During the American Revolution, West Haven was the frequent launch and arrival point for raiding parties on both sides of the war.

Thomas Painter, a teenaged militiaman watching for the approaching British ships while standing atop Savin Rock, is depicted on the city seal.

The main commercial street, Campbell Avenue, is named for British Adjutant William Campbell, at the time an ensign in the Third Guards, who rescued the Reverend Noah Williston, the local Congregational minister and outspoken revolutionary, from being bayoneted by British and Hessian troopers, after he broke his leg trying to escape his captors.

Campbell then ordered the soldiers to help the minister back to the parsonage and had the regimental surgeon set his leg.

Campbell is also credited with keeping the troops in reasonably good order during their march through the village and reportedly had two soldiers arrested after a local woman accused them of stealing her jewelry.

Campbell was killed hours later atop Allingtown Hill on his way to New Haven by a local farmer-turned defender.

Opposition began about 1971 soon after old Savin Rock had been torn down and the first project built, but ballooned in 1973 when Save Our Shore (SOS) led a referendum to stop "the Great Wall of China", an 800 foot 12 story apartment, proposed for a 10 acre parcel, blocking the shore view.

A 1974 referendum to stop all development was organized by IMPACT (successor to SOS), but was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1978.

This led to a struggle for a Compromise Plan, initiated by Mayor Robert Johnson, and brought to completion by action of the Concerned Citizens for Bradley Point (1979), which petitioned the final holdout to the Plan, to which the Supreme Court had required all developers to agree for any significant change.

Thereafter, a committee sought public input and federal money, and in July 1984, the 20 acre Bradley Point Veterans Memorial Park opened.

In 1991, the Land Trust of West Haven, Inc. was founded, but it was not until 2007 that a Conservation Easement was signed, preserving all but the Conference Center, as open space forever—beautiful parks, with walks and bike path, along Connecticut's longest public shoreline.

The Allingtown Fire District was relatively recently subsumed by the City who's now responsible for all of its pension-related obligations going forward.

Residents expect efforts will be made to consolidate the remaining two fire districts based, in large part, on the recommendation of the State's Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) who is currently providing financial support and guidance to the City.

[citation needed] In June 2014, the "Where Angels Play" playground opened next to Sea Bluff Beach in West Haven.

The playground was built in honor of Charlotte Bacon, a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

West Haven was a shipping and industrial center, known for its buckle shops and later Armstrong Rubber Co. Coleco (originally Connecticut Leather Company- later the toy & video game manufacturer), and Sikorsky Aircraft, a division of United Technologies, also had operations in West Haven.

In 2007, Yale University purchased the entire campus for biotechnology, pharmaceutical and other life sciences research.

In 2013, the Connecticut Department of Transportation opened a new Metro-North station in West Haven, across from the former Armstrong factory.

The station provides full service on Metro-North into New York City, and has 660 parking spaces on-site.