Growth of the Oyster Port 1825-1865 The years 1825-1865 saw the establishment of the bustling waterfront community that is now Fair Haven.  At a meeting of the inhabitants of the village in 1824 it was resolved to change the name of the community from Dragon to Fair Haven. The initial settlement along the riverbank had grown into a densely settled autonomous community complete with its own political, social and economic institution. In 1808, there were one hundred and fifty people living in fifty dwellings in Fair Haven. By 1840, there were seven hundred and eighty seven inhabitants. It was during this period Fair Haven split from the town of New Haven and created its own semiautonomous government. Oystering, and its supporting industries, was a major factor in the growth of Fair Haven.  Residents of neighboring towns moved here in the 1830’s and 1840’s and built small waterfront dwellings along North and South Front Streets. In front of their houses they extended wharves of cut sandstone into the muddy banks of the river. The importation of oysters, first from neighboring rivers and bays such as the Housatonic River, Newark Bay, and the North River, then from more distant places, such as Egg Harbour and Delaware Bay, helped to make the local industry blossom into a major regional center for oyster dealing and processing. By the 1830’s local mariners were sailing to the Chesapeake Bay, returning with large quantities of southern oysters. Due to the limitations of the local fields importation of oysters gave rise to a dramatic increase in the scale of local operations.  A fleet of schooners built in local shipyards brought back thousands of bushels of oysters to be processed and then shipped inland to regional markets. Although many families supplemented their incomes by processing oysters at home, a growing number of dealers were large enough to be able to employ a dozen or more people in their work. Oyster wharves and sheds were built to handle the work. Levi Rowe and Company, an east shore dealer, had twenty vessels in operation and employed one hundred or more people in processing 150,000 gallons of oysters a year. Other dealers of note included the Barnes and Mallory Company, the J. E. Bishop and Company, Goodsell and Rowe and countless small dealers. The oyster industry brought a host of ancillary industries to the community. One of the earliest and most significant was shipping and shipbuilding. Stephen Rowe traded with the West Indies on a small scale as early as 1790. By 1836, twenty vessels were owned by Fair Haveners, six in the West Indian trade, while the others plied the Atlantic coast. These small marine operations exported lumber, apples, fish and ice to the south and brought back cargoes of coal and cotton to New England. The Benham New Haven Directory of 1847-48 lists twenty-four shipmasters and twenty-eight mariners in Fair haven. By the mid-nineteenth century, the number of vessels increased dramatically to handle large shipments of imported oysters. Eighty vessels were employed in the oyster trade in 1857. The demand for ships gave birth to local ship building industry. There were four major shipyards within the district, the G. W. Baldwin Company, and the J.H. Woodhouse yards on the east shore, and Tuttle and Munsell Company, and Lane and Jacobs Company on the west shore. Keg, pail and tub makers were a third local industry, spawned to meet the needs of the oyster trade. Zadoc Morse is listed as a keg maker in the 1847-48 New Haven City Directory. The “business rectory and Map of Fair Haven, 1856” lists James A. Preston on Ferry street, L.A. Tanner on pearl Street, and James Broughton in the King Block as oyster keg and can manufacturers. By 1868, three large companies dominated the market, producing the 150,000 kegs needed yearly. These were the Fair Haven Keg and Can Company, the Kellogg and Ives Factory, and the Fair Haven Oyster Keg Company. Hiram Barnes manufactured lime form oyster shells, first on South Front Street, then on Chapel Street. Other merchants and artisans took advantage of the new prosperity in the community and opened their shops here. The New Haven City Directory of 1847-48 lists sailmakers, tinners, wheelwrights, carpenters, blacksmiths, and grocers, all serving the community, large and small business blocks were built on the east and west approaches to the bridge. Dr. Charles S. Thompson opened a drugstore in the White Store building on the west side of the bridge. The Todd Block, a four-story masonry building, was built in 1859 on the site of the old Rowe’s Tavern (the tavern was moved to the rear of the lot). Daniel M. King purchased Heman Hotchkiss’ hotel block about 1850 and opened the Fair Haven Coffee House  (still standing at 14 Grand Ave.) in a small portion of the building. The rest was filled with a variety of small merchants and artisans. Ambrose Todd and Horace R. Chidsey opened a grocery and feed store on grand Avenue about 1860 (this building still stands at 89 Grand Avenue).