USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > The story of Bridgeport > Part 11
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Among the improvements in the Park City which may be traced to this generous hand, are two parks, Washington and Seaside, and the Mountain Grove Cemetery.
P. T. Barnum's official term as mayor ended April 3, 1876. He lived out his days in Bridgeport, dying April 7, 1891 from a congestion of the brain. He was 80 years old. His remains were interred in the Mountain Grove Cemetery.
Barnum left a wife, Nancy Fish Barnum and two daughters: Mrs. D. W. Thompson (Caroline Thompson) of New York, and Mrs. W. H. Buchtel, removed to Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Buchtel (Helen) was first married to Samuel Henry Hurd who died. Pauline T. Seeley, Barnum's third daughter, was al- ready deceased at the time of Barnum's death.
BRIDGEPORT PARKS
"What do we need of a park down by the water?" demanded the conservatives in Bridgeport, when P. T. Barnum first suggested Seaside Park.
Barnum paid no attention to these obstructionists, but went ahead with his plans for a seaside park. As he said :
"I was exceedingly anxious that public parks should be established, especially one where good drive ways, and an opportunity for the display of the many fine equipages for which Bridgeport is cele- brated, could be afforded."
That Barnum was successful in his efforts to secure a seaside park of Bridgeport, we know today.
The city owes a debt of gratitude to Mayor Philo C. Calhoun, the first to voice the need for parks in a stirring appeal to the citizens in 1857. In spite of the fact that no action was taken until after the Civil War, the fruits of this appeal are evidenced in the many parks in Bridgeport today.
Clinton Park is the oldest park in the city, dating prior to the Revolution when the Stratfield training ground was established at the corner of Clinton and North Avenues. The land was given to the com- munity by Richard Hubbell and was used not only as a training ground for the militia but also served as an athletic field and general meeting place for the citi- zens. It was taken over by the city in 1887 and main- tained as a park. It covers one acre.
Pembroke Park or Old Mill Green was the "waste. land" formed by the forking of the King's Highway, east of Berkshire Mill Pond. This plot of ground, which was deeded to the community in 1740 by Richard Nichols, Nathaniel Sherman, Samuel Judson, Peter Pixlee, Ebenezer Hurd, Theophilus Nichols, Samuel Sherman, Timothy Sherman, and Joseph Nichols for a perpetual common for the people, has since received extensive improvements and is equipped today for a playground, baseball and foot- ball field. The park covers eight and two-fifths acres.
City Hall Park was the first ground to be pur- chased by Bridgeport for public use. It was bought by the Borough of Bridgeport from Salmon Hubbell, February 9, 1807, Hubbell deeding it to the city, March 17, 1807. This quarter acre of land which was to be kept open and maintained as a public high- way forever, was never used for highway purposes but became the site of City Hall. The land lying west of the building represents the original purchase as that on the east side was acquired later. The site has always been kept as a public park although it has not been recognized as a part of the park system. Ground covered (grass area only on both sides) seven tenths of an acre.
Washington Park, the first real public park in the city, was set aside for public park purposes in 1851 by William H. Noble and P. T. Barnum when open- ing a district with lots for sale called New Pasture Lots. Although used as a common for several years it was not formally transferred to the city until 1865. This park, which is bounded on two sides by a street and avenue bearing the names of the donors, was the first real public park in the city. Total acreage, four and seven tenths acres.
Seaside Park is the largest in Bridgeport and has one of the finest locations in New England. The desire for a park in this locality arose in 1862 when the Seventeenth Connecticut Volunteer Regiment encamped on the site, attracting thousands of visitors.
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Considerable enthusiasm was aroused by articles printed in the Bridgeport Standard advocating the site as desirable for a public park. Thirty or more acres were eventually acquired by gift and purchase through the efforts of a committee appointed by the Common Council in 1865. The city will always owe a debt of gratitude to P. T. Barnum and James C. Loomis who were the first to take action toward acquiring the land for public use, and to Captain John Brooks, Captain Burr Knapp, George Bailey and P. T. Barnum who gave the land constituting the original site. Thirty more acres were given to the city in 1884 by P. T. Barnum, and in 1895 Horace Smith released his claim to certain land thus enabling the extension and improvement of the west end of the park.
