given, August, 1785, was removed about the time the Green was
enclosed with a first fence. It stood near the southeast corner.
The elm tree, corner of Church and Chapel streets, was set out
the day that Benjamin Franklin died : April 17, 1790. The tree
was purchased by Mr. Thaddeus Beecher for one quart of St. Croix
rum, of Jerry Ailing, of Hamden, who brought it into town on his
shoulder and planted it \vhere it now flourishes in its lovely age.
The man was known sometimes as Apple Ailing, because he peddled
fruit to the College students. In 1887, this Franklin Elm, as it is
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 6l
sometimes called, measured sixteen feet around its trunk, two feet
above the ground, and it is still growing, although some of its limbs
have been lost. On one side it had become injured by the wheels
of passing carts, and about thirty years ago, Mr. Gad Day inserted
in its wounded side a thick board, about three feet long, to keep out
the weather. The bark has since so grown over the board that only
about two feet of its length and eight inches of its width can be seen.
The tree has increased a foot and a half in diameter since this bit of
surgery. A few years before the war, between the North and South,
Philip Pinkerman raised by subscription, about sixty dollars, and
this money, with a small appropriation by the city, was used to pay
for the wrought iron fence which at present protects the tree, but
which should now be enlarged. Mr. Pinkerman kept a cigar store in
the Glebe building which preceded the present structure of that
name, on the corner of Chapel and Church streets.
Let us look at the Green in some of its various aspects. Before
ever there was a fence or definite boundary lines, more than two
hundred years ago, we see an uneven piece of land with marshy
pools, nourishing the roots of alders and wild vines. Foot-paths
trending in different directions, but not in straight lines, intersect
each other for the convenience of people living in the neighborhood.
In their season frogs and tree toads make their respective sort of
music, and in places specially dank, low shrubberies bear their fruit-
age of berries or nuts where fire-flies of summer nights show their
flitting light. At dusk, when the vigilant watchfulness of the puri-
tanic master and mistress can be most easilv eluded, thoughtless and
perhaps wickedly reckless men-servants and maid-servants steal
through the gloaming to disport themselves without restraint, and
undisturbed except by the cry of a strange bird or the unfamiliar
voice of a wild animal in distress. Or it is a still Sabbath morning,
as the people with deportment of gravity befitting the hour, w^end
their way at the call of drum-beat, to the meeting-house. Later on
in the passage of time we see a group of English officers standing
near the grave of John Dixwell, the regicide, discussing the sugges-
ESTAI5LIBHEI> 1838.
O. OOTVLES 4fe OO.
MFRS. CARRIAGE TRIMMINGS.
GOLD, SILVER
NICKEL
Plating*
RE-PLATING
A.
Girls' Tricycles & Velocipedes.
Established 1859.
1^.1 PHlLLIj^. I ^^pBt^g^
Excelsior Sign Depot,
57 Church St., opp. Post Office, New Haven, Conn.
SIGNS AND BANNERS
Transparencies, Carved Signs, Ice Cream and Soda Water
Flags, Business Wagons Lettered, Gilding on
Glass a Specialty, Cloth Signs of
all Kinds, Show Cards,
Etc.
Best AVoi-lf .
Lo>vest: Prices.
P. 0. Box 1383.
H. D. PHILLIPS, C. R. PHILLIPS,
65
66 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
tion that his bones should be disinterred and treated with indignity.
Near the southeast corner of the Green at a later time, are gathered
the farmers from outlying districts. They have driven their ox teams
into town with loads of wood and hay, and are waiting for a pur-
chaser of their commodities. But what grand excitement has called
the people together on a certain forenoon in 1761, when there is
much joyful shouting and a firing of cannon? It is the day on
which proclamation is made that the Prince of Wales has become
King Georo-e III. This was a time when healths were drunk to his
Majesty, the royal family and King of Prussia, and there was feast-
ing by the governor, deputy governor and council, and others of
notability.
With gibe and jest the idle and malevolent are mingled with some
few citizens of puritanic severity of countenance, to enjoy seeing
two miserable fellows branded with the letter " B " before being
publicly whipped. Let us hope that their punishment was deserved,
and they burglarized no more. Again are assembled a few of the
shrewd, forehanded citizens who are eager to bid at the public auc-
tio!i of the town poor, whose future lot it must be to bear in pain
and suffering all that they are able, in return for the cheapest and
coarsest fare that will sustain life. To this dav the State of Con-
necticut practically approves this method of caring for the poor.
