History of Bridgeport, Connecticut
The history of Bridgeport, Connecticut was, in the late 17th and most of the 18th century, one of land acquisitions from the native inhabitants, farming and fishing.
[3] Captain David Hawley of Stratfield brought a number of prizes into Black Rock Harbor.
The city's location on the deep Newfield harbor (mouth of the Pequonnock) fostered a boom in shipbuilding and whaling in the mid-19th century.
After stopping in Providence, Norwich, Hartford, Meriden and New Haven, he made his final speech in the evening of Saturday, March 10, in Bridgeport.
"He was entertained at the home of Mr. Frederick Wood at 67 Washington Avenue, and it is said that there he had his first experience with New England fried oysters," wrote Nelson R. Burr in Abraham Lincoln: Western Star Over Connecticut.
[16][17] Barnum, as well as many other notables, is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, in the park-like setting he designed.
Olmsted described the existing land as "pastoral, sylvan and idyllic" and, in 1884, delivered his plan for a simple, rural park for the residents to enjoy: "[The land donated by Beardsley] is thoroughly rural and just such a countryside as a family of good taste and healthy nature would resort to, if seeking a few hours' complete relief from scenes associated with the wear and tear of ordinary town life....
The object of any public outlay upon it should be to develop and bring out these distinctive local advantages, and make them available to extensive use in the future by large numbers of people.
Bridgeport harbor remained active and Tongue Point Light was constructed in 1895 to mark its west boundary.
[29] Some employers took steps beyond paying wages for the benefit of their employees, such as the Warner Brothers Corset Company which built the Seaside Institute as a social and educational facility for its women workers.
The New York sporting goods firm of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham selected Bridgeport for the site of their Union Metallic Cartridge Company ammunition factory in 1867.
[30] After receiving an order from the Russian Empire in 1915 for one million rifles with 400,000,000 cartridges, Remington UMC built a factory complex of thirteen buildings with 80 acres of floor space; and hired 1,500 new workers per month until 17,000 were engaged in arms production.
[38] The city is also home to the first Subway Restaurant, opened in 1965,[39] at 5 corners on North Main Street and Jewett, Tesiny and Beechmont Avenues.
As a city planning consultant put it, "Wages have risen, but so have rents, the price of real estate and the cost of living," going on to give an example a worker earning the prevailing wage whose family had been turned out on the street when unable to meet a 25 percent increase in rent.
For instance, the Bryant Electric Company strike was started by five hundred women assemblers and a handful of men who walked off the job.
The immigrant neighborhoods were located mostly south of the railroad line, near the factories and to the shore and included Eastern and Southern Europeans, Scandinavians and Irish.
[44] A growing city needed more housing and developers provided it, such as the Irish working-class neighborhood of Sterling Hill, the 1880s rental units now preserved as the Bassickville Historic District and the World War I emergency housing for workers that now constitutes the Black Rock Gardens Historic District.
[49] The construction of Interstate 95 in the 1950s demolished many homes throughout Bridgeport, including a largely Hungarian neighborhood in the city's West End.
[52] Public housing projects seriously affected by crime during this period included Beardsley Terrace/Trumbull Gardens Apartments in the city's North End, P.T.
However, by the late 1970s, the complex faced serious neglect, and the city failed to provide it with public services such as police patrols and garbage collection.
[citation needed] Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke three times at the Klein Auditorium in 1961, 1964 and 1966 and at Central High School in 1962.
Emergency crews from around New England responded to assist Bridgeport's Fire and Police Departments in the rescue and recovery effort.
[55] While Bridgeport has seen population growth in the 21st century, problems of violent crime, poverty, and corruption have persisted.
[63] The Great Recession hurt Bridgeport's economy, including real estate development, which saw numerous projects halted and slowed down.
[58] In 2009, the City Council approved a new master plan for development designed both to promote redevelopment in selected areas and to protect existing residential neighborhoods.
[65] Then-President George W. Bush spoke before a small, selected group of Connecticut business people and officials about health care reform at the Playhouse on the Green, just across the street from McLevy Hall, in 2006.