A bronze statue of P. T. Barnum was unveiled in Seaside Park July 4, 1893. The statue, executed by Thomas Ball, was presented to the city by P. T. Barnum's former partners: James A. Bailey, James A. Hutchinson, and W. W. Cole. The granite pedestal was given by the citizens of Bridgeport.
The soldiers' monument in Seaside Park, commem- orating the soldiers who died during the Civil War, was the gift of the Ladies' Soldiers' Monument Asso- ciation of Bridgeport and the townspeople, who raised $30,000 for this purpose. The corner stone was laid August 29, 1866 and the monument was dedicated August 17, 1876, ten years later.
The statue of Elias Howe, Jr., in Seaside Park, was presented by Howe's son, Simon on condition that the city provide a suitable base for the figure of the inventor and former head of the Howe Sewing Machine Company. This was done and in the Fall of 1884, the statue was placed in its present position.
Seaside Park, at the south end of Main Street and Park Avenue, covers an area of 210 acres. The total length of the seawall from Main Street to Fayer- weather's Island is two and a half miles. The park has baseball diamonds, tennis courts, football fields, athletic tracks and a public bath house where only nominal fees are charged.
Beardsley Park, which vies in beauty and popu- larity with Seaside Park, is the gift of James W. Beardsley who, in 1878, deeded the land to the city on the condition that "the city shall accept and keep the same forever as a public park." Located on the Pequonnock River at the north end of Noble Avenue
and East Main Street, and shaded by hundreds of trees, it offers one of the finest places in the city for rest and recreation. A public golf course, six tennis courts, a football field, a greenhouse where flower shows are given at regular intervals and the beginning of a municipal zoo are among the present day attrac- tions. The park covers 234 acres.
Mr. Beardsley came to an untimely end, December 22, 1892. A few evenings before, his house was visited by burglars while he was ill, and not only did the thieves carry away considerable plunder, but they left Mr. Beardsley with injuries from which he died. The guilty parties were never discovered.
A statue was erected in the park to Mr. Beardsley, the unveiling taking place June 19, 1909.
Beechwood Park is a beautiful wooded tract of land near upper Park Avenue, covering 38 and one- half acres. The park was planned for walks, tennis courts and baseball.
Fairchild Memorial Park was a gift to the city from Mrs. Antoinette Fairchild Wheeler and her son, D. Fairchild Wheeler. It is a wooded tract with driveways located opposite Beardsley Park on the Trumbull Road, and covers 115 acres of woodland.
Fairchild Wheeler Park is situated partly in the City of Bridgeport and partly in the Town of Fair- field. The land was acquired privately in 1930 at an attractive price and is the site of two eighteen- hole golf courses. It covers 400 acres.
Pleasure Beach Park was purchased in 1919 at a cost of $220,000 and is operated as a public amuse- ment park. The area totals 37 acres.
Other small parks are: Yellow Mill Park, on Stratford Avenue near the Yellow Mill Bridge, three and four tenths acres; Lafayette Park, given to the city by Nathaniel Wheeler and Seth B. Jones and used as a playground. The park is shaped like a triangle formed by Oak Street, Lexington Avenue and Linen Avenue and covers nine-tenths of an acre. Wood Park, located at the junction of Wood and Benham Avenues, has an area of one-tenth of an acre. West End Park, at the junction of State Street and Fairfield Avenue, totals two acres. It is the site of the Sanborn branch library.
Various other small plots of land scattered throughout the city have been donated for play- ground purposes. In all, Bridgeport's parks total more than 1000 acres.
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1836 THE
STORY
OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
"READIN', 'RITIN' AND 'RITHMETIC"
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
F IFTY FIVE years after Boston startled the edu- cational world with the first high school in America, Bridgeport decided to have one too.
Boston established her "high" in 1821, Bridgeport in 1876. In 1826, Boston also opened the first high school for girls but abolished it in 1928 due to its great popularity! Instead, courses of study for girls in the elementary schools were extended.
