The old West Farms of New Haven, a shore parish where the British came ashore in 1779, where horse cars carried the city out to the bathing beach at Savin Rock, and which waited until 1921 to become a town of its own.

New Haven County · Record checked October 12, 2026

55,584Population2020 census1
1648Settledas West Farms, part of New Haven1
1921Became a townsplit from Orange; a city in 19611
3.5 milesPublic beachesa quarter of Connecticut's public beaches1
6National Registerplaces, all still standing2

West Haven on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of West Haven, Connecticut in 2026, from Allingtown to Savin Rock and the West Shore, with 34 numbered landmarks

2026

West Haven today

By KNOWOL

Shaded land from the hills of Allingtown down to the beaches of the West Shore, every street from Campbell Avenue to Ocean Avenue, and a guide of 34 numbered landmarks with the National Register sites marked.3

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of West Haven

Horse cars to Savin Rock

Savin Rock is a bluff at the shore, named for the savin, an evergreen shrub that used to grow thick there. In 1866 a New Haven directory called the beach beside it the finest for bathing on the Connecticut shore, and the Savin Rock House took about two hundred boarders. On July 4, 1867, the West Haven horse railway opened to the city, and George R. Kelsey, a buckle maker who put his money into the line, built the Sea View House by the water. By 1874 the railroad company's own grove had swings, flying horses and the Grove Palace, an octagon sixty feet across with a dance hall upstairs. The round trip from New Haven cost thirty cents.4567

The morning of July 5, 1779

Before dawn a British fleet of forty-eight sail anchored off West Haven, and about 1,500 men under General Garth landed at sunrise. They stopped on the village green for breakfast. The minister, Noah Williston, an outspoken patriot, ran for the woods behind his house and broke his leg climbing a fence. Adjutant William Campbell saved him from the soldiers and had the regiment's surgeon set the leg. Hours later Campbell was shot on the hill at Allingtown, by a young man named Johnson, and carried into a house beside the road, where he died. A handkerchief with his initials stayed in that family for a hundred years. His grave is still marked in Allingtown, and Campbell Avenue carries his name.8910111

A drum on the green

West Haven's green was once marshy ground grown up in alder bushes. Until a bell went into the steeple in 1774, people were called to meeting by a drum beaten on the green, and the village buried its dead there until Oak Grove Cemetery opened about 1860. The parish's first two Congregational ministers, Samuel Johnson and Jonathan Arnold, both crossed over to the Church of England, which is how Christ Church began. Later a Miss Kimberly handed her minister four or five dollars her seafaring brothers had given her, to send preachers where there were none. From that gift came the Connecticut Missionary Society.12101314

Through the years

25 moments from 1614 to today.

  1. 1614The Dutch explorer Adriaen Block notes high mounds of oyster shells along this shore.1
  2. 1648English settlers cross the West River and settle West Farms, part of the New Haven Colony.1
  3. 1695A West Farms farmer builds a house that's still standing, owned by the Collins family, in 1892.15
  4. 1715Over New Haven's protest, the General Court lets the West Side farmers form their own parish.10
  5. 1719The parish builds its meetinghouse and becomes West Haven.1
  6. 1722The first minister, Samuel Johnson, declares for the Church of England and sails for London.16
  7. 1723Ten or fifteen families organize the Episcopal parish that becomes Christ Church.16
  8. 1725Jonathan Arnold becomes minister, and the parish makes him promise to refund his settlement money if he turns Episcopalian too. He does, in 1734.17
  9. 1774A bell is hung in the steeple. Until then a drum on the green called people to meeting.10
  10. 1779On July 5 the British land at West Haven, rest on the green and march on New Haven.1
  11. 1779Adjutant William Campbell is shot on the hill at Allingtown by a young man named Johnson.11
  12. 1822West Haven and North Milford join to form the town of Orange.1
  13. 1853The West Haven Buckle Company is incorporated, one of the village's first factories.18
  14. 1859The Congregational meetinghouse on the green burns on August 29. Its replacement is dedicated the next July.10
  15. 1860The Oak Grove Cemetery Association is formed, and burials on the green soon stop.13
  16. 1866The Savin Rock House has room for about two hundred boarders.4
  17. 1867On July 4 the West Haven horse railway opens to the city. It later runs on to Savin Rock.5
  18. 1873West Haven is incorporated as a borough, with a warden and burgesses.19
  19. 1876Piano making begins in the village, in works that become the Mathushek company.18
  20. 1887Electric arc lamps light the borough's streets.19
  21. 1890The brick Union School opens on Center Street.20
  22. 1921West Haven splits from Orange and becomes a town of its own.1
  23. 1927Harry Lender starts the bagel bakery that later sells frozen bagels nationwide.1
  24. 1961West Haven becomes a city, Connecticut's youngest.1
  25. 1984Bradley Point Veterans Memorial Park opens on the old Savin Rock grounds.1

Places to see

The numbers match the landmark guide printed on the 2026 map.

