USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 8
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
Aside from his active professional work he has written many articles on dental hygiene and is doing wonderful things in connection with the schools of Bridgeport in instructing the young as to the care and preservation of the teeth. For many years he has been an advocate of trained dental nurses or hygienists and established a training school in connection with his office, in which he is training thirty dental hygienists at the present time. He has turned his garage into a lecture room, in which he. with the aid of many prominent educators, has given instruction to three classes of these hygienists. The room is equipped with everything to facilitate such a course. His office building is constructed of Fisk tapestry brick of twelve different shades and trimmed with white marble. It has a large reception room with tile floor, commodious offices and rest rooms. A beautiful stairway built of Italian marble leads to the second floor and the side walls are of American hazel. On the second floor are four operating rooms and there are two prophylactic rooms, used by dental hygienists. There is also a fine, well equipped laboratory and an X-ray room, and in connection with these there is a lunch room, enabling the hygienists to have their noon meal there. The lighting, ventilating and heating arrangements are of the best and there is perhaps no more complete or better equipped dental office in the country. He is insistent in advocating the sanitation of the teeth and mouth and for many years has been advocating the establishment of a system of preventative clinics in the public schools, believing that if the proper care and instruction in dental hygiene were given to the children in the schools, diseases of the mouth would be greatly reduced, resulting in a healthier race of people in a few years. Dr. Fones has hut recently completed the preparation of seven thousand feet of films for moving pictures to be used for educational purposes, showing the work in the schools. His heart and soul are in this work and his broad study enables him to speak with authority and with the force of leadership. He is chairman of the committee appointed by the Bridgeport Board of Health, having charge of the dental work in the public schools, and holds classes three nights a week. He is a member of both the Northeastern and the National Dental Associations and of the latter was chairman of the committee on oral hygiene. He is also a member of the Bridgeport Dental Society, and ex-member of the State Dental Commission and ex-president of the Connecticut State Dental Association. Moreover, he is a member of the board of education and is a member of the committee that is drafting a new city charter. He has membership in the Brooklawn Country Club, but has little time for its activities, so great are the demands made upon him professionally. . The consciousness of splendid work done, however, is certainly his and the beneficial results of his labors are immeasurable.
IION. CLIFFORD B. WILSON.
Many tangible evidences of his intense publie spirit and devotion to the general good may be cited concerning Clifford B. Wilson, mayor of Bridgeport and lieutenant governor of Connectient. In fact there are few interests of public concern in recent years with which he has not been associated, his influence always being given on the side of progress, reform and improvement. His life record stands in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet
79
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
is not without honor save in his own country, for Mr. Wilson is a native son of Bridgeport, born December 2, 1879. Ifis father, James A. Wilson, was born in Fairfield county, where the family has been represented for two hundred and fifty years, the American progenitor having come to the new world early in the seventeenth century. James A. Wilson devoted his attention and energies to the profession of teaching for a considerable period and after- ward became an attorney. He died in 1897, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary E. Wordin and belonged to an early Connecticut family, survived until 1915.
Spending his youthful days under the parental roof, Clifford B. Wilson was educated in the schools of Bridgeport and. following in his father's footsteps, prepared for the bar, his knowledge of the law constituting a valuable asset in his able administration of affairs of city and state. He entered polities as an active factor when elected alderman from the fifth district. He served from 1907 until 1909 as a member of the council and was president of the board and acting mayor in 1908 and 1909. He made an excellent record in the city council and was afterward chosen by the judges of the supreme and superior courts for the office of coroner of Fairfield county, which office he resigned January 1, 1912. Again he made an excellent record and the ability and fidelity which he displayed caused him to be con- sidered for further political duties and honors. In 1911 he was made the republican candi- date for mayor of Bridgeport and was chosen to that office, to which he was reelected in 1913 and in 1915, so that he is now serving for the third term, his administration being characterized by much that is conducive to municipal welfare and high civic standards.
