USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > The story of Bridgeport > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
LTE1
Gc 974.602 B76d 1221194
M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 5235
E
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/storyofbridgepor00dane
THE STORY
OF BRIDGEPORT 7
Connecticut
By ELSIE NICHOLAS DANENBERG
Illustrations by JESS BENTON
BRIDGEPORT CONNECTICUT
CITY
1836
ARIDGEPARY
1936
INCORPORATED 1836
CENTEN!
Published By THE BRIDGEPORT CENTENNIAL, INC.
Copyright 1936 By ELSIE NICHOLAS DANENBERG
THE BREWER-BORG CORPORATION BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT
1221194
INTRODUCTORY
This volume has been prepared to perpetuate in a fitting manner the history of the founding, growth and prosperity of our city. We have endeavored to portray in an interesting way, the story of Bridgeport. The important episodes of one hundred years of progress are set forth in a well connected form; and, the purpose of the historical portion is to entertain and inform its readers.
The features dealing with the Bridgeport Centennial itself are intend. ed to convey to our people and Centennial visitors, the salient facts con- nected with the celebration. The contents are valuable as the record of a colorful and picturesque century, and will also serve as a medium of infor- mation concerning the events of the celebration program.
INDUSTRIA CRESCIMUS-By Industry We Thrive
When our forefathers adopted this motto for our city they establish- ed a goal which has been our aim to achieve. In their foresightedness little did they dream of an industrial empire of the magnitude that exists today.
Located on Long Island Sound, our city is endowed with an invigo- rating climate, with a delightful change of seasons; beautiful parks; a rolling countryside; excellent thoroughfares; unsurpassed bathing beaches; attrac- tive homes and diversified industries.
It is our pleasure to present to you-THE STORY OF BRIDGEPORT.
W. B. A.
THANKS ARE DUE
To W. B. Aurandt, managing director of the Bridgeport Centennial, Inc., for his unfailing assistance after assigning me the task of writing this history.
To Jess Benton for volunteering to do the illustrating which he has done so creditably.
To Julian Sohon for extending to me the full courtesies of the Burroughs Public Library.
To Mrs. Clara B. Van Iderstine, head of the Henry A. Bishop Historical Room of the Burroughs Public Library, for her invaluable assistance in helping to collect and assemble material for this history.
1836 THE
STORY
OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1. JUST ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO 11
2. ISAAC THE SECOND 14
3. "THOSE NAKED SONNES OF ADAM' 19
4. "AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING 23
5. "EVERY OTHER FACE WAS POCKMARKED 30
6. ADOLESCENT BRIDGEPORT 35
7. BEHIND THE SCENES IN 1836 42
8. AT THE "SIGN OF THE WHITE WAND" 47
9. THE IRON HORSE ARRIVES 52
10. MIDNIGHT FIRES 61
11. THE GASLIGHT ERA 65
12. "IT'S IN THE NEWS!" 69
73
13. "HONEST ABE" BEFORE AND AFTER 76
14. THE GREAT BARNUM
15. "READIN', 'RITIN', AND 'RITHMETIC" 83
16. "ALL ABOARD!" 89
17. "NUMBER PLEASE!" 96
18. BLIZZARD OF 1888 101
19. THE GAY NINETIES 103
20. WRECK OF THE FEDERAL EXPRESS 109
21. "C'EST LA GUERRE!" 119
22. IN THE SPOTLIGHT 125
23. "BLOW, WHISTLES, BLOW!" 141
111
APPENDICES
BIBLIOGRAPHY 149
INDEX 150
BRIDGEPORT CENTENNIAL COMMITTEES 162
BRIDGEPORT CENTENNIAL EVENTS
166
1836 THE
STORY
OF
BRIDGEPORT
1936
ILLUSTRATIONS
.PAGE
Isaac Sherman, Sr.