All paupers not accredited to any town become charges upon the
State, and they are sent to TariiTville, there to live or languish and
die, as may be the case, and at as small an expense to the good old
commonwealth as is possible.
Now on the Green we catch the sound of voices raised in angry
protest at the iniquitous Stamp i.\ct, and with wild, seditious remarks
the people express their hatred to taxation without representation.
How merrily the bells — three of them — did ring not long afterw^ard
when intelligence w^as received of the repeal of the obnoxious law.
Now comes a day when members of the Governor's Guards hasten
to the Green and march away for Lexington or Cambridge under
the brave Benedict Arnold. What noisy rejoicings at night in 1781
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 67
at Washington's victory over Lord Cornwallis ! The gathering of
the people at the brick meeting-house, the grand dinner in the State
House, the illumination of that building and dwelling houses near
the Green at night — surely they were happy people who flocked to
the Green to mingle their congratulations and strengthen each
other's love for liberty ! Such another rejoicing they had in 1783 at
the news of the cessation of hostilities between this and the mother
country.
What a strange scene was that on the Green, when in 1839, ^
crowd of velvety-skinned blacks — the mutineers of the Amistad —
were let out of the county jail on Church street, to roll and toss
and gambol about on the grass, under the shade of the ehns, which
although they are older now, were trees of magnitude and beauty.
It was no stranger sight than now can be enjoyed, when on the
front steps of the First Church, in the centre of the Green, pictur-
esque groups of Italians, the women wearing bright colored shawls
on their heads, chatter in their liquid language of interests in Rome
or Genoa, as they would on the church steps of their native place in
sunny Italy.
It must have been a mournful assemblage which assisted at the
burial on the Green of Martha Townsend, the first woman in New
Haven for whom a grave was made there. There were many other
similar occasions for mournful meetings, but none, it would seem, so
calculated as this to set the mind at work with the theological prob-
lems w^hich tormented the best of our ancestors. No matter how
long ago it is since the body of this first inhabitant of the silent City
of Death was sweetened by the cool earth and was wasted quite
away — beyond all possibility of ever being found — the creed and
faith of the mourners, as inscribed to-dav over the entrance to Grove
Street Cemetery, must have had as much consolation in it as it has
for the faithful and good in this year of our Lord, 1889. "The dead
shall be raised ! " At profound midnight there were burials in the
Green, when certain of our ancestors were borne to the grave, lying
on the bottom of a wagon, the lifeless body wrapped in sail-cloth,
Exposition Uiiiverselle.
PARIS, 1889.
PRIZE AWARDED FOR
S. HI- STIiEET Sc GO'S
PERFECTION CEREAL FOOD PRODUCTS.
I PERFECTION
PREPARED
i BUCKWHEAT
FLOUR
PREPARED
IN ONE MINUTE
Perfeclion Prepared Backwheal Floar,
PerfeGlion Prepared Breakfast Gake Flsar,
PerfectiGn M\m\ Gake Floar,
Perfection Padding Preparation,
Perfection polled White Qats,
Perfection (l)heatine,
^\^^^-HA-I^A 1^^0 013.
Grocers are autliorized to refund money paid for unsatisfactory goods.
Wo Griifii-tiiitoe Sntisfjiotioii.
S- EC. STI^EET cSc CO.,
NEW HAVEN, CONN.
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COLLEGE ST.
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GRAMMAR SCHOOL f«®ss«|lmT
LLliiilil
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BUILT 1663
CHURCH ST.
FIRST
COURT HOUSE
BUILT IN 1717
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THE GREEN IN I72O.
70 TBE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
covered with tar. Solemnly in advance of these sad processions,
walked a man carrying a lantern, who cried a warning to all way-
farers to remove out of the way, and following the wagon another
man bearing a lantern, gave similar warning to all who might other-
wise overtake the gloomy cortege. For this was a customary mode
of burial in cases where an inhabitant of the town had died from the
dreaded small-pox.
