divided at New Haven, one goiiig each week me New London
and Providence to Boston, the other ta.ki11g the inland route
to the same destination by Hartford and Sprin,g'field, and by
each route there was a return mail weekly; the branching of
the post-routes at this point into two eastward routes, as to this
day of the railroads, is of course a reminder of the historical
position of New Haven as the first settlement on the direct
road between New York and Boston, and thus from the first
the point to which all travel for New York from the eastward
converged.

A stage for Hartford and Spiirigiield left here every Wed~
nesday; and another left on Saturday, which connected at
Hartford with one leELV‘l11_.,§' for Boston on Monday mo1*11i11g,
which going by the most direct route (Sorners, Brookfield, and
Wo1‘ceste1') did not reach the journey’s end until Thursday
evening; the post—r-iders, however, moved more rapidly than
this. i

The New Haven postoflice was the receiving-oflice for all
the inland region not served by the Hartford, New York, and
New London oflices; thus, not only all letters for such near
points as Cheshire, VVallingford, and VVaterbur , but all for
towns as far off as Litchfield and New Milford were left here,
to be delivered to any one bound for those parts; if not soon
called for, they were advertised in the New Haven newspaper,
and after three months from that date, were sent to the Dead

Letterdepartnoeiit of the General postoflice at Philadelphia,

which was in charge of Ebenezer Hazard, Postmaster-Greneral.

NEW I-IAVEN IN 1784. 61

The post-office adjoined Isaac Beers’s store; and this in-

troduces us to what was, after the College, the intellectual’

center (in a sense) of New Haven. The store was a part of
the proprietor’s house, which was also an inn, and he sold-—-—be—
sides bool{s—-~—-geiieral groceries, and the best of gin and brandy.
Cf books he was, I think, one of the largest direct importers
in the United States; and very remarkable are the lists of his
latest acquisitions which he publishes now and then in the
weekly newspaper, covering sonietimes an entire page.

Besides this, there was at least one other general book-
store, of less pretensions, that of Daggett and Fitch; and one
specially devoted to school-books, kept by Abel Morse, the
teacher of a select school ‘for girls; Goodrich and Darling,
druggists, also dealt in books. The ofilce of Thomas and
Samuel Grreen, who printed the newspaper and such pam-
phlets as the divines and politicians of the neighborhood
furnished for publication, was over Elias Ship1nan’s store,
which was directly opposite the post--oflice, on College and
Chapel streets, the site of Townsend’s Block; but they, I sup-
pose, sold little but their own publications.

The newspaper was the Connecticut Journal, begun by the
same publishers in1767, and continuing under various propri~
etors until. 1835. It appeared every Wednesday}? on a sheet of
four pages, about fourteen by nine or , ten inches in size, and
was poorly edited, even forthat day; so that we may not
wonder that an early evidence of progress in the new city
should have been the establishment, in May, 1784:, of a second

paper, the New Haven Gazette, price eight shillings a year, to ,

edit which Josiah Meigs resigned his College tutorship.

- In connection with the local publishing business may be
mentioned the name of Abel Buell, the ingenious mechanic,~—-
at various times in his life, engraver, type—founder, coiner, and

igo1dsmith,———-who advertises in lMarch, 17 84, a map of the

62 CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

United States, the first ever compiled, engraved, and finished
by one hand; and also the name of Amos Doolittle, the

earliest copper-plate engraver in America, whose shop for
sign-painting and the higher branches of his art was on the
present College square, fronting the Green. T _

Passing to the political and social. condition of the city, we
are to reineinber that the whole country had just come out of
an exhausting war; and New Haven had suffered her full
share, much beyond the most of New England. A sermon
just preached by the Rev. Benjamin Trumbull, of North
Haven, at the celebration on the news of the Definitive Treaty
of Peace, estimates the loss of New Haven in soldiers and
seamen on the American side during the war at 210 ; and the
loss of property by the raid of the B1'itisl1 troops on this town
was 1'eclr.oned at over £30,800, in a depreciated currency.

But peace was now secured, and the general sentiment
among the leaders of opinion in the town was hopeful of
brighter days than ever; although the town taxes were four
pence on the pound, or nearly two cents on the dollar, double

the usual rate before the war, and this high figure was supple» l
mented moreover by state taxes of three shillings and twopence l

(sixteen cents on the dollar).
The fullest picture of our modern . daily life is the news
paper; but for 1784: T/L6 Connecticut e-/.0'?»(»7’72.(.tZ is a poor help.

It is guiltless of anything so direct as an editorial, and almost A
equally guiltless of contributions from correspondents; the

local editor and the interviewer are alike unknown. In other
words, the entire paper is made up of selections from other

 sheets, of foreign news (usually aboutten weeks old), of very V

scanty items from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and a few 0
other prominent places, and of advertisements. The selections
bear largely at this date on the novel situation of the United
States, just formally acknowledged as independent.  They

NEW HAVEN IN 1784. 63

feed the popular interest in subjects which we know were
under discussion elsewhere,———such , as, preeininently, the
approval or non-approval of the so-called Cornrnutation Bill,
recently passed by the Congress of the Confederation, for corn-
muting the half-pajy for life, previously Voted to Revolutionary
ofliccrs and soldiers, into five years’ full pay in one gross sum;
the cliiange was really a shrewd piece of economy for the gov-—
ernment, and yet was «inost Iiinpopulai-, especially in New
Eiiglandg a convention met at Middletown, in December,
1783, to record Clor.mecticut’s dissent from such a creation of a
nf1o1r1.eyed aristoc acy.

Another timely subject, of far-reacliing consequences, was
the question. of givinsg Clongress the 1'i.ght to levy moderate
iinport duties on specified articles, for meeting the interest on

the public debt; the principle of Federal government was

involved; approval of the irnpost meant adhesion to the theory
of a strong central government as necessary, while disapproval
was a prefereiice for the eX.lStl11g' Confederation, already on its
downward career to powerlessness and contempt.

I11 these twin disputes, the Connecticut Legislature coin-
initted itself to the policy of narrowness and conservatisrn by
resolving in 17 88 that the requisitions of Ooiigress were not
valid until after the approval of the State; and in January,
17 84., they voted down (69 to 37) the irnpost reconnnended by

Ooiig-ress, the New Haven representative voting with the

majority. At the next election, however, the people repudia-
ted the action of their deputies; and Pierpont Edwards and
James Hillhouse, of New Haven, concurred with the great
majority of the new General Assernbly in granting Congress
the desired authority to raise this slender revenue. 1

The current advertisements show the great confusion of
the time A in respect to financial standards. Goods, are on sale

A for cash, for bank notes, forMorris’s notes, Mr. Hillegas’ notes,

64 CENTENNIAL on NEW HAVEN.

Picl«:eri11'g’s certificates, soldiers’ notes, State money, all kinds
of lumber, grain, oxen, cows, potash, country produce, etc.,
etc. Bank notes were the issues of the bank at Philadelphia,
the only institution of the kind in the Union; Morris’s notes
were the issues of treasury—notes by Robert Morris, superinten-
dent of finance of the United States; Hillegas was r the treas-
urer of Congress, and Picl{eri.ng was Q,ua1'ter1naste1'~General;
soldiers’ notes were the interest-bearing certificates entitling
the army to their half—~pay for life, or to full pay for five years;
and State money meant the outstanding bills of credit or paper
money issued in the early years of the war by the State govern-
ment, at convenient denominations, from two pence to two
pounds. By cash was meant at that date, before C-louverneur
Morris’s system of decimal currency (which we now use) had
been adopted by Congress, and a mint set up, a miscellaneous
foreign coinage, 1na.inly English and Spanish, with a few
coppers of local origi11; it was through familiarity with the
Spanish currency, that the term dollar was already in general
use. i
Socially, the characteristics of New Haven weremuch the
same as throughout New England. The population was still

of pure English descent, and a homely familiarity of inter~ .
course prevailed; while the adventuring spirit of cominerciali

life, traversing the seas, tended to widen views, and the

‘ presence of the College was felt as a cultivating influence,

bringing hither a constant succession of intelligent and famous“

visitors. The specially cold winter of 1783-41: was not a

favorable season for travel, but President Stiles’s diary records 

the entertainment, among others, of Major General John A
Sullivan, of New Hampshire, of ,Mr. Gray, a son of the poet, of r

Ira Allen, .a. brother of Ethan Allen, and one ofthe founders
of Vermont, and of John Ledyard, the distinguished traveler.

A I have not time to dwell on details of the social life of a l

 HAVEN IN 1784. 65

century ago : if it was not the hurried and feverish life of the
present, no more was it the ascetic and constrained life of a
century earlier; there was abundance of gaiety of a simple
sort; and the shopkeepers publish prompt advertisements of
the arrival of fresh invoices of “gentlemen and ladies’ dancing-
gloves for the City Assemblyfi’ of “ chip-hats of the newest
taste,” of “ new figured, fashionable cotton chintz and calicoes,
proper for ladies’ Winter dress,” of “elegant figured shauls,”
of “ladies’ tiifany balloon hatsfi’ and so on and rzivzyimftu-7n,——~
showing that hu.man nature had the same kind of interest then
as now.

As one part of their social life, We must remember this as
the time when domestic slavery was general in New Haven.
The importing of slaves was forbidden since 1774, but the
papers have occasional, not frequent advertiseme1;1ts for the
sale of likely negroes, or it may be a family of negroes, in
respect to whom “a good title will be given ;” sometimes it is
for a term of years (perhaps till the attainment of legal
majority, when by the will of some former owner freedom
Was to be given), and sometimes it is noted that, in the lack of
ready money, rum and sugar will be taken in part payment.
The relations of masters and slaves were in most cases here the
best possible; yet sensible men were uneasy under the incon-~
sistency of the system, and President Stiles Writes in his diary,
in December, 17 83: “ The constant annual importation of
negroes into America and the West Indies is supposed to have

been of late years about 60,000, b Is it possible to think of this i

vvithout horror?” A A
I pass on to the special circumstances which made New

Haven a city,

The origin of the movement it may be difficult to trace.

