New London, Connecticut

New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States. It is located at the mouth of the Thames River (pronounced as to rhyme with 'James', unlike the river of the same spelling in London, the capital of England, which is pronounced to rhyme with 'hems') in New London County, southeastern Connecticut.

Once a major whaling port before becoming home to other shipping and manufacturing industries, the city has gradually lost its commercial and industrial heart. The city is home to Connecticut College, Mitchell College, the United States Coast Guard Academy, and The Williams School. New London Harbor is home port to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Chinook and the Coast Guard's tall ship Eagle.

New London had a population of 27,620 at the 2010 census. The Norwich-New London metropolitan area (NECTA ) includes twenty-one towns and 274,055 people.

History




The area was called Nameaug by the Pequot Indians. John Winthrop, Jr. founded the first English settlement here in 1646, making it about the 13th town settled in Connecticut. Inhabitants informally named it Pequot after the tribe. The Connecticut General Assembly wanted to name the town Faire Harbour, but the citizens protested, declaring that they would prefer it to be called Nameaug. The legislature relented, and on March 10, 1658 the town was officially named after London, England.

The harbor was considered to be the best deep water harbor on Long Island Sound, and consequently New London became a base of American naval operations during the Revolutionary War. Famous New Londoners during the American Revolution include Nathan Hale, William Coit, Richard Douglass, Thomas & Nathaniel Shaw, Gen.Samuel Parsons, Printer Timothy Green, Reverend Seabury. New London was raided & nearly burned to the ground on September 6, 1781 Battle of Groton Heights, by Norwich Native Benedict Arnold in the attempts to destroy the colonial privateer fleet and storage of goods and naval stores within the city. Often noted that this raid on New London and Groton was to divert General Washington and the French Army under Rochambeau from their march on Yorktown, Virginia. The main defensive fort for New London, Fort Griswold, located across the Thames River in Groton, was well known by Arnold who sold its secrets to the British fleet so they could avoid its artillery fire. Ft. Griswold was attacked and the British suffered great casualties before eventually storming the fort and slaughtering many of the militia who defended the fort. All told more than 52 British soldiers and 83 militia were killed and more than 142 British and 39 militia were wounded, many mortally. New London suffered more than 6 militia killed and 24 wounded while Arnold and the British and Hessian raiding party suffered an equal amount.

Connecticut's independent legislature, in its January session of 1784, made New London one of the first two cities (along with New Haven) brought from de facto to formalized incorporations.

For several decades beginning in the early 19th century, New London was the second busiest whaling port after New Bedford, Massachusetts in the world. The wealth that whaling brought into the city furnished the capital to fund much of the city's present architecture.

The New Haven and New London Railroad connected New London by rail to New Haven and points beyond by the 1850s. The Springfield and New London Railroad connected New London to Springfield, Massachusetts by the 1870s.

The family of Nobel and Pulitzer-Prize playwright Eugene O'Neill, and most of his own first 26 years, were intimately connected to New London. He lived for years there, and as an adult was employed and wrote his first seven or eight plays in the city. (A major O'Neill archive is located at Connecticut College there, and a family home there is a museum and Registered National Landmark operated by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.) Dutch's Tavern on Green Street was a favorite watering hole of Eugene O'Neill and still stands today.

Kelo v. New London, Supreme Court case
On February 22, 2005, the United States Supreme Court decided in Kelo v. City of New London, that the city may seize privately owned real property under eminent domain so that it could be used for private economic development, deciding the tax revenue from the private development satisfied the requirement for public interest for eminent domain.

In spite of the city's legal victory, the project never got off the ground. The city's chosen redeveloper was not able to get financing for the project. Even though the city expended over eighty million dollars acquiring and demolishing homes, the area where the taken homes once stood is now vacant. In November, 2009, Pfizer, which was to be the primary beneficiary of the redevelopment, announced that they instead are closing their facility adjacent to the site and moving those operations across the Thames River to their site in Groton. The New London campus was sold to General Dynamics in 2010.

