Alders Approve ​“Dr. Robinson Way”

The corner of Dixwell Avenue and Argyle Street will now have a new name — honoring a pioneering psychologist, researcher, and volunteer local historian who still calls Dixwell home.

That’s thanks to a unanimous vote by the Board of Alders Tuesday night during their latest regular full board meeting in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.

Alders voted to rename the Dixwell-Argyle corner ​“Dr. Ann E. Garrett Robinson Way,” to celebrate Robinson. The 89-year-old’s accomplishments include being a psychologist and the first Black woman to join the Trinity College faculty, one of the first Black women to be a researcher at Yale, the first Black certified psychological examiner in the New Haven Public Schools system, and a professor emeritus of psychology and cultural anthropology at Gateway Community College, where she taught for 27 years.

“We always have intentions of honoring people,” Newhallville / Prospect Hill Alder Kimberly Edwards said during Tuesday’s meeting. ​“A lot of times, we don’t get to do it or get around to it and realize the impact they’ve had on a person or community.”

Robinson moved to New Haven in 1967 and into Dixwell in 1970. The renamed corner will be just across the street from where Robinson’s house currently stands. The renaming vote comes as a full circle moment for Robinson, who was a leading proponent for the renaming of downtown’s Lucretia’s Corner in 2022 in honor of New Haven’s first known Black resident.

“She’s an advocate,” Edwards said, after the vote. ​“When we have an advocate, we need to advocate for them.”