Urban Legal History:The Development of New Haven Robert Ellickson
Yale Law School Spring 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. BASIC MATERIALS

    1. Sources
      Bibliography on New Haven and Urban Issues (page 1)
      Best Places to Research New Haven in New Haven (page 6)
    2. Maps (page 10)
    3. Population Counts (page 19)
    4. Neighborhood Data (page24)

  2. COLONIAL NEW HAVEN 1638-1775

    1. Legislation in Other Colonial Cities
      Jon C. Teaford, The Municipal Revolution in America (page 27)
      John F. Hart, Colonial Land Use Law (page 32)
    2. Colonial New Haven
      Cornelia Hughes Dayton, Women Before the Bar(page 38)
      Charles M. Andrews, Colonial Period of American History (page 47)
      Bruce C. Daniels, The Connecticut Town (page 57)
    3. New Haven's Nine Squares
      John Reps, The Making of Urban America (page 61)
      Anthony N.B. Garvan, Architecture and Town Planning in
      Colonial Connecticut (page68)
      Elizabeth Mills Brown, John Brockett of New Haven (page 69)
    4. Perspective: Path Dependence
      Mark J. Roe, Chaos and Evolution in Law and Economics (page 74)

  3. NINETEENTH CENTURY NEW HAVEN: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND URBANIZATION

    1. A Walking City Phases Out Mercantilist Practices
      Jon C. Teaford, The Municipal Revolution in America (page 82)
      Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier (page 84)
      The Modem Traveller: North America (page 86)
    2. The Technological Revolution
      Rollin G. Osterweis, Three Centuries of New Haven
      (City profile in 1861) (page 88)
      Jon C. Teaford, The Unheralded Triumph (page 90)
      Floyd M. Shumway & Richard Hegel, New Haven in 1884 (page 104)
      Robert Higgs, Urbanization and Inventiveness in the United States (page 116)
    3. The Evolution of New Haven Government
      Robert Dahl, Who Governs?(page 118)
      Benham's New Haven City Directory-- 1876 (page 124)
      Edwin F. Sweet, Municipal Government and Its Demands upon
      Good Citizenship (page 125)
      Janice C. Griffith, Connecticut's Home Rule (page 127)
      New Haven Taxpayers Research Council, The Charter of New Haven
      (page 132)

  4. TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW HAVEN: RENEWAL EFFORTS TO STEM SUBURBANIZATION

    1. The City Beautiful Movement
      Cass Gilbert & Frederick Law Olmsted, Report of the New Haven Civic
      Improvement Commission (page133)
    2. The Heyday of Urban Renewal
      Jon C. Teaford, The Twentieth-Century American City (page150)
      Norman I. Fainstein & Susan S. Fainstein, New Haven: The Limits
      of the Local State (page 162)
    3. Perspective: The Theory of Public Finance
      Harvey Rosen, Public Finance (page 182)

  5. THE LAW OF STREETS

    1. Perspective: Toward a Theory of Streets
      Ellickson, Property in Land (page 195)
    2. Procedures for Laying Out New Streets
      1. Comprehensive Street Mapping: The Case of New York
        John W. Reps, The Making of Urban America (page 198)
        Hendrik Hartog, Public Property and Private Power (page 201)
        In re Furman Street (page 203)

      2. Piecemeal Street Increments: The Case of New Haven
        Elizabeth Mills Brown, New Haven: A Guide to Architecture
        And Urban Design (page 205)
        New Haven Town Records (page 206)
        History of the City of New Haven (Edward E. Atwater ed.) (page 209)
        Conn. Stat. tit. 49 (1838) (page 210)
        City Year Book of New Haven-- 1872-73 (page 211)
        City Year Book of New Haven-- 1884 (page 212)
        Agreement Between City of New Haven and Yale
        University (1990) (page 214)
        "Courtyard Designed to Pull City Together" (page 215)

    3. The Widening of Existing Streets
      Cass Gilbert & Frederick Law Olmsted, Report of the New Haven Civic
      Improvement Commission (page 216)
      Christine Meisner Rosen, The Limits of Power (map of Boston) (page 219)

