Re area's great history: Rev. Simeon Jocelyn founded Spireworth Village (later called Trowbridge Square) in 1830, where free blacks and whites would live together. When he proposed establishment of country’s first @#$% College, a white mob stoned his house. (Northerners generally were opposed to slavery, but did not support equal rights.) In 1833 Connecticut passed “Black Law” outlawing such schools (including Prudence Crandall’s in Canterbury, CT). Law repealed in 1838. In 1850s Gerard Hallock further developed the Trowbridge Square area. See http://www.yaleslavery.org/Abolitionists/jocelyn.htm For more re Gerard Hallock see https://citypointnewhavenconnecticut.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/a-brief-history-of-city-point-in-new-haven-connecticut/