NewHavenBIZ

50 n e w h a v e n B I Z | M a r c h 2 0 2 0 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m T H E L O O P ARCHIVE V isitors to the second-story upper rotunda of the New Haven Museum will be whisked back in time to an era when busi- nesses were manifested solely in the physical world — and their presence in our midst was announced by an identifying sign. e materials and messages of those signs varied with the type of business, of course — bank, brewery, hardware store — and were in many cases intended to impart an aura of respectability and permanence to the public. e NHM's exhibition, Signs of the Times, is intended to spark memories and conversations about New Haven businesses of a bygone era, according to Collections Manager Mary Christ, who organized the exhibition. "Today, your only impression of a store is what you look at online, but for many generations it was seeing that physical [manifestation] of the sign that made you think about what the business actually was," explains Christ. Signs of the Times will be on view through the spring at the New Haven Museum. Visit newhavenmuseum.com to learn more. n Signs of the times at New Haven Museum Nearly 16 years since its namesake financial institution passed into history, most over-30 New Haveners still call 195 Church Street the 'New Haven Savings Bank building.' But for most of its history the bank itself, founded in 1838, was headquartered at 170 Orange Street, where this banker-ly brass sign adorned the building before being relocated Church and Elm streets in the 1970s. All aboard! — In 1872 the New York & New Haven Railroad merged with the Hartford & New Haven Railroad to create the inclusively named New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, whose distinctive italic logo adorns this brushed- steel sign. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the company owned by J.P. Morgan absorbed competing lines large and small, passenger and freight, until none was left standing. We know how that worked out: The New York & New Haven 'monopoly' went bankrupt in 1961 and eight years later was merged at gunpoint with the Penn Central system — which itself bit the dust barely a year later. But the sign is still with us. Cheers! — The owners of the Yale Brewing Co., located at East Pearl and River Streets during the first two decades of the 20th century, were quick to forswear any connection to the college of the same name or the well-bred young lads who spent four years living and playing — and drinking! — behind its neo-Gothic walls. But I mean...come on. Like virtually every other U.S. company in its industry, Yale Brewing bit the dust following passage of a certain constitutional amendment that took effect Jan. 17, 1920. Unkindest cutlery — These distinctive brass signs hung outside the John E. Bassett & Co. store at 754 Chapel Street. At the time of its closing in 1968 the company, founded in 1889, was the oldest hardware and cutlery store in Connecticut. Founded in 1898 by Irish immigrant Edward Malley, Malley's was the Elm City's signature department store and downtown anchor, first at 902 Chapel Street, and relocating around the corner to 2 Church Street before it closed its doors for good in 1982. In the footprint of today's Taft Hotel once stood the Henry Austin-designed New Haven Hotel. In 1867 the hotel was purchased by Seth H. Moseley, who renamed it for himself and in whose family it remained until 1909.

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