History Runs Deep in East Haven's Neighborhoods

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles shining the spotlight on neighborhoods in East Haven.

In a town as old as East Haven, the streets have acquired their names in a variety of ways. Take Deborah Lane, for instance. It runs from Main Street to the Farm River and seems to have gotten its name from a teenage goose girl around 1700.

According to folklore, Deborah had a flock of geese who were accustomed to running wherever they pleased, and they liked Governor Gurdon Saltonstall’s lawn where they made goose deposits that infuriated him. When he did battle with them and chased them off, Deborah got mad. 

She had her chance for revenge when sometime later the governor asked her to ferry him across the Farm River for a meeting in New Haven. Halfway across, she hiked her skirts and waded ashore, leaving him to do the same. 

She got a street named after her, but the governor came out on top since the lake is named after him, along with Saltonstall Place and Saltonstall Parkway. 

Another girl, this one named Ann, had her name attached to a street in 1912 when New Havenite Paul Russo bought up farm land in Foxon to start developing homes.

He gave his streets the names of his family – Ann, Lucy, John, Rose and Michael. His is the one of the first Italian names found in East Haven records. Later, many of his Italian countrymen would take up residence alongside the Yankee farmers.  

With a well-documented history that stretches to the very beginning of American colonization, East Haven could be a template for the development of the country. Ever since a group of Puritans sailed out of Boston along the Long Island Sound in 1638 to buy property from a band of Quinnipiac Indians, East Haven’s fertile lands have been part of the story. 

In the coming weeks, we’ll be taking a look at the neighborhoods that have welcomed successive generations of residents. We’ll see how the past influenced the present and how today’s residents cherish their homes and families. If you’d like to be part of the discussion, please contact the Patch to suggest a neighborhood. 

Today’s East Haven is seven miles long and two miles wide - about 12 square miles of hills, lake, wetlands and shoreline. While it has a diverse geography, the real diversity is in the people and the neighborhoods. 

We've all heard that the town has three distinct divisions - Foxon, the Center, and Momauguin. But there's a lot more to our neighborhoods than those three areas. There's the West End, the East End and the South End. There’s Riverside, Shepherd’s Cove, Mansfield Grove, Cosey Beach and High Ridge, not to mention areas like Smuggler's Cove, Kelsey Island, and Lake Saltonstall. 

In any discussion of neighborhoods, we should, in fairness, also be including the area to our west that was part of East Haven for 200 years. Morris Cove, Grannis Corners and Fair Haven were all part of the our story for a very long time. 

One of the most important parts of East Haven’s story is its relationships with New Haven and Branford and how these affected the town's boundaries and fortunes.

For example, we talk about the Annex as if it could be found on a map. In fact, there’s no map with that name, but it has a story that has greatly impacted East Haven. Do you know exactly where it is, what it is or why it is? 

The story begins with the setting of East Haven’s boundaries when the town was established in 1787. The boundaries were the Long Island Sound on both the west and south and “from the Sea to the head of Furnace Pond (Lake Saltonstall)” on the east. It was a little less defined to the north, but generally where it encountered North Haven’s boundaries. 

That was the way it was until 1881 when the town ran into budget problems. Sound familiar? The town had paid generous bonuses to Civil War veterans and also built and maintained four bridges across the Quinnipiac River; now it was $200,000 in debt. Then someone came up with the brilliant idea of selling one-third of the town back to New Haven. 

New Haven fathers were delighted. In the deal they got Lighthouse Point, Morris Cove, Grannis Corners, and Fair Haven. They got the east side of the harbor where the Port Authority now stands as the deep-water harbor New Haven needed for ocean-going ships. 

They also got Fort Hale and its association with the Revolutionary War; Townsend Avenue and its stately homes; and the shoreline around the Lighthouse and up past Morris Cove. They also got a piece of land where they would later build an airport. The headaches that East Haven has had over that development have lasted for decades. 

So, the town that had been shaped much like a plump cucumber now took on the dimensions of a carrot, complete with the topknot. And, in many ways, confusion has reigned ever since. People living on one side of the street go to one school. Those on the other go somewhere else. Your mother might live across the street, but she was now in a different town.

At some point, the United States Post Office decided to add to the problem. When they introduced zip codes, they proceeded to give the town two postal codes. The northern code, for homes north of Foxon Road, is 06513 and seems to create a minimum of confusion for residents, although it does include parts of other towns. 

The 06512 zip code is a different story. It encompasses the area south of Foxon Road, including the former territories of the Annex and Morris Cove. As far as the Post Office is concerned, the town has been reunited. 

“It causes headaches for those of us on the New Haven side,” said Donna Bigla, a Morris Cove resident and real estate professional. “Every summer when I go to get my pass for the Lighthouse Park so we can use the beach, I have this problem when I show them my license that has the East Haven zip code on it. We get it worked out, but it’s the same every year.” 

Problems with the annexation aside, East Haven continued to flourish, particularly after WWII when the introduction of I-95 made is practical to live in East Haven and work in New Haven and other areas. The town was a suburb and people of many ethnic groups moved to enjoy the advantages East Haven offered. 

In the 2000 census, almost 50 percent of East Haven’s 29,000 residents were of Italian extraction; 18 percent claimed Irish heritage; and more than 23 other ancestries – from Arab to Welsh – were listed. There is also a strong base of Yankee descendants still calling East Haven home. 

“People like to stay in East Haven,” said Realtor Donna Bigla. “In some neighborhoods, homes rarely come on the market because they are passed down from generation to generation.” 

She also said that the real estate market is still active because many of the homes are in a price point appealing to first-time homebuyers, with interest running equally strong for homes in Foxon and Momauguin. 

Next week, we’ll be headed north to the Foxon Road area to visit a street where the families raised there married the neighbors and bought homes as adults. They love it and can’t imagine living anywhere else.