He has been instrumental in bringing about many improvements in public buildings and during his administration the new high school building has been erected and new bridges built on Stratford avenue, East Washington avenue and Grand street. New fire and police stations have been built and the manual system of fire alarms introduced. He has brought about improvements in both the police and fire forces and has replaced horses with motor driven apparatus in the fire department. There is no phase of the city's needs which has not commanded his close attention, thorough investigation and efficient effort for improvement. He has placed the board of health and the board of charities on an efficient working basis. A new welfare building is being erceted and clinics for the benefit of the public are being established. A new almshouse has also been built and he has given much thought and con- sideration to the improvement of streets, resulting in the extension and broadening of the thoroughfares for the purpose of relieving congested centers. The rapid development of the city, owing to the establishment of many factories here, has led to a growth in the city's population that could not have been anticipated, and while work of caring for the increase has been steadily carried forward, Mr. Wilson recognized the necessity for further strenuous effort to meet existing conditions and is doing much to make adequate the public health service and the transportation and housing facilities. Every branch of the public service has had increased duties and responsibilities, owing to Bridgeport's rapid growth, and the city has realized that at its head there must be a man of practical business qualifi- cations, who while working to meet the exigencies of the hour, must plan also for the future. Another tangible evidence of Mr. Wilson's close study of the situation has been the providing of conveyors whereby the sewage of the city will be treated before being dis- charged into the Sound, thereby preventing the pollution of the water. He was a member of the committee which drafted the building code for Bridgeport and it was adopted after be became mayor. In politics he has always been a republican but has ever made partisanship subservient to the public good and placed the general welfare before personal aggrandize- ment. His splendid service as mayor of Bridgeport brought him before the publie and in 1914 he was nominated by his party for the office of lieutenant governor, to which position he was elected in 1914 and again in 1916, so that he is now the second executive of the state.
In Milford, Connecticut, on the 10th of November, 1914, Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Anastasia C. Dorsey, of Hartford, Connecticut. He is a Mason of high rank, belonging to the Knight Templar commandery and to the Scottish Rite consistory and also to the Mystic
80
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
Shrine. Moreover, he is a past grand of Peqnonnock Lodge, No. 4, I. O. O. F., and a past chief patriarch of Stratfield Encampment, No. 23. He likewise has membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Sons of Veterans and the Germania Society and in club circles he is well known as a representative of the Bridgeport and Algonquin Clubs. He enlisted in Company B. Third Infantry, Connecticut National Guard in Angust, 1904, and became in turn corporal, sergeant. second and first lieutenant, and captain. He was captain when the regiment was made the Coast Artillery Corps and Company B became the Fonrth Company of said corps. He was placed upon the retired list of officers of the guard at his reqnest in 1908 as captain, was appointed chairman of the board of recruiting officers for the Home Guard and appointed colonel of the Fairfield county regiment of the same. His public record has covered an extended period, and among those in public service none have been more faultless in honor, fearless in condnet and stainless in reputation.
WILLIAM E. BURNHAM.
William E. Burnham, identified with many corporate interests which have had much to do with shaping the industrial development not only of his city but also of his state, figuring likewise in other business connections and as a factor in the public life of the community, comes of a family that has been identified with the state from the earliest period of Connecticut's colonization. The ancestral line is traced back to Thomas Burnham, who came from England among the early Puritans, settling in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1635. Edward Goodwin Burnham, father of William E. Burnham, was the founder of the Eaton, Cole & Burnham Company, of which he became the vice president, the other officers being: John Eaton, president; E. H. Cole, treasurer; J. C. Bloom, assistant treasurer; and W. H. Douglas, secretary. It was in 1860 that Edward G. Burnham removed from Massachusetts to Bridgeport. He learned his trade at a time when metals and fuel for melting had to be earted by horse from the sea coast. Not long after his arrival here he began the manu- facture of brass and iron valves, eocks and goods for use for steam, water and gas. Under his guidance the business grew and developed and in 1876 a company was organized and Mr. Burnham joined forces with Eaton & Cole, a firm engaged in the same line. The business was capitalized for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. They secured increased facilities for manufacturing, the works were enlarged and the variety of the products increased and thus was instituted the important and growing business of which William E. Burnham is the head. His father remained in active connection with the enterprise for a long period and was the moving spirit in its growth and development. He was also prominent in the public life of the community and served as a member of the Bridgeport board of publie works and also as a member of the state senate.