0 Certainly We cannot adopt the earliest date that has been

Tassignedlfor such an ‘origin; for that wou.1c.1 <:011“1l1I1‘-i’G 118 ‘E0, the
w 9 A i o A A

66 CEN‘TENNIA.L on NEW HAVEN.

acceptance of a statenient by the notoriously inaccurate Samuel

A Peters, who in giving in his History of Connecticut (17 81) the

story of the Phantom Ship, which sailed from this port in
164.-'7, says that she carried a request for a patent for the
colony and for a charter for the city of New Haven ; this part
of his tale is a pure fabrication.

The first step which I can fix in the genealogy of the
charter is a vote in tow11—meeting, December 9, 1771, in these
words: “ VVhereas a motion was made to the town that this
town might have the p1'ivileges of a city, and that proper meas-
ures might be taken to obtain the same, it is thereupon Voted
that Roger Sherman ” [and seventeen others] “ be a Committee
to take the same into consideration and judge of the motion

1 what is best for the town to do with regard to the same and

report thereupon to the town at another town.—n:1eeting.” This
committee never reported, so far as the records show, nor do
the public prints of the day refer to the matter. Roger Sher-
man, the chairman, then fifty years old, and for ten years a
resident of New I-1aven,was already eminent in the regards of
his fellow-townsmen, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas,
and a member of the G~overnor"s Council, or Upper House of
the Assembly, though still keeping a small country-store oppo-

site the College on Chapel street.

Ten years passed without further sign, until in December,
1781, the town was obliged to take cognizance of eflorts which
had lately been gathering strength, for the creation of new
towns from the more distant parts of New Haven. At a
townéineeting of this date, a cormnittee was therefore appointed

to report a plan for the division of, the town into several . "
distinct townships; and this committee reported the same

month inyfavor of setting off the portions which afterwards

became Woodbridge, East Haven, and North Haven. 1 These
towns were not in fact incorporated until after the city of, H

NEW HAVEN IN 1784. 6*?

New Haven ; but the one movement was a complement of the
other.

At the close of the Revolution the two most prosperous
centers of population in this country were Philadelphia, with
nearly 30,000 inhabitants, and New York, with a little under
25,000. Both were cities : New York having received a
charter from James II. in 1686, during the spasm of liberal
zeal which marked the beginning of his reign; and Philadel-
phia having been similarly endowed in 17 01 by the proprietor
of Pennsylvania, the ardent friend and quondam political
mentor of James II, Besides these, I do not recall any other
incorporated cities in the Union at this date, except Albany,
which was chartered at the same time and under the same
circumstances as New York, but was now of less population
than New I-Iaven, and Richmond, incorporated in 1782, but
only a small village in point of numbers.

The prosperity and size of Philadelphia and New York
were, however, objects of emulation; and there is some evi-
dence that it was from a11 ambition of rivaling their prominence,
that a charter was desired for New Haven. This may have been
especially in view of the long occupation of New York by the
British, and a consequent interruption of the previous depen-
dence of our dealers on New Ymrk merchants for imports from
England and for the return of remittances thither; New York

had just been evacuated, and might not the two places begin

new careers more on an equality, if New Haven were elevated
to the dignity of a city’? I A
To recur to President Stiles’s diary, we have this entry on

October 20, 1783 :; “Sign’d a petition to the Assembly for V

incorporating New Haven as a city.” , The Assembly wasthen
holdingits regular fall session in New Haven, and so continued

until November 1, when it adjourned to meet again in January

I in a special session, for the purpose of revising the laws of A

68 o1sNruiNNI.A.1f,. or NEW HAVEN.

the State. The October session was made rnemorable by the
announcement of Grovernor Tru1nbull’s deter1ninia,tion to retire
from public life at the next election, on account of his advanced
age (7 3). T p at

The petition referred to by Dr. Stiles is on file (With 214

signatures) in the State Lib ary. It bases the desired action

on the l1iI1Cll.‘£l.If1(39S to an extension of comngierce, Wliicli “arise
for Want of a due regulation a of the internal police” of the
town. “Specifically, “it is matter of no srnalil. in“:1portanoe that
wharves, streets and l1l.,£7,'l1W€l-378, be corninodious for business,
and kept continually in good repair ;” and such a result can—-
not be attained, unless the xnemorialists have a jurisclietiono of
their own. Hence the petition, that the inl:1al:>:itants "Within
specified limits “be made a corporation,” with power to enact
by-laws, and that a Court be constituted for the same jurisdic-
tion. A bill brouglit in in accordance With this petition was
passed at the same session by the Upper Irlouse; but the
Lower House insisted that it be referred to the adjourned
session for their consideration, and it was so referred. 4

On the 21st of November, Dr. Stiles Writes: “ ‘i:XaII1Tl.I1Tl11g‘
the Act or Charter proposed for the City of New Haven.”
This interval of examination resulted in rushing the final draft
of i the charter quite difierent in details from that presented in
October.

The Assembly was to meet in New Haven on Thursday,
January 8, 1784:; and on Monday, January 5, at a town-meet
ing, with Roger Sherman in the chair, a resolution was passed,
“ requesting the representatives i11 the Assembly,” who were

Captain Henry Daggett and Captain Jesse Ford, “to exert a

tl1emsel*ves that the Actfor incorporating apart of the town
be passed with all convenient speed.” . A I
Owing to unusually bad traveling, the adjourned session

didinot open until Tuesday, January 13.. The presiding ofiicer

NEW HAVEN IN 1784. 69

of the Upper House was His Excellency Governor Jonathan
Trurnbull, of Lebanon, Who, as was his custom, lodged at the
house of President Stiles; While the Speaker of the Lower
House was the Hon. Colonel Williain Williams, also of Leb~
anon, Well known as a signer of the Declaration of 177 6.

As usual, all Acts passed by the Assembly are dated as of
the first day of the session, and as usual the weekly newspapers
give none of the interesting details of legislative proceedings;
so that it is only from the unprinted pages of Dr. Stiles’s Lit-
erary Diary that vve gain the exactilcnovvledge of the day when
the charter was finally passed. 1

The next Week’s Connecticut Journal, however, contains
the notification of the first meeting of the city, to be held on
February 110; and in the Journal of February ~:L appears an
advertisement by the selectmen of the town, announcing that,
in accordance with a paragraph in the act of incorporation of
the city, an opportunity Will be given on Thursday, February
5, for any who are qualified to become freemen of the State,
but have not yet taken, the freetnanfs oath, to appear and be
admitted, so as to participate in the first city election. _

On the day appointed, Dr. Stiles was among those taking
the oath; and he records that the total number in the city

1 1 who are qualified to become freemen, as now certified by the

selectmen, is three hundred and forty-three, of Whom fifty-five
(about one-sixth) are college graduates; eighty—tvvo of the
three hundred and forty-three (about one—fourth) have not
taken the freeman’s oath,-—-some being absent, some disabled,
some indifferent. The full list, which he appends, is of great
interest, and might instructively be compared, on theone hand,

5 with the roll of original planters, in 1640, and on the other hand

with the roll of our voters tot-day. In 17 84 the families most
largely represented in the voting population were, Austin (a
name introduced in the generation after the settlement, not

7'0 CENTENNIAL on NEW _1?1".A.ViEl\T.

anioiig the fi1'st—come1's) ancl T1'c>Wl)1.-i<l_ge, the nam.e VVl.j1lCf.l11 lias
multiplied beyond any Ol3l"l(31‘ in the c>1‘i,gi11:iLl company; next
followed Atwater, Bishop, Hotclikiss, Mnnson, _l31*'aclley, Mix,
Thompson, and Townsend.

Dr. Stiles f_111'the1' jticlges that there were about six hundred
adult males Ilivingj Witliin the city limits, sln:1c>Win.,g7r tliat nea,1'ly
every other man was disf, a11cl1i.se(l, either by the ope1'atio1l:1 of
the qualification li,1n11i.ti11g s111‘li'1.*age to those l1c>l(li,1:1g 1'eal estate
which would yield a rental of £525 J“_2.,)c-W cz»7i2.»7izxe.m2,-, or “personal
estate Worth £40, or else clisf1i'a11cl:1i.sed by their loyalty to Grreat
Britain in the late War.

The election of city oflicers was appoi11te<;l,, for .ll‘ebrua1~y .10 ;
and as the Greneral Assembly was still in sessio1J:1,tl,1e i7l1fl1,‘(l
story of the State House was the _]:>lace of gmet2t,:i,1.:1g;. (;).if' the
261 freemen who had q11z1,l,i,lie<;l, over f735'('”), sa_y*s i.iI ),1:'. St:iles,
attended at the 0pG1.“)l1f.l§_?,‘ of the polls, but only EMS) votes were
1'ec3orclecl, on the first ballot, that for 1.nayo1'; of l7.l.1(;.‘..‘3€3 just the
nnniber necessary for a choice, 1335, Were cast fox: Rc>,g;'eii' Sl1e1'—
man, 102 for Deacon Tlgioinas Howe,ll., an<:l 22 for T.ll1C)l..'.'li12tS
Darling. '

M1‘. Sherxnan was new in his (:“$3(l y"ea.h1*., am'l was nn (1'11.(BStTl,O111—
ably the most clisti,ng;11i,sli1e(l 1'esi<:lent of the new city. Tl.1a,t he
did not carry a larger “vote inay l1a\>'e been due to his ypcrsonal
cliaracteristicsg that a1*i.stoe1'atic, 0l‘T7llllll.”1g' 1*ese1've of :1::n.a1111er
which his jmiiors have 1*epo1'ted of ltnrn, may well l.U:lV('3 stood
in the way of popularity. Moreover, thei-e were nn(:l.e1'cn.1'1'eI1ts
of feeling, as we shall see, that would have _‘p1‘eV€31‘1t€‘(’.l. a co1;‘dti.al
uniting on any one. It is an evidence of Mr. Slierrna11’s
acknowledged Inerits that at the time of this election he was
absent, in Annapolis, Wliere he had been for a inontli in attend-
ance as a meinber of Cong1*ess, which had 111i;_,r1*a,ted south»
wards, pending the expected establishment of a capital. near
the falls of the Potomac.

