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Connecticut- Hamden - 1
bedroom - 1 bath - spacious, clean & sunny unit! - Brick Building - Hardwood
Floors - Modern Kitchen - Spacious Living Room - Large Bedroom w/ Double Sliding
Door Closet - Updated Bathroom - Off Street Parking - access to commuter rail,
bus, shops & restaurants, first and last months rent
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About Hamden
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's
nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant".
Hamden was originally settled by Puritans as part of the town of New Haven. The
land was purchased by Theophilus Eaton and Reverend John Davenport in 1638 from
the local Quinnipiack Native American tribe. It remained a part of New Haven
until 1786 when 1,400 local residents incorporated themselves as a separate
town. It is named after the English statesman John Hampden.
Hamden was largely developed as a nodal collection of village-like settlements.
These include Mount Carmel, Whitneyville, Spring Glen, and Highwood. It has a
long-standing industrial history having been the site of many workshops of Eli
Whitney, as well as Charles Goodyear. In 1798, four years after he began
manufacturing the cotton gin in New Haven, Whitney began making arms for the
U.S. Government at a mill site in Hamden at the border with New Haven, where a
waterfall provided a good source of power. It was here that Whitney began the
modern era of mass production with the concept of interchangeable parts,
manufactured using the newly introduced milling machine. The major thoroughfare
through town has been named Whitney Avenue in Eli Whitney's honor, and it runs
past Whitney's old factory, now the Eli Whitney Museum.
Whitney constructed stone houses for his employees in the nearby area, which is
still referred to as Whitneyville; this is believed to be the first example of
employer-provided homes in U.S. history. In 1806, the dam Eli Whitney built at
the mill site was enlarged to create a reservoir, Lake Whitney. The first truss
bridge in the United States was erected nearby over the Mill River in
Whitneyville in 1823, but has since been replaced.
The Farmington Canal providing ship travel from New Haven northward passed
through Hamden, between 1825 and 1848, until it was supplanted by railroad
travel. The canal right-of-way has in recent years became a popular walking and
bicycling trail, passing by some of the well-preserved locks of the canal, as
well as some of Hamden's oldest important sites.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Hamden received a steady influx of
immigrants, most notably from Italy and Ireland. To this day, Hamden is an
essential part of New Haven's Italian-American community.
In the post-war period, Hamden underwent significant suburban development. Much
of the southern section of town is urbanized and is difficult to distinguish
from neighboring New Haven. The northern section of town, however, retains a
more rural character, and has the distinct neighborhood of Mount Carmel. This
area of town is the location of the unique Sleeping Giant hill formation that is
the source of the town's nickname.
Hamden was host to the Ghost Parking Lot, a notable roadside public art
installation located in front of the Hamden Plaza shopping center in Hamden's
commercial district on Dixwell Avenue. Erected in 1978, it consisted of 15 car
hulks, specially treated and encased in asphalt. Although featured in over 100
art books, the attraction was torn down in 2003 due to the excessive cost of
restoration and repair.