William E. Burnham was but four years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Bridgeport, so that he began his education in the public schools here and supple- mented his early training by two years' study in Seabury Institute at Saybrook, after which he spent six years in a private school at Bridgeport. He then entered his father's brass and iron works in order to acquaint himself with the business in every phase and detail. He began as handy man at the machine shop, and advancing step by step, thoroughly acquainted himself with every branch of the business, not only in the processes of manufacture but in the control of the sales and all that had to do with placing the product upon the market and the careful management of its financial interests. He served at different times in the offices of the company, becoming vice president, assistant treasurer and manager. Ilis efforts were followed by the rapid growth of the business, which became one of the largest and best known brass and iron industries of Conneetient. In 1905 his father and he disposed of their interests to Chicago parties and retired from active connection therewith. In the meantime the business had developed until there were more
WILLIAM E. BURNHAM
83
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
than fifteen hundred employes, demanding from time to time larger quarters and increased facilities. After severing his connection with the old firm Mr. Burnham was elected to the presidency of the Pacific Iron Works, also became treasurer of the Thomas Phillips Company and a director of the Bridgeport Crucible Company, while of the Connecticut National Bank he was chosen a director. Thus his business connections have extended into a broad field and have constituted important elements in the substantial business growth of the city.
On the 10th of December, 1884, Mr. Burnham was united in marriage to Miss Hattie J. Kiefer and they reside on Fairfield avenue in Bridgeport, occupying one of the city's beautiful homes. In religious faith Mr. Burnham is an Episcopalian and he is interested in many forces which work for individual betterment and community upbuilding. He is a director of the Bridgeport Hospital and he is also a director of the Boys Club of Bridgeport and of the Bridgeport public library. In politics he is a loyal republican but has never been an office seeker. In 1908, however, he was a delegate to the republican national conven- tion and was chosen one of the republican presidential electors for Connecticut. In 1897 he was made park commissioner of Bridgeport and served for seven years. There is no phase of the city's development in which he has not been interested and on many occasions has been a leader in those movements which have brought about good results. He is a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and he also belongs to Pyramid Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He likewise has membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and in club circles his membership extends to the Algonquin Club, the Brooklawn Country Club, the Seaside Club and the Bridgeport Yacht Club, to the Union League Club of New Haven, the New York Yacht Club and the Uahnundasis Country Club, of Utica, New York. He is a devotee of outdoor sports and is an active supporter of movements which have come about through a recognition of the fact that an even balance is maintained only when one cannot only work well but also play well.
ANKER S. LYHNE.
Arriving in America when a youth of thirteen years, Anker S. Lyhne has since utilized every available opportunity for advancement and in his business career has displayed not only enterprise and progressiveness but also the spirit of initiative, so that he has now reached a creditable position in industrial circles as president of the Bridgeport Metal Goods Manufacturing Company. He was born in Denmark, December 3, 1865, a son of Jens P. and Juliana (Berg) Lyhne. The father died in Denmark, after which the mother came to the United States but is now deceased.