In later days, what thousands and thousands of people have hur-
ried to the Green for participation in glorious events of peaceful
days! The grand muster of firemen of this and neighboring cities,
their engines and hose carriages gleaming with brightly polished
metal and festooned with flowers, drav/n by the stahvart sons of a
free and happy commonwealth, is succeeded by exciting contests to
test the comparative merit of the different engines and the skill,
activity and strength of the men who man the brakes. As in a dis-
solving view we see the Green on days of "general training," when
the uniformed companies put to shame the oddly dressed and unam-
bitious members of the unwilling militia. Booths at convenient loca-
tions near the town pump are patronized by lovers of bowls of
stewed oysters and St. Croix rum. On the grass, gamblers spread
their sweat-cloths, nic-^rked with numerals, and boldly challenge all
persons to make a cast with the dice. Eccentric old fellows, whose
breath smelled of the cider brandy of Valley Forge, or Bethan}', or a
near Connecticut town, danced in glee and whooped and exhorted, to
the amusement of school children who were given a holiday. In all
parts of the Green fights would spring up and the crowd would rush
for a chance to get near. Small boys who wanted to earn a little
money for a pack of firecrackers or a cylinder of torpedoes, were to be
seen everywhere carrying salvers suspended from the neck by a string.
on which were laid long and thick rolls of molasses candy, made by
their mothers only on general training days. Then came the days
of a well appointed military organization and the parades, often in
company with military bodies from New York, Boston and else-
THE HIS TOR y OF ' THE ST A TE HOUSE. 7 I
where, which were viewed with pleasure by thousands of well-
dressed men, women and children.
A wonderfully rich history might be written of New Haven's Green,
could all the rags in Egypt be converted into paper on which to write
it. Men not yet of middle age, remember the recruiting tents set up
on the public square — the drilling and marching of the freshly
enlisted men whose lives were offered for their country, for free gov-
ernment such as the world had never before known. And after the
war — only a few years after — when the book-keepers in large manu-
facturing establishments were making rules for monthly payment of
wages, and taking toll of workmen for giving them the privilege of
drawing money for present necessities, and before regular pay day,
what great crowds of impatient men collected around the band-stand
at the liberty pole, to hear Peter McGuire and other fervent orators
declaim of the wrongs of the workingmen ! Happily, some of the
misunderstandings between men who have capital and men who
labor hard to live have been dissipated by means of much discussion
in print and on platforms. Then how lovely has been the sight ot
hundreds of singing children on days of public commemoration of
important historical events ! How like a wonderful dream, passed
away indeed but not forgotten, reappear to " the mind's eye " circum-
stances of moment and events of high importance, in which various
prominent citizens, some of whom are dead, have figured. What a
fearful scream w^as heard on the Green about fifty years ago, when
James Rice, then a playful boy, was sorely wounded by the wad of a
cannon fired on a July celebration day ! How ridiculous looked the
red-faced musician on horseback, whose steed bolted from the ranks
of the mounted band which preceded the march of the Horse
Guards, carrying him to a distant part of the Green, in a hot day, the
sun shining brightly on a brass instrument of music of enormous
size. The angry passions of an excited mob — trundling of loaded
ordnance for the destruction of the College buildings — the intention
foiled by the coolness and nerve of Lyman Bissell, a captain of the
watch, — helped to stamp a character upon New Haven, not to the
72 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
advantage of the city or remembered with satisfaction. Pleasanter
is it to be once more with thousands of interested people who look
with all their might at the splendors of fireworks which brilliantly
depict scenes of patriotic heroism, in which George Washington bore
a manly part. Or pleasanter still to linger in the half-light of a moon-
light night in June, where lovers speak to each other in quiet voices,
of the mystery which since the days of Adam and Eve in the blessed
Garden of Eden, has never been thoroughly explained by not even
the noblest poet or most learned metaphysician. Millions of dusty,
tired mortals have quenched their thirst at the old town pump, not
yet, thank Heaven ! abolished, notwithstanding Dr. Lindsley's analy-
sis of its cool, crystal water and the efforts of the Board of Health.
No institution of New Haven has conferred so much comfort upon
suffering humanity as the pump. Once its case was simply an oblong
box on end, on which Col. Joe Blakeslee, then a young man, used
to paste his announcements of steamboat excursions and other popu-
lar amusements. For this, when Peck Sperry was a Common Coun-
cilman, in 1862, was substituted a more ornate wooden structure and
in later years, the taste and good sense of A. Heaton Robertson was
so exercised in the Common Council as to give us the beautiful can-
opy and pump, both of iron, which now adorn the corner of the
Green. It would not be an unpleasant act to raise a subscription for
a testimonial to Mr. Douglas, of Middletown, who presented the
pump to the city. The fact is, however, that an"ybody can give any-
thing to the city and get no reward except a free puff in the news-
papers or the City Year Book. For New Haven is what a New-
York " drummer " will ever speak of as "a very conservative town."
