Piano rags filled the air as waiters and waitresses bedecked in Gay Nineties clothing served the libations. A woman in a bear costume mingled with the crowd. A mime performed. Outside, a horse hitched to a carriage whinnied in the crisp, winter night.

And who was in the carriage, trotting dignitaries up and down Chapel Street? Who else but Joel Schiavone, New Haven’s flashiest builder, a flamboyant developer who believed — and proved — that showmanship is as much an ingredient of success as business sense.

The event was the opening of Schiavone’s refurbished Warner Apartments and, as with everything else he did, Schiavone wanted people to notice. Schiavone carefully cultivated an image as the man who could save downtown, have fun, and make a fortune doing it.

Source: https://rogershermanhouse.com/2019/09/11/dream-for-a-theater-district-coming-true-by-kristi-vaughn/

While the ship Hector was sailing across the Atlantic in the spring of 1637, the English settlers of New England were conducting a genocidal war against the Pequot. In the month of May, English soldiers burned the Pequot fort near New London and massacred many hundreds of Pequot men, women and children. The few who escaped fled westward along the shore of Long Island Sound.

As the soldiers pursued the Pequot along the shore, they stopped several days at a place called Quinnipiac (or Long-water-land), because they thought some of the Pequot were hidden there. The English liked the place very much, and reported back to Boston that Quinnipiac showed great potential for a settlement. They described the fine harbor with rivers emptying into it and broad rich meadows on all sides.

Source: https://rogershermanhouse.com/2020/01/15/the-landing-at-quinnipiac-by-ernest-hickock-baldwin/

The story of Connecticut has two parts, the place and the people. Either part can be studied alone, but the whole story of Connecticut began before any people lived there. Back many thousands of years ago, when the world was young, the mountains of Connecticut rose thousands of feet into the air..."

Source: https://rogershermanhouse.com/2019/12/16/the-landforms-of-connecticut-by-joseph-bixby-hoyt/

In 1784, New Haven faced severe congestion near Chapel Street, with tangled property lines hindering expansion. Mayor Roger Sherman, national statesman and expert surveyor, helped resolve this by orchestrating a land swap among himself, his brother-in-law James Prescott, and neighbor Mary Lucas.

Instead of cash, Sherman traded his Chapel Street frontage for Lucas’s land behind Prescott, while Lucas and Prescott exchanged parcels to create contiguous lots on either side of a new street. This pragmatic, neighborly negotiation, requiring sacrifices from Sherman and fellow civic leader James Hillhouse, meant no financial compensation was needed, as all parties agreed the land exchange settled any damages.

The making of High Street exemplifies how early American cities balanced rigid plans with evolving needs, blending property, family ties, and civic duty. Sherman’s precise, collaborative approach ensured city growth was achieved through compromise and mutual benefit, reflecting the hands-on, self-governing spirit that shaped both New Haven and the nation.

Source: https://rogershermanhouse.com/2019/06/11/roger-sherman-swapped-land-with-a-neighbor/

In 1789, Roger Sherman pushed back against fears that America’s new government would drift toward aristocracy. Corresponding with John Adams, Sherman argued instead for a system of shared power, where the Senate anchors the republic, the states remain vital, and the executive is guided, not unchecked. Their exchange sheds light on a founding tension that remains unresolved: how to balance authority, accountability, and trust in a democracy.

Source: https://rogershermanhouse.com/2020/07/13/national-archives-founders-online-to-john-adams-from-roger-sherman-20-july-1789/

“Being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.”

Knowing Our Place is a podcast by Arthur Mullen, exploring two Americas, and the person sitting in darkness trying to understand them. Through history, philosophy, and lived experience, each episode traces how parts come to stand for wholes: moments, phrases, and decisions that echo across time.

This is a guided journey through American history, sometimes surprising, sometimes painful, always human, seeking to reckon honestly with both the nation’s virtues and its failures. Because to know who we are, we must understand who we’ve been.