It was in 1879 that Anker S. Lyhne crossed the Atlantic, after which he attended school for two years in Brooklyn, New York. On the expiration of that period he went to New Haven, Connecticut, and for a decade was with Sargent & Company, having charge of the cost and estimating department. He was the first man in New England to promote a real department of that character, thus instituting a feature of business which has since become a department of practically all great manufacturing and industrial concerns. Leaving Sargent & Company, he became superintendent of the New Britain Hardware Manufacturing Company, with which he was associated for ten years, and in 1901 he went to the Bridgeport Brass Company as assistant superintendent, also having charge of their estimating depart- ment. His connection with that corporation was maintained until 1909, when he organized the Bridgeport Metal Goods Manufacturing Company, then at 35 Spruce street. He has been president since the organization of the company and the business has steadily developed owing to his careful management and executive control. In 1916 the growth of the trade justified the erection of a new factory on Cherry street, to which the business was removed Vol. 11-4
84
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
in 1917. The main building is three hundred and twenty by sixty feet, is four stories in height, is of mill construction and is equipped with a sprinkler system. The plant also includes a boiler house sixty by seventy-five feet. The company manufactures a large variety of metal goods made from sheet, rod, wire and casting, and they take large contracts from other firms. This company also owns the business conducted under the name of the Usona Manufacturing Company at No. 1 Hudson street, New York, with branches in Toledo, Ohio, and San Francisco, California. They manufacture a line of flash lights which is one of the best and most complete lines on the market. Mr. Lyhne possesses marked inventive genius as well as mechanical skill and ingenuity and his study and experiment work have resulted in the production of many valuable deviees. In faet he has taken out several hundred patents. In the company's tool room are found from forty to fifty tool makers, highly skilled. The output of the factory is now marketed all over the world and the name of the Bridgeport Metal Goods Manufacturing Company has become the synonym of standard quality. The company has its own plating and finishing department, which is one of the most complete in existence. There are six hundred employes, most of whom are skilled workmen, and the business amounts to two million dollars annually. In addition to the space already occupied, there is a traet of two and one-half acres owned by the company ready for additional buildings. They also operate another factory known as the Hotchkiss factory. The growth of the business has been most gratifying. Within eight years it has assumed mammoth proportions, becoming one of the large and important industrial enterprises of Bridgeport.
On the 1st of October, 1890, Mr. Lyhne was married to Miss Alice E. Stoneman, of New Haven, and they became parents of four children: William S., who is in business with his father; Richmond W., now residing in California; Helene J., at home; and Florence E., who was a twin sister of Helene but is now deceased.
In polities Mr. Lyhne maintains an independent course, voting according to the existing conditions, supporting the men whom he thinks will best serve the publie interests. Fra- ternally he is connected with the Masons and has attained the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite and the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is also a member of the Mystie Shrine and he is a past eminent commander of Hamilton Commandery, No. 5. He belongs as well to the Algonquin Club and he and his family attend the Congregational church. They occupy an enviable social position, having an extensive circle of friends in Bridgeport. The life record of Mr. Lyhne is one which deserves high endorsement and commendation. Starting out in the business world empty handed when a youth in his teens, he has advaneed steadily step by step and his orderly progression has brought him into prominent industrial relations.
WILLIAM R. WEBSTER.
William R. Webster is not only widely known as one of the executive officers of the Bridgeport Brass Company, but has long heen regarded as an authority upon many questions relative to the use and properties of metals. His broad study and wide experience have enabled him to speak with authority along those lines and his opinions are accepted as standard. Mr. Webster is a native of Oyster Bay, Long Island, his birth having there occurred on the 30th of April, 1868, his parents being William R. and Helen (Stephenson) Webster, the former a retired capitalist.
After acquiring a publie school education William R. Webster attended the Betts Academy at Stamford, Connecticut, and the Norwich Free Academy and in 1890 was graduated from Cornell University with the degree of Mechanical Engineer. His early business experi- ence eame to him through two years' connection with Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Com-
85
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
pany of New York and he afterward spent a year with the Aluminum Brass & Bronze Company of Bridgeport. During these periods he was gaining added knowledge, experience and efficiency which led to his appointment as superintendent of the Bridgeport Copper Company, in which capacity he served for four years. In 1897 he entered the employ of the Bridgeport Brass Company in the position of foreman of the rolling mill and afterward was made superintendent of the raw material department. In time he was advanced to the position of general superintendent, followed by his election to the second vice presidency, while in 1914 he became vice president of the business and is now the second executive officer in an enterprise that furnishes employment to more than three thousand workmen, while its plant covers several blocks and shows the latest equipment for brass manufacturing. The company not only manufactures seamless tubing, sheet brass, rods and wires, but also all kinds of metal specialties, and its output is shipped to every part of the world. Mr. Webster is also a director of the Bridgeport Trust Company.
