Wooster Square Blossom Blog: Qui Transtulit Sustinet! "He Who Transplanted Still Sustains"

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Qui Transtulit Sustinet! "He Who Transplanted Still Sustains"

Connecticut's State Motto Describes the Spirit of Wooster Square

Editor's note: Photos were taken on Riverquest's Eagle cruise on Friday. Find them on your phone at ctriverquest.com The Wooster Square Blossom Blog was invited to tag along....and you can't help but think about history in the Town of Essex, where you can eat at the country's oldest Inn where George Washington ate. The boat ride spawned some thinking...

If I was asked....

What is exactly Wooster Square?

Well, it's a place on a map.

In the Country's first planned City.

New Haven was laid out in 9 infamous squares.

All surrounding the Town Square or

the New Haven Green.

In the 1700s Settlers that sailed into

New Haven Harbour

were greeted by the two Sentinel Bookends

called East Rock and West Rock.

Three Buildings, Churches dominated the green.

With Yale's Connecticut College up the hill.

As part of New Haven, Wooster Square was on the other side of the river,

not part of the Nine Squares.

A place where the working class of all walks of life and colors lived and dreamed.

Literally, right on the Water, the Statue

of Christopher Columbus in Wooster Park

was said to be looking at the water, welcoming all.

(and not an Italian neighborhood, then

highways, then Ikea...).

Er, Mr Blossom Blogger?

What does this have to do with

the Connecticut State Motto?

Well just about everything.

You see, people the likes of Benedict Arnold, Meryl Streep, Silas Deane and Charles Goodyear

called Wooster Square home.
Even Noah Webster bought and lived in
Benedict Arnold's house on Water Street.
They all got there starts right here in this quaint little Sweet Sakura Section of New Haven.

(as well as the World's First Photoblogumentary!)

Heck, even General Wooster lived on Wooster Street.

And when the British took offense to Connecticut making most of the Arms and munitions for the American cause they invaded our

Honorable Hanami Home in 1779.

Poor Mrs. Wooster, the British roughed her up pretty bad and stole all the Wooster's papers* which included many of Yale's papers she was holding. General Wooster died defending the

armoury at Danbury two years earlier.

(*think books, contracts, historical documents.)

The British burned nearly every building built before 1779. Except the Churches, Yale's Connecticut College where Nathan Hale went, and what now houses the Yale Graduate Club and Visitor Center.

Opps! Anyway, back to the point.

You see, these were people who came to New Haven seeking prosperity and brotherhood for all people. Many who were on the beginning/endings of careers and on both sides of history.

Some on the good side and some on the bad side.

(depending on which side you were on).

Those people who came to Wooster Square,

and those that still do,

come here to make a difference.