USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Leading business men of Fairfield County : and a historical review of the principal cities > Part 4
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In the last few engagements for the possession of Richmond, and during Lee's hurried retreat to Appomatox, the Bridgeport soldiers were employed in their respective regiments with their usual distinguished valor. The Fourteenth was among the honored corps which closed around the last remnants of Lee's "Grand Army " at Appomatox Court House, and witnessed the surrender.
The men of the gallant Fourteenth were the first veterans to arrive home after the war, on June 9th, 1865, under the lead of Wm. B. Hincks, who had been pro- moted for distinguished services to be major. They were given a reception and welcome which could not have been more royal or hearty in its expression.
The Seventeenth was the next to arrive, having been somewhat delayed by pro- longed service in the extreme South. They came by way of New Haven, private Elias Howe, Jr., stepping forward, as usual in an emergency, and chartering a special train. The enthusiastic welcome given this, Bridgeport's favorite regiment, can only be appreciated by those who gave and received it. The veterans of the Sixth, Seventh, Twelfth and Ninth arrived in rapid succession, and met with the warmest welcome loving and grateful hearts could render. Those who received their own loved ones in safety now began to realize that the dread watching for the end was over, while those who were sadly bereaved endeavored to hide their tears amid the general rejoicing.
The summary of what Bridgeport helped to achieve in the war for the Union can best be appreciated by a comparison of the detailed account of the city's own work here given, with the complete history of the war, showing that there were very few important movements or battles in which its citizens did not take an honorable part.
With no little pride and gratitude does the city remember what her noble sons accomplished at Bull's Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Port Hudson,
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
.444
WASHINGTON PARK, EAST BRIDGEPORT.
Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Charleston Harbor, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, Florida, Petersburg, Five Forks and Appomatox. The record could not be more honorable. Her sons did not so much aspire for high honors as to lay down their lives for liberty and their country. The military record of Brigadier- General William H. Noble, Lieutenant-Colonels Charles Walter and John Speidal, Majors Frederick Frye, William B. Hincks and William L. Hubbell, and of all her soldiers, both commissioned and private, will cast lasting honor on their native city, while the blessed memory of such men as Walter, Hawley, Chatfield, Stevens, Bartlett, and her other martyr sons, will be an incentive to noblest effort as long as Bridgeport continues to exist. As prosperity has come after bitterness and tears, it is most fitting, as well as most inherently valuable to the life of the city itself, to keep the remembrance of what the city owes to her heroes with unfailing love, and to hand down to the children's children this most precious legacy.
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
CHAPTER IV.
SINCE THE WAR.
The sudden revival of business interests which was almost universal throughout the land during the latter years of the war, had considerable effect on Bridgeport. The vast supplies required by the Government for its struggle set businesses which had become depressed going again at an unnatural and unmaintainable rate, beside creating many new industrial houses. The reaction from the moral strain of the war also resulted in a tendency in all the land to extravagance unprecedented in our history. These factors united in making the first decade after the war a time of wild speculation, of ill-based business operations, and of luxurious living, until the bubble was burst by the great panic of '73.
During all this period the cool, clear-minded citizens of Bridgeport, by careful watchfulness succeeded in avoiding the tempting illusions of the time and many of their disastrous effects. The immediate years after the war witnessed a growth, steady but comparatively slow. The tendencies to inflation and abnormal pressure of existing powers were avoided.
Little that is wont to attract the historian's pen has happened in these twenty- two years since the war, yet they are some of the most important in Bridgeport's history. As has been remarked, it is hard to draw an interesting or general summary of such periods of " noiseless revolution," and all that now remains is to give some dim conception of the progress which has been made and the manner of its making.
In the year 1865, Stillman T. Clapp was Mayor; his endeavors to get the city on a good working basis and started again on the old line of progress which had been interrupted by the war, were ably seconded by such citizens as General W. H. Noble, Monson Hawley, P. T. Barnum and Nathaniel Wheeler. All the depart- ments of the city were established on a wider and more efficient basis. The Fire Department in particular received attention for the first time since 1847, R. B. Lacey being one of most earnest and powerful movers in this matter.