NEW 1~I[A.VEN IN 1'78eL 71

Sherman’s chief competitor for the niayoralty, Deacon
Howell of the First Church, now in his 65th year, was chosen
Senior Alderman, and tl1us in the Mayor’s absence became the
active head of the government; it is remarkable that neither
of the two was of old New Haven stock, Sherman being a
native of Massachusetts, and HoWell’s father having immi-
grated from Long Island.

The other aldermen were Samuel Bishop, previously iden-
tified with the toWn—clerk’s ofiice for forty years, and b1'oug;l'1t
into Wide notoriety” at the end of his loiig life as President
J"efi:'erson’s appointee to the collectorship of the port; Deacon
David Austin, of the Wl]ltB Haven Church ; and Isaac Beers,
the bookseller. The interest in the election of twenty common
councilmen, which was not completed till the third day,
dwindled so rapidly that the total number of votes for the last
places was only about one hundred. At the conclusion of the
election (Feb1'L1ary 12) all the new ofiicials except the absent
mayor were sworn in, and the city government was finally
organized.

Dr. Stiles’s Valuable diary gives an inside view of the

election, under date of February 13, when he says : “ The city

politics are founded in an endeavor silently to bring Tories
into an equality and supremacy among the Wliigs. The
Episcopalians are all Tories but two, and. all qualified on this
occasion, though despisiiig Oo11g1'ess goveriiinent before; they
may perhaps be forty Voters. There may be twenty or thirty
of Mr. Wl1ittelsey’s meeting added to these. Perhaps one-
third of the citizens,” that is, I suppose, one-third of the 261
who had taken the freeman’s oath, “may be hearty Tories,

one—third Wliigs, and one-third indifierent. Mixing; all up ,

together, the election hascome out, Mayor and tWoiAldern1en,
Wliigsg two Aldermen, Tories, Of the Common Council,

five Wliigs, five fiexibles butilin heart Whigs, eight Tories.

72' CENTENNIAL on NEW HAVEN.

The two Sheriffs,” Elias Stilwell and Parsons Clark, “and
Treasurer,” Hezekiah Sabin, “Whigs; the first Sheriff firm,
the other flexible.”

From these hints it would appear that the so-called “Tory”
element had been concerned in the entire movement for a
charter. I may add that at a meeting held on March 8, on
the motion of Pierpont Edwards, a committee of eight was

appointed, “to consider of the propriety and expediency of

admitting as inhabitants of this town persons who in the
course of the late war have adhered to the cause of Great
Britain against these United States, and are of fair characters,
and will be good and useful members of society and faithful
citizens of this State.” In their report, made the same day,
this committee deduced from the independence of the several
States and the spirit of peace and philanthropy displayed in
the “Recommendations” of Congress based on the treaty of
peace, that it was in point of law proper to admit such as
are above described, but not any who Were guilty of unauthor-~
ized plundering and murder. As for expediency, they sug-
gested that no nation is truly great unless it is also distin-
guished for justice and magnanimity; and argued that it
would be magnanimous to restore these persons, and especially
that the commercial future of New Haven made it desirable
thus to increase its inhabitants.
accepted and approved by the town. A Such an ardent patriot

as Dr. Stiles dismisses the unpalatable theme with this curt
entry? in his diary : “ This day town-meeting voted to re—-admit T

a the Tories.’?

-Q“

The question of T the r treatment of the loyalists had for
months previous been under heated discussion all over the
Union ; and not least in New Haven, Where the argument was
strongly urged that a sound commercial policy dictated the
invitation hither of some of“"the numerous gentlemen of large

The report was at once

NEW HAVEN IN 1784. 73

property and influential connections in business, who had been
dislodged from their homes and would gladly begin life anew
among a congenial people. Attempts had been made to mould
public opinion by newspaper appeals ; and twice or thrice with
special ingenuity by printing extracts from letters said to have
been received from friends in Europe ; one such, for instance,
in the Journal of January 7, represented that Dr. Franklin
and Mr. Jay, now abroad for the negotiation of peace, were
much hurt at the harsh measures adopted toward loyalists. By
such means and by more direct arguments, the way was quietly
prepared for as popular amnesty, which was thus voted in
March, 1784:, just a year after a former town-meeting, when
the New Haven representatives were solemnly instructed by
their constituents“ to use their influence with the next General
Assembly in an especial manner, to prevent the return of any

of those miscreants who have deserted their country’s cause i

and joined the enemies of this and the United States of Amer-
ica, during their late contest :”-~—-—a striking instance of rapid
conversion. ,
I add beforerclosing a reference to two peculiar provisions
of the charter. It was enacted that the mayor’s tenure of
office should be “during the pleasure of the General Assems

bly,” which was equivalent to a life appointment, and so proved‘

in practice; for Mayor Sherman retained the position until
his death in 17 93, when Samuel Bishop succeeded, continuing
till his death in 1803; the third incumbent, Elizur Goodrich,

held oflice till his resignation in 1822, and his successor, A

George Hoadly, till his resignation in 182 6", when by vote of
the city a request was preferred to the Assembly, which
resulted in the substitution of an annual election.

, Another provision of the charter which needs comment is
the proclamation that power is conferred on the city to

exchange the upper part of the Green, West of the line of the

10 ,

H CENTENNIAL or NEW HAVEN.

churches, for other land, for higfliways, or another green else-
where. I do not l{11C)W that any excha11ge was ever proposed
or attempted; but the insertion in the charter of express
authority for the purpose, Was perhaps meant to intimate that
the ci.tyl.1acl, the State government at its back in asserting
authority over the public green, as against the claims preferred
by the “ Prop1'ietors of C?o1m:nm_1 and Undilvided Lands in
New HaVen."”*

The city gove1'n111ent thus oiganized was iinniediately put
into operation. The exaniple was contagious; New London
asked for and received a city charter at the same session of the
legislature, and Hartford, Norwich, and Middletown, at the
succeeding one. It was the era of upbuilding and of prepara-
tio11,~—theyl1a1*cll_jv knew for What; yet We Inay doubt if in
their proudest dreams the citizens of 1784 anticipated the
growth which has come to pass. Clertainly We know that
public sentiment had heen incredulous, when Dr. Stiles in the
last election sermon had announced it “probable that Within
a centtirry from our independence the sun will shine on fifty
millions of inhabitants in the UnitediStates.” But the century
has gone by; and the p1~opl1ecy has V817’ little exceeded the
truth. We can at least learn the lesson, not to underrate the
prog1*ess which is possible in the century to come, knowing
that the present is as full of fruit and of promise as the past,
and that the resistless tide of time which sweeps down individ-
uals and generations in its “ ceaseless current,” only enlarges
and deepens the hold of institutions which subserve useful
ends and are Wisely and justly adniinistered. l

* As an instance of these claims it may be mentioned thatthe loca-
tion of the Fair Haven meeting-house (represented at present by the

United Church) on the Green in 1770 was by a vote of the “ }?r0prietofs.”

CHARTER

CITY OFNEVV HAVEN. %

GRANTED IN 1784.

An Adi for incorporating a Part of the

Town of [Vew--fifavm.

BE 22‘ mafziea’ Z232 Z‘/lze Gozzemor, Cozmcfl, and ]€epr.:=/Z’7zz‘cz-

2‘z'7:2es,1 z'7z_ Gemrzzl Cozarz‘ qflwzblezi, mm’ 53/ tile A242‘/zo7*z'zjv
of 2‘/ze /Zzme, That all Freemen of this State, Inhabitants of
{aid New Haven, dwelling and inhabiting within the follow-
ing Bounds, viz. Beginning at the North-Eafi Corner of the
Long--Bridge ({o called) in {aid NezU—Ha2i'e72, and running on
the North—Sid_e of {aid Bridge and the Highway, {o as to take
in {aid Bridge and Highway to the Not-th~Eaft Corner of the

. Neck-—Bridge ; then a-crofs the {ame on the North-Side of the

{mine to the North—We1t Corner of {aid Bridge; then in a
direct line Weftward to the Bridge a-cro{s the W'ei’c-River,

commonly called T/zo77zp507z’s-Bridge, ‘to the NOrth-Eafl-

Corner of {aid Bridge; thence down the {aid Weft-River,
on the Eafl: Bank thereof, to the Mouth of {aid'iRiver; and

from thence a ftraight Line to the extreme Point of the Land

commonly called Five—l\/Iile Point, on the Eafi:-Side of Netw-

Haven Harbour at High-W'ater Mark on {aid Point; thence
Northward onthe Shore, on the Line of High-Water:iMark,
up to the Point, where the Waters of the Little—River and
the greater ,iWaters, being Part of the Eait-River, {all into

Description or
the persons that
are incorporam
ted.

Bounds of the
city.

each anther; thence acro{s the Mouthiof {aid Little-River to y

the Eafi-{Shore of the Eal’t—-River,’ then upyfaid Eaft-Rriver

78

Name of the
corporation.

Capable of su-
ing, &c.

Who are free-
men of the city.

Persons living
Within the city,
procuring a cer-
tificate, &c. to
be freemen of
the state and
city.

Annual meeting
to be in June,
for the urpose
of chasing an-
nual officers.

CHARTER OF 1784.».

on the Line of High-VVater Mark to the firfl: mentioned
Point at the North-Eail Corner of the Long-Bridge; -be, and
fame are hereby Ordained, Conftituted, and Declared to be
from Time to Time, and forever hereafter, one Body Corpo-
rate and Politic, in Facft, and in Name, by the Name of,
THE IVIAYQR, ALDERMEN, COMMON, COUNCIL, AND FREEMEN
on THE CITY on NEW HAVEN; and that by that Name,
they and their Succeflbrs {or ever, {hall and may have per-
petual Succeflion; and {hall be Perfons in Law, capable of
Suing and being Sued, Pleading and being Impleaded in all
Suits of what Nature foever; and al{o to purcha{e, hold, and
convey any Eitate, real or perfbnal, and may have a common
Seal, and may change and alter the {arne at Pleafureg and
{hall be Freemen of {aid City.