The Boston high school developed rapidly and by the time Bridgeport got around to the establishment of her "high", Boston could boast many an old high school "grad"
Bridgeport was not alone in her educational back- wardness. Connecticut as a whole was far behind Massachusetts. So too, were Rhode Island and New Jersey. Elwood P. Cubberly in his "Public Educa- tion in the United States" makes note of these laggard states saying:
"In Rhode Island and New Jersey due to old con- ditions, and Connecticut due to the great decline in education there after 1800, the high school developed much more slowly and it was not until after 1865 that any marked development took place in these states."
There were educators in Connecticut who sadly lamented the indifference of the people to the prog- ress of education. In an address given at the dedica- tion of a new building at Norwich, Connecticut in 1856, one of the founders of the school thus described the early struggles to maintain high schools:
"The lower schools up to the grammar school were well sustained. But the studies of the high school were a perfect terra incognito to the great mass of people.
"While the high school was a new thing and while a few enlightened citizens had the control of it, in numerous instances it was carried to a high state of perfection. But after a time the burden of taxation would begin to be felt. Men would discuss the high salaries paid to the accomplished teachers, which such schools demand, and would ask:
" 'To what purpose is this waste?'
"Demagogues, keen scented as wolves, would snuff the prey. 'What do we want of a high school to
teach rich men's children?' they would shout. 'It is a shame to tax a poor man to pay a man $1800 a year to teach the children to make x's and pot-hooks and gabble parley vous.'
"The work would go bravely on; and on election day, amid great excitement, a new school committee would be chosen in favor of retrenchment and popu- lar rights. In a single day, the fruit of years of labor would be destroyed."
In the face of such discouraging opposition, did the Connecticut high school come into being.
GRIM EDUCATION
Bravely enough Connecticut started out on the road to higher learning. As early as 1650, when the Connecticut Code of Laws was formulated, it was decreed that every township of fifty or more house- holds should provide a school where children could be taught to read and write. This was just three years after Massachusetts had passed similar orders.
The Puritans were grimly determined that their children should have an education no matter what the difficulties, and an education they received, under conditions which would appall the modern scholar.
The first schools established under the 1650 code of laws were public, but they were not free as we mean "free" schools today. Fees or rate bills for attending school were charged according to the number of children from a home, and each family in turn was re- quired to board the teacher without cost.
Schools were managed by committees chosen annually by the parish and later by school societies. These societies were originally church or ecclesiastical societies, organized for religious purposes and found convenient for school direction.
The first school in this community was organized in 1678. Previous to this time, children who lived in Pequonnock had to go several miles for their educa- tion, either to the Fairfield or to the Stratford schools. Since the journey was long, the parents decided to organize their own school. Forty seven pupils were registered during the first year of the new school. The villagers proposed to bear the expense of the in- stitution, but they asked to be released from paying school rate bills in Fairfield.
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The general court referred the matter to the Fair- field county court with the recommendation that an allowance be made to the petitioners from the county revenues, equal to the annual school tax paid by said petitioners.
When a church was established some years later, the residents of the community again made a plea to the general court to be released from school and church taxes in Fairfield. Due to considerable oppo- sition this was not achieved until the spring of 1694 when Pequonnock was allowed to function as a separate parish.
Let us take a look at one of these early colonial schools, as different from a modern school as the open cooking hearth of colonial times was different from the up to date gas or electric stove of today.
TOOK OWN FUEL
Each child who attended school, in addition to taking his own books, had to take his own wood for fuel.
Some schoolmasters, indignant of the carelessness of parents who failed to send the expected load of wood early in the winter, banished the unfortunate child of the tardy parent to the coldest corner of the schoolroom. The town of Windsor voted "that the committee be empowered to exclude any scholar that shall not carry his share of wood for the use of the said school." In 1736 West Hartford ordered every child "barred from the fire" whose parents had not sent wood.
Study was often eight hours long and children were frequently required to attend school Saturday as well as the rest of the week. No gay colored picture books, no story hour, no project work bright- ened the lives of the early school children.
School life was just as glum and uninteresting as it could be. Often the child was required to commit whole books to memory and he frequently went over the same book six and seven times, memorizing passages of which he understood nothing, before be- ing allowed to proceed to the next problem.