Had it not been so, the Naugatuck railroad would have terminated
in New Haven instead of Bridgeport, and perhaps Connecticut would
proudly boast of two capitals instead of one. Fashions change.
Hon. William W. Boardman could hardly be persuaded to give up
his objections to having the granite posts at the entrances to the
Green removed a sufficient distance apart to allow a lady wearing a
hoop skirt under her dress to pass between them, and at this day the
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. "J ^
people are talking of pulling up and removing all the posts entirely
around the Green, together with the fences.
Men who were boys fifty years ago, recollect the long green gowns
w^orn by the artillerymen who fired the salutes on the public square
every Fourth of July. The veteran gunner, Aaron Belden, who for
more than half a century has cared for the city's field-pieces and
fired them on all important occasions, is still in fair health. How
the old six pounders have spoken in the past in response to the deep
feelings of the people ! The firing was on the western half of the
Green when the State voted for the Fourteenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution. The guns have thundered at whig as
well as loco-foco victories, and upon days of general sorrow and
rejoicing. They have spoken in welcome to many a distinguished
man.
In the early light of August 3, 1837, there lay, in a great heap on
the Green near the town pump, hundreds of the long, leather "fire-
buckets," one or more of which w^ere owned by every householder,
and on each was painted its owner's name. Those who were out of
bed all night, watching the destruction of a large part of the busi-
ness centre of New Haven, had .seen a long line of women passing
these buckets from one to another, as they were used to fill the fire
engines with water from the town pump, the women passing the
empty buckets and the men the full ones. From a little after eight
o'clock in the evening of August 3, the skies had been lighted by the
conflagration which had threatened to burn down a large part of the
town. A strong wind blowing from the south scattered pieces of
burning shingles over the roofs of buildings more than half a mile
away and fires were kindled on the top of many houses. All night
those who had staid at home were busy pouring water upon the
blankets and bed-quilts which were spread on roofs to protect them
from the falling of burnins^ brands. The fi.re broke out in the rear
of the furniture workshop of J. B. Bowditch, over which was the
sign-paintmg shop of Yemmans & Morehouse, in the centre of the
block bounded by Orange, Crown, Church and Chapel streets. In less
S. M. MUNSON & CO.
FAMILY PIE BAKERS
362 to 370 EXCHANGE ST.
New York Depot, 203 and 205 E. 2 1 st Street.
To New Haven must be ascribed the honor of being the location of the first
bakery devoted to the making of pies exclusively for public sale, and the pioneer of
this now extensive industry was Amos Munson, who commenced in a small way
June 10, 1844, the manufacture of pies, chiefly for sale in New Vork City. From
that time on the business increased until, in 1S49, a branch factory was established
in New York, which is still maintained. In 1872 the present firm style was
adopted, since which time the business has been controlled by Mr. S. M. Munson,
son of the founder, and its phenomenal growth and extensive trade, now so impor-
tant, is largely due to the enterprising management of this gentleman, who may be
said to have been brought up in the business, as he has almost continually been
engaged in it since he was eleven years of age. The principal secret of the success
of this firm may be attributed to their uniform efforts to produce good goods.
There are pies and there are pies — but the pies made by this firm are good, palata-
ble, wholesale, carefully and cleanly made and salable goods. No trash is used,
but on the contrary the best materials and the freshest fruits only are employed
in their manufacture, and they are unquestionably fully equal to the best home-
made pies and are as carefully prepared. All kinds of pies are made, and are dis-
tributed fresh to the trade daily. The facilities of the house in this city embrace
a specially erected factory 146 x 47 feet in dimensions, which is equipped with all
available machinery, and has a capacity for the manufacture of 6,000 pies daily.