A7-za’ tar/’zem=:'ozs zfiera are meaty Perfmzs Zz'z1z'7zg at/2'2‘/zz'7z_/c'zz'a7
Lz'mz'z'.r, an/za Z23! Lott: are 5maZzfiezz’ in 55 Freemerz of 27123‘

State, 1‘/ml‘ /zazre 7202‘ iaéeaz 2‘/zia Oczz‘/z ,z>r0zIz'a’ea’ fly Late! to fie y

i

z‘a:/Em (By Fraenzeaz.
Be 2'2‘ eazafied, That all {uch Perfons, living within {aid

Limits, who ihall, before the {econd Monday of Feémzczry T

next, procure the major Part of the Seleél:-men of the {aid S

Town of Nate-Hanan, to certify that theyare qualified to

be admitted and made free of this State, and {hall after pro; V

curing {uch Certificzate, take before {onie Afliftant of this
State, or _Tn{i:ice of Peace within, and for the County of New-
Hlsztim, the Oaths provided by Law for F reemen, {hall to all

the Purpofeslin this Ad‘: mentioned, be confidered as Free»

men of this State, and Freemen of the {aid City of New-
Hanen. S i
‘AM? for Me ziatrer Gonerrzmeiztyof/2zz'zZ Cizjv : _
iBe if fztri/zer Eaztzétczi, That there {hall be a Meeting of
{aid City holden annually in _‘}'zme, at {uch Time and Place
as by the Bye-Laws of {aid City {hall be idireéized, for the
Purpofe of chufing all the annual Oflicers of {aid City ; and

CHARTER or 1784.

A the annual Oflicers of {aid City cho{en at {uch Meeting, {hall

continue in Ofiice until the Expiration of the month of jfmze
then next, unlefs others {hall be {ooner chofen and qualified
in their Stead.

And the {aid City in legal Meeting affembled, {hall chu{e
a Mayor, who {hall hold his Office during the Pleafure of the
General A{{embly; and at their annual Meeting {hall chufe

{our Aldermen, and a Common Council of not more than

Twenty, and two Sheriffs out of the Freernen of {aid City; b

all which Oflicers, and all other Oflicers of {aid City, eligible
by the F reemen thereof (the Infpeétors of Produce excepted),
{hall be cho{en by Ballot; and on each Ballot which is given

in, {hall be written the Name of the Perfon for whom the

{ame is given; and {uch Ballot {hall be rolled up, and in the

Prefence of the Mayor and Aldermen of {aid City, or {uch
of them as are prefent at {uch Meeting, put, by the perfon
giving the {amc, into a Box, which {aid City {hall provide
for that Purpo{e; which Box {hall be a clo{e Box, with a
Hole of convenient Size in the Lid thereof; through which to
put in the Ballot. And when the Freemen pre{ent at any
City Meeting, {hall have had reafonable Time to give in their
Ballot, eitherpof the Sheriffs of {aid City, or in the Abfence
of both the Sheriffs, the junior Alderman prefent, in the

Prefence of the Mayor and Aldermen, or {uch of them as

are pre{ent at {uch Meeting, {hall open the {aid Box; and

the Mayor and Aldermen or {uch of them as are pre{ent,

{hall open, fort and count the Ballots -,-, and the Perfon who

{hall have the Majority of the Ballots given in, {hall by the
Sheriffs, or in their Ab{ence, by the junior Alderman prefent,
be cleclaredn to be elected; And no Ballots {hall be received
after the Box {hall have been opened.

And {aid Cityin, legal Meeting afiembled, {hall have Power
to Levy Taxes on the Polls and Eiltate within the Limits of
{aid City, for {uch Purpofes as {aid City {hall think proper;

79

Continuance in
office.

To chuse a
mayor, to con-
tinue in office
during, &c.

To chuse four
alderman, &c.
Mode of chu-
sing to be by
allot, &c.

The box by
whom. opened.

The mayor &
alderman to
sort and count
the votes. {

Who to declare
the choice.

The city to have
power, to levy
taxes.

80

To chase a. col-
lector.

‘Warrant by
whom signed.

Collectors ac-
countable & to
whom.

Complaint be-
ing made, &c.
mayor to issue
his warrant, &c.

Power of the
sheriffs.

Liable for neg-
iect of duty.

City to answer
in case or ina-
bility, 8:0.

Sheriffs to ‘give .

bond, «Etc.

On failure, a
new one to be
chosen.

To chase a
treasurer.

CHARTER. OF 1784.

and to chu{e a COll€(€tO1‘ or Collectors, to collect {uch Tax;
who fhall, having received a Warrant {or that Purpofe, figned
by the Mayor, or by one of the Aldermen of {aid City, have
the {ame power as Colleftors o{ Town Taxes by Law have;
and {hall be accountable to the Mayor and Aldermen of {aid
City, in the lame Manner as Colleétors of Town Taxes are
And in Ca{e any

Collector {hall not perform the Truft committed to him, but

by Law accountable to the Select-men.

{hall {ail of colleciing {uch Rate according to the Terms of
the VVarrant committed to him, on Complaint thereof made
by the Aldermen of {aid City to the Mayor thereof, he {hall
ifliie :1 Warrant under his Hand, direéied to either of the
Sheriff's of {aid City, to defcrain the Sums or Rates neglected
by {uch Colleétor to be collected, or paid, out of the Efcate
of the Colleftor. ,

Am? 626 if fmrz‘/m‘ eizrzéi-rzz’ éy 2‘/M Am’/z0r2'z'y aforrfizzfl,
That the Sheriiis of {aid City {hall {everally within the Limits
of {aid City, have the {ame Power and Authorities, and be
liable to the lame Suits or Penalties for negleét of Duty in
any Ca{e whatever, to all Intents and Purpo{es, as Sheriffs by
Law now have and are; and the {aid City {hall be liable to
an{wer in ca{e of the Inability of {aid Sheriiis, or either of
them, {or the Default of {aid Sheriffs, in all Ca{es relative to
their Ofiice. , V
And {aid Sheriilis {hall feverally give Bond with Sureties, in
{uch l\«/Ianner as by the Bye-Laws of {aid City {hall be direéized,
{or a faithful Di{charge of the Duties of that Ofiice, before
And in ca{e
either of the Per{ons chofen Sheriff {hall not give Bond with

they {hall be capable of eztecuting the fame.

Sureties, according to the Bye-Laws of {aid City, the {aid
City may proceed to chufe another Sheriffin his Room.

And the {aid City in legal Meeting affembled, {hall chu{e a
Trea{urer for {aid City, to continue in Office during the

Pleaiiure of {aid City, who {hall have the {arne Powers within

C1I~IARTER on 1784.

{aid City as Town-Trea{urers now by Law have, and {hall be
accountable to {aid City.

A Arm’ éejz‘ fZé7’l'/Z67’ Eazczéifezz’, That there {hall be holden
monthly, on the {econd Tue{day of every Month, in {aid

City, a City Court; which Court {hall have Power to ad- 3

journ {rorn Time to Time, .and {hall have cognizance of all
Civil Cau{es where the Title of Land is not concerned, by
Law cognizable byltheCounty Courts in this State, provided
the Cau{e of Action ari{e within the Limits of {aid City, and
one or both the Parties live within {aid City; and the {aid
City Court fhall, as to the Cau{es by them Cognizable, to all
Intents and Purpo{es, have the {arne Powers and Authorities,
and proceed in the {atne Manner and grant Executions, as

{aid County Courts now or hereafter by Law {hall have, pro-

81

A city court to
be held month-

ly.

_Power to ad-
ourn.
Jurisdiction.

To have the
same powers,
&.c. as county
courts, & exe~
cutions served,
&c. as those
from the county
court.

ceed and grant; and the Executions granted by {aid City p »

Court {hall be {erved and returned in the {arne Manner as the
Executions granted by the {aid County Courts, and Appeals
{hall be allowed to either Party, {tom the Judgment or
Determination of {aid City Court, to the next Superior Court
to be holden in the County of [Vest/—-.E{_azIe7z, in all Cau{es in
which an Appeal isnow or hereafter by Law {hall be allowed
from the {aid County Courts ; the prevailing Party, however,
i{pPlainti{{, may, {uch Appeal notwithftanding, take out Exe-
cution on {uch judgment {or the Debt or Damages and Coft
recovered in {uch City Court, againlt the Defendant or De-
fendants, and levy the {aid Execution, and collect the Money
thereon; provided he does previous to his taking out {aid
Execution, become bound with two {uflicient Sureties before
the Mayor of {aid City, or one of the Judges of {aid City
Court, in a Recognizance (which Recognizance the Mayor of
{aid City and the Judges of {aid City Court are refpeéitiir-ely
impowered to take) in doublethe Sum of {aid Judgment,

that he will, within one ,Week after final judgment on the

Appeals to be
allowed.

The prevailing
party if, &c.
may take out
execution, &c.

Provided bond
be given.

Appeal, refund {o much of the Judgment of the {aid City ,

11

No appeal to be
allowed on :1
suit on such
bond.

If the plaintiff
lives without
the city, no ap-
peal allowed
the defendant
within, unless,
«Sic.

City 520 urts to
appoint and
swear a clerk.

His powers.

The mayor, or
in his absence
the senior as-.
sistant judge
may call a
special court.

CilIA1~‘J.1‘EP. or 1,784..

Court, together with the Intereit thereof, as {hall on {uch
Execution be colleéted, and {h.all not be by him recovered
before the Court to which the Appeal is taken, together with
the Execution Fees that {hall accrue, and be paid by the
Defendant on {aid Execution; and no Appeal {hall be
allowed on any Suit commenced on {uch Recognizance.