  • 1Yale FieldNear the New Haven line. Yale baseball on this site since 1885.
  • 6Bradley Point ParkSavin Rock. Where the rock itself stands.
  • 8West Haven GreenWest Haven center. The old village green, on the National Register.
  • 12University of New HavenAllingtown. Founded in 1920 as a junior college.Visit their website
  • 13American Mills Web ShopOrange Avenue, Allingtown. Elastic web mill with sawtooth roof.
  • 17First Congregational Church of West HavenOn the green. Church of 1859 with cemetery behind.
  • 21Union School174 Center Street. West Haven's first brick school, 1890.
  • 22Savin Rock ParkSavin Rock. On the old amusement park grounds.
  • 27Ward-Heitmann House277 Elm Street. The museum's oldest West Haven home.
  • 28Christ Episcopal ChurchChurch Street. Parish founded in the early 1700s.

On the National Register

All 6 places in West Haven on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.2

  • Ward-Heitman House

    Built by 1725 · Listed 2003 · 277 Elm Street

    A timber-frame house that may date to 1684 and was certainly standing by 1725, most likely built by Ebenezer Clark. Thomas Ward bought it in 1788, and his descendants, including the Heitmans, lived here until 1909. It's now a house museum.21

  • West Haven Green Historic District

    Listed 2000 · Around the green, along Main Street, Campbell Avenue, Church Street and Savin Avenue

    The town green with the Congregational church of 1859 and its cemetery, Christ Episcopal Church across Church Street, war memorials, the Firefighters' Monument and a boulder honoring Adjutant William Campbell. Twenty of the 23 buildings around it count toward the district.22

  • Union School

    Built 1890 · Listed 1987 · 174 Center Street

    West Haven's first brick school, built while the village was still part of Orange and designed by the New Haven architect Leoni W. Robinson, with a three-story polygonal tower. It served generations as a grammar and high school and is senior housing today.20

  • American Mills Web Shop

    Built 1903 · Listed 1983 · 114-152 Orange Avenue

    Begun in 1903 by the Narrow Fabrics Company, which wove elastic fabric for machine belts, zipper backings and safety belts. The weave shed keeps a well-preserved sawtooth roof that let daylight in. The mill ran until 1970 and was rehabilitated for other uses in the early 1980s.23

  • Old West Haven High School

    Built 1925 to 1927 · Listed 1985 · 278 Main Street

    A Classical Revival high school by the New Haven architect Roy Foote, with Egyptian Revival columns at the entrance, built as West Haven's population boomed. It was the high school until 1964 and a junior high until 1983, and now holds homes.24

  • West Haven VA Hospital Historic District

    Listed 2022 · 950 Campbell Avenue

    The campus began as a tuberculosis hospital dedicated in 1919. The government bought it in 1948, and the veterans hospital built there was dedicated on September 13, 1953. It was listed with other veterans hospitals of the years after World War II.25

In their words

“Immediately adjacent to the rock is the finest beach for bathing to be found on the Connecticut shore.”

New Haven city directory, 1866, on Savin Rock4

“There is an air of neatness and retirement about this spot that is seldom equalled.”

Connecticut historical collections, 1836, on West Haven green12

“It is one of the most pleasing edifices of the kind in the county.”

History of New Haven County, 1892, on the new Union school5

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. West Haven, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  3. Map of West Haven, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  4. New Haven city directory (1866), on Savin Rock, Internet Archive
  5. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on West Haven village, Internet Archive
  6. Commemorative biographical record of New Haven County, Connecticut (1902), on George R. Kelsey, Internet Archive
  7. New Haven city directory (1874), on Railroad Grove and the Grove Palace, Internet Archive
  8. History of the colony of New Haven (1838), on the landing of July 5, 1779, Internet Archive
  9. History of Connecticut in monographic form (1925), on the 1779 invasion, Internet Archive
  10. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the West Haven Congregational Church, Internet Archive
  11. The British invasion of New Haven, Connecticut (1879), Internet Archive
  12. Connecticut historical collections (1836), on Orange and West Haven, Internet Archive
  13. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on burials and Oak Grove Cemetery, Internet Archive
  14. Sketches of church life in colonial Connecticut (1902), on West Haven's first two ministers, Internet Archive
  15. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the West Farmers and shipbuilding, Internet Archive
  16. Sketches of church life in colonial Connecticut (1902), on Christ Church, West Haven, Internet Archive
  17. Sketches of church life in colonial Connecticut (1902), on Jonathan Arnold, Internet Archive
  18. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on West Haven's factories, Internet Archive
  19. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the borough of West Haven, Internet Archive
  20. Union School (West Haven, Connecticut), Wikipedia
  21. Ward-Heitman House, Wikipedia
  22. West Haven Green Historic District, Wikipedia
  23. American Mills Web Shop, Wikipedia
  24. Old West Haven High School, Wikipedia
  25. History, VA Connecticut Health Care