The first book from which the children of the colonists learned their letters, was not really a book at all, although it was called "a hornbook." A thin piece of wood, usually about four or five inches long and two inches wide, had placed upon it a sheet of paper a trifle smaller, printed at the top with the alphabet in large and small letters. Below, were
simple syllables such as ab, eb, ib, ob, etc .; then came the Lord's Prayer.
This printed page was covered with a thin sheet of yellowish horn, which was not as transparent as glass, yet permitted the letters to be read. Both the paper and the horn were fastened around the edges to the wood, by a narrow strip of metal usually brass, which was tacked down by fine tacks or nails. At the lower end of the wooden back was usually a little handle which often was pierced with a hole; thus the horn- book could be carried by a string, which might be placed around the neck or hung by the side.
PUNISHMENTS
Besides learning how to read and write, the early school child was also punished. We've placed the punishment in the above sentence as though it were part of the school curricula because in many instances it seemed the most important part of the child's training.
Schoolmasters were well versed in various kinds of punishment and some even invented tortures of their own.
The child of today who feels sorely mistreated be- cause he is made to stay after school for some mis- demeanor, needs only to read of the trials and tribu- lations of boys and girls three centuries ago, to feel himself pretty well off, after all.
The birch rod, the walnut stick, the tattling stick, (a cat-o-nine tails with heavy leather straps), were followed by the "flapper", an invention which con- sisted of a piece of heavy leather, six inches in dia- meter with a hole in the middle. Every time this "flapper" came down on the child's soft flesh, a blister the exact size of the hole was raised.
Sometimes the master whipped the soles of the child's feet; at other times he made the mischief maker sit on a unipod, a stool with one leg, very difficult to balance; or he might enjoy himself (and these early schoolmasters took a real delight in punishing the students) by gagging the talkative pupil with a "whispering stick", a wooden gag to be tied in the mouth with strings, much as a bit is pushed into a horse's mouth.
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It is plain to be seen that the "dear old golden rule days" of "School days, school days" had not yet come into being.
SCHOOLHOUSE OPENED
In 1691 an ecclesiastical society was organized in this community and a schoolhouse was opened near the town line under the name of the village of Fair- field. By 1701 the name of the settlement had been changed to Stratfield, and two years later a new schoolhouse was built near Pequonnock Street and Park Avenue. This was in use for 35 years before a two story building was erected near the present Toil- some Hill schoolhouse.
A third school was established in 1766 and these three continued until 1796 when the state received money from the Western Reserve fund for educa- tional purposes. This fund, obtained from the sale of lands in Pennsylvania and Ohio, which were given to Connecticut by the government to repay losses in the Revolutionary war, still yields an income to the state which is distributed among the towns. Since 1820 the money has been divided according to the number of children between four and sixteen years of age recorded in September of each year.
When Bridgeport was incorporated as a town in 1821, there were two school districts in the territory east of the Pequonnock River. The northern one, called Pequonnock, was established in 1717, the school building being erected some years later on Old Mill Green. The other was called New Pasture Point and its schoolhouse was built in 1796.
These two original school districts were divided and new ones formed until, in 1876, there were eleven districts in the town of Bridgeport. Each district laid and collected its own taxes, built school- houses and employed school teachers to instruct the children. If a district were wealthy and generous with its expenditures for education, the teachers were well paid and the children well taught; if the district were poor or stingy, the opposite was true.
In 1876 the eleven school districts were con- solidated under one government and on April 11, 1876, a group of men was named as a school commit- tee and called the board of education.
Rate bills were abolished by the community in 1858, ten years before the law was enacted by the state making it compulsory for the towns to support free schools, but the custom of "boardin' around" continued for another twelve years.
FIRST BOARD
The new system of management under a board of education proved very satisfactory During the first year of consolidation a public high school was opened; three years later a training school for teachers was started and new schools were established as the city grew in size and population.
James C. Loomis was named president of the first board of education and Henry T. Shelton, secretary. H. M. Harrington was superintendent of schools and so acted for fourteen years.
At that time, there were in the entire community only 83 teachers and they were employed in 65 rooms, exclusive of recitation rooms. New schools were badly needed but it was hard to get money and so the new board of education rented stores and dwellings for temporary classrooms.