The steam fire engines D. H. Sterling No. 1, Protector No. 2, and Excelsior No. 3, the first ever used in Bridgeport were added to the department in '64 and '65. The volunteer system was perfected and a high order of discipline attained. The volunteer fire department was disbanded in 1872, and a regular paid depart- ment established. Charles A. Gerdenier, who had been the able chief fore- man of the " volunteers " since 1869, was now appointed chief-engineer, which office he has held ever since. The various equipments of the department at present, con- sisting of the best kind of engines, carriages, bell-towers, alarms, and houses, are estimated to have cost over $100,000. The whole force numbers sixty-two men, and
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is under the control of a Board of Commissioners consisting of Samuel W. Baldwin, Wm. E. Seeley, Eli Dewhurst and Henry Atwater. The efficiency of this department in the past has been an important element in the prosperity and growth of the city.
The Police Department was also improved at the same time, and has been main- tained at a high standard of efficiency up to the present time. It now consists of about fifty men under the command of its able chief, Captain William E. Marsh.
Another important work which has been carried on is the development and im- provement of the harbor. In 1872, the first dredgings below the Lower Bridge were made, and have since been continued with great success. The harbor, formerly one of the best on the coast, has been made yet more navigable. Where there was five feet of water at low tide before, now, through the excellent engineering work, there is always twelve, allowing all vessels, except those of extraordinary weight, to to enter at any time. The advantages which have accrued commercially through this improvement are very great. The United States engineers are planning to con- struct a channel, twelve feet deep and three hundred wide, from Long Island Sound up to the Lower Bridge, and to extend the break-water 1,380 feet out from the eastern shore. Other improvements are contemplated above the Lower Bridge where the encroachment of new buildings erected out into the stream have created a need of a better channel.
The improvement and growth of East Bridgeport since the war has been one of the most important events in the history of the city. General W. H. Noble, to whom the greatest part of the present East Bridgeport. formerly belonged, and P. T. Barnum saw the natural advantages of the place, and for a decade before the war unitedly effected many important benefits for it. In 1850, General Noble mapped out all the land into streets and building lots as they are at present with a few exceptions. Following up General Noble's idea, Mr. Barnum decided to join in the development of the real estate property. He purchased one-half of the property and promised to advance money if more land were needed for this new district of the city. Washington Park was laid out and ground and money given for the erec- tion of the M. E. Church at its northwest corner. One important step was taken, when these creators of a new town had the foresight to plant along all the streets,. rows of beautiful and majestic trees. Houses, stores and manufactories soon began to spring up in all directions. In 1852, the Center Bridge was built by Messrs. Bar- num and Noble, at a cost of $16,000. It continued to be a toll bridge until pur- chased by the city. Nathaniel Wheeler, William H. Perry, Elias Howe, Jr., J. D. Alvord, Frederick Hurd and other strong business men joined in the movement and soon the financial standing of East Bridgeport was firmly established. The war in- terrupted progress, though no backward steps were taken.
Since the war great additions and improvements have been continually made, so that the growth has been marvellous. More land has been added to the original property, and many of the largest industries in the city or State have settled here, erecting buildings not surpassed in magnitude or value by any in the country. " Old Mill Green," now called Pembroke Green, has been made into a beautiful park of about twenty acres. James W. Beardsley has given a tract of one hundred and fifty acres at the extremity of Noble avenue, to be made into a park by the city on condition that $30,000 be spent upon it within ten years. The sum of $12,000 has already made this a most picturesque and beautiful park, and when completed it
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will have few or no equals in New England. Pembroke Cemetery in East Bridge- port was enlarged and made one of best in the city in 1870. Barnum and Noble avenues, two of the most beautiful in this region, will continue to transmit to a grateful and admiring posterity the remembrance of what these two "fathers " of East Bridgeport have accomplished for it.
Under the wise administration of its leading citizens and as the natural result of the immense expenditure of care and money in internal improvements, the popula- tion of Bridgeport increased from 19,876 in 1870 to 29,153 in 1880. The present decade has witnessed yet more rapid progress. At the present time the population of the city is estimated by the best anthorities to be about 40,000; truly a wonder- ful progress to have been accomplished almost entirely within fifty years.