And in every Acftion brought before {aid City Court, in
which the Plaintiff lives without the Limits of {aid City, or
is a Mariner or Seaman {uing {or ‘Wages due to him {or Ser-
vices in his Occupation, and the Defendant lives within the
Limits of {aid City, no Appeal {hall be allowed the Defendant,
unle{s the Matter in Demand exceed the Sum of Fifty
Pounds lawful Money: but if the Matter in Demand exceed
{aid Sum, an Appeal {hall be allowed the Defendant in the
{sine Manner and under the {ame Regulations as Appeals are
allowable in other Cau{es cognizable by {aid City Court.
And no \Vrit of Error brought upon any judgment of {aid
City Court {hall be a Szq>.erfl?z2’c?¢z5. ‘

And {aid City Court {hall have full Power to appoint and
{wear a Clerk {or {aid Court, to continue in Oflice during the
Plea{ure of {aid Court, which clerk lhall, as to all Matters
relative to his Ofice as Clerk oi" {aid Court, have the {attic
Powers and Authorities, to all intents and Purpo{es, as the
Clerks of the County Courts in this State by Law have; and
the Oath to he takhn by the {aid Clerk {hall be the {ame,
;mz2rz‘tzz‘z‘s mrrtctmz72's, provided by Law, to be taken by the
Clerks of the {aid County Courts of this State.

And the Mayor of {aid City, or in his Ab{ence, the {enior
aflifcant judge of {aid City Court, may, at the {pecial
Inftance of, and Col’: of any per{on moving therefor, hold a

{pecial City Court, at {uch Time and Place within {aid City,

as the Nlayor or Judge ordering the {attic {hall appoint; t

which Court {hall proceed in the fame Manner, have the

fame Powers and Authlorities, and in all Re{pects be under

CIIARTER 013* 1784.

the {ame Regulations as the Ptated City Courts of {aid City;
and all the taxable Fees of {aid City Court {hall be the {ante
as the taxable Fees of the County Courts of this State.
Ana’ tie it _/2&7’?/Z’67’ eazezéim’, That the Mayor of {aid City
{or the Time being, and the two Aldermen firfi cho{en at the
mzazzt/all Meeting o{ {aid City, or at their firli Meeting, lhall
cornpo{e the {aid City Court, and be the lodges thereof; and
the Mayor {hall be the chief Judge o{ {aid Court, and the

. {aid two Aldermen {hall be the Aliifiant judges of {aid Court,

any two of whom, in the Ab{ence of the other, taking to
their Afliltance the {enior Alderman pre{ent that is not a
Judge of {aid Court, or if neither of“ the Aldermen that are
not judges of {aid Court can attend, one of the Juiiiees of
the Peace within arid for the County of Neat;-Hatien, refi-
dent within {aid City {hall have Power to hold a City Court.

And if at any City Court there {hall be but one Iudge
prefeut, he {hall take to his Afliltance the other two Alder-
men of {aid City, and in cafe one or both of them cannot
attend, he {hall take one or two of the Juftices of the Peace,
as the Cafe may require, of the County of .ZVeteI—]i’czwrz,
refident within the {aid City, and they three {hall havethe
{ame Power to hold a City Court, as the judges of {aid City
Court have-. y ,

Ami /re 2'2‘ fzarz‘/liar“ eatczwflea’, That the Mayor and Alder-~
men OF {aid City, {hall feverally, within the Limits of {aid
City, have Cognizauce of all civil Caufes by Law cognizable
by a juftice of the Peace, Provided the cau{e of Aétion arife
within the Limits o{{aid City, and one or boththe Parties

83

Fees.

Mayor 8: two
alderman first
chosen to be the
judges.

Who to be
judges, in case
of absence, &c.

If but one judge
present then to
take, 810.

Mayor and
alderman to
have eogni-
zance of civil
causes in the
city.

live withih the {amez And the {aid Mayor and Aldermen \

t (hall, as to the Ca”u{es by them {everally eognizable, have the
{arm Powers-and ‘Authorities, and proceed in the {arne Man-

rier as lullices of the Peace, now, or hereafter, by Law {hall ,

have and proceed,

Same {power as
Justices.

84

Appeal allowed
to the next city
court.

‘Where the
plaintiff lives
without, or isa
mariner, &c. no
appeal.

Taxable fees,
etc.

CHARTER OF 1784.

And an Appeal {hall be allowed {tom the judgment or
Determination of {aid Mayor and Aldermen, in any Caufe
by them cognizable feverally, to the next City Court to be
holden within {aid City, in all Cau{es in which an Appeal is
now or hereafter {hall be allowed from the Judgmentgof a
jnftice o{ the Peace; the prevailing Party however, if Plain-
ti{{, may,” {uch Appeal notwithftanding, take out Execution on
{uch Judgment, provided he gives Bond before the Mayor of
{aid City, or one of the Judges of {aid Court, in the {ame
Manner as is provided in Ca{es of Appeal from {aid City
Court. A

And in every Action brought before the Mayor or either
of the Aldermen of {aid City, in which the Plaintiff‘ lives
without the Limits of {aid City, or in which the Plaintiffis a
Mariner or Seaman {uing for Wages due to him {or Services
in his Occupation, and the Defendant lives within the Limits
of {aid City, no Appeal {hall be allowed the Defendant.

And the taxable Fees in all Cau{es cognizable by the Mayor,

A or by one of the Aldermen of {aid City {everally, {hall be

Processes the
same as to the
county court.

Bv whom
signed, and
served.

the {ame as the taxable Fees in like Ca{es, before Jultices of
the Peace: And the Proce{{es in all Actions brought to {aid
City Court, {hall be the {ame as the Proce{{es to the County
Courts in this State; and the Procefl'es in all aétions brought
before the Mayor or one of the Aldermen of {aid City, {hall

{be the {ame as the Procefiies in Aftions brought before a
_]u.stice of the Peace, and be {igned by the Governor, Lieu-

‘tenant- Governor, or one of the Afliftants of this State, or by

a Juftice of the Peace, ‘within and for the County of Nettie,  A
Haven, or by the Mayor or one of the Aldermen o{ {aid , A

City, or the Clerk of the {aid City Court, and {hall be {erved

by a Sheriff, Deputy,-—Sheri{F, or conllzable, to whom dire-(Sized,

according to the {Laws ofthe State, and the Provifions of
this Aét. And all Bonds for Profecntion taken by any of {aid
Oflicers hereby impoweredl to {ign Writs, {hall be good and

CI—IAR’I‘ER or 1784,

efieétual in Law. And Bonds for Profecution, {pecial Bail,
and Bonds {or Appeal, {hall be taken to the adverfe Partv ;
Provided never-thele{s, That no Writs (Executions excepted)
or Proce{s, {igned by the Mayor, or either of the Aldermen,
{hall be of any effeét without the Limits of {aid Citv.

A72/2’ hr 22‘ fmrz‘/zer e’7zczEZe'zZ by z‘/ze Am‘/7z0rz'2j2 ay’or¢yZzz‘a’,
That the {aid Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council, {hall
on the firfl: Monday of _7~’zaZy annually, meet, and {hall then
chufe One Hundred and Forty-{our Freemen of {aid City, to

{erve as jurors at {aid City Court, and {hall return the Names

‘of {aid jurors, under the Hand of the Mayor of {aid City,

if prefent, or in ca{e of his Ab{ence, under the Hand of the
{enior Alderman pre{ent at {uch meeting, to the Clerk of {aid
City Court, who {hall write each ]uror’s Name thus cho{en,
Fairly on a {eparate Piece of Paper, and roll up and put the
{ante into a Box, which he {hall provide and keep for that
Purpofe; and whenever either of the Sherifis of {aid City
{hall receive a Warrant from the Clerk of the City Court, to
{ummon a Jury to appear before {aid Court, the Sheriif re-
ceiving {uch Warrant, taking with him one of the Aldermen
of and City, mat repair to the {aid Clerk’s Oflice, and there

A in the Prefence o{ {aid Alderman and Clerk, {hall take out of

{aid Box twelve of {aid Papers, and the Pei-{ons who{e Names
{hall be found written therein, {hall be {umrnoned to appear
before the Court, to which the Warrant is returnable. to
{erve as Jurors; and in ca{e of neglecting to attend, {hall be
liable to {uch penalties as fliall by the Bye—Laws of {aid City
be inflifted {or such Negle€t; and in cafe a complete Pannel

{hall not attend, or in ca{e any {hall be challenged or e:tcu{ed,

the Sherifl“ attending {aid Court, {hall {upply {uch Deficiency,

by drawing in the pre{ence of thepCourt, others out of {aid

851

B0!'1§lS for pros-
ecutxon, &c_

except, &c:_

.ll1rymen how
and when
chosen.

Names of the
Jurors to be re-
turned to, Ste.

Clerk to write
the Jurors
names on, &c.

Jurors how
drawn.

Jurors neglect-
ing to attend.

If not a. com-
plete pannel,
others drawn,
&c.

Jurors not at-
tending, &c.

Box, and {ummoning them to attend and {erve, until the l

Pannel‘ {hallribe complete; and the Names of {uch jurors as
do notrattencl, or are excu{ed, {hall be returned into the Box,

86

Jurors oath to
be, &c.

l The name of
each juror at-
tending, &c.
Liable to be
drawn again.

The city to
chose a clerk.

The mayor, &c.
to lay out high—-
ways &c. or
alter those al-
ready laid out,
&c.

Fewer to ex»
change or Sell
the N. W. part
of the green, S.
E. side so re-
main a public
walk.

CHARTER or 1784.

And the Oath to be taken
by {aid Jurors {hall be the fame as is by Law provided to be

and be liable to be drawn again.

taken by Jurors in civil Actions. And the Name of each
Juror that attends any ‘City Court and ferves, lhall be again
written on a feparate Piece of Paper, and {hall be rolled up
and put into another Box, which the Clerk of {aid Court
{hall provide For that Purpofe, and {ball be liable to be drawn
again, in Cafe there {hall not, by Reafon of Death, Removal,
or other Caufe, be a Sufliciency in the other Box, to Corn—-

plete the Pannels For that Year, in which they are chofen to

ferve.

And the {aid City may chufe a Clerk of {aid City, who
{hall make true and regular Entries of all the Votes and Pro»
ceeclings or {aid City, and the Records by him kept nmu be
of the fame Validity in Point of Evidence, in any Court of
Law in this State, as the Records of Towns are.