After the board of apportionment had been created to take the place of the old fashioned town meeting, it was a little easier to get appropriations, but still the money didn't come in fast enough to meet the grow- ing needs of the community.
Thus we find at the meeting of the board of appor- tionment in February, 1899, a resolution was passed to lay a tax of one mill on the grand list every year. The proceeds were to be used exclusively for buying land and building new buildings until such time as the city would be amply provided with new school- houses. With the proceeds of this tax, a constructive building program was carried forward.
The first aims of the new board of education in- cluded as mentioned: the erection of new and ade- quate school buildings; the establishment of a high school and the organization of a training school for the teachers.
OPENING OF THE "HIGH"
The first "high" was opened in the two highest rooms of the Prospect Street School with Charles D. Peck as principal and Miss Marble and Miss Miner as assistants.
A training school for teachers was established in the lowest room of the Prospect Street School in 1879, three years after consolidation of the school districts, with Sarah E. White as principal.
February 4, 1880, the committee of 20 appointed to seek a site for a high school, recommended the lot on Congress Street for the erection of the building. The building was finished October 30, 1882 and the
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1836 THE STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
new scholars moved in. This building at 300 Con- gress Street is now used as a junior high school.
Meanwhile an evening drawing school was estab- lished in 1880 continuing for three winters with Julian H. Sterling as tutor. A commercial course was started and proved very popular. The matter of a building for the training school was taken up in 1888 and a lot on Clinton Avenue running through to Colorado Avenue was selected. The new school was completed in 1889, at a cost, with the land, of $60,000.
Dr. C. W. Deane was named new superintendent of schools in 1893 and he served the board for 20 years. During his regime a petition for a state normal school was made and favorably received.
In the next few years, education in Bridgeport progressed by leaps and bounds. In 1900 the matter of physical training was approached by David Ginand, a member of the board, the new course was instituted and Harvey C. Went was named in- structor. By 1906, there were 800 children in the public schools of Bridgeport.
Medical inspection and free kindergartens were both introduced in 1908. Fire escapes were now placed on the high school and on the Prospect Street School. In June, 1909, the board voted the estab- lishment of a school for domestic science and a room in the Wheeler School was fitted up for the girls. Later, a room in the Barnum School was similarly equipped.
Manual training was commenced about the same time and rooms were fitted out in the Kossuth Street, the Bryant, the Prospect and the Shelton schools.
By March, 1909, the townspeople were already considering a new high school. The following year the matter was laid before the legislature and per- mission for the issuance of a bond was given. In November, 1911, a committee was appointed to in- vestigate high schools in neighboring cities and see how many rooms might be needed for a good high school.
March 15, 1912, a site was selected on Lyon Terrace, running from Congress Street to Golden Hill Street. The land with the necessary prepara- tions to build cost $67,000.
About this time, a fire scare swept through the community. It was shortly after the Collinswood schoolhouse fire in 1913 when many children lost their lives. The state legislature now passed a law
compelling all communities to provide schools with iron fire escapes. Only if the school had two or more exits, might it be allowed to "pass inspection" with- out the fire escapes.
In Bridgeport, the board of education had to build fire escapes on thirteen buildings at a cost of $34,000. Thenceforth, all new buildings erected, were strictly fireproof.
Early in the spring of 1916, the high school was moved into its new quarters at 45 Lyon Terrace. It is known today as Central High School. C. W. Deane had resigned while the school was being con- structed and Samuel J. Slawson took his place.
SCHOOLS TODAY
Bridgeport today has 33 elementary schools, six junior and senior high schools, 11 parochial schools, one normal school, two business schools, a state trade school, a Junior College, as well as several private schools of various types, details of which will be found in the appendix of this publication.
The Bridgeport State Trade School, one of a chain of eleven similar schools under the direction of the state board of education, was opened in August, 1910, with three departments and 45 students. In September, 1926, a new building to house the school was completed at 401 Kossuth Street at a cost of $400,000 including equipment. There are eighteen departments which prepare students for various trades, and courses may be completed in from two to two and a half years. There are both day and eve- ning classes. No tuition is charged.
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