mong other
architectural landmarks are the polychromed Gothic-style City Hall
facade on the southeast side and the ivy-covered Gothic
collegiate-style buildings of Yale facing College Street on the
northwest perimeter.
The fishing and sailing trades in New Haven
harbor were active into the nineteenth century, and the town square
remained a busy market place. The last slave sale took place on the
green in the 1820s. In 1840 the city was the setting for the famous
Amistad trial, in which a group of Africans who had seized control
of the Spanish ship carrying them into slavery were cleared of all
civil charges brought against them. The Amistad Africans exercised
on the common while being held in custody in New Haven.
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By 1846 the stone-and-iron fencing had
been installed, and the elm trees had grown to maturity.
The New Haven Green owes its current
well-groomed appearance primarily to the efforts of the group of
private citizens who own and maintain the green as part of a
self-perpetuating committee established in 1805. In recent years
the open park has taken on new life as a cultural center,
functioning as an outdoor arena for performances during the
Festival of Arts and Ideas, a celebration of art, music and drama
held in New Haven each June.
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