Dragon was initially located at the point where the present day Ferry Street Bridge crosses the Quinnipiac River.
From the time of the Quinnipiac (in their language, “long-water-land”) Indians, the oyster was not only an available food source but a major industry of the community, which was to influence the prosperity of the neighborhood during the 19th century.
Dragon in time came to include the eastern side of the river that belonged to East Haven, and came to be known as the Heights (because the bulk of that area is set on a huge, heavily wooded hill).
There are luxury condominiums along the Quinnipiac, modest small homes along Grand Avenue, and public housing projects at the summit of the hill.
In addition, the New Haven Religious Society of Friends relocated their Quaker Meeting House to Grand Avenue in the 1990s.
James F. Babcock, a lawyer and publisher of the New Haven Palladium newspaper, built a large Victorian Gothic home on 30 acres (120,000 m2) of land between East Grand Avenue and Clifton Street.
On the southern part of what was the Babcock estate at 154 East Grand Avenue can be found the Victorian Gothic home of the Moody family.
Built in the 1830s in the Italian Villa style it sits above a stone wall topped by an iron fence.
In the late 19th century the house was renovated with the addition of a veranda, two ells, a balustraded roof and scalloped shingles.
Henry Barnes and his neighbor Horace H. Strong along with Franklin H. Hart were wholesale dealers in meat, seafood and vegetables.
The bright pink house, located at the corner of Hemingway Street and Quinnipiac Avenue, serves as a useful landmark while driving or walking through this historic neighborhood.