15
Isaac Sherman, Jr. 16
"Left Well In Mid Street" 35
Five Churches In A Row 43
Harbor in 1837 45
The "Midnight Express"
55
Map of Bridgeport in 1824
56 and 57
Railroad Depot in 1897
58
Great Fire of 1845
61
First Banking Institution 71
Wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb 78
Phineas Taylor Barnum 80
Burroughs Building in 1876
88
"Bridgeport's Floating Palace"
90
Early Harbor Light 98
"What Name Do You Wish, Please?"
"Drifts Twelve Feet High!" 101 Bridgeport In The Gay Nineties 103
Streamlined Model, 1902 105
"Rooms $3 And Up" 107
Collapsible Bathtub 108
"Twelve Were Killed" 110
Maude Adams and John Drew 119
Buffalo Bill
120
"A Perfect Scream" 120
Floradora Sextet 123
"Any Style To Order" 126
"Choice Havanas" 128
"Financial District" in 1890 129
Bricks, Coal and Wood 133
Bridgeport Harbor in 1936
134
Map of Modern Bridgeport. . 136 and 137
92
1836 THE
STORY
OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
VER
DIVISION STREET
JESS
BENTON
JUST ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
CHAPTER ONE
U NCERTAIN clouds hung over Bridgeport the morning of October 3, 1836. Little gusts of wind swept papers and refuse into eddies which circled up and down Main Street and then danced off down the muddy lane to Welles Tongue.
Isaac Sherman, Jr. paused a moment outside the substantial little dwelling which represented the family's homestead on the northeast corner of Divi- sion and Beaver Streets .* He sighed as he looked up and down the road, made a veritable pigsty of mud by the recent heavy rains. Must he walk through that? There was the gravel sidewalk, of course, but only in front of his own home. No one else seemed to bother. He decided to try State Street.
It was cold and blustery. Weather didn't look any too hopeful for Bridgeport's first official day as a city. Still, you never could tell.
Drat that wind! He clapped his tall silk beaver back on his head, pushed the thick cropped locks be-
hind his ears and straightened his black satin four- in-hand. Hardly weather for walking! The mud spattered his peg'd kipskin boots and his new tight cuffed trousers of boughten cloth. The wind wrapped the long skirts of his coat about his legs.
Young Sherman stopped for a moment and pulled out his watch. Plenty of time before the city meet- ing opened; he needn't hurry. He hadn't thought it necessary to put in an appearance at the saddlery shop today. True, he might have squeezed in a couple of hours' work, then home again to change his clothes. It wasn't worth it. He was a good-looking young man of 36 or so, one might say, rather modest, but not unmindful of the fact that he looked well in his clothes.
Nine o'clock A.M. they said the meeting would be in the highschool house on State Street. It was called "highschool house", not because it was a high school, but because the building was a school house and was
*Park and Fairfield Aves.
[11 ]
1936
1836 THE STORY F BRIDGEPORT
quite high for the times. It stood about where 200 State Street now is.
He musn't be late, because the meeting was important. It was the first under the new charter granted by the Connecticut legislature the previous May and marked the beginning of Bridge- port's career as a real city. JB. The young man circuited a field, stepped cautiously across an open sewer drain. He wrinkled his nose. The drain could stand clean- ing out. Some townspeople were rather lax, unless prodded continually.
MORE MUD
State Street-and he turned east. Mud wasn't quite so bad here. Folks seemed a little more progres- sive. Some of the foot paths beneath the trees were graveled. One didn't have to pick one's way so care- fully.
The old town looked pretty good in spite of the gray day. It certainly was growing up. Far down State Street toward Main the houses and shops were close together. Through the red and gold autumn leaves he could see the gleaming white sides of the houses and the swinging signs of the shops out in front.
Lower State Street wasn't so thickly populated, al- though already there were five houses on the north side of State Street between Division and Courtland Streets and two on the south.