    4. City Accommodation of Others' Requests to Place Structures in Streets
      Opinion Given by the Law Department of the City of New
      Haven (1875) (page 220)
      George Dudley Seymour, New Haven (on marquees) (page 223)
      Yale University v. City of New Haven
      (on the High Street arch) (page 226)

    5. Methods of Financing Streets and Street Furniture: When Should Users and Abutting Landowners Bear the Cost?
      1. Streets and Sidewalks
        Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven (page 232)
        Sidewalk Ordinance of the City of New Haven (1812) (page 233)
        Trinity College v. City of Hartford(page 234)
        Charter of the City of New Haven (1870) (page 236)
        Bowditch v. City of New Haven(page 237)
        New Haven Department of Public Works, Sidewalks Completed
        During 1884 (page 240)
        New Haven Department of Public Works,
        Annual Report--1979-1980 (page 241)
        "Accusation Lobbed Over Street Repair List" (page 242)
        Charter of the City of New Haven (1993) (page 243)
        "Downtown District Delayed" (page 244)

      2. Bridges
        History of the City of New Haven (Edward E. Atwater ed.) (page 245)

      3. Sewers
        History of the City of New Haven (Edward E,. Atwater ed.) (page246)
        Cass Gilbert & Frederick Law Olmsted, Report of the New Haven
        Civic Improvement Commission (page 247)
        "Sewer Separation on Agenda Tonight" (page 248)

  6. THE SUBDIVISION OF LAND INTO LOTS

    1. Perspective: A Theory of Lot Sizing

      Ellickson, Property in Land (page 249)

    2. Colonial Land Divisions
      1. Practices in New England

        William Cronon, Changes in the Land (page 251)
        John Frederick Martin, Profits in the Wilderness (page 254)
      2. Land Divisions in Colonial New Haven
        History of the City of New Haven (Edward E. Atwater ed.) (page 260)
        Floyd M. Shurnway, New Haven and its First Settlers (page 261)
        Charles H. Levermore, The Republic of New Haven (page 263)
        Isabel MacBeath Calder, The New Haven Colony (page 264)
      3. First Evidence of Private Land Transfers in New Haven
        New Haven Town Records (page 266)

    3. The Subdivision Process and its Regulation
      1. In General
        Kevin Lynch, Site Planning (page 267)
        Anne Vernez; Moudon, Built for Change
        (on San Francisco) (page 270)
        Marc Weiss, The Rise of the Community Builders (page 277)
        Patricia Burgess, Planning for the Private Interest
        (on Columbus) (page 279)
      2. In New Haven
        1. Land subdivisions
          Elizabeth Mills Brown, New Haven: A Guide to Architecture
          and Urban Design (page 282)
        2. Lot assemblages
          "New Haven's Future, According to Joel Schiavone" (page 286)
          "City Ready to Wage All-Out War on Blight" (page 287)

  7. YALE UNIVERSITY, THE GREAT LAND ASSEMBLER

    1. Evolution of the Campus (page 288)
      Elizabeth Mills Brown, New Haven- A Guide to Architecture and
      Urban Design (page 288)
      Max Page, The Struggle for a Campus (page 290)
      George Wilson Pierson, Yale: The University College (page 294)
      Yale University, President's Report (page 299)
      The Plan for the Development of Yale University (1924) (page 300)
      Yale University, Treasurer's Report (1931) (page 302)

    2. A Sampling of Yale's Land Acquisitions
      Max Page, The Struggle for a Campus (page 303)
      Arnold Guyot Dana, New Haven's Problems (page 304)
      Office of the Secretary, Hillhouse Avenue Buildings (page 307)
      "Yale Owns More of City Than Most People Know" (page 311)

    3. Relations Between the City and the University
      William S. Pardee, The Relations of New Haven and Yale
      University (1911) (page 313)
      Anson Phelps Stokes, What Yale Does for New Haven (1911) (page 317)
      Allan R. Talbot, The Mayor's Game (page 320)
      Yale University, Office of the Secretary, Economic Impact (1991) (page 332)
      "Yale Program Offers University's Employees Money to
      Buy Homes" (page 335)
      Yale University, New Haven Homebuyer Program (page 336)
      Richard Bell, Facing Up to New Haven (page 338)

