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Donald Grant Mitchell's Edgewood Estate

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By Sam Jensen In the year of 1837, at the young age of fifteen, Donald Grant Mitchell’s romance with New Haven began with his arrival at Yale College. Mitchell was, from the beginning, enthralled by the architectural beauty of the city, and the nature which surrounded and complemented it as a whole. In Waldo Dunn’s biography of Mitchell, the scene of his arrival to New Haven is depicted in detail. Dunn writes, “We of the present need, perhaps, to be reminded of the New Haven and the Yale of 1837… New Haven was then an isolated town of some 13,000 inhabitants—a kind of backwoods Athens. Not until two years later was railway connection with the outside world established… Even prior to 1837, however, the beauty-loving zeal of James Hillhouse had been instrumental in transforming New Haven into the ‘City of Elms,’ ” (Dunn, 43). Having arrived before heavy industrialization, Mitchell’s Yale days were set in a more quiet and quaint City of Elms than it had become by the end of his life....
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Pond Lily Company

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By Mitchel Bertini Early manufacturing in New Haven, Connecticut was greatly aided by the West River. From 1776 to 1896, over fifty mills were constructed in Westville and produced a wide range of goods. Another important feature of the West River's industrial history was created in the late 1790s, the Pond Lily Dam. Levi Sperry, son of Richard Sperry, a prominent Westville resident, was given the land and decided to erect a grist mill in 1794.  (Welch,6) Grist mills were used at the time to grind corn and grain, so farmers could transport their crops more easily to market. Before building the mill, Sperry dammed the West River in order to create a manageable water flow that could be used to power the facility’s machinery . Early manufacturing in Westville utilized water power from large water wheels that were powered by the West River’s manageable flow of water. The grist mill was shut down in the early 1840s and soon became a carriage facility where springs and axles were f...
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Brown & Von Beren, Architects

By: Eric Berlepsch Brown and Von Beren Architects was a highly accomplished duo of architects who designed many important buildings during both the later nineteenth century and the early parts of the twentieth century in. The duo was based out of New Haven, Connecticut, and did architectural work all over the city, as well as across the state. The two men, David R. Brown and Ferdinand Von Beren, were both well known in New Haven during their times and made a large contribution to the building of Westville, as well as other areas in New Haven and in Connecticut. David Brown was the senior member of the duo, and he was born on May 30, 1831 in the city of New Haven. He attended public schools while growing up, and consistently was enhancing his knowledge of architecture, his future profession. He was taught architecture by another well known and highly accomplished New Haven architect named Henry Austin. After learning from Austin, he was named his partner, an honor Brown would late...
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