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Historic New Haven Ohio History Marker Dedication

Historic Marker Unveiling
Saturday, October 23rd, 2021 11:00am to 12:00pm
New Haven, OH: 2663 Prairie Street, New Haven, OH 44850

A dedication ceremony for a new Ohio History marker commemorating Historic New Haven will be held in New Haven, OH. The unveiling will begin at 11:00 a.m. on October 23, 2021 at 2663 Prairie Street, New Haven, OH.

SIDE ONE:
HISTORIC NEW HAVEN, OHIO
New Haven, Ohio, was the mercantile center of southwest Huron County during the first half of
the 19th century. Residents described immense wagons, or “land schooners,” lined up for miles
on the New Haven-Worthington Road traveling from Columbus to the Lake Erie ports.
Organized in 1815, New Haven was one of the early townships formed in Huron County and the
Firelands. The village was platted, with streets at right angles around a diamond-shaped town
green, after the plan of New Haven, Connecticut. When, in the 1840s, New Haven rejected the
railroad’s direct route through the village, the Sandusky & Newark was routed to the west and
through Plymouth taking with it the shipping business. Subsequently, New Haven began a
steady economic decline into a small crossroads village.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION
NEW HAVEN OHIO HISTORY LEAGUE
NEW HAVEN METHODIST CHURCH
OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION

SIDE TWO:
RESIDENTS OF EARLY NEW HAVEN, OHIO
Two early citizens, Caleb Palmer and Rouse Bly, are buried in the Old New Haven Cemetery.
Caleb Palmer (1775-1854), was an early Ohio surveyor in Trumbull County. He came to New
Haven, bought his first land in the area around 1811, and settled here shortly thereafter.
Palmer served as one of the first Huron county commissioners, a justice of the peace, and a
postmaster. War of 1812 veteran Rouse Bly (1793-1866) settled near New Haven around 1825.
Known for both his compassion and abolitionist opinions, Bly opened his home as an
Underground Railroad station in the decades prior to the Civil War. Another early “resident” of
the village was the Methodist Episcopal congregation (New Haven United Methodist), who built
their New England-style house of worship on the village green between 1841-1842.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION
NEW HAVEN OHIO HISTORY LEAGUE
NEW HAVEN METHODIST CHURCH
OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION