Since its founding, New Haven, Connecticut was built by immigrants. New Haven has been a New England economic center from when the first European colonists began using the harbor for trade in the seventeenth century. The City emerged as an industrial center long before the peak of its industry, beginning in 1798 with Eli Whitney’s gun factory, followed by a series of carriage manufacturers. The manpower provided by Irish immigrants in the 1850s set New Haven onto a track for rapid economic and industrial growth. As Irish immigration slowed in the late 1800s, New Haven industry sought a new source of cheap labor.[1] At the same time, many Italians, faced with few business and educational opportunities, high taxes, and extreme poverty, began immigrating to the United States. Out of the 4.1 million Italians who immigrated to the United States between 1880 and 1920, nearly three-quarters settled in the Northeast.[[2]],[3] As advancements in technology allowed factories to expand, New Haven reemerged as an industrial hub, drawing immigrants seeking work in the city’s factories. Italian factory workers and their families formed ethnic neighborhoods, homes that doubled as community support systems. As Italian labor grew New Haven’s industry and wealth, the Italian American community continued to solidify its permanence, establishing businesses and organizations. Italian American factory labor was a critical component in strengthening the mutually self-sustaining growth of New Haven’s industry and wealth, and the stability of the Italian American community.

Italian immigration and the resulting increases in factory labor were leading causes of the growth of New Haven’s industry from 1880-1920. This 40-year period saw Russian Jews and Italians immigrate to New Haven in large numbers, and the city’s population more than doubled, increasing from 62,882 in 1880 to 162,567 in 1920.[4] Most Italian immigrants were unskilled workers and found employment as laborers in factories and in railroad and construction companies. New Haven industry relied on cheap Italian factory labor for day-to-day operation. The efficiency of cheap labor fueled further growth, and in turn, factories sought more workers. While Russian Jewish immigration slowed, Italian immigration continued well into the 20th century, due in large part to New Haven recruitment efforts in Italy.[5] Established factory workers helped relatives and friends find work in New Haven, benefiting both the new laborers and the companies they found work in. New Haven native Salvatore Garibaldi recalled how some New Haven Italians, such as Paul Russo, worked as agents for New Haven companies:  “[factory owners] would call him up and say, ‘Mister Russo we can use thirty-five, forty men in our operation of the plant.’...he would have friends in Amalfi or Atrani or any of the little towns.”[6] Russo’s agents in Italy would recruit more Italians to work in New Haven factories. This rolling chain migration grew the Italian population dramatically; from 1880-1900, 5,160 Italians came to New Haven, and by 1910 the Italian population in New Haven had increased to 13,159 residents.[7] By 1930, Italians had become the city’s largest ethnic group, constituting more than a quarter of the New Haven population at 41,858 residents.[8] 

The growth of New Haven’s factories and industry brought greater wealth to New Haven, through both their own success, as well as through the business they brought to the city. New Haven’s growing reputation as an industrial center attracted not only those seeking factory employment but also those hoping to profit off of the city’s expanding population. In 1879, the New Haven Register remarked, “There is no city in the country where the manufacture of corsets is carried on so successfully or so extensively as in New Haven. Eight firms are engaged in the manufacture at the present time, employing at least 3000 people.”[9] Italian immigrant women, later joined by their daughters, became the “mainstays of New Haven garment factories.”[10] Strouse, Adler Corset Manufacturers was the most prominent of these firms. Founded in 1866, the company grew significantly during the Irish immigration of the mid-19th century, and in 1904, the company added $50,000.00 in brick factory additions to accommodate new employees. New Haven’s Gilded Age saw many factories expand their physical facilities, poising the city for future growth. Strouse, Adler reached its peak in the 1920s, with more than 2,000 employees producing a total of 2-3 million corsets per year.[11] The sweeping expansion of New Haven industry can be seen in the New Haven Grandlist, an annual estimate of taxable property within city limits. In 1880, taxable property in New Haven was valued at nearly $47 million in 1880 and rose to more than $242 million by 1920. Not all the growth was in manufactures; another large portion of the new taxable property was the construction of new businesses and housing alongside the factories, much of which was carried out by Italian construction workers.[12] Italian immigrants continued to grow the New Haven industry through their factory labor, but also indirectly as they worked to sustain industrial growth through other industries. 

Price and Lee’s New Haven Directory is proof of the development of New Haven businesses. In 1859, the directory contained 58 pages of advertisements.[13] By 1901, it boasted more than 700 pages of advertisements, including necessary establishments such as banks and grocery stores, but also two pages of Confectionary shops and Cigar makers.[14] At this point, the city’s population was wealthy enough not only to patronize nonessential shops but to keep several of them in business, indicating that many New Haven residents had money to spare. The number of advertisements speaks to both the directory’s success as a business and the city’s growth. The expansion of New Haven’s industry, fueled by Italian immigrant labor, attracted businesses that contributed to the city’s overall wealth.