The factory is a model of neatness, and the firm take pleasure in showing their
customers their methods of manufacture. The trade of the house extends through-
out Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, and deliveries are made in all the
principal cities, shipments being made from here daily by rail. An industrv of
this character adds much to the reputation of New Haven as a producer of first-
class products, and the enterprise and energy which has brought it to so prosper-
ous a condition from the smallest beginnings, is alike creditable to its management
and to the city in which it has found a congenial field for the display of its talents.
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 75
than an hour the whole range of wood buildings in Chapel street,
generally occupied as stores, was in flames. Several houses on Grove
and other streets were set on fire. By eleven o'clock the fire reached
the last store on the west of the wood range in Chapel street which
adjoined the oil and paint store of Gardner Morse. The whole
range of buildings on the opposite side of the street from the New
Haven Bank to Exchange Place, were most of them damaged by the
fire. The firemen of Fair Haven were promptly on hand to assist in
preventing what it was feared would be the destruction of half the
buildings in the city. Water was obtained from the canal, which
then flowed where now^ rest the rails of the Northampton Railroad
company, and from the force-pump at George Rowland's mill, which
stood on ground now covered by the City Market, or the old railroad
station. Some of the Chapel street stores were protected in a
measure by the large shade trees which were set along that thorough-
fare. It was a night of terror and distress for all the people of the
city. Yale students carried the contents of Durrie & Peck's book-
store to the Green, from the building now occupied by H. H. Peck,
a grandson of one of the firm. Other merchandise to some extent,
was carried to places likely to be safe. Men and women w^orked as
they had never worked before, to help subdue the fire. Happening as
if did, when all business had suffered from that season of depression
historically remembered as "hard times," the fire was indeed a
calamity. Twenty buildings were burned. The sufferers on Orange
street were S. M. Bassett, looking-glasses ; J. B. Bowditch, furniture ;
Yemmans & Morehouse, painters. On Chapel street, William A.
Thompson, dry goods; Beriah Bradley, boots and shoes; Misses S.
& M. Parker, milliners; Miss Tyler, milliner; Samuel Fairchild,
ladies' French shoes ; G. W. & A. G. Tuttle, dry goods ; William
Fairchild, ladies' shoes; Norris Candee, tailor; William C. Baldwin,
boots and shoes; Bostwick & Treadway, harness makers; H, Reed,
grocer; Horace Mansfield, book-binder; Giles Mansfield, hatter ;
Jonathan Foot, boots : William A. Law, thread and needles; Demas
P. Tucker, fruit. These were on the south side of the street. Qn
^6 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE.
the north side, the sufferers were, Samuel Noyes, of the Apothe-
caries' Hall ; Miss Scott & Mrs. Langdon, milliners; Mark Woosler,
grocer ; John Beecher, tinner, and D. W. Davenport, toys and fancy
goods. The latter was a brother of the celebrated actor of that
name, who in youth had been a pupil in one of John E. Lovell's
elocution classes. The lire injured the cabinet warehouse of Lines
>i: Chamberlain. Dyer White, who lived in a fine house on Orange,
below Chapel street, lost a barn and outhouses. In the rear of his
property, there was a ten-pin alley, the entrance to which was on
Church street. This was burned, and Mr. White is reported to have
said the morning after the fire that he was glad that the '' rolling j^in
place " was gone. The rolling of the balls on the alley could be
heard at his house late at night, when most citizens wanted their
sleep. About this time tiie city was kept in a constant state of
alarm by incendiary fires. In one day there were fifteen fire alarms.
So many barns were burned that the general appearance of New
Haven was a good deal changed. There were patrols of citizens and
students, watching for fires, and with the hope of catching the
incendiaries.
There was a notable conflict on the west section of the Green,
October 30, 1841, between the firemen and the Yale students. The
latter were kicking foot-ball and they trampled on the hose. Firemen
and students had a lively battle, in which dangerous weapons were
displayed. The students were defeated, and afterward the College
authorities paid seven hundred dollars to the city, in damages for
the destruction of fire engine No. 7, located on Chapel above
College street. Fifty years ago collisions between the town-born
boys and the students were frequent, and sometimes dangerous to
life. February 9, 1858, a quarrel between members of engine
company No. 2, and the Crocodile club of students, boarding on the
corner of High and Elm streets, led to the death of William Miles,
the assistant foreman of the engine company, wdio was shot. Hose
wrenches, pistols, clubs and daggers were used with effect, during
the fight. On one occasion, when the firemen were exercising on
THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 'J -J