Towns created from New London
When established, New London originally had a larger land area. Towns set off since include:
 * Groton in 1705
 * Ledyard (originally North Groton) created from a part of Groton in 1836
 * Montville in 1786
 * Salem created from parts of Montville, Colchester and Lyme in 1819
 * Waterford in 1801
 * East Lyme created from parts of Waterford and Lyme in 1839

Geography
In terms of land area, New London is one of the smallest cities in Connecticut. Of the whole 10.76 sqmi, nearly half is water; 5.54 sqmi is land.

The town and city of New London are coextensive. Between 1705 and 1801 sections of the original town were ceded to form newer towns. The towns of Groton, Ledyard, Montville, and Waterford; and portions of Salem and East Lyme; now occupy what had earlier been the outlying area of New London.

New London is bounded on the west and north by the town of Waterford, on the east by the Thames River and Groton, and on the south by Long Island Sound.

The geographic coordinates of the state superior courthouse in New London are 41.35556°N, -72.09944°W.

Principal communities

 * Downtown
 * Ocean Beach

Other minor communities and geographic features are: Bates Woods Park, Fort Trumbull, Glenwood Park, Green's Harbor Beach, Mitchell's Woods, Pequot Colony, Riverside Park, Old Town Mill.

Transportation


By land, New London is almost exactly midway between New York City and Boston. The major seaboard interstate highway, I-95, passes through the city, and New London's Amtrak station is on the passenger rail Northeast Corridor. The city of Worcester, Massachusetts is 74 miles (119 km) northward, principally via Interstate 395, and the Connecticut capital, Hartford, is 53 miles (85 km) to the northwest and reachable via several different state highways (principally CT-2 and CT-9). New Haven is 47 miles (76 km) to the west along I-95.

New London Union Station is served by Amtrak's Northeast Regional and Acela Express regional rail services, plus Shore Line East (SLE) commuter rail service. Downtown New London is also served by local taxi companies, regional Southeast Area Transit buses, interstate Greyhound Lines buses, the Cross Sound Ferry to Long Island, the Fishers Island Ferry District, and in summer by the Block Island Express ferry. In 2010, the Estuary Transit District began public transit service between the New London transportation center and Old Saybrook.

The Groton-New London Airport is located in neighboring Groton, and two major airports – T. F. Green and Bradley International Airport are within 75 minutes driving time, as is the smaller Tweed New Haven Regional Airport.

Rail freight is by the Providence & Worcester Railroad and the New England Central Railroad. Seagoing cargo at the State Pier is handled by Logistec Corporation.

New London is also occasionally visited by cruise ships.

2006–08 estimates
According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, non-Hispanic whites made up 54.6% of New London's population. Non-Hispanic blacks made up 14.0% of the population. Asians of non-Hispanic origin made up 4.6% of the city's population. Multiracial individuals of non-Hispanic origin made up 4.3% of the population; people of mixed black and white ancestry made up 1.7% of the population. In addition, people of mixed black and Native American ancestry made up 1.0% of the population. People of mixed white and Native American ancestry made up 0.7% of the population; those of mixed white and Asian ancestry made up 0.4% of the populace. Hispanics and Latinos made up 21.9% of the population, of which 13.8% were Puerto Rican.

The top five largest European ancestry groups were Italian (10.5%), Irish (9.7%), German (7.4%), English (6.8%) and Polish (5.0%)

According to the survey, 74.4% of people over the age of 5 spoke only English at home. Approximately 16.0% of the population spoke Spanish at home.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,671 people, 10,181 households, and 5,385 families residing in the city. The population density was 4635.5 /sqmi. There were 11,560 housing units at an average density of 2087.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 63.49% White, 19.71% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 18.64% African American, 0.88% Native American, 2.12% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 9.13% from other races, and 5.67% from two or more races.

There were 10,181 households out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.4% were married couples living together, 17.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. 37.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.8% under the age of 18, 17.6% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 17.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $33,809, and the median income for a family was $38,942. Males had a median income of $31,405 versus $25,426 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,437. About 13.4% of families and 15.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.5% of those under age 18 and 11.4% of those age 65 or over.

