Urban Renewal in North Square

The 1950 City Plan identified a 22-block area in the North End containing 2,000 dwellings on 128 acres of land as a priority area for redevelopment. Following racial and economic tensions in the area in the 1960s, the city implemented a federally-funded project to clear dwellings categorized as substandard. Many homes and businesses in the area were removed. At the same time, the urban renewal project relocated factories out of the area and other manufacturing plants ceased operations in a changing national and world economy.

"I got active in the community... in Model Cities.... We used to meet with the mayor and then the ministers.... They had school teachers and all that were trying to get the community together... writing up a proposal for grants to be able to make Waterbury better.... I used to go house to house with petitions for people to sign."
~ Helen Banks

By the 1970s, the number of people living in the area was greatly reduced. The neighborhood’s newest arrivals, many of Hispanic background, came to a very different neighborhood and economy than had their immigrant predecessors.

"If you come by here at night, there will be a lot of people out here, and you hear rap music coming from down the street, Spanish music coming from the other side of the street, and that is kind of fun."
~ Fanny Marone

Introduction North Square Crownbrook Urban Renewal	Urban Renewal in North Square The 1950 City Plan identified a 22-block area in the North End containing 2,000 dwellings on 128 acres of land as a priority area for redevelopment. Following racial and economic tensions in the area in the 1960s, the city implemented a federally-funded project to clear dwellings categorized as substandard. Many homes and businesses in the area were removed. At the same time, the urban renewal project relocated factories out of the area and other manufacturing plants ceased operations in a changing national and world economy. "I got active in the community... in Model Cities.... We used to meet with the mayor and then the ministers.... They had school teachers and all that were trying to get the community together... writing up a proposal for grants to be able to make Waterbury better.... I used to go house to house with petitions for people to sign." ~ Helen Banks By the 1970s, the number of people living in the area was greatly reduced. The neighborhood’s newest arrivals, many of Hispanic background, came to a very different neighborhood and economy than had their immigrant predecessors. "If you come by here at night, there will be a lot of people out here, and you hear rap music coming from down the street, Spanish music coming from the other side of the street, and that is kind of fun." ~ Fanny Marone	Crownbrook Clean-Up Campaign. May 14-19, 1979. Mattatuck Museum Neighborhood History Project. The PRIDE - NAACP Youth Center on North Main Street, 1970s. Mattatuck Museum African American History Project.
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