A few words in reference to some of the chief workers in the development of the city seem pertinent. Hon. P. T. Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut, July 5th, 1810. The persevering genins with which he made his great show one of most re- markable successes in the history of this or any other country and built up a massive fortune, is well known to all, and a matter of national history. In 1848 he took up his residence in Bridgeport, erecting the beautiful villa "Iranistan." Since that time his devotion to and sacrifices for the advancement of our beautiful city have been most generous, and the results will constitute the most lasting of all monuments. The movement for Seaside Park, now one of the most lovely in the State, was first practically inaugurated by his donation of seven, and later of thirty, acres of land. In more ways than can well be recorded he has lent a strong hand in everything tending to build up the city. He has been mayor of Bridgeport, a mem- ber of State Legislature four times, and held the presidency of the Pequonnock Na- tional Bank, besides many other important offices. The remarkable success of his life and the devotion to high moral principle, united to unceasing work, which are the underlying causes of it, furnish a striking parallel to the history of the city which he has so loved and befriended.
General W. H. Noble was born in Newtown, Connecticut, August 13, 1813. He was graduated at Yale College with honors in the Class of 1832. He came to Bridgeport in 1834, for some time was a teacher in his father's academy on Golden Hill, and was admitted to the bar in 1836. The great value of his services in build- ing up East Bridgeport, and his brilliant military record have already been men- tioned. He has held many important offices in the city and State, and has won the esteem and gratitude of all who have experienced the worth of his character and kindness of his life.
In the affairs of her city government Bridgeport has been fortunate in having able men who have been untiring in their efforts for the advancement of her prosper- ity. Among these we may note Daniel H. Sterling, Frederick W. Parrott, Rowland B. Lacey, E. B. Goodsell, Amos S. Treat, and Curtis Thompson, besides many other eminent citizens. To sustain her legislative interests, she has had such men as James C. Loomis, Philo C. Calhoun, Judge L. M. Slade, S. B. Beardsley, Judge D. B. Lock- wood, Colonel J. W. Knowlton, Daniel N. Morgan, Russell Tomlinson, and P. W. Wren. Her interest in, and appreciation of the value of railroads is well demon- stated by the services which her citizens like the Hon. W. D. Bishop, Colonel W. H. Stevenson, Colonel Thos. L. Watson, Alfred Bishop and W. S. Knowlton have rendered them. Among the most honored of all her noble men is Henry S. Sanford,
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
WALDEMERE .- RESIDENCE OF HON. P. T. BARNUM,
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
the originator of the movement which resulted in the formation of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals all over the country, and who had devoted much toil to that work.
The history of Bridgeport is but just begun. Only the few first lines have been written of that epic song which shall continue harmoniously into far distant time. Though her citizens have " not builded better than they knew," the structure, already of great beauty and size, contains elements of almost unlimited expansion, and the future is bright with hope. As long as the spirit and genius of her early sons inspire their descendants, so long will Bridgeport advance, with even greater rapidity than in the past, to a commanding position among the cities of our land.
THE MAYORS OF THE CITY OF BRIDGEPORT.
1836, ISAAC SHERMAN, JR.
1865, STILLMAN S. CLAPP.
1837, DANIEL STERLING.
1866, MONSON HAWLEY.
1838, ALANSON HAMLIN.
1868, JARRATT MORFORD.
1839, CHARLES FOOTE.
1869, MONSON HAWLEY.
1840, CHARLES BOSTWICK.
1870, JARRATT MORFORD.
1841, WM. P. BURRALL.
1871, E. B. GOODSELL.
1843, JAMES C. LOOMIS.
1874, ROBERT T. CLARKE.
1844, HENRY K. HARRAL.
1875, PHINEAS T. BARNUM.
1847, SHERWOOD STERLING.
1876, JARRATT MORFORD.
1849, HENRY K. HARRAL.
-
1878, ROBERT E. DEFOREST.
1851, JOHN BROOKS, JR.
1879, JOHN L. WESSELLS.
1852, HENRY K. HARRAL.
1880, DANIEL N. MORGAN.
1853, CHARLES B. HUBBELL.
1881, JOHN L. WESSELLS.
1854, JOHN BROOKS, JR.
1882, CARLOS CURTIS.
1855, P. C. CALHOUN.
1883, JOHN L. WESSELLS.
1858, SILAS C. BOOTII.
1884, DANIEL N. MORGAN.
1860, D. H. STERLING.
1885, HENRY H. PYLE.
1863, CLAPP SPOONER
1886, CIVILIAN FONES.
