New Haven Green - On The Green

On The Green

Located on the upper Green are three historic early 19th century churches which reflect the city's theocratic roots:

• United Church on the Green (United Church of Christ / Congregational), or North Church, was built in Federal style by David Hoadley in 1814.

• "Center Church of the Green", or The First Church of Christ (United Church of Christ / Congregational) was established in 1639. The current church, designed in Georgian style by architect Ithiel Town, was built in 1812. The Center Church Crypt contains the identified remains of about 137 people, and the likely remains of over 1,000 that are unidentified. Sarah Rutherford Trowbridge has the oldest dated stone (1687) in the Crypt.

• Trinity Church on the Green is an Episcopal congregation founded in 1752, and was also designed by Ithiel Town. It is one of the first Gothic Revival churches in the United States. It was consecrated in 1816.

In the lower Green are the Bennett Fountain (built in 1907 and designed after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens) and the flagpole with granite World War I memorial (designed by Douglas Orr in 1928) and fountain (added in 2003).

While once the edges of the Green were covered with a glorious canopy of elms, planted originally by James Hillhouse, most died of dutch elm disease. In the 1980s, through the efforts of the Garden Club of New Haven, disease-resistant elms were planted in an attempt to memorialize the legacy of the trees that gave New Haven the nickname "Elm City".