I lived in New Haven many years in the Wooster Sq area. It was an Italian neighborhood. Many businesses like pizza places, Sons of Italy, Italian pastry stores and Italian food stores. Also Italian doctors and sadly sweat shops for immigrants to work in. Oh, and so so many funeral homes.
It was a great Italian neighborhood. I am half Italian and my grandfather had 13 kids. He immigrated from Italy legally and started businesses here. He had a funeral home on Chapel St.
In the the middle of this area was Christopher Columbus Park. There is a statue there of Columbus that says " A Cristoforo Colombo DI CL Italiani New Haven 1892. My father loved to feed the birds at the park and sit with his friends. He taught me how to ride a 2 wheel bike there. There was a water fountain in the middle of the park that had many walkways from one end of the park to the other. It had 3 churches in the area St Michael's Church and school,, St Casimir's Church and also St Louis Church and school.
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There also was a school on Greene St named Christopher Columbus School. It was up to 8th grade and then they moved it to Fair Haven. There are two class pictures that I uploaded. My relatives graduated from there in 1911. I graduated years later.
It was a wonderful time growing up in this close Italian community.