Now, there on the corner was a good looking house, if there ever was one, with its white pine clap- boards and sloping roof and its ell of weather board- ing. And surely style was not to be denied in its great brass knocker and ornate carved doorway. And there was the Marsh house, for sale now, good-look- ing in its way, though some did not like the tin roof of which the old gentleman was so proud.
Ahead of him he could see the townsfolk gathering. Must be getting late. He quickened his step, remem- bering his mission. Today was the debut of Bridge- port as a city.
Proud of it? Certainly, and why not? Was not there reason to boast of advantages such as Bridge- port had to offer?
Most three hundred houses, several score stores, five churches, two bridges, three or four turnpikes, three fire companies, a night watch, wharves equal to any along the coast, packets (small, pointed sail- boats) galore, a daily steamship between Bridgeport and New York, the best of military schools and young ladies' seminaries, two newspapers, two banks, a post- office, thriving industries in saddlery, carriage and coffin making, a "tol'able" hotel or two, and four thousand souls.
WATER PIPES OF WOOD
Also real water pipes of hollowed logs, which car- ried water from the wells on Golden hill down to the shore line, there to end in a resplendent "publik water trough" for the use of visiting sailors.
There were improvements which could be made. He made mental note of them as he went along. The problem of fires,-something must be done about them at once, they spread so; then there were the sidewalks, badly in need of fresh gravel; and the streets in the center of the city, jammed with gigs and wagons and carts-piles of rubbish-two or three dis- carded chaises-why should citizens be allowed to obstruct traffic in such manner?
Then, there were the cows, which had an un- seemly habit of wandering from their own green pastures to see the sights downtown, and mayhap to squat by the road and chew cud for a while-not to speak of stray horses which were a plague in them- selves, and geese and goats which were always win- dow shopping.
Well, those were things which might be taken up one by one as the city matters were straightened out. Much talk there was, too, about the new railroad, the Ousatonik or the Housatonick, whichever way you chose to spell it, which was to run clear across the state and perhaps end in Bridgeport, that is, if Bridgeport could offer sufficient capital for the terminus.
One hundred thousand dollars was needed, young Bishop said, or Bridgeport would get no terminus. The railroad would end somewhere else, Danbury perhaps. And who had that much money?
There were those who whispered the main reason for incorporating Bridgeport into a city was so that the city might have the power to borrow money and get itself a railroad terminus.
Well, what of it? Cities have been incorporated on far less excuse, young Sherman thought.
[ 12 ]
1836 THE
STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
Two or three of the townspeople hailed him. Would he please hurry? The meeting was being called. It was nine o'clock. Time to go in and start the serious business of running old Bridgeport as a city now!
There was much confusion inside the school house and it was not until ten minutes to ten that the meet- ing was called to order. After a formal cpening, a short recess was announced and the citizens were called upon to bring in their ballots for city clerk.
After counting the votes, Ira Sherman was found to be clerk, whereupon he took the oath prescribed by the charter and stood ready to commence his duties.
Citizens were then called on to bring in ballots for all other city officers. Polls closed at four in the afternoon and on counting the votes it was found that the following were named as the first officers for the new city of Bridgeport:
Mayor, Isaac Sherman, Jr., Esq .; city clerk, Ira Sherman; first alderman, Charles Bostwick, Esq .; second alderman, Enoch Foote, Esq .; third alderman, Ira Peck, Esq .; fourth alderman, Stephen Lounds- bury, and common councilmen: Charles B. Hubbell, Edwin Porter, James Allen, Titus C. Mather, Seth B. Jones, Abijah Hawley, Joel Thorpe, George Robbins, David P. Minnot, Stiles M. Middlebrooks, Stephen Tomlinson, David Hubbell, 3rd, Daniel Hatch, Jr., Joseph Mott, Charles Hill, Richard Hyde, James Betts, Sylvanus Sterling, Roswell S. Nichols, Eliada Baldwin; treasurer, Joseph Thompson; sheriff, Samuel Hodges; sheriff, John L. Fitch.