Am? fie it a¢2cz¢‘iferZ c5_y Me Am‘/Iz0rz'zjv af0r.flzz'a’, That the
{aid Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council be, and they
are hereby empowered to lay out new Highways, Streets and
public Walks for the Ufe of {aid City, or to alter thofe.
already laid out in faid City, and to exchange Highways for
Highways, or to fell Highways for the Pnrpoiie of purchafing
other Highways, taking the fame Meafures in all R.efpeé’cs,
as are directed by the Laws of this State to be taken, in cafe
of Highways laid out by the Select-men for the Ufe of their
Towns, and the Party aggrieved by the laying out of finch
Streets or Highways, may have the fame Remedy by Applies»-
tion tothe County Court, as is by Law provided in cafes of
Highwayslaid out by Select-—men.

H iAnd ifaid City {hall have Power to exchange that Part of
the Green‘ in {aid [Van/~H'az2e7z, lying North-wefterly of the
public Buildings, for other Land or Highways, or another
Green, and to fell and dispofe thereof for the,sarnePurp-ofe;
and that Part of {aid Green lying on the South-ea.iterly Side

GI~]iA.IR.’1‘ER. or 1.7 

of {aid public Buildings, {hall forever be and remain a com»-
mon or public Walk, and never be liable to be laid out in
Highways, or appropriated to any other Purpofe.

Am’ 56 z'z‘ erzcztfzfea’ 5}! #726 Azrz‘/zorily afornflzzh’, That in
cafe any Sheriff, Deputy-Sheriff or Conftable, {hall not {erve

a Writ direéted to, and received by him, that is returnable to &

{aid City Court, or {ball neglect to make Return of {aid
Writ, or {hall make falfe or undue Return thereof, and a Suit
{hall for {uch Default, be brought againft him to the {aid City
Court by the Perfon or his Executor or Adminiltrator, in
whofe Favour {aid Writ ifliied, and the Defendant be found
in Default; the {aid Court, over and above awarding juft
Damages to the Plaintiff, may, on {aid Suit, {et a {uitable
Fine upon the Defendant, according to the Nature of the
Cafe, and may ifliie Execution for {uch Fine; which Fine
{hall be to the Treaifurer of {aid City, to and for the U{e of
{aid City.

And in all Cafes, wherein the Defendant who is {ued to
the {aid City Court, lives within the Limits of {aid City, the
Writ {hall be {erved upon him at leafc fix Days before the

“Day of the fitting of the Court to which the Writ is return-

able; but if the Defendant lives without the Limits of {aid
City, the Writ {hall he {erved at leait twelve Days before the
fitting of {aid Court; and all Wwrits returnable to {aid City
Court, {hall be returned to the Clerk of {aid Court on the
Day of the {fitting of {aid Court, and before the firfi: opening
of {aid Court. ‘ ‘

And the Writs that are returnable before the l\/layor or
either of the Aldermen, fhall, if the Plaintiff and Defendant

1 both live within the Limits of, or, if the Plaintiff lives with-

out and the Defendant lives within the Limits of {aid City,
or if the Plaintiff‘ be a Mariner or Seaman {uing for Wages

a due to him for Servicesin his Occupation, and the Defendant
p lives within the Limits of {aid City, be {erved upon the

87

City court may
fine Sheriffs,
C. V

Fines to be
paid to the city
treasurer.

If the defendant
lives in the city,
the writ to be
served 6 days
before court,
&c. if without,
12 days.

V Writs return-
able before the
mayor, &c.

 l CHARTER on 1784:.

Defendant at leafl: three Days before the fitting of the Court
to which it is returnable; but if the Defendant lives without
the Limits of {aid City, the Writ {hall be ferved upon the
Defendant at leali fix Days before the fitting of the Court to
. which it is returnable. ‘  a

raise. to Aim’ be 2'2‘ fmtz’/zer Emzc,‘Zea’, That the Mayor, Aldermen,
Sheriffs, Common Council and Clerk of zfaid ‘City, lhall be
fworn to a faithfhl Difcharge of their Duty; and the Form
of the Oath to be taken by the Mayor of {aid City {hall be

as follows, viz. ’ -
 orme I/0U rfaiazg eieélen’ Jlfayor of Me Cz'z‘y of New
' Haven, dofzc/ear Zvy Z/ze .ZVc277’l6’ of me EaIerZz'zIiazg Goa’,
2'/zaz you zeIz'!Z, zt/2'2’/zzmz‘ any ]’czrz‘z'cz[z’zfy, z'¢za’z.'fare¢ztZ/v cza’77zz‘7z-
gflar _7—’z¢yz’z'ce, accordzzzg ta Lazar, 'zt:z'z‘/wui r.]j5acfZ of Paifwzs,

Misc 720 Brz'5ei, gziw azo Cozwg/2’! in any Matter 2‘/zczz‘ _//ml] i

come écjfore you, azor deny Rzzg/zz’ to mzy; bzzz‘ wail mzzz’ truly
perform: your Ofice of Zlfczyw ofhflzziz’ Czizy, czc“mm’z'7zg 2'0

your fie/2'? Skill. y So help you GOD.
Aldermenm be And the Form of the Oath to be taken by the Aldermen
Sworn" of faid City, {hall be the fame 77zm‘¢zz‘z'5 mzmz7zzz’z's as is pre-

fcribed by Law to be taken by Jufiices of the Peace. .
F And the Form of the Oath to be taken by the Common
Councilmen of zfaid City, fhall be as follows, Viz.

oath.

z‘/ze Cizjv of New-Haven, for 2726 Year 677. zziizg, D0
fitrear 5y #26 N czme of 2‘/725 Everlzizlzbzg Goa’, 2‘/zczz‘ you 202']!
fczz'z‘/zfzzlzlv mm’ z4y>rz;gizz'Zy daft/izarge 2%./3 Dzztziat of 2‘/zaz‘ Ofiice,
y /29 [mg as you flzall /zoZtZ tfiaflzrne. 3‘-o help you GOD. r
Shefifis to take ‘And the Form of the Oath to be taken by the Sheriffs of
“"°‘”h' faid City, {hall be the fame prefcribed by Law to be taken
by the Sheriffs mzzz‘a2‘z'5 72tzzz*cz7zzz'z"s." _ l
y And the Form of the Oath to be taken by the Clerk of
{aid City, ihall be asyfollows, viz. t O

Form of an [/0 U Z7ez'7zg elefied a Common Cozmcz'Z-7mm for O

GIIATRTER or 1784.

0U oozing o/zoforrz Clor/32 of z‘/zo City of New-
Haven, Do /rooczr oy 2‘/to Nczzrzo of 2726 Eoorlz'oz'rzg
GOD, tlzol you 7oz°ll lrzlly oxrzrlfczilfifully (tile/zzl mzzl oxoozalo
tlzo Place mzzl 017556 of Clark of /Zzio’ Cizfy, czcoorrzlzozg to
your lw/Z Skill, cmrl ma/so lrzle E7z2.‘rz'es ow-zzl 1i.’ooo7vls of all
2726 Votes marl Proooo:lz'izg's of faizl Cily, oml flaw/z ozfior
lllalfers as by Law, or $726 Bye-Lcztozrs of U/ozkl Cz'z‘y, are to
lo: I"£’l'07‘tlt.’tl 2'72 your Ofiioo; cma’ Zlml you will zlolztyor lmo
Copies of 2723 Rooorzls in your ffamzls, wlmz 2’/toy //roll oe

Mgr./,z'7»'ozl of _jVOZl, z.‘czlzz'7zg M201 your lczwf-all Foes.

So help you GOD.

Which Oaths may be adminiftred by any Afliltant of this
State, or Juftice oF the Peace within and for the County of
]Voro-ffaom, or by the Mayor, or either of the Aldermen of
{aid City; provided the Mayor or Alderman adminiftring
the Oath has been {worn according to this Act.

And the Perfon adminif’tring the Oath prefcribed by this
Act, {hall give a Certificate thereof under his Hand, to the

. Oflicer to whom he adminifiers fuch Oath, which Certificate

{hall be recorded in the Records of {aid City, before the Per-
fon to whom it is given fhall be capable of executing the
Office to which he is chofen.

Ami lo z'z‘ fmrz’/lzerr Erzoéilozl, That there {hall be a Court
of Common Council of {aid City, of which the Mayor,
Aldermen, and Common Council of {aid City {hall be Mem-
bers, who, or the major Part of them, fliallihave Powerwto
make Bye—Laws, relative to Markets and Commerce Within
the Limits of {aid City; relative to Perfons fummoned to
ferve as Jurors at {aid City Court, and neglecting to attend
or refufing to ferve; relative to the Streets and Highways of
{aid City ; relative to Nuifances in {aid Limits; relative to
their Wharves, anchoring and mooring of Veflels; relative to

Trees planted for Shade, Qmament, Convenience, or Uie,

12

CO
'39

Clerk‘s oath.

B y whom arl-
I1]1I1!St1'eCl.

Certificate to
be given,

and recorded.

Power to make
bye-latws.

90

Tzo inflict pecu-
niary penalties,
not exceeding

:01.

Penalties to be
so, 820.

Recovered by,

&c

N o appeal.
Proviso.

Catching of
fish

G

&c.

