The twentieth century brought the shoreline a new role. As railroads and then Interstate 95 tied the coast to the cities, Clinton grew into a shoreline suburban community — a place to live and summer as much as to work the water. Schools, neighborhoods, and beach colonies filled in behind the harbor; the marinas filled with pleasure boats where the oyster schooners had anchored; and the premium outlets by the highway now draw shoppers from across the state to a town that once shipped its wealth out by water. The Town Beach and its neighbors made the shore a family destination, and the harbor filled with weekend sails.
The harbor also launched the town's greatest fortune. Charles Morgan, born on East Main Street in 1795 to a shipowning family, left for New York at fourteen and built an empire remembered as the beginning of American coastal shipping — the first scheduled steamship line from New Orleans to Galveston, routes to Corpus Christi and Havana, iron works on the East River, railroads across Louisiana and Texas, and a running rivalry with Cornelius Vanderbilt himself. Morgan City, Louisiana wears his name. So does the gift he sent home: in 1871 he built Clinton a high school, endowed its upkeep, and the Morgan School — his statue out front — still graduates the town's seniors today.
Why People Visit Clinton
Clinton offers the Connecticut shoreline at its most relaxed — a real harbor town with beaches, marinas, and a colonial Main Street, plus the surprising distinction of being where Yale began. Visitors come for the water, the history, and the easy shoreline pace, and stay for the beaches, the harbor, and the oysters.