  8. CONTROLLING SUBSTANDARD LAND USES: OF NUISANCES AND ZONING ORDINANCES

    1. Domestic Animals and Duties to Fence: A Colonial Precursor
      New Haven Town Records (1650-55) (page 340)
      Hendrik Hartog, Public Property and Private
      Power [pigs in NYC] (page 342)
      New Haven Ordinances (page 343)

    2. Nuisances and Nuisance Law
      New Haven Town Records (1645) (page 344)
      Whitney v. Bartholomew (page 344)
      Gorham v. City of New Haven (page 349)
      City of New Haven, Ordinance Concerning Nuisances (page 350)
      Year Book of the Chamber of Commerce (1915) (page 351)
      Gilbert & Olmsted, Report of the New Haven Civic
      Improvement Comm'n (page 352)

    3. City Land-Use Regulations
      1. Perspective: The Concept of Grain
        History of the City of New Haven (Atwater ed.) (page 354)
        Kevin Lynch, Good City Form (page 355)
        Thelma A. Dreis, Handbook of Social Statistics of
        New Haven (page 357)
      2. Pre-Zoning Regulations
        New Haven Building Line Ordinance (1870) (page 359)
        Allan B. Jacobs, Looking at Cities (page 360)
        New Haven Nuisance Ordinance (page 361)
      3. The City Planning Movement
        George Dudley Seymour, New Haven (page 364)
        Pearson & Wrigley, Before Mayor Richard Lee: George Dudley
        Seymour and the City Planning Movement in New Haven (page 367)
      4. Zoning
        Andrew J. Cappel, Note, A Walk Along Willow: Patterns of Land
        Use Coordination in Pre-Zoning New Haven (1870-1926) (page 369)
        Brown, New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and
        Urban Design (page 396)
        New Haven City Plan Commission, Rezoning for New
        Haven (1962) (page 397)
        New Haven Zoning Map (1992) [East Rock
        Neighborhood] (page 407)
        Zoning Ordinance of the City of New
        Haven (1995) (page 408)

  9. FOSTERING PUBLIC GOODS: OF PARKS AND CIVIC IMPROVEMENTS

    1. The Green

      Sarah Day Woodward, Early New Haven (page 411)
      Henry T. Blake, Chronicles of the New Haven Green (page 414)
      New Haven Park Commission, East Rock Park (page 418)
      Gilbert & Olmsted, Report of the New Haven Civic Improvement
      Comm'n (page 419)
      Parisky & Assocs., New Haven Green: A Restoration Plan (page 420)

    2. The Grove Street Cemetery: A Quasi-Public Institution?
      History of the City of New Haven (Atwater ed.) (page 423)
      Aaron N. Skinner, History of the City Burial Ground of New
      Haven (page 424)

    3. Elms
      Jonathan G. Lowet, The Elms of the Elm City (page 425)
      New Haven Ordinance on Trees (1873) (page 434)
      Gilbert & Olmsted, Report of the New Haven Civic Improvement
      Comm'n (page 435)

    4. Landmark Public Buldings
      Brown, New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design (page 436)

    5. Parks
      New Haven City Plan Commission, Tomorrow is Now (1944) (page 439)
      Report of the Mayor's Committee on Open Spaces (1964) (page 440)
      George Dudley Seymour, New Haven (page 443)

    6. Legal Constraints on City Land Acguisition and Disposition
      Driscoll v. City of New Haven (page 446)

    7. Financing Public Goods
      New Haven Town Records (1639-1651) (page 450)
      Yearbook of the City of New Haven (1863) (page 452)
      Rollin G. Osterweis, Three Centuries of New Haven (page 454)

    8. Encouraging Especially Beneficial Uses of Private Land
      Brown, New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design (page 455)
      "New Haven Offers Prizes for Home Rehab" (page 456)
      Michael A. Candeto, Historic Preservation in the Elm City (page 457)

