Scope and Contents
Minutes of meetings, financial and legal records, and correspondence of the York Square Trustees, organized in 1834 to maintain a park between Broadway and Ashmun Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Many of the papers document the Trustees' losing battle to maintain the park against the city of New Haven, the Hebrew Ladies' Orphan Society, and other institutions wishing to build on the land.
Dates
- 1834-1926
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Transferred from the Yale University Treasurer's Records, 1981.
Extent
0.01 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
Minutes of meetings, financial and legal records, and correspondence of the York Square Trustees, organized in 1834 to maintain a park between Broadway and Ashmun Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Many of the papers document the Trustees' losing battle to maintain the park against the city of New Haven, the Hebrew Ladies' Orphan Society, and other institutions wishing to build on the land.
Biographical / Historical
At a meeting on March 15, 1834, a deed of trust was drawn up which divided "a tract of land containing 12 ¾ acres situated between Broadway and Ashmun Street...into lots with an ornamental square or park called 'York Square....'" This park was formed for the exclusive enjoyment of the owners and occupants of residences surrounding the park and was maintained by an annual assessment paid by the owners of the lots. A group of trustees was elected to take charge of the park and its maintenance, and they met on an irregular basis. The York Square Trustees Records document the activities of this board from 1848-1926.
The York Square Trustees and Proprietors undertook action against the New Haven School District in 1893, when the school district announced its intention to take over certain lots around York Square for the Manual Training School and high school buildings, arguing that such a use violated the original deed. However, the school district undertook condemnation proceedings against the owners of the lots and successfully gained control of the land.
In 1910, the York Square Trustees lost a suit against the Hebrew Ladies' Orphan Society, which the trustees were attempting to expel from the square for also violating the deed of trust. The trustees appealed the decision in 1912, but to no avail. A protest against a hospital located at No. 67 York Square between 1914 and 1915 never went to court.
In the ensuing years construction of the Tower Parkway destroyed most of the park and the north end of the square and Yale acquired the remaining land, on which the Payne Whitney Gymnasium was built in the early 1930s and Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges in the early 1960s, the latter being erected on the sites of former schools.
The records were removed from the Yale Treasurer's Records, YRG5-B. It is unclear whether the Associate Treasurer, Thomas Wells Farnam, who was a trustee in 1924 when the minutes suddenly end, was serving on the board as Yale Treasurer or as a resident of the area.
The York Square Trustees and Proprietors undertook action against the New Haven School District in 1893, when the school district announced its intention to take over certain lots around York Square for the Manual Training School and high school buildings, arguing that such a use violated the original deed. However, the school district undertook condemnation proceedings against the owners of the lots and successfully gained control of the land.
In 1910, the York Square Trustees lost a suit against the Hebrew Ladies' Orphan Society, which the trustees were attempting to expel from the square for also violating the deed of trust. The trustees appealed the decision in 1912, but to no avail. A protest against a hospital located at No. 67 York Square between 1914 and 1915 never went to court.
In the ensuing years construction of the Tower Parkway destroyed most of the park and the north end of the square and Yale acquired the remaining land, on which the Payne Whitney Gymnasium was built in the early 1930s and Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges in the early 1960s, the latter being erected on the sites of former schools.
The records were removed from the Yale Treasurer's Records, YRG5-B. It is unclear whether the Associate Treasurer, Thomas Wells Farnam, who was a trustee in 1924 when the minutes suddenly end, was serving on the board as Yale Treasurer or as a resident of the area.
Creator
- Title
- Guide to the York Square Trustees Records
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- compiled by Lynne Farrington
- Date
- May 1981
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Created In Accordance With Manuscripts And Archives Processing Manual
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
Contact:
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
beinecke.library@yale.edu
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)
beinecke.library@yale.edu
Location
Sterling Memorial Library
Room 147
120 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511