Bridgeport is the most populous city in the US state of
Connecticut and the fifth largest in New England. Located in
Fairfield County, the city has an estimated population of
148,654 and is the heart of the Greater Bridgeport area, which
is considered part of the New York City labor market area. One
of the state's three ports is on the shore of Long Island Sound,
on the Pequonnock River.
The city is well known for its
connection to famous neighbors, circus impresarios, and one-time
mayor P. T. Barnum. Barnum built three houses in the city, and
organized a circus in the city for several winters.
Bridgeport was originally part of Stratford Township. The first
settlement by the English here took place in 1659. It was called
Pequonnock until 1695, when its name was changed to Stratfield,
due to its location between the already existing cities of
Stratford and Fairfield. During the American Revolution it
became a center of piracy. In 1800, the township of Bridgeport
was registered as such and in 1821 the town hall was
incorporated. The city did not approve its charter until 1836.
Thanks to the new railroad, the new city of Bridgeport grew into
an industrial city. At the beginning of the 20th century, the
city experienced an economic and population boom, becoming
Connecticut's leading manufacturing city in 1905. By 1930, it
was the third largest city in the state, with more than 500
factories, including famous companies such as Remington Arms,
the Singer machines and the General Electric plant, playing an
important role during the world wars. Bridgeport was the site of
the first dental hygiene school (1949) and the first telephone
bill banking service in the US (1981) . Inventor Harvey Hubbell
II invented the electrical outlet in Bridgeport in 1912. The
Subway restaurant fast food chain began in Bridgeport and opened
as a sandwich shop on the city's north side in 1965. Beginning
in the 1970s, industries Factories began their exodus from
American cities like Bridgeport to cheaper places. Bridgeport is
officially nicknamed the City of Parks and is home to 1,300
acres of public parks, with 35 public parks, including two
designed by Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted.
Bridgeport is located in Fairfield County, or the Greater
Bridgeport area, home to many Fortune 500 companies.
The
city was the home of the Frisbie Pie Company so Bridgeport has
been considered the birthplace of the frisbee.
The
community has two hospitals, Bridgeport Hospital and St. Vincent
Medical Center, 3 museums, the only zoo in the state, and 4
Universities.
Bridgeport has a variety of beaches and parks, including Seaside, one
of the most beautiful in the state, with a lighthouse and a walk to it.
Museums
Barnum Museum, 820 Main St. Tel.: +1 203 331-1104, Email:
info@barnum-museum.org . Exhibits about P.T. Barnum and the history of
the city. Located downtown, within walking distance of downtown's great
architecture.
Bridgeport's early years were marked by a reliance on fishing and agriculture, like many other New England towns. The town's location on the deep Newfield Harbor fostered a boom in shipbuilding and whaling in the mid-19th century, especially after the opening of the railway line to the town in 1840. The town soon became industrialized. in the late 19th century and became an industrial center for the production of products such as the famous Bridgeport milling machine, brass fittings, carriages, sewing machines, fasteners, saddles, and ammunition.
On Saturday, March 10, 1860, Abraham Lincoln spoke at Washington Hall, an auditorium then the Fairfield County Courthouse (now McLevy Hall), at the corner of State and Broad streets. Not only was the largest hall in the city bouncing around, but a huge crowd had to stay outside. He received a standing ovation before catching the train at 9:07 that night back to Manhattan. There is now a memorial plaque in Bridgeport where he gave the speech. (In 2006, just across the street at the Polea Dot Playhouse, President George W. Bush addressed a small, select group of businessmen and officials on health care reform.)
The city entered the
new century with 102,000 inhabitants in 1910. Bridgeport suddenly grew
by 50,000 people by 1916 during World War I. Remington's new complex, 13
buildings, 5 stories each connected by a corridor, was the largest
factory in the world at the time, with 16,000 employees and protected by
the National Guard. In 1930, Bridgeport was a thriving industrial center
with more than 500 factories and a booming immigrant population,
including English, Portuguese, Italian, Polka, Russian, Greek, Jewish,
Irish etc. In 1930, 30% of the city were immigrants and 40% were
children of emigrants. The west of the city was the Hungarian
neighborhood known as "Hunktown". The Italians settled along Madison
Avenue on Bridgeport's north side. The main complex of the city during
World War II was also the Remington Arms, on Barnum Avenue, one of the
main arms factories in the United States. Here more than 30 people died;
one of those deaths was a bomb that exploded in the main plant, killing
seven workers in 1942. Also during a strike, two Portuguese workers were
killed by guards, who fractured the skull of one of them and the other
was thrown in the living smelting furnace.