  10. TRANSPORTATION FIRMS, PUBLIC UTILITIES, AND CITY ENTERPRISES

    1. Transportation Enterprises

      1. The Harbor
        Thomas R. Trowbridge, History of the Long Wharf in New
        Haven (page 465)
        Contractors to Rebuild Union Wharf v. Steamer JH.
        Starin (page 470)
        Office of Downtown & Harbor Dev't, New Haven Coastal
        Program (page 473)
      2. Turnpikes
        Edward Chase Kirkland, Men, Cities, and Transportation (page 476)
        Frederic J. Wood, The Turnpikes of New
        England (page 480)
        Klein & Majewski, Economy, Community, and Law: The Turnpike
        Movement in New York, 1797-1845 (page 482)
      3. The Farmington Canal
        William Porter, The Farmington Canal (page 484)
        "Planners for Linear Park in City Chosen" (page 489)
        Map of Farmington Canal Right-of-Way (page 490)
        "Yale Wants to Work with City and Residents on Canal Trail
        Plan" (page 491)
      4. Railroads
        Edward Chase Kirkland, Men, Cities, and Transportation (page 492)
        Rollin G. Osterweis, Three Centuries of New Haven (page 501)
        Bradley v. New-York & New Haven R.R. (page 502)
        City of New Haven, Report of the Blue Ribbon
        Commission (page 504)
      5. Street Railways
        Lance E. Davis et al., American Economic Growth (page 505)
        Benham's New Haven City Directory [advertisement] (page 507)
        John R. Stevens, Early History of Street Railways: The
        N.H. Area (page 508)
        Elliott v. Fair Haven & Westville R.R. (page 510)
        Harry G. Day, The Operation of Electric Street Railways Without
        Compensation to Abutting Owners (page 511)
      6. Tweed-New Haven Airport
        Tweed-New Haven Airport, Annual Report--1995 (page 514)
        City of New Haven, Report of the Blue Ribbon
        Commission (page 514)

    2. Public Utilities: Gas, Water, Telephone, Electric

      Henry Hotchkiss Townshend, The Formative Years of New Haven's
      Public Utilities (page 515)
      George L. Priest, The Origins of Utility Regulation and the
      "Theories of Regulation" Debate (page 522)
    3. City Enterprises
      1. The New Haven Coliseum Authority
        City of New Haven, Report of the Blue
        Ribbon Commission (page 526)
        "Can New Haven's Stadium Become a Top Billing Again" (page 527)
        "The Coliseum at the Crossroads" (page 528)
      2. The Connecticut Tennis Center
        "Taking a Hard Look at Filling a Stadium" (page 529)
      3. The New Haven Parking Authority
        "Authority to Close Temple Garage" (page 530)

  11. HOUSING
    1. Housing, Markets
      1. Housing Conditions
        Richard L. Bushman, The Refinement of America (page 531)
        Gilbert & Olmsted, Report of the New Haven Civic Improvement
        Commission (1910) (page 534)
        Douglas Orr, Report to the Housing Authority of the City of
        New Haven (1944) (page 535)
        New Haven Human Rights Committee, Report of
        Findings (1964) (page 536)
        "Vacant Housing Units" (1990) (page 537)
      2. Perspective: The Economics of Housing Markets
        Edwin S. Mills, Urban Economics (page 538)
      3. Private Housing Production
        Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent 1785-1850 (page 540)
        Sam Bass Warner, Streetcar Suburbs (page 541)
        City Year Book of the City of New Haven (1926) (page 548)
        New Haven City Plan Commission, Tomorrow is Now (page 550)

