David Wooster, the American Revolutionary War hero, gives his name to this park square at the center of Wooster Square, the neighborhood known as Little Italy. This neighborhood, just east of downtown New Haven, is affectionately known as Little Italy — a bastion of Italian American culture and cuisine and home to some of New Haven’s (and the country’s) best‑known pizza, specifically apizza. Look across the square and you’ll see the two legendary names people come here for: Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and Sally’s Apizza.
Much of what surrounds you is part of the Wooster Square Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, a recognition that helped preserve the square’s character. Each spring the park remembers another chapter: in 1973 the New Haven Historic Commission, working with the New Haven Parks Department and neighborhood residents, planted 72 Yoshino Japanese cherry blossom trees. That act led to the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, founded and organized by the Historic Wooster Square Association, which began as a modest gathering in the early 1970s and has grown since.
Notice the 72 Yoshino cherry trees planted in 1973, lining Greene Street, Wooster Place, Chapel Street, and Academy Street nearby.