New Haven Green & Old Brick Row

The New Haven Green, laid out in 1638 by the city’s Puritan founders, is one of the oldest planned public squares in America and the historic heart of New Haven. Envisioned as the central common of the original nine-square town plan, it once served as a grazing ground, militia training field, marketplace, and civic gathering space. Three 18th-century churches—the Center Church, United Church on the Green, and Trinity Church—still anchor its edges, reflecting both colonial religious life and New Haven’s early diversity of denominations.  Also starting in the 18th century, a linear arrangement of brick buildings took shape along what is now College Street, immediately across from New Haven Green.  This “Old Brick Row” of alternating dormitories and academic halls gave the college its first sense of organized “grounds” before the later shift to residential colleges and enclosed quadrangles. By the late 19th century, Old Brick Row was gradually demolished to make way for the foundation of today’s campus.  Yet even as Yale grew from “Old Brick Row” and Old Campus to a more encompassing footprint, the New Haven Green remained the university’s symbolic front yard, the stage for celebrations, protests, concerts, and town-gown life. Today, the New Haven Green remains a National Historic Landmark and one of the most iconic public spaces in Connecticut.