The 25 acres making up Edgerton Park were given to the City of New Haven in 1965 by Frederick F. Brewster. Eli Whitney was the original owner of the property. His niece Caroline lived on the estate in a grand Victorian house called “Ivy Nook.”
In 1906, the property was sold to Frederick F. Brewster, a New Haven industrialist, who tore down “Ivy Nook” and replaced it with a Tudor style mansion named “Edgerton,” for its location on the edge of town. The house and grounds, designed by Robert Storer Stephenson, was completed in 1909 as a wedding present to Brewster’s wife, Margaret. Intended as a retreat from the industrial city, the grounds were in the style of 18th Century English landscape gardens, to reveal both natural and man-made vistas. Brewster’s will stipulated that the house be demolished and the grounds be given to the City of New Haven for a public park after his wife’s death. Happily, the original wall, greenhouses, carriage house, gatehouse, and bridge still stand. Edgerton Park is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