In 1892 Mr. Webster was united in marriage to Miss Susan W. Hinckley, of Norwich, Connecticut, and their children are: Eleanor, and William R., Jr., born January 16, 1905. The parents are members of St. John's Episcopal church and Mr. Webster is well known as a supporter of the republican party. He is prominent in club circles, being an ex-president and member of the University Club, and of the Contemporary Club and a member of the Brooklawn Club. He also belongs to the Engineers Club of New York, to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Auto Engineers, the American Society for Testing Materials and the American Institute of Metals, of which he has served both as vice president and president. He belongs also to the Institute of Metals of Great Britain and is an associate member of the American Society of Naval Engineers. He has written authoritative papers on metal subjects which have been regarded as most valuable contribu- tions to scientific literature. In the midst of the stress of interests of far-reaching importance he has found time to devote to local interests and is a member of the Bridgeport board of education.
WALTER H. KNIGHT.
Walter H. Knight, president of the Bridgeport Projectile Company, has throughout his business eareer displayed those qualities of resolution, determination and persisteney of purpose which lead to success, and the tangible result of his developing powers, his inde- fatigable energy and his laudable ambition, is seen in the plant of the Bridgeport Projectile Company, which was incorporated on the 1st of April, 1915. Mr. Knight is a native of Ohio. He was born in 1858 and after acquiring a public school education in that state attended the Cincinnati University. His entrance into business life was made in connection with the General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York, which gave him charge of the railroad department, and there he remained for six years. Later he became consulting engineer in the Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New York and also with the Long Island Railway Company, and subsequently took the presidency of the Bridgeport Projectile Company, which has as its officers: George W. Hoadley, of New York, chairman of the board: Mr. Knight as president; Archibald MacNeil, Jr., of Bridgeport, as vice president; Carl Heynen, of New York, as treasurer: and A. D. Tappen, of New York, as secretary. The plant on Union avenue covers seven acres and was established at a cost of two million dollars, including forge buildings which are of steel, brick and glass construction and machine shops of steel, brick and wood. There are four different buildings, the forge shop, the power house, the machine shop and the gun plant. The buildings are equipped with the sprinkler system and altogether this is one of the most modern factories in Bridgeport, covering two hundred and sixty thousand square feet of floor space. They generate their own electricity
86
BRIDGEPORT AND VICINITY
and the machines are driven by two thousand five hundred horse power turbo-generators. The group system of motors is used with individual motors in the gun works. This is one of the largest establishments in the United States for the manufacture of ordnance supplies and ammunition. They are now building one hundred and forty-six five inch guns for the United States which are being constructed at the cost of one million four hundred thousand dollars. They make guns from one pounders up to six inches in size. They employ from three hundred to five hundred highly skilled machinists and there are no women in the plant beyond the office force. Their specialty is steel shells and guns, and they have on hand contracts with the United States government amounting to over three million dollars. They do no foreign business, being unique in this regard, their manufacture being solely for the United States government, largely in three to six inch shells. The management feels that this country gets the best of everything and prefers to sell their products to their own country rather than to the foreign trade. The plant has a capacity of from five thousand to fifty thousand shells per day, according to size, with the capacity of one three inch gun per day and two five and six inch guns per week. The raw material is brought in by rail, and the plant, with its splendid equipment, takes this material, turning it into the finished product in a comparatively short space of time.
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.