About the Hamden Region

Economic Development

Businesses have many reasons to locate to Hamden. The town boasts a highly educated workforce. Easy access to major roadways make it practical for Hamden-based professionals to do business throughout the state and even in New York and Boston. In addition to the services offered by the Chamber of Commerce, the municipality offers a variety of incentives for local businesses.

Hamden Economic Development
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orth Haven Economic Development
Wallingford
Cheshire
New Haven
Bethany
Woodbridge

Schools

Hamden offers a highly regarded school system that includes traditional, technical, parochial, specialty and magnet schooling. It is home to Quinnipiac University, which is consistently ranked among the best universities in the nation. U.S. News and World Report has included Quinnipiac in its list of best American Colleges for the past seven years.

Residents take advantage of many town educational programs for skills development and personal enrichment. Hamden is also within close proximity to Southern Connecticut State University, Albertus Magnus College, Gateway Community College & Yale University.

Hamden Public Schools
Hamden Hall
Hamden Parochial Schools
Quinnipiac University
Hamden Adult Education
Stone Academy
Paier College of Art
New England Technical Institute
Sacred Heart Academy
Wintergreen Magent School
Aces Schools
Eli Whitney CTHS School
Southern Connecticut State University
Albertus Magnus College
Yale University
Gateway Community College

add more schools from the region

Government

Hamden is governed by a mayor and a 15 member Legislative council. The current Acting Mayor is Curt Balzano Leng. His office is located at the intersection of Dixwell and Evergreen at 1 Government Center (2750 Dixwell Ave).

On a state level, Hamden is in General Assembly districts 88, 91, 96 and 103. It is in state senatorial districts 11 & 17.

Hamden is located in the Third Congressional District, represented in Congress by Rep. Rosa DeLauro. In the Senate, we are represented by Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen.Chris Murphy.

For additional information regarding the Town of Hamden, please visit www.hamden.com.

For additional information regarding the State of Connecticut, please visit www.ct.gov.

Libraries

Hamden's Miller Memorial Central Library houses most of the library's collection and is also a cultural center offering a wide variety of programming. The system also has two branch locations, the Louise A. Brundage Community and Whitneyville Branches. Hamden Public Library
New Haven Library
Cheshire Library
North Haven Library
Wallingford Library
Bethany Library
Woodbridge Library

Hamden History

Settlers arrived in the Town of Hamden in 1638 as part of the New Haven community, which was the first European settlement in the New World. The town was incorporated more than a century later, in 1786, when two different settlements withdrew from New Haven. Hamden, named for English statesman John Hampden, had a population of 1,400 and became known as the "Land of the Sleeping Giant". In its early years, Hamden was composed of several small independent communities, including Mt. Carmel, Highwood, and Whitneyville.

Along with New Haven, Hamden became an important manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. In 1798, four years after he started manufacturing his cotton gin in new Haven, Eli Whitney began making arms for the U.S. Government at a mill site in Hamden. It was here that Whitney invented the milling machine and introduced the concept of interchangeable parts, ushering in the era of mass production.

Whitneyville, the community that sprang up alongside the armory, was filled with stone houses the inventor built for his workers. These are believed to be the first employer-provided homes in U.S. history. In 1806, the dam Eli Whitney had built at the mill site was enlarged, creating beautiful Lake whitney. The first truss bridge in the United States was erected over the Mill River in Whitneyville in 1823, though it has since been replaced.

The Farmington Canal traversed all of Hamden from 1825 to 1848. It started in New Haven and stretched 80 miles to the north, but was abandoned with the advent of the railroad. Some of the remaining locks and piers are still visible today, and a popular hiking trail follows the old route north to Cheshire. Many historic structures from Hamden's early years still remain along the Mill River.

Immigrants from Italy, Germany and Ireland flocked to the area in the 18th and 19th centuries to work in the sawmill, quarries, and factories. Today, Hamden's economy is largely service-based, with many of its residents employed in healthcare, retail and education.