NEW HAVEN. IN 1850 



sketch, of New Haven and Yale College as they were in 

 the fifties. 



New Haven was then as now an attractive residence 

 for a scholar, although in size and appearance it was very 

 different from the New Haven of to-day. The number 

 of inhabitants in the city according to the census of 1850 

 was 20,341. The college, which numbered in 1849-50 

 only 386 undergraduates and 145 professional students, 

 did not assume the name of a university until forty years 

 later. The trees upon the green were of great beauty, 

 and with those of Temple street and Hillhouse avenue 

 gave to New Haven the sobriquet of the " City of Elms." 

 The students were allowed to play football and wicket 

 on the public green between Chapel street and the state- 

 house that has now disappeared. The college buildings 

 were plain, poor, and inconvenient. A row of brick 

 dormitories, factory-like, stood parallel with College 

 street, facing the public green their monotony being 

 scarcely broken by three larger buildings which were 

 known as the Chapel, the Athenaeum or old Chapel, and 

 the Lyceum. In front of this row was a two-story 

 wooden dwelling-house, painted white, which was used 

 in former days as the President's residence, and was now 

 transformed into an analytical laboratory for the use of 

 students in chemistry. In the rear of the row of dormi- 

 tories there was a low, antiquated one-story building 

 called " the laboratory," once used as a dining-room for 

 " commons," and afterwards devoted to the lectures in 

 chemistry annually given to the senior class. Near by 

 stood a more modern building likewise a former hall or 

 dining-room which was set apart for the instruction in 

 natural philosophy and for the cabinet of minerals. The 

 token of better days to come had appeared in a new 

 building for the libraries, built of red sandstone, which 

 was opened for use in the winter of 1845-46. Four col- 

 lections were here placed, the College, the Linonian, the 



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