Before the meeting closed, it was voted that the first gathering of the court of common council should be held in the highschool house on Wednesday, October 5, at 7 P.M.
What transpired at this and later meetings of the council, during which the problem of Bridgeport's fire fighters and the innocent by-stander assumed momentous proportions will be reserved for a later chapter, when a discussion of the serious business of Bridgeport's early city meetings will be resumed.
It had taken a long time to count the election votes and it was not until half past ten at night that the tally was finally made and the winners of the election declared.
By that time the school house was jammed to the doors and, outside, men and women crowded the streets craning their necks to get a glimpse of the new officers, as they came out, and to reach forward to shake their hands in congratulations.
Many there were who tried to grasp the hand of the new mayor, especially the maidens. There was the young Miss Hartbury, for instance, who some thought was quite bold (even if it was leap year), with her saucy black curls parted beneath a berib- boned poke bonnet. She wore her new embroidered cambric with the wide sleeves and festooned skirt, a great belt and buckle drawing the same close about her diminutive waist, a fashion they do say, as came right out of "Godey's Lady's Book", though much good it did her as it could scarce be seen in the dim light of the street's whale oil lamps. She it was who so far forgot her manners as to shake hands with her gloves on, though it might have been a bit of conceit on her part, being possessed of a newly arrived pair of horseskin gloves.
The mayor stood outside the school house for some time chatting with his people. The wind had dropped, the air was softer and more pleasant. The last quarter moon slithered from behind the clouds and rode a patch of clear sky-a good ending for Bridgeport's first official day as a city.
[13 ]
1836 THE STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
RTESSI . DENTON .
ISAAC THE SECOND
CHAPTER TWO
T HE records of two Isaac Shermans left their im- prints on the finely trod paths of time through the close script records of the young city of Bridge- port.
One was the first mayor. Both lived in Bridgeport in 1836
Both tock active part in city affairs.
One was known as Isaac Sherman, Sen., (the old spelling for senior) and the other as Isaac Sherman, Jr., yet they were not father and son.
One died in his prime, bankrupt.
The other lived to a ripe old age and left a goodly estate to his wife and descendants.
Headstones for both may be found in the Moun- tain Grove Cemetery in this city, but beneath the one stone is no body, for its owner did not die in Bridge- port.
But which was which? Who was mayor? Some of the histories are so confusing on this point that it is necessary to stop and trace the lives of both Isaacs, in order to get the facts firmly in mind. One of the histories even adds to the confusion by electing Isaac Sherman, Sen., as first mayor on one page, and Isaac Sherman, Jr., as first mayor on another page.
This is the story :
STORY OF ISAAC, SENIOR
Isaac Sherman (The First) sometimes referred to as Isaac Sherman, Sen., and sometimes just as Isaac Sherman, Esq., was born in Bridgeport, September 25, 1788. His parents were Rebecca French Sher- man and David Sherman.
When a lad of sixteen, Isaac, Sen., went to sea. He followed this career for four years and was ship-
[ 14 ]
1836 THE
STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
wrecked twice on the New Jersey coast. Upon his return to Bridgeport he decided that he would like to go into business. He had saved $95.00. To this, his mother added $5.00, making an even hundred. From his uncle, Dr. James E. Beach, one of Bridge- port's first physicians, the boy borrowed $900 and with a total capital of $1,000 formed the firm of Beach & Sherman, dry goods merchants. The firm later took in another partner, Capt. Sterling Sher- man, brother to Isaac Sherman, Sen. The business continued thusly for six years.
In 1810, Isaac Sherman, Sen., married Maria Burroughs and they lived on the northeast corner of Main and Gold Streets for 53 years.
In 1815, we find that Isaac Sherman, Sen., had joined his father-in-law, Stephen Burroughs, Jr., in the grocery and grain business with ports in Boston and New York. He continued with the firm Burroughs and Sherman until 1831.
