Hamden Historical Society

Hamden has adopted an honorable practice of naming streets for its members of the armed forces who gave their lives in the service of our nation. Previous articles on this site documented two groups of such streets, Honor Hill and Hepburn Ridge. Less well known is that Hamden also has streets bearing the names of veterans, men who returned from their military service and, after living many more years, were buried in town.

The first of these was Isaac Dickerman (1740-1801) who served in the Revolutionary War. He was a first cousin of the Jonathan Dickerman whose house is preserved by the Historical Society. The name of Dickerman Street in Mount Carmel first appeared on a 1920 map, so it may have been named for some other member of the large family who lived in Hamden for many generations.

Another Revolutionary veteran, Jonathan Mix (1753-1817) invented a new type of carriage spring. Manufacturing carriages and their parts was a key industry in New Haven and Hamden for much of the nineteenth century. Mix Avenue was named for his family.

After serving in the Civil War, Benjamin Woodin (1828-1921) represented Hamden in the state legislature. Woodin Street was likely named for him. Other Civil War veterans whose names appear on streets include John Newton (1819-1895), Ransom C. Russell (1829-1912), William Bowen (1830-1909), Horace F. Farnsworth (1835-1920), William Benton (1837-1924), and James Alstrum (1845-1926).

A. Frederick Oberlin had a most distinguished military and civilian career which has been previously documented by the Historical Society here. After his service in World War I, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and Distinguished Service Cross, he served as the Assistant Town Engineer of Hamden, designing the Davis Street bridge. He died in 1938 at age 47 of injuries from his military service. The next year, the stained glass windows honoring him in the Town Hall rotunda were dedicated, and in 1940, Oberlin Road in the Pine Rock neighborhood was named for him.

Duane Road in Hamden Plains was likely named for another World War I veteran, Duane Warner (1899-1925).

Mention must also be made of the wartime service of two very famous Hamden residents. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) lived in Hamden for many years. (Thornton Street in Spring Glen was named in 1917, likely not for him since he was then a sophomore at Oberlin College in Ohio, and his first novel, The Cabala, was published in 1926.) He served three months in the Army Coast Artillery Corps during World War I, and was awarded several medals for his three years with Army Air Force Intelligence during World War II.

Shortly after graduating from James Hillhouse High School in 1935, Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012) enlisted in the Navy. He was honorably discharged in October 1941, but immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he reenlisted and served for the duration of the war. His naval service was ideal preparation for his starring role in the TV series McHale's Navy (1962-1966). He is commemorated with the pocket park at the corner of Dixwell and Putnam avenues.