City Point, New Haven

City Point (formerly known as Oyster Point) is an area in what is now The Hill Neighborhood of the City of New Haven, Connecticut, located in the Southwestern portion of the City. The City Point area was, when settled and through the 18th century, a relatively narrow peninsula extending south into New Haven Harbor, located where the West River empties into the harbor. Areas adjacent to the original peninsula have since been filled in, broadening its shoulders, and I-95 has cut across it. The Oyster Point Historic District is a 26-acre (11 ha) historic district encompassing an area of relatively old buildings in City Point South of I-95.

Neighborhood definitions

City Point is bordered on the west by the West River, on the north by Amtrak railroad tracks, on the east by Hallock Avenue, and on the South by New Haven Harbor. An earlier tradition defines the northern border as "the Southern back yards of Lamberton Street between Hallock and Greenwich Avenues." When the neighborhood was bisected by the Connecticut Turnpike in the 1950s some began to describe City Point as consisting only of the portion south of the highway (Sixth Street to South Water Street) although this is a change from historic usage. Most of the portion south of I-95 is listed as Oyster Point Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, referencing the old name of the Neighborhood, Oyster Point. The area along Howard Avenue north of I-95 is included in a separate historic district, the Howard Avenue Historic District. Waterfront condominiums, I-95 and its ramps, and other portions of the Neighborhood are not included in any historic district.

History

The neighborhood was originally a "point" or peninsula surrounded by New Haven Harbor on the east and south, bordering what is now Hallock Avenue & South Water Street, and the West River wetlands on the west, bordering what is now Greenwich Avenue.