1864, JARRATT MORFORD.
1887, CIVILIAN FONES.
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
CHAPTER V.
HISTORY OF COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES IN BRIDGEPORT.
Bridgeport is so essentially and thoroughly a "business" city, that the general history of commerce and manufactures has necessarily been included in the previous sketch of the city's life. Yet a few salient points briefly presented in logical con- nection may serve to emphasize the importance of these interests.
In the early days when Bridgeport was founded, life was simple and its wants few. The earth supplied the greater part of the requisites for man's sustenance, the flocks his homespun raiment. What one man lacked, his next-door neighbor prob- ably had in abundance. So it is not surprising that for the first fifty years or more of its life, Bridgeport, commercially speaking, had no existence at all. The little farming settlement plodded along without much attention to mercantile affairs until the beginning of the Eighteenth Century. The growth of the surrounding colonies and the increased population of this part of New England then began to exercise considerable influence. In 1706, we find, according to Orcutt's history, that the Stratfield Ecclesiastical Society authorized Jos. Bennit to act in the capacity of a merchant for the place. The wants which this one merchant supplied do not seem to have increased very fast. Probably a few merchants of whom no record remains came and settled in the little village as it slowly increased during the first three quarters of the Eighteenth Century.
But the Stratfield society offers nothing of value in this connection. It is not until the time of the Revolution and the appearance of Newfield at the head of the harbor that business first begins to exercise its beneficent influence on the progress of the town.
During the later years of the Revolution and for two or three decades thereafter the shipping trade was the great line by which advancement was made in all direc- tions. By 1786 an important commercial interest was represented in the various warehouses and wharves which began to cluster around that part of the harbor where now the Lower Bridge stands.
Captain Stephen Burroughs, Major Aaron Hawley, Abijah Hawley, Captain Abraham Hubbell, David Minot, Stephen Summers, and William De Forest were leading merchants in this first establishment of commerce in Bridgeport, carrying on trade with New York, Boston, West Indies, and Baltimore, the amount with each place being in accordance with the order in which they are named. As this trade grew and prospered, it had a great effect in building up the city, making it the center of the surrounding district and creating as well as encouraging home industries.
Collaterally with this trade, the manufacturing interest was progressing slowly
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BRIDGEPORT. PAST AND PRESENT.
though destined eventually to practically supersede the other. The first reference to anything of the kind is a " weaver shop," belonging to Samuel Porter, and prob- ably erected and set in operation a short time before the Revolution. The manu- facture of hats was the first important industry introduced here. In 1792, Thomas Gouge established a hat manufacturing business in a shop on the corner of Middle and Beaver Streets, and, in 1793, he was followed by Reuben and Smith Tweedy. The business continued to grow, a number of capitalists taking an interest in this line, and making their market in New York, until 1841, when it seems to have died out.
The manufacturing history of Bridgeport did not practically begin until the close of the war of 1812-1815. About that time several industries of large propor- tions for that day began to operate. Salt works were established, turning out a con- siderable amount of merchantable salt, which lasted as a profitable investment for ten years, being superseded by a cheaper product from the West Indies. Pewter ware, such as cups, spoons, plates and buttons, was also manufactured to some extent, and the small beginnings of cabinet-making, leather-furnishing, saddlery, and carriage building started.
In 1836 the first shirt manufactory in the country was established here by David and Isaac N. Judson, who made their market in New York City. This business prospered beyond anything which had been attempted here before, and several other like establishments were opened.
A younger race of enterprising business men had now sprung up, endowed with progressive ideas and determined to develop the possibilities which they saw before them to the utmost. Among these were Isaac Sherman, Prosper Wetmore, Captain John Brooks, Jr., Henry K. Harral, Curtis Beardsley, Fenelon Hubbell, F. W. Parrott, George Wade, Nathan Buckingham, Frederick Lockwood, John S. Cannon, C. B. Hubbell, and Daniel Fayerweather.
The banking business at this time was all conducted by the Bridgeport Bank, which had been chartered in 1806, and the Connecticut Bank, chartered in 1831. Most of the other banks were not chartered before the latter half of the century, the Bridgeport Savings Bank being chartered in 1842, the Pequonnock Bank in 1851, the Bridgeport City Bank (now the City National) in 1854, the City Savings Bank in 1859, the People's Savings Bank in 1860, the First National in 1864, the Mechanics and Farmers' Savings Bank in 1873.
