Remember When: Mid-20th Century Hamden

Facebook user Chris Devine posted this picture and information on the "You Know You're From Hamden..." Facebook page.

Memorial Town Hall is just about the only recognizable structure in this late-1940s aerial photo of Hamden center.

The buildings at the northeast corner of Whitney and Dixwell burned down 71 years ago -- February 18, 1941 – Matavolti Building, Whitney and Dixwell. The Brown Stone House Restaurant would not be built on that site until 1949.

Grace Episcopal Church, immediately west of the town hall, was moved to its present location across Dixwell Avenue in September 1966. The town's WWII honor roll can be seen on the other side of the church. The roll was removed in the early 1950s to make way for Hamden's new police headquarters and the former Miller Memorial Library, which are now scheduled for demolition.

Except for Centerville School (now the Miller Library) and Grace Episcopal Church, most of the buildings along Dixwell Avenue have been demolished to make way for newer structures.

Older Hamdenites will remember the Pepsi-Cola bottling plant and warehouse on Whitney, just north of School Street, which was demolished in the early 1970s to make way for the mid-rise apartment building at 2405 Whitney. (Photo courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society)