The Savin Rock story proper begins with the railroad and the trolley. A shore hotel opened at the rocky point as early as 1838, but it was George Kelsey, a Civil War veteran and trolley magnate, who made it a resort — extending the trolley lines and building a 1,500-foot pier out over the Sound in 1870. The crowds followed. By the turn of the century the point had filled with coasters, dance halls, shooting galleries, and shore-dinner houses, and the electric-lit ‘White City’ — inspired by Chicago's 1893 World's Fair — drew visitors from all over New York and New England. The shore dinner became its own institution; Jimmies of Savin Rock has been frying clams here since 1925.
West Haven is older than its amusement park by three hundred years. The shoreline belonged to the Quinnipiac people long before English settlers from the New Haven Colony laid out farms here in 1648 and called the place ‘West Farms.’ For generations it was a quiet district of oystermen and farmers on the west side of New Haven Harbor. It joined with North Milford to form the town of Orange in 1822, then set off on its own in 1921 to become the Town of West Haven — Connecticut's youngest — and was chartered as a city in 1961. One of the state's oldest settlements wears the title of its newest city.
Why People Visit West Haven
West Haven appeals with simple shoreline beauty and strong local pride. Visitors pair long beach and boardwalk walks with small museums, the historic Green, and the nostalgia of Savin Rock. It is relaxed, local, and close to the water, with year-round appeal in its parks, paths, and public spaces. The vintage-summer feeling of the old amusement park is evergreen, and history and everyday shoreline life sit side by side in a welcoming way.
