Dorothy F. Forbes
The Hill is a peninsula which includes three neighborhoods; the upper Hill; Kimberly Square mid section and City Point. The name came about in the early 19th century, because the ethnic groups that were living there were, and still are Whites, Blacks and Hispanics.
Looking at the Hill, we visualized blight, flight and unsightly neighborhoods. The plan to correct this plight first came under the Honorable Mayor Richard C. Lee’s administration. The plan was to bulldoze the old buildings and replace them with new ones, meanwhile building a new highway—the Oak Street Connector.
In the seventies, a new plan was put into action. Rehabilitation, which stressed preservation and holding the intrinsic values, thus excluding Congress Avenue, which would be bull-dozed. A general five-block area from Congress to Columbus Avenues, between Hallock and West Streets. It was hoped that this would deter crime that was so prevalent in this area. It was further thought that new business would enter. To that end, Sullivan Fuel Company expanded, Yale New Haven Medical Center and the Renaissance Hill project came in with 65 subsidized family units and the May Coat Company, an expensive clothing outlet at 430 Congress Avenue . Ve gol gence Restsurant, 485 Howard Avenue, now replaced by a Chinese restaurant. The Charter House on Howard Avenue; Rustic Garden Cafe on Second St.; Leon’s at 321 Washington, an Italian restaurant so popular, it takes weeks to get a reservation. One can note the beautiful architecture on Howard Avenue.
City Point, during the 1800s, was known as Oyster Point, because of numerous oyster plants in the area. It was also known as the Oyster Capital of the Northeast in the late 19th century. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was replaced by an asphalt paving company, and thus took on the name City Point.
During the 1940s, we became engaged in World War II, and that led to a severe shortage in workers, as the young men were drafted into the armed forces. Coupled with severe complications of the hurricanes of 1938, the oyster companies were forced out of business.
The state instituted plans to construct I-95 right through Bay View Park. This park was a gift from The New York Journal of Commerce editor, Gerald Hallock, which Hallock Street is named after. The park, at that time, was used mainly as a community center of activities. Today, it houses the city’s Alternate High School, the Schnoor, Inc., a floating school which focuses on maritime history, trigonometry and navigation. The city and other states want to set up these types of so-called “magnet schools”, to lure suburban areas to send students for purposes of integration.