In 1832, Isaac Sherman, Sen., retired from com- mercial life to live on the fruits of his labor. Mean- while, he had been taking an active part in city affairs. He had already been a justice of the peace for a good many years and continued in this office 1819 to 1851.
He became town clerk in 1832 and by successive elections was renamed town clerk until 1848. He was also town treasurer for 22 years. Later he held the office of judge of probate and was, in addition, recorder for the city. He appears to have held several different positions at the same time. As one historian said, "He served the city in two or three offices for a short time but declined further responsibility in its government".
As though this were not enough he busied himself getting pensions for the widows and orphans of the Revolutionary War. He was an indefatigable work- er in the First Congregational Church, being deacon from 1830 to 1858. He was also treasurer and clerk of the church.
Death drew the curtain on the life of this man, highly respected and beloved in his community, November 23, 1863. His wife lived on for five more years dying September 21, 1868. "Chronic gastritis" was given as the cause of Isaac Sherman's (senior) death.
When the will of Isaac Sherman, Sen., was pro- bated, it was discovered that he had left an estate of
ISAAC SHERMAN, SR.
$11,665.36, a goodly estate for those times. He left deposits in the Bridgeport Savings Bank and in the New Haven Savings Bank; twenty shares of stock in the Merchants Bank in New York; Bridgeport city bonds, household furniture, wearing apparel, and books, and several houses and lots, the latter includ- ing "one half of east half of house, corner of Gold and Bridge Sts."; also "house and lot north side of Gold St."; also "lot and mud flats on Bridge St."
STORY OF ISAAC, JUNIOR
And what of Isaac Sherman, Jr .? This Isaac (the second) was born in November, 1800, the son of Captain Sterling Sherman and Anna Kirtland Sher- man. His father's home stood on the northeast corner of Fairfield and North Aves.
Why was the boy called Isaac Sherman, Jr., when his father's name was Sterling? Look back and you will note that Sterling Sherman was brother to Isaac Sherman, Sen. The latter then, was uncle to Isaac Sherman, Jr.
Historian Orcutt clears up the mystery somewhat by a footnote in his genealogical records to the effect that Isaac was "called Isaac, Jr., in comparison with his Uncle Isaac."
It is supposed that because the two Isaacs lived and worked in Bridgeport side by side, resided within a
[15 ]
1836 THE STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
ISAAC SHERMAN, JR.
few streets of each other, and were active in city affairs at the same time, that the townspeople called them senior and junior to avoid confusion.
So much for the relationship.
Isaac, Jr. did not follow in the footsteps of either his father or his uncle and go to sea. Instead he en- tered the saddlery trade, an up and coming business of the times.
Isaac and his brother Levi worked together in Bridgeport. They were apprentices to Smith and Wright, saddlers, and finished up with Fairchild, Lyon and Co., after the removal of the former firm to Newark, N. J. in 1821.
The two brothers had their own saddlery business here in 1826, located on the east side of Water Street, upstairs, about where 400 State Street is now placed.
They had a branch in Columbia, South Carolina. Silvanus Sterling went out and assisted them in the early years of the business. Levi Sherman continued in charge of the branch until 1840. At that time his health failed and he went out to St. Louis. There he died "of dropsy" in January, 1852, according to the St. Louis vital statistics, at the age of 44. This age does not agree with that given on his tombstone, which states that he died at the age of 48. However, records in those times were rather poorly kept, so the discrepancy is not unusual.
In 1836, Isaac Sherman, Jr. was elected first mayor of Bridgeport. Curiously enough, his uncle, Isaac Sherman, Sen., presided at the very meeting which named Isaac, Jr. as mayor. Isaac, Senior, presided because he was the oldest justice of the peace present.
Orcutt gives a facsimile of the "swearing in" of Isaac, Jr., as follows :
"I hereby certify that Isaac Sherman, Jr., appeared before me (?) on the 3 day of October, 1836 and took the oath required by the charter of the city of Bridgeport, to qualify him to act as mayor of said city."