While Italian American factory labor fueled New Haven’s economy, the money that laborers earned also helped strengthen the economic and social footing of the Italian American community in New Haven. The first Italians to come to New Haven were factory workers who laid the foundations for a larger community. Factory workers continued to be a pillar of the community. The Italian American Mutual Aid organizations that they formed helped create and maintain economic stability as the Italian American community in New Haven developed. The combination of immigrants’ negative experiences with government in Italy along with the discrimination they experienced in America generated a wariness towards government. Few Italians took advantage of government relief; in 1887, only 4 out of 350 adult recipients in New Haven were Italian. Like many ethnic and immigrant groups, Italians faced discrimination, in the form of insulting newspaper articles to physical violence. Similarly to the Irish, Italians suffered anti-Catholic and nativist sentiments from majority-Protestant New Haven.[15] Italians, even those with American citizenship and high school degrees, often struggled to find employment outside of unskilled labor due to these prejudices.[16] Larry Baldelli, a member of the Marchegiano Club, explained that “there was a need to stick together and band together and that is what this society was formed for.”[17] Organizations like the Marchegiano Club facilitated the strengthening of the community through shared culture, language, and food. These societies were usually formed by region to support Italians who already lived in New Haven and new immigrants from their hometowns.[18] They were places for immigrants to socialize, eat, and play sports, becoming respites and sources of encouragement through highs and lows. Members of Italian societies contributed to collective rainy day funds to help members cover considerable expenses, such as house repairs and funerals. Many of these societies have survived into the present and “still have the death benefit--when somebody dies, [they] still pay the mortuary.”[19] Italian American mutual aid organizations in the form of brotherhoods, clubs, and societies stepped into many of the roles traditionally played by a local government.

Italian fraternal organizations and mutual aid societies demonstrated their resilience and unity during the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918. Conditions in Italian neighborhoods were crowded, with families paying "$7-$13 a month for 2 to 4 rooms…[and] one toilet for six families."[20] The flu spread rapidly through the Italian American community, with Italians dying at higher rates than any other immigrant population in the city.[21] However, these close quarters also fostered strong tight-knit communities. Mutual aid organizations were “one of the Italian community's strongest forms of social insurance in times of sickness,” and continued working to stabilize the community throughout the epidemic. While English-language newspapers faced censorship during World War I, publishing few articles other than mortality rates and epidemiologic statistics, Italian language newspapers published detailed personal accounts of the epidemic, featuring the extended emotional obituaries of community members. These newspapers, such as Corriere, often celebrated the donations and support efforts of fraternal organizations, representing “a claim of significant community strength, in spite of influenza's devastations and the lack of public support from the city itself.”[22] While the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 was devastating to the Italian American community, it demonstrated the community’s strong economic and social backbone. The communal efforts to mitigate the epidemic’s effects forged bonds that supported the community far beyond the epidemic itself. 

The consistent income factory labor provided helped Italian Americans buy and keep homes, grounding the Italian American community as it grew alongside the city. Factory wages were reliable, especially in comparison to those of day laborers, who were forced to constantly seek employment between contracts. The boarding houses in the Wooster Square and Hill neighborhoods were excellent examples of how the strong sense of community carried into the economics of Italian neighborhoods. New Haven directories list many “laborers” as “boarders” in houses owned by Italian families and business owners.[23] Mutual aid organizations matched new immigrants with boarding houses. There were several boarding houses run by Marchegiano families for new immigrants from the Le Marche region of Italy.[24] Boarding houses not only functioned as affordable housing for factory workers but also helped Italian American homeowners keep up with their bills. Italian Americans had some of the highest homeownership rates among immigrant groups by the 1930s, reflecting the success of the boarding house system and Italian intentions to stay in the United States. Homeownership was a significant step towards financial stability and a symbol of success for Italian immigrants. This individual stability strengthened the entire economic base of a community; New Haven’s Italian communities became more independent as homeownership increased.[25] 

Italian factory workers also patronized local Italian businesses, which in turn supported the factory workers through their reasonable pricing and business practices. Most factory workers were paid “piecework,” where they made a fixed amount for each item they produced rather than an hourly wage. The system was developed to incentivize workers to be efficient in hopes of making more than a day’s pay. It was often difficult to make reasonable day’s pay with piecework; some factory owners would set the price per item so low that it was impossible to make a day of hourly wages in a day of piecework. The breadwinners of Italian American families were often factory workers, so laborers would have to work longer or pull their children out of school early to make enough money to support their families.[26] Longtime New Haven resident Rosemarie Foglia reminisced on how her father would work for days on end in the Candee Rubber Factory in New Haven, stopping only to buy a sandwich for 5 cents at the bar across the street.[27] This story exemplifies the position of factory workers in the New Haven economy as well as their relationship with businesses. Mr. Foglia’s need to work such long hours reflects the importance of his wages to his family. The bar’s convenient location allowed him to keep working for long periods of time, thus making more money. The bar’s main source of income was likely the business of immigrants and factory workers like Mr. Foglia, and its reasonable pricing ensured that they could retain their customers. These symbiotic business client-patron relationships were a result of the already strong community that the struggles of the immigrant experience had mandated. 

