The main orphanage structure, UNH’s Maxcy Hall, and the building still called the Gate House today were built together in matching brick Colonial style in 1909. Our story involves the mysterious ‘third building’ that came along with NHC’s purchase. Undoubtedly the ‘inmate’ children, their relatives, and government officials used the railroad to come, to go, and to visit the home at all the locations but especially at its original and final ones.

from where the old NH&D crossed through what is now the VA Hospital property. That distance being minimal, one wonders how much a role this factor played in the home's subsequent move to New Haven. The home found a third and final location in what is today West Haven, property that New Haven College, now the University of New Haven, purchased in 1960. According to historian Mary Woodruff, the railroad, or lack of better access to it, was the reason the home left Tyler City when the town refused to build sidewalks to the railroad station. The idyllic rural location was likely also a draw. While additional scrutiny of the sources would be necessary to clarify the point, the location was undoubtedly aided by the fact that it was accessible by rail. The home’s origin there was due, at least in part, to the fact that Tyler City did not flourish as hoped and anticipated, and other uses were found for some of the vacant structures built there. After legislation was passed in 1883 creating these homes in each of Connecticut's eight counties, the first location in New Haven County was in the short-lived, railroad boom town of Tyler City, as has been shown on Track 1. While not directly connected to the railroad material that is the focus of this site, the history of the New Haven County Temporary Home for Dependent and Neglected Children is not unrelated.

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