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 name in London, the capital of England, which pronounces it to rhyme with 'hems') in New London County, southeastern Connecticut.
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 25,671 at the 2000 census. The Norwich-New London metropolitan area (NECTA ) includes twenty-one towns and 266,618 people . The population of the city of New London is 26,174 .
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 13 th 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 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. In spite of an expenditure over eighty million dollars by the city acquiring and demolishing the area where the taken homes once stood, is now a vacant, trash-strewn parcel; that, according to the New London newspaper, The Day, is being taken over by weeds and birds. 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 leaving the region.
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 square miles (27.9 km²), nearly half is water; 5.54 square miles (14.3 km²) 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° 21' 20" N, 72° 5' 58" W .
Principal communities
- Downtown
- Ocean Beach
- Pleasure Beach
Other minor communities and geographic features are: Bates Woods Park, Fort Trumbull, Glenwood Park, Green's Harbor Beach, Mitchell's Woods, Riverside Park, Town Hill.
Transportation
By land, New London is practically 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 via a sequence of state highways.
New London is 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.
The Groton-New London Airport is located in neighboring Groton; and two major airports, T. F. Green and Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport are within 75 minutes driving time.
Rail freight is by the Providence & Worcester Railroad and the New England Central Railroad. Seagoing cargo at the State Pier is handled by Logistec.
New London is also currently visited by Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships.
Demographics
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 4,635.5/sq mi (1,789.1/km²). There were 11,560 housing units at an average density of 2,087.4/sq mi (805.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 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, 63.49% White and 5.67% from two or more races. The largest white ethnic origins are Irish (13.9%), Italian (11.7%), English (8.6%), German (7.3%), Polish (4.3%), and French (4.1%).
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
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