    2. Municipal Regulation of Housing Quality
      1. Fire Hazards
        Charles J. Hoadley, Records of the Colony of New Haven (page 551)
        Charles H. Levermore, The Republic of New Haven (page 552)
        Townsend v. Hoadley (18 3 8) (page 553)
        Charter and Bylaws of the City of New Haven (1848) (page 555)
        City Year Book of the City of New Haven (1872-73) (page 556)
        Jon C. Teaford, The Unheralded Triumph (page 558)
        Rollin G. Osterweis, Three Centuries of New Haven (page 560)
        City of New Haven, Dept. of Fire Service, Annual
        Report (1995) (page 561)
      2. Sanitary Conditions
        Charles H. Levermore, The Republic of New Haven (page 562)
        City of New Haven, Charters and Ordinances (1873) (page 562)
        Sam Bass Warner, The Private City (page 563
        City Year Book of the City of New Haven (1885) (page 565)
        Jon C. Teaford, The Twentieth Century American City (page 566)
      3. Building Codes and Permits
        Charles H. Levermore, The Republic of New Haven (page 567)
        Charter and Ordinances of the City of New Haven (1905) (page 568)
    3. Landlords and Tenants
      1. Characteristics
        Lee Soltow, Men and Wealth in the United
        States 1850-1870 (page 569)
        Gary Becker, Erroneous Assumptions About Slum
        Landlords (page 570)
      2. Landlord-Tenant Relations
        Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent 1785-1850 (page 572)
        Koskoff v. Goldman (1912) (page 576)
    4. Government Programs to Provide Housing
      Ellickson, An Overview of Government Housing Programs in
      New Haven (page 578)

      1. Public Housing
        1. The federal program
          Edith Abbot, The Tenements of Chicago (page 582)
          Hearings Before the Senate Education and
          Labor Comm. (page 584)
          New York City Housing Authority v. Muller (page586)
          Schill & Wachter, The Spatial Bias of Federal Housing Law
          and Policy (page 587)
        2. Public housing in New Haven
          Douglas W. Rae, Elm Haven's HOPE VI Baseline
          Study (page 588)
          Housing Authority of New Haven, Annual Report
          (1960) (page 594)
          Housing Authority of New Haven, Annual Report
          (1974) (page 595)
          N.H. Register, "Halls of Feae' (page 596)
          William Lee Miller, The Fifteenth Ward and the Great
          Society (page 597)
          "City Agency Blasted in HUD Audit of Housing" (page 599)
        3. Transformation of two New Haven projects
          "Authority Closes Books on West Hills
          Project" (1958) (page 600)
          Douglas W. Rae, Elm Haven's HOPE VI Baseline
          Study (page 601)
      2. Project-Based Subsidies to Nonprofit and Limited-Profit Developers
        William Lee Miller, The Fifteenth Ward and the Great Society (page 608)
        City of New Haven, Office of Housing and
        Neighborhood Dev. (1984) (page 610)
        Report of the Blue Ribbon Comm'n, Committee
        on Housing (1990) (page 612)
        "Project Teams Banks, Yale, City Hall" (page 613)
        Paul Bass, "Racial Harping" (page 614)
      3. Section 8 and RAP Certificates
        Mark Malaspina, Demanding the Best (page 615)
        N.H. Register, "Throng Waits Hours in Cold" (page 616)

  12. DOWNTOWN RENEWAL

    1. Intellectual Roots of Urban Renewal
      Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities (page 617)
      Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (page 619)

    2. Renewal Planning, Prior to the Lee Era
      Rico Cedro, Modem Visions (page 621)

    3. New Highways for Downtown New Haven
      Conn. Special Acts (page 625)
      N.H. City Plan Comm'n, Thoroughfare Plan (1957) (page 628)
      Allan R. Talbot, The Mayor's Game (page 629)

    4. Lee and Logue
      Robert A. Dahl, Who Governs? (page 631)
      Raymond E. Wolfinger, The Politics of Progress (page 634)
      Allan R. Talbot, The Mayor's Game (page 636)
      Edward J. Logue, "In Defense of Urban Renewal" (page 645)

    5. The Oak Street Project
      Abraham Silverman, Oak Street, New Haven (page 646)
      G. William Domhoff, Who Really Rules? (page 648)
      City of New Haven, Redevelopment Plan for Oak Street (page 650)
      Raymond E. Wolfinger, The Politics of Progress (page 654)

    6. The Church Street Project
      Raymond E. Wolfinger, The Politics of Progress (page 663)
      City of New Haven, Redevelopment Plan for Church Street (page 665)
      Allan R. Talbot, The Mayor's Game (page 667)
      Bahr Corp. v. O'Brion (1959) (page 670)
      Allan R. Talbot, The Mayor's Game (page 673)

