Donald Grant Mitchell

Donald Grant Mitchell was a pioneer in New Haven’s history. He began his long history with the purchase of 100 acres in the 1850s. Nearly 200 years later, his beautiful homes still remain standing, his name is still important, and people are well informed about his legacy as a writer, educator and an architect.

Donald Grant Mitchell was born April 12, 1822 to a rich family in Norwich, Connecticut. His parents Rev. Alfred Mitchell and Lucretia Mumford sought to give Donald the best education possible, sending him to Yale University in 1841. He studied law but eventually found himself graduating with a literature degree. He studied countless novels, broadening his perspective of the world. He wrote a book from his information gathered from his trip to England called Fresh Gleanings. In May 1853 he was appointed ambassador of Venice. Shortly after he got married to Mary F. Pringle: They had four children: Hesse, Elizabeth, William and Susana.

In 1950 he decided he was done traveling and decided he wanted to purchase land and build a home. Wanting to get back to Connecticut where his roots were, he placed an ad in a Connecticut newspaper stating: “Wanted- A farm, of not less than a hundred acres and within three hours of the city. It must have a running stream, a southern or eastern slope, not less than twenty acres of wood and a water view.” Mitchell built a house on the land he found, which was one of several houses he designed. When he died in 1908 he left his inheritance to the City of New Haven.
The gift was an enormous contribution to New Haven and its boundaries, adding Edgewood Park. To get a more clear representation of Mitchell’s former 100 acres, it ran down from Edgewood Park’s basketball courts to Chapel and across Yale Bowl to West Park Drive. In thanks for his contribution, the city council decided to name a library after him.

Dr. Underdown is a professor at Yale who knows the in-depth history about Donald Mitchell and his spacious Mediterranean style home. Currently the home has not been maintained and is falling apart. Dr. Underdown is on the frontline of the battle to keep the Mitchell resident preserved. The appearance of the house is a travesty seeing that there are tenants residing in what is now a multi-family complex. Neighbors of this historical landmark are infuriated that the owners don't take better care of this home.

Donald Grant Mitchell’s home is still standing and is “in need of an improvement.” Hopefully the owners of the apartment building will one day fix it up. Until then we will have to wait and see!

- Shane C. McCauley- Browning