New Haven, city in New Haven County, southern Connecticut, at the mouth of the Quinnipiac River on Long Island Sound. Once a prosperous manufacturing center, New Haven now has an economy based on four sectors: biotechnology, health care, higher education, and arts and entertainment. Yale University (1701) commands a central position in the city's economic and cultural life. One of the country's premier educational institutions, the university is New Haven's largest employer. The school is also integral to the city's shift from manufacturing to knowledge-based industry. New Haven is a deep-water port and a transportation hub. The United States Coast Guard headquarters for Long Island Sound is located in the city. Tweed New Haven Airport provides commercial air links to nearby metropolitan airports.
While New Haven is closely identified with Yale University, it is also home to Southern Connecticut State University (1893), Albertus Magnus College (1925), and a community college. The University of New Haven (1920) is in nearby West Haven, and Quinnipiac College (1929) in nearby Hamden. New Haven has a variety of performing-arts facilities and museums. Associated with Yale are the Peabody Museum of Natural History, with a dinosaur fossil collection; Yale Center for British Art, which surveys the development of British art and life; the Yale University Art Gallery, with an extensive collection by European masters; and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, containing a Gutenberg Bible, which is one of the first examples of a book printed with a movable metal type. The Museum of the New Haven Colony Historical Society details the city's development.