CHARTER OF 1784.

public or private, and to the Fruit of {uch Trees; relative to
Tre{pa{{es committed in Gardens; relative to public Walks,
and Buildings public or private; to the {weeping of Chim-
nies, and preventing {aid City from Fire; relative to Forms
of Oaths to be taken by the Trea{urer of {aid City, and
In{pectors of Produce brought to {aid City {or Sale or EX-
portation; relative to the Manner of warning Meetings of
{aid City and the Court of Common Council, and the Time
when and Place where they {hall be holden ; relative to the
Qualifications in Point of Property of the Mayor and Alder;
men; relative to the Bonds to be given by Sheriffs of {aid
City for a faithful Difcharge of their Duty; relative to the
Penalties to be incurred by tho{e, who, being cho{en to any
City Oflice (and not being excu{ed by the City), {hall refufe
to {erve; relative to a City Watch; relative to the burial of
the Dead; relative to the public Lights and Lamps of {aid
City; relative to refcraining Gee{e and Swine from going at
large within the Limits of {aid City; and relative to the
Mode of Taxation as to Taxes levied by {aid City; and to
infliét Penalties for the Breach of {uch Bye-Laws: Provided

however, that {uch Penalties {hall in no Ca{e exceed Ten

‘Pounds lawful Money; and {aid Penalties {hall beto {uch

Per{ons as the Bye-Laws of {aid City {hall direét, and be

{recoverable by the Per{ons to whom forfeited, by Aéiion of

Debt brought to the City Court of {aid City, in which
Aftion noAppeal or Review {hall be allowed: Provided how-

l ever, that no Bye-Laws of {aid City {hall be made repugnant -

to the Laws ofthis State. And the catching of Fifh and

Oyfliers within the Limits of’ {aid City, {hall not beliable to

be regulated, or in any way affeéted by the Bye-Laws of {aid
City. y P t t t
And provided al{o, That all the Bye-Laws made by {aid
Court of Common Council, {hall be approved by {aid City
in legal Meeting aflembled, and after being {o approved, {hall

OI-IAR'I‘F3R on 1784.

be publifhed at leaft three Weeks {ucceflively in {ome public
New{-paper, in or near {aid City, before the {ame {hall be of
any Validity.

And all the Bye-Laws o{ {aid City, {hall at any Time
within {ix Months after they are made, be liable to he re-
pealed by any Superior Court holden in {aid County o{ Nazar-
Haz/em, if by {uch Superior Court, on a Hearing, judged to
be unrea{onahle or unjult.

And all Grants and Leafes of any real Eitate belonging to
{aid City, {igned by the Mayor of {aid City, and {ealed with
the City Seal, and approved by {aid City in legal Meeting
aifernbled, {hall be good and effectual in Law, to convey the
Eftate intended to be conveyed by {uch Grant or Leafe;
provided the {ame is recorded in the Records of the Town
where the Land lea{ed or granted lies. ,

And {aid City {hall have Power to appoint Infpeétors of
every Kind of Produce of the United States, brought to {aid
City for Sale or Exportation.

And the Vote or Choice of the major Part of the Free»
men prefent at any legal Meeting of {aid City, {hall be con»
{idered in all Ca{es, as the Vote or Choice of {aid City.

And whenever the Mayor of {aid City, or any other Ofii-
cers of {aid City, eligible by the {reemen thereof {hall refign,
or be removed by Death, or otherwi{e, another Perfon {hall
be cho{en in his Place by {aid City; and (if an annual O{fi-
cer) {hall continue in Office till the Expiration o{ the Month
of fzme next following, unle{s another {hall be {ooner chofen
and {worn in his Iizead.

And the Mayor of {aid City, or in his Ab{ence, the {enior
Alderman prefentiat any meeting of {aid City, or at any
Court of Common Council, fhall, ax 0fiz'cz'o,j he Moderator
thereof. And the Meetings of {aid City may, from Time to
Time, by a major Vote of the Freeman prefent, be adjourned.

91

Bye-Laws to be
published.

Liable to be re»

pealed, by, &c.
if, &c.

Grants and
leases signed by
the mayor, &c.

Inspectors of
produce.

Vote of the
major part of
the freeman,
valid.

In case of death,
&c. of any offi-
cer, &c.

Mayor, or &.c.
to be moderator
of the city meet-
ing which may
be adjourned.

First meeting.

Annual officers
to continue, &c.
until &c.

First meetingto
chuse a clerk,

C.3H.AR.’.l‘ER or .1784.

Am’ 5:: 2'2‘ fzarz‘/iwr arzaéiezi, Z51’ 2‘/ta Am‘/7zo;rz'z‘y afor.flzz'/X‘,
That the firft Meeting of {aid City {hall be holden at the
State—I-Iou{e in {aid JVew-ffazwz, on the tenth Day of Fed-

7‘zm.7‘y next, at nine of the Clock in the Forenoon, {or the

choice of the Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council and
Sheriffs o{ {aid City, and to tran{aét {uch other Bu{ine{s as
may be necefl"-ary; which Meeting may be {tom Time to
Time adjourned. And a Copy of this Paragraph 01” this
Ac}, certified under the Hand of" the Secretary of this State,
and publiihed on the Sign—Pofl; in the Town of JV.r7tv-Jfazwz
at leafi: three Days before {aid tenth Day of Z7aZ2;rmzry, {hall
be a legal \/Varning of the Freennen of {aid City to attend
{aid firfc Meeting: And the annual Oflicers chofen at {aid
Meeting, {hall continue in Oflice until the Expiration of next
}’mza, unlefs others are {ooner cho{en and qualified in their
Stead.

And the {aid City {hall, at {uch Meeting, {irlt chu{e a
Clerk of {aid City, who {hall be immediately fworn, and
{hall forthwith make a Record of" his being chofen and fvvorn,
and the Records thus made by him in {uch Ca{e, {hall be
good and effectual; any Thing in this Act to the contrary
notwithfcanding. And {uch Record may be made by the
Clerks hereafter cho{en, of their being cho{en and {W011}, and

‘ {hall be good and effectual; any Thing in this Aéi: to the

then the mayor,
«Sm. '

Power of Jus-
tices living
within the lim-
its, &c.

contrary pnotwithftanding.
proceed to chu{e a Mayor, and the other Otfficersl of {aid

City eligible by the Freetnen thereof. And the juftices of V

the Peace within and {or the County of Near-Hwoarz, living
and inhabiting within the limits of {aid City, and prefent at
{uch firfi: Meeting, {hall have, as to the Election o{ the Mayor,
Aldermen, Sheriffs, Common Councilmen and Clerk of {aid
City, the {ame Powers, and proceed in the {ame Manner as,
the Mayor, Aldermen and She-ri{{s of {aid City, by this A61

And {aid City {hall thereupon .,

Time.

C3]?-IIr~.\1’x’.Tl‘1T+].l'3. or 1784.

are to have and proceed in at the future Elections of {aid
City.

And the {enior Juftice of the Peace, within and for the
County of" [Veer/-ffatvarz, living within the Limits of {aid
City, pre{ent at {aid firlt Meeting, {hall be Moderator thereof,
until there {hall be a Mayor or Aldermen cho{en and qualified
according to this Act. C

And {aid City {hall at their fit-Pt Meeting appoint a Time
and Place {or holding the {it'll Court of Common Council;
which Court {hall have Power to adjourn From Time to
‘And the lirll City Court of {aid City {hall be holden
on the {econd Tue{day of A]>7*2'Z next, at the State-Houlie in
{aid City. And the City Courts of‘ {aid City may be holden

in {aid State-I"-Iou{e from Time to Time, or in {rich other

place in {aid City as {aid City {hall provide and judge proper. T

And the" Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of {aid
City {hall on the {iecond Tue-{day o{ M917’:/z next, at three o{
the Clock in the Afternoon, hold a Meeting at the State—
I-Ioulie, in {aid JVrteI—f:ftr'zIarz,- and {hall then and there,
chu.{e {orty~eight Freemen of" {aid City, to {erve as jurors,
until after the firit Monday of faaly next; and the Name of
eacli Per{on thus cl1o{en, lhall be fairly written on a {eparate
Piece of‘ Paper, and {hall be put into the ]ury-Box, by this
Act to be provided by the Clerk of {aid City Court, and
{hall be drawn out, in the Manner herein before provided,
with refpeét to jurors. .

Alta/a5VS]§7'0zIz'zZez!, That any Thing in this Act, notwith-
ftanditig, the Inhabitants living within the Limits of {aid
City, {hall to all Intents and Purpo{es, be, and remain a Part
of the Town of Nate-ffrzzlerz.

And that nothing herein contained, {hall be conftrued to
a{Fe& any of the corporation Rights of the Corporation of
Yale-4College. T '

93

First modera-
tor.

First city court
to be holden ed
Tuesday of
April.

Mayor, &t:. on
the at] Tuesday
of March, to
chase 48 jurors.

Proviso.

{Yale-College.

94

Proviso,

Public Act.

CHARTER OF 1784.

Pmz;z'a7ga’ 7zgz,.Ig;'M7,eZ(:’/:9, That if any of the Provifions in
this A8: contained, {ha1l_be found inconvenient, or in any
Refpeél inadequate, the fame, on Reprefentation of the City
or otherwife, may be altered or‘ revoked by the General
Affernbly.

And this A6’: lhall, to all Intents and Purpofes, be a public
A61.

[T/223‘ .462’ was pc_2_:fl2’zZ &_y #26 Gerzerai Aflémély, czz‘ 2‘/zeir

S5//350725 /zoZzz’e7z 2'72 New-Haven, on 2723 £2};/zz‘/2 Day of

January, One thoufand {even hundred and eighty-foun]

THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.

[From tile New Haven Daily Palladium, July 5, 186%.]

Rated according" to the number of spectators in attendance, New
I-Iaven’s Centennial celebration was one of the largest and most
successful affairs of the kind ever witnessed in this State. Certainly
our city never had more people within her borders than were assem-
bled yesterday, and the celebration itself was fully up to the most
sanguine expectation. Barring the postponement of the evening fire-
works, made necessary by the rain, the celebration was a success,
Worthy of the notable occasion, and in every way creditable to the
city. The procession was rernarkable, not only for its size, but partic-
ularly for the interesting display made of New Havens varied indus-

p tries.

The oration. of the day, by the Rev. Thomas I-t. Bacon, was a
masterly production. It is the most valuable addition to our local
historical literature made since the nieinorable address of the reverend
gentlernan’s honored and lamented father, delivered from the same
pulpit on a siniilar occasion, five years ago.

[From the New Hcuzerz. Eveming Register, July 5 , 1884.]