Carriage-making had become an important industry by 1833. Two firms, Carier & Porter, and Mott & Burr, had existed previous to that time, and the firm of Tom- linson, Wood & Co. started in that year as one of the largest houses in the town. The following year steam was first introduced into the business by David and Ebenezer Wheeler. The establishment of such houses as Nichols, Peck & Co., Hurd, Fairchild & Co., and the Union Carriage Company soon made this one of the largest as well as the most progressive industry the city had yet known. The saddlery business had also prospered and held its own as one of the leading industries.
The foreign commerce gradually declined from 1840, under the operation of the influences which have tended to strangle American shipping. About the time of the " Gold-Rush " to California, 1848-'54, several firms for carrying on business there were established, one of them, the S. F. Hurd & Company, being very successful, and realizing a dividend of about $200,000 in four years.
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
The inauguration of the railroads and their great importance has already been spoken of. The Housatonic, which first went into actual operation in 1844, and the Naugatuck, started in 1848, made Bridgeport the depot and center for the trade of all the western part of the State. The opening of the New York, New Haven & Hartford in 1848, connected Bridgeport with the great metropolis, and with Boston, which controls a large part of the eastern trade. As a result, the general business interests of Bridgeport received a strong impetus, the effects of which have continued to this day.
Since 1856, when the Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Company first went into operation here, Bridgeport has been one of the largest manufacturing centers of these monuments to American genius in the world. This great industry has rapidly increased until it has reached massive proportions, as the great value of these ma- chines has come to be universally appreciated. The Howe Sewing Machine Company made its headquarters in Bridgeport in 1865, where its already extensive business increased more rapidly. The latest addition to this line of industry was the estab- lishment in Bridgeport in 1884 of the American Hand Sewing Machine Company, which has introduced a most ingenious invention in the way of a hand-sewing-ma- chine, sure to command growing appreciation.
The veteran sewing-machine inventor, Elias Howe, Jr., was born at Spencer, Mass., in 1819, and for many years was a workingman in the manufactories of Lowell and Cambridge, Mass. After years of poverty and toil he completed in 1845 a sewing machine claimed to have "sewed the first seam made by machinery." Though at first unsuccessful and almost ruined, at the end of twenty-seven years' work his profits amounted to about $2,000,000. He volunteered and served for some time as a private soldier during the war, and has always shown a most affectionate interest in the city of his adoption.
Allen B. Wilson, was born October 18, 1824, in Willett, N. Y. In early life he worked as a blacksmith, and in 1847, without ever having heard of such a thing as a sewing machine, he conceived a plan for making one. After long experiments he succeeded in 1849 in completing the first machine ever made fully answering all the practical purposes needed. In 1850, Allen B. Wilson met Nathaniel Wheeler in New York city and the first sewing machine company was formed.
Nathaniel Wheeler was born in Watertown, Ct., September 7, 1820. Before 1850 he had been engaged in the manufacturing of carriages, tools and machinery. Since the formation of the Wheeler & Wilson Company, and its establishment in Bridgeport, he has been one of the leading sewing machine men of the country. He has given valuable assistance in building up East Bridgeport and manifested a deep interest in all departments of the city's life and work. He has been its represent- ative in the Senate of the State.
During the first years of the war the greatest period of stagnation in Bridge- port's commercial history occurred. Since that time the progress has been steady and increasingly rapid until at the present time Bridgeport bids fair to fulfill at no distant day the prophecy of a recent Governor of Connecticut, "that it is des- tined to be the metropolis of the State."
It would not be possible to particularize all the lines which have been and are now being followed out toward the development of Bridgeport's great commercial possibilities. Among them are the manufacturing of corsets; iron and steel, both in
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BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT.
the rough and in the form of intricate machinery; brass goods; machine, and many other lines of tools; pianos and organs, paper boxes, toys, knives, locks, rubber- goods, hats, tacks, buttons, carpets, carriages, saws, silk goods, gas-fittings, and gen- eral plumbers' goods, shoes, silver-goods, varnishes, cartridges, furniture, paper, cop- per goods, wheels, bronzes, scissors, springs, britannia goods, beside many celebrated specialties.
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