Morningside

In 1639, about 100 acres comprising the neighborhood of Morningside was purchased for the Town of Milford from Native Americans by the English settlers. Initially, the area was farmland belonging to the Merwin family for more than 200 years. Then, industrialist and entrepreneur, Henry G. Thompson bought the plot of land in 1865 and created a sprawling Victorian estate (of which some of the outbuildings still stand today). A trolley line linking Milford with New Haven and Bridgeport ran along the edge of Morningside from 1897 until about 30 years later, when it was replaced by buses. Capitalists from New York developed Morningside into a residential neighborhood in the 1920’s.