Fourth of July, 1884, which ushered in the Centennial anniversary
of the city of New Haven, has passed away, but the mernoryof it will
live for many years in the ‘minds of those, whose good fortune it was
to participate in its enjoyment. It is not enough to say that the day
was a success. Itwas more than that. i It went beyond thesuccessful
accomplishment of a specific purpose. It not only fitly commemorated
the birth year of. the city, which was a matter of self-congratulation
to every one, but by its immense proportions in the way of a display,
aroused a new interest in the welfare of the city and inspired a new
and a better patriotism in the heart of every one. The procession was

I

96 Cl-;]N"lI‘ENNIAL or NEW H.+\V'EN.

the principal feature of the celebration. That it surpassed the expec-
tations of all, is a statement of fact. The military display was excel-
lent, as was also the display of the civic societies of the city, the fire
department display, the display of the bicycle clubs, and the display of
the other organizations participating. The merchants’ display was
especially creditable. Many branches of industry were represented by
elaborately decorated cars and Wagons, and While some were hand-
somer and niore ingenious than others, each was a credit unto itself.
The general comniittee deserve the thanks of the public for the 00111--
pleteness of their work. It is to the efforts of the rnernbers of this
committee, and more especially to its ofiicers, that the success of
yesterday was as great as it Was. The city appropriation was small
and the subscriptions not large, so that in View of the breadth and
width of the celebration, the result proved that the best arts of finan-
ciering were brought into play. As We have said above, the celebra-—
tion was a credit to the city and to all concerned. Let us hope that
the two hundredth celebration will be able to tell the same eloquent
story of New Haven’s progress for the second hundredth year of its
existeiice. as yesterdays celebration told the story of New Havenfis
progress during its first hundred years.

[From the New Haverz. Jour92.cz;l omd O’ouricr, July 5, J¢S’.S’.,t.]

Up to the time when it began to rain yesterday, “ the Fourth” had
been perhaps more glorious than any yet celebrated in New Haven.
The people of this city and vicinity awoke yesterday ‘:rnorning—-that is,
such of them as had been able to sleep—and found the heat of the
sumnier sun tempered by a pleasant, cool Wind, Wliich continued to
blow all day and did much to keep the great crowds in a comfortable
frame of mind. The procession in the morning was a great success.
It started on time, and Went through its course easily and in good
order. It was exceedingly picturesque and interesting, and will be
long remembered by the thousands who saw it. Those who Worked
to make it a success deserve a great deal of credit, from the grand
marshal down to the high privates in the rear rank. The exercises in
Center Church in the afternoon were very appropriate throughout, and
Rey‘. Mr. Bacon’s oration was a notable one. Nothing was lacking to
make the gloriousness of the celebration complete, but an evening not

('lfIil.N’.I.‘l13Nll.\l‘:l.Afl).; ()Ll*‘ N l4l‘W l?lfA.‘Vl!lN. 97

too damp for :fi.reworks, and this could not be had. Nevertheless, “the
0e.ntenn.ial ” was a great affair. . . . . . . .

The city wore a holiday appearance in every section. In every direc-
tion flags and trimmings were displayed. The center was gay enough
with national flags of all sizes, streamers, festoons and lines of small
flags, and iriapy places were quite elaborately trimmed and decorated.
All the incoming trains brought loads of people, who came  sight-
seers, independent of the organizations from out of the city, which took
part in the parade. The hotels were filled to overflowing and the
demands on the cuisine departments of hotels and restaurants were
such as to nearly exhaust, before night, the large supplies of provisions
laid in, in preparation.

[F‘ro922. the New Hcceiii, U’)t’Il()’)'t,'"J?.lfl’_?/ 5, 1.984.}

The double zelehration yesterday of the Fourth of July and of the

Clentennial of New l’:laven, as an incorporatecl city,  more glorious
than many persons had anticipated. Rarely lias so large a procession-

been more skillfully inanaged than was that of yesterday, under the
rnarshaling of General S. R. Srnith and his assistant marshals. The
singing by the pupils of the High School was much enjoyed and
reflected great credit on Prof. J epson, their instructor. The day fire-
wo1*l«:s, a novel llexliibition here, gave great pleasure to the people on
the green, numbering f1'()'ll1 ten to fifteen thousand. But where there
were so many features of special interest, it is diificult to give promi-
nence in a report, intended to be brief, to any one in particular.

[:l7"r()'r':2,‘ the M cwizring News, Jitljy 5, 1&8’./,.]

N The morning was all that could be desired, for the tliernionieter had
fallen several degrees, and a refreshing breeze blew over the city and
gently ruffled the lzruriting and ensign drapery with which the houses
and stores along the line of march were handso1n.ely decorated. ,

Many thousands of visitors were in New Haven. They came from
almost every town and village withinla radius of a hundred miles and
disposed themselves along the streets and on the stands, erected at
various points, for the benefit of spectators of the parade.

The procession was a fine one, excelling, in length, anything New
I-Iaven has previously had, i N

13

THE EVENING FIREWORKS.

[From the New Haven Dailgj Palladimn, July 10, 1884.]

At. seven o’c1ock last evening the number twenty-two was sounded
on the fire—be11s. This was "a signal that the much postponed fireworks

would be discharged an hour later. Hardly had the bells done striking!
h before people in‘ the center of. the city filled the streets leading to the

green. Half an hour later,» twenty thousand people were on the public
square. The spectators were not confined to the ‘people, on the green,
for in the Insurance and the Grlebey Buildings, all the windows were
occupied, p and there were large crowds on Chapel and Church streets.
Those in charge of last evenings exhibition asserted several days
ago that the public‘ of New Haven would have no reason to be dissatis-

‘ fied with the exhibition. Few of the twenty thousand spectators will

deny that they have made good their statement. The pyrotechnic ~dis--
play of last evening was well worth waiting for. It constituted a fitting
finale of a memorable celebration.

THE FIRST OFFICERS.

Mayor.

ROGER SHERMAN.

1 Shemifs.
ELIAS STILWELL.

The‘ ofiicials elected at the firet City Election, February 10-12, 1784,
were as follows:

PARSONS CLARKE.

Collector of Tomes.

JOSEPH PECK;

Treasurer.
I-IEZEKIAH SABIN.

Aldermen.
DAVID AUSTIN.

ISAAO BEEES.

Councilmen.

J EEEMIAH ATWATEE.
ABRAHAM AUeUE.
STEPHEN BALL.
EBENEZER BEAEDSLEY.
JOSEPH BRADLEY.
ABEL BURRITT.
HENRY DAGGETT.
PIERPONT EDWARDS.

V JOEL GILBERT.

JAMES HILLHOUSE.

City Clerk.
J OSIAH MEIGS.

SAMUEL BISHOP.
THOMAS HOWELL.

J OSEPH HOWELL.

JONATHAN INGERSOLL.
TIMOTHY J ONES.

ENEAS MONSON.

JAMES RICE.

ELIAS SHIPMAIN.
JOSEPH THOMSON.
MICHAEL TODD.
EBENEZER TOWNSEND. l
JOHN VVHITING.

Two elections were held in 1784. One in February, when the City
Government was Organized. and one, June 1, when the municipal year

A began. Under the charter, the Mayor held ofiice during the pleasure
of the General Assembly, but the other officers were elected at first

“until the expiration of the month of June then next” (1784), after-
wards annually in June until the charter was changed.

I

MAYORS OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN.

Hon.
Hon.
Hon.
Hon.
Hon.
Hon.
. Hon.
Hon.
I-Ion.
H011.
Hon.
Hon.
H011.
H011.
1 Hon.
Hon.
Hon.
I-Ion.
H011.
Hon.
I-Ion.
Hon.
I-Ion.

Hon
I-Ion
Hon

Hon.

Hon

H011.
I-Ion.

Hon

ROG-ER SHERMAN _____________________ _-from Feb. 10, 1784 to 1793
SAMUEL BISHOP ..................... - _from Aug. 19, 1793 to 1803
ELIZUR Goonmcn .................... .-from Sept. 1, 1803 to 1882
GEORGE HOADLEY .................... .. -from June 4, 18:38 to 1896
SIMEON BALDWIN ..................... .. -from J une 6, 1826 to 18:37
WILLLAM BRISTOL .................... .. _from J une 5, 1827 to 1828
DAVID DAGGETT ...................... "from June 2, 1898 to 1880
RALPH I. INGERSOLL _ . . . _ . _ _ _ _ _ . . . . _ ...from June 1, 1830 to 1831
DENNIS KIMBERLY .................... --from J 11116 '7, 1831 to 1889
EBENEZZER SEELEY .................... __from J 11116 5, 1832 to 1833
DENNIS KIMBERLY* ................... - -from J 11116 4, 1833

N osms DARLING ..................... - _from June 10, 1833 to 1834
HENRY C. FLAGG ..................... ....from June 3, 1834 to 1839
SAMUEL J. HITCHOOCK ................ _-from June 3, 1839 to ‘1842
PHILIP S. GALPIN .................... ..-f1'o1n J une 8, 1842 to 184.6
HENRY PEOK .......................... - ..from J 11119 1, 1846 to 1880
AARON N. SKINNER ................... _ _from J une 3, 1850 to 1854
CHAUNGEY JEROME ........ - -. ......... -..from J une 5, 1854 to 1855
ALFRED BLAOKMAN ................... -..from J 11118 41, 1856 to 1856
PHILIP S. GALPIN ....  ....... - ._ ..... ....from June 2, 1856 130 1860
HARMANUS M. WELCH ................ .. .from June 4, 1860136 1863
MORRIS TYLER ........... - -1 ......... _.._..fro1:n June 2, 1863 to 1865
ERASTUS C. SCRANTON __--. ..... _ . .__.-from Juhe 6, 1865 to 1866
LUCIEN "W. SPERRY  ....... ..__....._from June 5, 1866 to 1869
WILLIAM FITCH ........ --' ............ -_from J 11119 1, 1869 to 1870
HENRY Gr. LEWIS ............. ..from June '7, 1870 to Jan. 1, 1877
‘WILLIAM R. Summon _________________ _._from Jan, 1, 1877 to 1879
Honmr B; Bmnow ................. ..-from Jan. 1, 1379 to 1881
JOHN B. ROBERTSON .................. .._fro1:r1Ja,n. 1, 1881 to 1383
HENRY G. LEWIS _________ ...; __________ __from Jan. 1, 1833 to 1385
GEORGE F. HOLOOMZB ....  _____ .._:.___...from Jan. 1, 1885......

* Declined to serve.