Government




New London has a form of government centering on a professional city manager and elected city council. Distinct town and city government structures formerly existed, and technically continue. However, they now govern exactly the same territory, and have elections on the same ballot on Election Day in November, the first Tuesday after the first Monday, of odd-numbered years; the officials of town and city interact essentially as do the officials of a single town or city who have different but related responsibilities and powers.

Notable residents



 * Eliphalet Adams, clergyman
 * Peter C. Assersen, Rear Admiral in the United States Navy
 * James Avery, politician and military commander
 * Nathan Belcher, congressman
 * Frank B. Brandegee, congressman and senator
 * Amy Brenneman, actress
 * Henry Burbeck, brigadier general
 * Daniel Burrows, congressman
 * Magic Dick, musician
 * David Dorfman, choreographer
 * Richard Douglass, cooper and soldier
 * Larry Elgart, musician
 * John Ellis, baseball player
 * Richard P. Freeman, congressman
 * L. Patrick Gray, lawyer and Watergate figure
 * Nathan Hale, schoolmaster and patriot
 * Doc Hammer, multimedium artist and co-creater of the Venture Brothers
 * Glenne Headly, actress
 * Barkley L. Hendricks, painter
 * Susette Kelo, lead plaintiff, Kelo v. City of New London
 * Sarah Kemble Knight, diarist, teacher and businesswoman
 * John Law, congressman
 * Bryan F. Mahan, congressman
 * John McCain, senator and Republican presidential nominee (lived in New London as a child when his father, John S. McCain, Jr., worked at the naval submarine base)
 * Thomas Miner, diarist
 * Eugene O'Neill, playwright
 * Walter Palmer, founder
 * Elias Perkins, congressman
 * Edward Clark Potter, sculptor
 * Art Quimby, basketball player
 * Dawn Robinson, singer
 * Dudley Saltonstall, naval officer
 * Samuel Seabury, bishop
 * Benjamin Stark, senator
 * Ron Suresha, author and editor
 * Casandra Ventura, singer
 * John Winthrop, the Younger, statesman and founder

See also: Connecticut College people.

Literature
























Local music
For a small community, the music scene in New London is unusually diverse, with a respected symphony orchestra, a military wind ensemble, and a local tradition of R&B and rock-n-roll. Notable artists and ensembles include:
 * Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1946 and led by Toshiyuki Shimada, who is also conductor of the Yale Symphony Orchestra in New Haven.
 * The Idlers of the United States Coast Guard Academy, an all-male vocal group specializing in sea chantys and patriotic music.
 * United States Coast Guard Band, founded in 1925 with the assistance of John Philip Sousa. Stationed at the United States Coast Guard Academy and attracting talented musicians from all parts of the country, the band is the official musical representative of the nation's oldest continuous seagoing service.
 * The Can Kickers, a folk punk band.
 * Cassie, a Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B singer.
 * Dawn Robinson, a R&B singer.

New London is home to one of the larger music festivals on the East Coast, the I AM Festival which features notable acts from the city's growing independent music scene along with national acts. The event is organized by New London Music Festival and booked by Sean Murray and Rich Martin. Past acts include Rye Coalition, Jay Reatard, Girl Talk, Deerhoof, MC Chris and Rainer Maria. The Rock Fix is another popular annual musical showcase sponsored by independent label Cosmodemonic Telegraph and held in conjunction with the annual Hygienic Art Show. Locals keep up to date on the city's music and arts scene at WailingCity.com.



Sites of interest



 * Ye Antientist Burial Ground
 * Hygienic Arts
 * Connecticut College Arboretum
 * Flock Theatre
 * Fort Griswold (Groton)
 * Fort Trumbull
 * Garde Arts Center
 * Connecticut Landmarks – Joshua Hempsted House (1678)
 * List of Registered Historic Places in New London
 * Lyman Allyn Art Museum
 * Monte Cristo Cottage & Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (Waterford)
 * Ocean Beach Park
 * Olde Town Mill (1650)
 * New London County Historical Society – Shaw-Perkins Mansion (1758)
 * New London Maritime Society – U.S. Custom House (1833), landing site of Amistad (1839)
 * Winthrop Mill