History of Bridgeport, Connecticut
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The history of Bridgeport, Connecticut:
Contents |
[edit] Early years
Bridgeport's early years were marked by a reliance on fishing and farming, much like other towns in New England. The city's location on the deep Black Rock Harbor fostered a boom in shipbuilding and whaling in the mid-19th century, especially after the opening of a railroad to the city in 1840. The city rapidly industrialized in the late-19th century, and became a manufacturing center producing such goods as the famous Bridgeport milling machine, brass fittings, carriages, sewing machines,saddles, and ammunition.
[edit] Abraham Lincoln's visit
| 1830 | 2,800 |
| 1840 | 4,570 |
| 1850 | 7,560 |
| 1860 | 13,299 |
| 1870 | 19,835 |
| 1880 | 29,148 |
| 1890 | 48,866 |
| 1900 | 70,996 |
| 1910 | 102,054 |
| 1920 | 143,555 |
| 1930 | 146,716 |
| 1940 | 147,121 |
| 1950 | 158,709 |
| 1960 | 156,748 |
| 1970 | 156,542 |
| 1980 | 142,546 |
| 1990 | 141,686 |
| 2000 | 139,529 |
| 2002 | 140,104 (est.)[2] |
In February of 1860, Abraham Lincoln came east to speak at Cooper Union in New York City, where on February 27 he impressed eastern Republicans as an intelligent, dignified statesman and gained support in his bid for the presidential nomination. Since the speech went over well, he made several others (all similar to his Cooper Union speech) in Connecticut and Rhode Island, traveling by train to various cities. After stopping in Providence, Norwich, Hartford, Meriden and New Haven, he made his final speech in the evening of Saturday, March 10, in Bridgeport.[2]
His train was scheduled to stop at 10:27 a.m. in Bridgeport, and he likely met with Republican leaders. "He was entertained at the home of Mr. Charles F. 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. "Another tradition is that while he stayed in Bridgeport a little girl, Mary A. Curtis of Stratford, presented him with a bouquet of flowers and a bunch of salt hay from the Stratford meadows. ... Where the flowers came from at that season, and how the hay could be cheerfully green, is not explained."[3]
Lincoln spoke in Washington Hall, an auditorium at what was then Bridgeport City Hall (now McLevy Hall), at the corner of State and Broad streets. Not only was the largest room in the city packed, but a crowd formed outside made up of people who couldn't get in. He received a standing ovation before taking the 9:07 p.m. train that night back to Manhattan.[3][4] A plaque now stands at the site in Bridgeport where he gave the speech. (In 2006, just across the street, in the Polka Dot Playhouse, President George W. Bush spoke before a small, selected group of Connecticut business people and officials about health care reform.)
[edit] Later history
By 1930 Bridgeport was a thriving industrial center with more than 500 factories and a booming immigrant population.
Like other urban centers in Connecticut, Bridgeport fared less well during the deindustrialization of the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. Unemployment rose, crime soared, and the city became known for a large drug problem and also for having an exploding AIDS rate. Many former-industrial sites within the city were discovered to be heavily-polluted, leaving the city with extensive environmental costs and damage. Other sites were simply abandoned and left to burn down, leaving some areas of the city resembling ghost towns.
In the early 21st century, Bridgeport is rebounding after a loss of jobs and population, and is transitioning into a role as a center of service industries and as an outlying region of the New York metropolitan area (for example, the city itself is an oasis of relatively low-cost housing in an otherwise extremely expensive region). It remains the largest city in the state of Connecticut, although it is often ignored or overlooked by residents of the state.
The towns located in the Greater Bridgeport area are Ansonia, Derby, Easton, Fairfield, Milford, Monroe, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Stratford, Trumbull and Westport.
In 1987, the L'Ambiance Plaza residential project, which was under construction at the time, collapsed, killing 28 construction workers.
[edit] Notes
- ^ [1]
- ^ Holzer, Harold, Lincoln at Cooper Union, (Simon & Schuster: Neew York), 2004 Chapter 8: "Unable to Escape This Toil," p. 201 ISBN 0-7432-2466-3
- ^ a b Burr, Raymond F., Abraham Lincoln: Western Star Over Connecticut, Lithographics Inc., Canton, Connecticut (no year given), pages 1 and 15; book contents reprinted by permission of the Lincoln Herald, (Harrogate, Tennessee) Summer, Fall and Winter, 1983 and Spring and Summer, 1984
- ^ Holzer, Harold, Lincoln at Cooper Union, (Simon & Schuster: Neew York), 2004 Chapter 8: "Unable to Escape This Toil," p. 201 ISBN 0-7432-2466-3