    7. Downtown Renewal in Retrospect
      Bernard J. Frieden & Lynn B. Sagalyn, Downtown, Inc. (page 680)
      Paul E. Peterson, City Limits (page 683)
      N.H. Register, "Mayors Past and Present Reflect on
      Store's Demise" (page 684)

    8. Downtown Hotels
      Edward A. Atwater, History of the City of New Haven (page 685)
      "Luxury Hotel Staff Rushed to Stage Glittering
      Opening--The Taft, 1912" (page 686)
      "$350,000 Yale Loan for Taft Renovation" (page 687)
      N.Y. Times, "The Taft as a Symbol of Urban Woe"(page 688)
      Yale Alumni Magazine, "Still No More Rooms at the Inn" (page 689)

  13. NEIGHBORHOOD RENEWAL

    1. The Theory of Urban Form
      Internal Structure of the City (Bourne ed.) (page 690)
      William Alonso, The Historic and Structural Theories of Urban
      Form (page 691)
      Kenneth T. Jackson, Urban Deconcentration in the Nineteenth
      Century (page 693)

    2. Wooster Square
      Elizabeth Mlls Brown, New Haven (page 698)
      Mary Homman, Wooster Square Design (page 700)
      City of New Haven, Redevelopment Plan for Wooster Square (page 702)
      Allan R. Talbot, The Mayor's Game (page 705)
      Mary Homman, Wooster Square Design (page 708)
      Sherman Hasbrouck, Transformation (page 710)

    3. The Dixwell Neighborhood
      Elizabeth Blackmar, Manhattan for Rent (page 711)
      Robert Austin Warner, New Haven Negroes (page 713)
      Allan R. Talbot, The Mayor's Game (page 718)
      City of New Haven, Maps for Dixwell Renewal Area (page 720)
      Rico Cedro, Modem Visions (page 723)
      N.H. Register, "This Time a Condo Success Story" (page 724)
      N.H. Register, "McCabe Manor Residents Get Tax Break" (page 726)

    4. Critics of Urban Renewal
      Robert Fulford, When Jane Jacobs Took on the World (page 727)
      Herbert J. Gans, The Failure of Urban Renewal (page 728)
      Stephen Weisbrod, The Pursuit of a Slumless City (page 730)

    5. The Post-Lee Era: Upper State Street and the Ninth Square
      John P. Elwood, Rethinking Government Participation in
      Urban Renewal (page 737)
      Paul Bass, Evolve or Die! (page 747)

    6. Dealing with Housing, Abandonment
      Edwin S. Mlls & Bruce W. Hamilton, Urban Economics (page 749
      N.H. Register, "Blight Eats Away at City" (page 752)
      Paul Bass, The Bulldozer's Back (page 753)

  14. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL LIFE

    1. Economic Development

      1. City Subsidization of Private Industry
        Isabel MacBeath Calder, The New Haven Colony (page 754
        Joseph Wickham Row, Eli Whitney (page 755)
        Joe Dobrow, A Farewell to Arms: Winchester Repeating
        Arms Co. (page 756)
        N.H. Register, "USRAC Vote Put Off by Aldermen" (page 769)
        Coates & Morris, On the Form of Transfers to Special
        Interests (page 770)
        N.H. Register, "G&O Will Close Doors, Lay Off 110" (page 771)
        N.H. Register Editorial, "Shubert Rescue Buys Theater Time" (page 772)
        N.H. Register, "Boom Town [Orange] Bursting with Prime
        Locations" (page 773)

      2. Critics of Contemporary Economic Development Policies
        William J. Stem, State Capitalism, New York Style (page 775)
        Harold Wolman, The Politics of Local Economic
        Development (page 779)
        Michael E. Porter, The Competitive Advantage of the
        Central City (page 781)

    2. Social Capital
      Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (page 785)
      Nicholas Lemann, Kicking in Groups (page 795)
      William, Finnegan, Out There (page 796)

[ Go to Top of Page ] [ Go back to Menu ] [ Yale Law School Home Page ]