Guides for the Tours
Buy a book today. Go walk New Haven.
Lower Dixwell book : $10
Take a walk back in time while visiting the neighborhood as it is today with its important African American historical sites. The sites include a school built in 1854 for African American children, before the New Haven schools were integrated in 1859, some of the oldest churches which were part of the Underground Railroad, a system that helped escaped slaves journey to freedom in the North, and community institutions such as the Dixwell Community House. The Dixwell neighborhood was once home to others as well. The tour includes the former sites of a synagogue and a Police Precinct where many Irish worked.
Downtown & Downtown North (2 tours) : $15
Enjoy a unique look at New Haven's past! Explore our Downtown at your own pace and discover stories typical of the many contributions cultural groups have made (and will continue to make!) to New Haven's social, cultural and economic life. Learn about department store owners Edward Malley and Jacob Shartenberg; the 6th longest running St. Patrick's Day Parade in the U.S.; entertainment entrepreneurs S. Z. Poli (movie theater owner) and Maurice Bailey (Shubert Theater owner); Patrick Goode and Aldo DeDominicis (radio and TV station owners); historic houses of worship of several faith communities including St. Mary's Church, site of the founding of the Knights of Columbus; and the part New Haven played in the Amistad incident.
Wooster Square book : $10
Stroll Wooster Square and see sites such as Sally's and Pepe's Pizza that tell the stories of some of the ethnic groups that settled there before 1970. You'll see mutual aid societies that emerged to help Italian immigrants assimilate to their new homes, a former synagogue that dates back to 1855, the former Strouse-Adler factory where many immigrants worked sewing undergarments, an area formerly known as Slineyville which provided homes for Irish immigrants in the 1820’s and much more.
Grand Avenue
(State ST To East St, 1830–1970) book : $10
Discover the formerly vital world of this part of Grand Avenue closest to Downtown. It included the Artizan School for African-American children in the home of Sarah (Sally) Wilson, a meeting room for the first synagogue in CT, Congregation Mishkan Israel, and factories such as the New Haven Clock Company which employed many immigrant workers. Neighborhood institutions also included St. Patrick’s Church, and The Boys Club. Brick and wooden tenements lined the streets to provide worker housing. Many of the street’s clothing and furniture stores and theaters for entertainment had immigrant roots. Two businesses were owned by women: Lillian’s Paradise, a restaurant and jazz club started by African-American Lillian Benford Lumpkin, and The Terese Furniture Store, owned by Teresa DelPreto Falcigno. The remnants of some of these buildings remain. Their stories have survived.
