The Evolution of An Historic District
According to the New Haven Preservation Trust, the growth of industry around the square by the turn of the 20th century made it increasingly less attractive for the socially prominent. Many homes were purchased by Italian-American families, a number of whom made a living by using their homes as stores. Adaptation to commercial uses and the lower incomes of the new owners downgraded the cachet of the neighborhood significantly. Ironically, poverty and absentee landlords preserved the architecture of the brilliant past.
As early as the 1940s renewal plans called for the area's total demolition. At one point, it was seriously proposed that the soon-to-be built I-91 go right through the Square.