Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Masons

A recorded property of the National Register of Historic Places and a New Haven Landmark, 106 Goffe Street stands in good condition, relatively unchanged through time. The stone apron lays a foundation for the ascending common-bonded red brick. Its simple, symmetrical design, in conjunction with homogenous, durable materials speaks to the monumentality of this historic site. It is a testament to the resilient and persevering character of the African American community it has served for over a century and a half, beginning as the Goffe Street Special School for Colored Children and eventually as The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Masons. 

Goffe Street Special School for Colored Children

According to all recoverable archival resources, there is no indication that there was any preexisting structure on this site. The National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination written by Charles W. Brilvitch asserts that the site’s history was born from Mary Hillhouse’s landpurchse of 5,000 dollars, suggesting that the land was barren prior to 1864 (1). Additionally, it is likely that the land was once part of a larger estate, later subdivided and sold to various tenants. 

Following the Civil War, the institution of slavery began to slowly unravel in New Haven and in Connecticut, and the Goffe Street Special School for Children symbolized the African American fight for economic, social and political equality by laying one of the first educational foundations. 

In addition to moral motivations, reasons for abolition in the north included the decreasing cost-efficiency for the slave economy (2). In 1784, the Gradual Emancipation Act was passed to “phase out” slavery in Connecticut and Rhode Island, granting freedom only to those born into slavery on or after March 1, 1784 upon reaching the age of twenty-five (later reduced to twenty-one) (2, 4, 5). Many white New Haven and Yale affiliated men fought the passage of this act and worked to enforce the longevity of this law--a handful of these men later honored by Yale with the naming of residential colleges of John C. Calhoun, Samuel F. B. Morse and Ezra Stiles (2, 3). It was not until 1850 that slavery was completely phased out of Connecticut (2).  

Throughout this “phasing out” process, the African American community experienced continued oppression and the denial of basic rights, namely education. As a means to circumvent laws that excluded black youth from public schools, individuals took it upon themselves to teach in their homes; the first state school house opened in 1811 (1, 6, 9). However, these schools were limited in size and resources, offering very basic education to few (9), until 1864, when a group of influential New Haven residents, including a woman named Mary Hillhouse, resolved to build a proper educational facility for the purpose of providing for “the intellectual and moral well-being of the colored people of the Town of New Haven and especially of their children… for the elevation and the benefit of the class among us, particularly in view of the fact that they have been less favored than other as well as to educational advantages” (1, 9). Mary was the daughter of famous James Hillhouse, leader of the anti-slavery movement in the First Federal Congress and Yale’s treasurer of fifty years. 

Mary Hillhouse bought the undeveloped land and hired prominent architect Henry Austin who donated his plan for the building (1, 9). As Elizabeth Mills Brown highlights in her book, New Haven—A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design, Austin “must have rummaged in his drawer and pulled out something that came to hand, for the building standing here today was surely once designed to be a church—note especially the side elevation” (7). Nonetheless, the building was erected with great enthusiasm among the African American and white liberal communities and completed the same year (1, 9). Hillhouse and her benefactors paid for trusteeship of the facility, while the New Haven Board of Education assumed full responsibility of the school’s educational activities (D. Branch, personal communication, Feb. 23, 2018). When the school began accepting students in January of 1865, one hundred and forty-four students were registered for attendance, and this number only grew (D. Branch, personal communication, Feb. 23, 2018). With the return of Black veterans from the Civil War, the school became a desired place for pupils of all ages (6). Beginning in 1866, the structure hosted an evening school and, in 1869, began running a nursery school (1, 9). It is even speculated that children denied access to the school for possible lack of enrollment opportunities and space would climb through two underground tunnels that led from a preexisting church across the street to the school’s yard so that they could learn for a few hours during Sunday church services (D. Branch, personal communication, Feb. 23, 2018). 

In 1874, the school was forced to close after Connecticut passed legislation ending segregation (1, 6). African American children began attending previously all-white public schools, and the Trustees put the building to other uses, advancing the welfare of New Haven’s African American community (1, 6, 9). Sewing classes, church services, and even a swimming pool operated by the Colored Young Men’s Christian Association filled the vacant site (1, 9). Following World War I, the structure’s use was reimagined as a Parish House and Black Community Center by the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (1, 9). However, with the construction of the nearby Dixwell Community Center in 1924, the Trustees felt that the need for the Goffe Street School facility had finally been diminished and decided to sell the building (1). The purchaser was the “Grand Lodge of Negro Masons”, a fraternal group deeply interested in maintaining this building’s historical background and keeping it in the care and possession of New Haven’s black community (1).

To this day, The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Masons continues to preserve the social and structural integrity of the building. While the facility currently operates privately, each and every member is deeply committed to the community and happily welcoming of visitors. Masons are devoted volunteers, providing mentorship to black youth, offering free barbecues and clothing drives to passersby, as well as sponsoring the Walter Pop Smith Little League Baseball Team, proudly displaying their trophies alongside historical photographs, documents and relics along the walls of the first-floor social room (D. Branch, personal communication, Feb. 23, 2018).

The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Masons is located roughly six blocks northeast of New Haven Green. It firmly rests at the southeast corner of Sperry and Goffe Streets, also known as the Dr. Mattie Atkinson Darden corner in celebration of the African American woman who founded the Agape Christian Center, next door (8). The firehouse of Engine Company No.6, a streamline moderne structure built in 1973, expands in horizontality opposite the Masonic Lodge on Goffe Street, adjacent to the affordable retirement dwelling of St. Luke’s Senior Living. In recent years, the neighborhood has quieted down as the surrounding built environment has slowly transformed from industrial to residential (D. Branch, personal communication, Feb. 23, 2018). 20^thcentury projects and commercial and light-industrial buildings have since been replaced by affordable housing complexes and moderate-income co-ops (1).