Local History

NEW HAVEN FIRSTS — It All Started Here:

  • Grid City Plan Nine Squares – 1641
  • Almanac – 1684
  • Planetarium – 1743
  • Submarine — 1775
  • U. S. Map – 1783
  • Cotton Gin – 1794
  • Steamboat – 1787
  • Medical publication –1788
  • Four-wheeled carriage – 1809
  • Steel fish hook – 1813
  • Truss bridge – 1820
  • The American Journal of Science – 1830
  • Sulphur matches – 1835
  • Vulcanized rubber – 1839
  • Rubber boots – 1843
  • First woman dentist – 1855
  • Tissue paper – 1856Pepe's Pizza
  • Corkscrew – 1860
  • Corset – 1860
  • School of Fine Arts — 1864
  • Tape Measure – 1868
  • Fire sprinkler – 1874
  • Agricultural station – 1875
  • College newspaper – 1878
  • Telephone switchboard – 1878
  • Phone book – 1878
  • Football game – 1879
  • Pay telephone – 1880
  • Baseball Batting Cage – 1885
  • Self-Playing Organ – 1888
  • Lollipop – 1892
  • Hamburger – 1895
  • Electric trains – 1895
  • Inter-collegiate basketball game – 1897
  • Player piano 1897
  • Wireless radio – 1904
  • Computer – 1905
  • Erector Set – 1911
  • National Figure-Skating Tournament – 1914
  • Frisbee – 1920
  • Chemotherapy – 1942
  • Glider Seaplane – 1943
  • Open Heart Surgery – 1949
  • Most Pre-Broadway Openings, Shubert Theater, beginning in 1914
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