Bridgeport October 5, 1836 Justice of Peace
Isaac Sherman
Isaac, Jr. served just the one year as mayor. Inci- dentally, he was the first judge of the city of Bridge- port as well as the first mayor. He continued his saddlery business during the time he served the city, but in 1837 "he became embarrassed by outside oper- ations and the factory here was given up."
We find that Isaac, Jr. was still in the city in 1841, for in that year he was named postmaster. (April 12, 1841.) In 1845, however, he was furnished with a stock of saddlery goods for the St. Louis, Missouri market, by Harral Calhoun. Forthwith he went to St. Louis. The experiment was so satisfactory that the next year, a co partnership was formed under the name of Harrall, Sherman and Co., St. Louis, Mo., for the sale of such eastern saddlery goods as might be warranted.
CHOLERA BREAKS OUT
In 1848 cholera broke out in St. Louis. It left be- hind a trail of dead and dying and wrote the last chapter in the life of Isaac Sherman, Jr., first mayor of Bridgeport.
This was not the first appearance of cholera in the United States. It first entered this country in 1832, in which year it was brought on immigrant ships from Great Britain to Quebec. The disease traveled along the lines of traffic up the Great Lakes and finally reached as far west as the military posts of the upper Mississippi. In the same year it also entered the United States via New York.
There was a recurrence of the disease in 1835 and '36 and again in 1848, being brought in through New Orleans and spreading widely up the Mississippi valley and across the continent to California.
[16]
1936
1836 THE STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
In 1849 cholera made another attack upon the United States and returned again in 1854.
Bridgeport suffered isolated cases of cholera, an old Black Rock diary noting that:
"July 19, 1832. Fast recommended on a/c of cholera.
"Aug. 1. Died Major Samuel Beers, cholera. 600 die in New York in a week for several weeks from cholera.
"Aug. 20. Died at Bridgeport, Sterling Sherman cholera (sick 8 hours only).
"Aug. 26. Died in Black Rock-Peter J. Kennedy (cholera). It turned to a fever-he was sick a week-buried in the night. His wife that at- tended him, died of the same disease the next day. She was taken at 2 o'clock in the night and lived 14 hours. . Deaths by cholera in New York from its commencement to Sept. 1st, 3000."
Note that the old diary above states that one "Sterling Sherman" died at Bridgeport of the cholera. The name of Isaac Sherman's (junior) father was Sterling Sherman. Might they have not been the same? Would it not be an odd fate that would strike down both a father and a son with the same disease, cholera, the one in Bridgeport in 1832 and the other in Freeport, Illinois in 1849?
If Sterling Sherman, father of Isaac, Jr. died in 1832, he had passed away before the young Isaac left Bridgeport. The Mountain Grove Cemetery records state that a Sterling Sherman died August 20, 1832 at the age of 56 years. His widow lived for many years after, for her name is recorded in city direct- ories 30 years later.
THE ST. LOUIS HORROR
Cholera is propagated chiefly by contaminated water. Since the most common rules of sanitation were practically unknown in the early 19th century, it is not surprising that when the disease took hold of a town, it spread like wildfire.
The epidemic of 1848 laid low the city of St. Louis. People fled like rats. Husbands ran in terror from their sickening wives; mothers deserted their plague ridden babies. Those who remained behind to nurse their loved ones through their writhing pain, to quiet them when they screamed for water, to watch with horror as the features shriveled, the skin grew ashy gray; the eyeballs sunk in their sockets and the husky voice changed to a death rattle-these ever faithfuls
contracted the disease themselves and died faster than they could be buried.
Small wonder then that Isaac Sherman, Jr. made a beeline for Bridgeport when cholera trapped St. Louis. He dropped everything, left his worldly goods behind and took a boat on the Illinois River up through the state of Illinois. Isaac, Jr. fled north, presumably to escape the pestilence area. But the fates were against him. He only got as far as Free- port, Illinois, when cholera overtook him and he sickened and died in that city.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.