The Italian American community in New Haven functioned as its own sub-economy of the city, providing employment and support for its members while contributing to the general New Haven economy. Italian-owned businesses facilitated the transformation of Italian neighborhoods from primarily social structures to permanent social and economic assets of the New Haven community. The geographical structure of Italian neighborhoods were different from other New Haven neighborhoods; in an era of few zoning laws, businesses and residential buildings were built side by side. A 1914 directory listed professors and bank employees as residents of Everit street; like most of the wealthy East Rock neighborhood, it was entirely residential with majority single-family housing. In the same year, one block of Fair street in the Wooster Square neighborhood included houses--several of them with boarders, tenement flats above shops and businesses.[28] Italian American neighborhoods in New Haven were more than just residential areas, functioning as ‘sub-economies’ including the elements of a city on a smaller scale. The combination of housing and businesses on each block in Italian neighborhoods fostered a sense of community but also a mutual dependence within the neighborhood; Italian-owned businesses were in essence a form of rooting for the community. 

The establishment of Italian-owned businesses continued to build the independence of the Italian American community in New Haven. In addition to seeking homeownership, “Italians also yearned for the security of their own businesses, and as soon as they were able, they bought pushcarts or opened small stores.”[29] As early as 1872, New Haven Italians had begun to establish businesses in the Hill neighborhood.[30] By the turn of the century, there were Italian businesses of every type, ranging from grocery stores to vocal studios. Ambulanti, Italian pushcarts, sold their goods across all of New Haven, connecting the Italian American community to the city. One fruit vendor, Guglielmo, also sold overripe bananas at a lower cost in Italian neighborhoods, providing affordable food for factory laborers and allowing him to profit off of what would have otherwise been spoiled fruit. This system could be interpreted as the fruit vendor’s attempt to maximize profits, but in the context of the already strong community, it shows a sense of community, mutual benefit and understanding. As individuals became more economically stable, Italians began to rely less on societies for daily support. Businesses stepped into the roles played by mutual aid organizations, simultaneously connecting and uplifting the community and strengthening it financially. The establishment of an Italian-owned bank represented the wealth of individuals as well as the community’s collective financial independence. The bank replicated the rainy day funds of mutual aid organizations by allowing patrons to pay off loans as they could, waiving fees for late payments or skipped months.[31] Financial independence meant a lot to Italian immigrants; the ability to provide for themselves through community businesses helped immigrants retain their dignity even through poverty. Many successful Italian businesses were established on the tail end of the Italian immigration wave, proof of the community’s progress.

Italian Americans entered into the wider New Haven economy by starting their own factories. When one woman didn't want her son working in the same dangerous factory conditions as she did, the family bought sewing machines and started their own factory, called the Ideal Shirt Company. The labor of Italian immigrants positioned both the New Haven industry and the Italian American community for growth, paving the way for this factory. Their previous experience in garment factories gave them the knowledge to run their own factory, and the family eventually opened up a storefront as well.[32] The unique role of Italian Americans in the New Haven economy was exemplified by this factory: Italians reentered the cycle of growth in new places, contributing to the growth of New Haven’s wealth not only as the workforce but as a part of the industry and a business.

The economic system of New Haven’s Italian American community was distinct yet inseparable from New Haven’s economy as a whole. Italian businesses were originally established to build the financial stability of individuals and serve their communities, but they eventually became significant parts of the New Haven economy. Businesses that were originally established to support factory workers became assets to the whole city over time. Many Italian-owned businesses eventually integrated into the general New Haven economy. One Italian business, Cellini’s Gold and Silver, bought an advertisement in Price and Lee’s Directory to publicize their jeweler shop, featuring their custom society pins.[33] This shop was a part of New Haven’s Italian American ‘sub-economy’; part of Cellini’s business was Italian Societies who bought society badges and pins, an example of the Italian business-customer relationships that strengthened the community. Despite this, Cellini’s was advertising in a citywide directory,  demonstrating that it didn't exclusively serve Italian Americans. Another example was the prominent Italian business, The Poli Wonderful Land Theater, established by immigrant Sylvester Poli to put on productions for his community. Over time, however, Poli added locations, developing a theater empire that stretched across Connecticut, entertaining residents of all ethnicities.[34] Poli’s success created more job opportunities for Italian Americans, who worked building sets and sewing costumes for productions; however, it also tied them to the city as a whole.[35] As Italian businesses began to expand outside of their community, they further solidified the Italian American community, as well as benefiting New Haven as a whole. By patronizing and relying on Italian businesses, people outside of the Italian American community supported the longevity of Italians in New Haven. While New Haven factories’ dependence on Italian labor connected the community to the city, Italians created a more permanent place for themselves in New Haven through their businesses. 

Italian American factory labor catalyzed the mutually-self sustaining growth of New Haven’s industry and the strengthening of their community’s stability. This labor was the driving force behind New Haven’s economic growth in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. From the first Italian immigrants, the consistency of factory pay grounded the Italian American community, sustaining its growth. As factory workers forged bonds through shared culture and hardships, their communities flourished as New Haven’s Italian community developed. New Haven’s Italian immigrants built New Haven into an industrial power, while building their own communities. The story of Italians in New Haven exemplifies the importance of immigrants to the growth of the United States, where the achievements of individuals have led to the success of the whole.