The 1950s saw the
arrival of immigrants from Puerto Rico and Cuba, seeking employment in
the industrial complexes of Bridgeport. By 1970, some 15,000 Puerto
Ricans lived in Bridgeport, 10% of the city's population and
concentrated along East Main Street. As cities across the United States
revamped their downtowns after the war, Bridgeport began its own urban
renewal projects in its old downtown in the early 1960s during
construction of the highways through the city. Bridgeport under Mayor
Tedesco went through the State Street redevelopment project, demolishing
52 acres of State Street, clearing land for development. It was replaced
by modern high-rise office buildings, parking, the Route 8/25 freeway,
and a shopping mall. Hunktown, the Hungarian Quarter, population 15,000,
and the Irish Quarter on the south side were razed and replaced by
Interstate 95 and an industrial park. It was at this time thanks to the
highways that the suburbs in the United States developed, and it was
fashionable to live outside the central cities to live in these places
to raise a family, in the case of Bridgeport places like Trumbull,
Milford and Fairfield, where many of the city's residents moved to.
Like other urban centers in Connecticut, Bridgeport fared worse
during the deindustrialization of the United States in the 1970s and
1980s. Unemployment soared, crime increased, and the city became known
for its serious drug problems. Many former industrial sites in the city
were found to be highly contaminated, leaving Bridgeport with
significant cost and environmental damage. Other sites were simply
abandoned and burned, leaving some areas of the city looking like ghost
towns. The downtown mall closed and became Housatonic Community College.
In 1987, the L'Ambiance Plaza residential project, which was under
construction at the time, collapsed, killing 28 construction workers.
Bridgeport in 1989 was the most dangerous city in the northeast of the
country with more than 100 thousand inhabitants, and did not have the
resources to pay more police officers. The city of Bridgeport
filed for bankruptcy in 1991, but was declared solvent by a federal
court. By 2000, the city's traditional white population continued to be
replaced by immigrants from around the world, including Mexicans,
Peruvians, Vietnamese, Samolians, and Koreans. In 1995, Bridgeport's
crime rate dropped substantially thanks to a police operation called
"Operation Phoenix", and reduced the sale of drugs to people coming in
from out of town. Starting in 2000, Bridgeport's population began to
grow again for the first time in decades by 10,000 people in 2020, and
its crime rate is just over half of what it was in 2000.
In the
early 21st century, Bridgeport is rebounding from a loss of jobs and
population, becoming a center of service industries and a fringe region
of the New York metropolitan area (for example, the city itself is an
oasis of relatively low-cost housing in an extremely expensive region).
Like other Northeast cities suffering from industrial decline
stemming from the end of World War II, Bridgeport has often undergone
rehabilitation efforts. A proposal was made by Las Vegas developer Steve
Wynn to build a large casino on the property, but for a number of
reasons, that project did not come to fruition. The project was opposed
because his rival Donald Trump feared that a Bridgeport casino would
damage his Atlantic City properties and proposed building a theme park
and a potential casino on the same site. More recently, the City of
Bridgeport has taken steps to acquire the last few private parcels. Many
historic buildings are also being rehabilitated and converted into
residential housing. The rehabilitation of the northern part of the city
center began in 2015 and is now mainly commercial and apartment. The
renovation of downtown Bridgeport has resulted in several restaurants,
the renovation of the Bishop Arcade Mall, a comedy club, and apartments.
The Steelpointe project across the river from downtown along East Main
Street led to the construction of Bass Pro Shops, a Starbucks and some
stores, a seafood restaurant and a marina, is in its next phase of
development , which includes 4-story luxury apartments and a hotel.
Bridgeport is located on Long Island Sound, at the mouth of the
Pequonnock River.
According to the United States Census Bureau,
the city has a total area of 50.2 km², of which 41.4 km² is land and 8.8
km² (17.53%) is water.
Bridgeport lies within the Humid
Continental climate belt, with mild to occasionally hot weather and
humid summers and cold, snowy winters. Seasonal extremes are somewhat
mild in Long Island Sound. Adjacent waters at Bridgeport are several
degrees cooler in the summer and milder in the winter with less snow
than at other locations farther offshore. The city receives 41.7 inches
of precipitation and over 25.6 inches of snowfall on average per year.
The record for the snowiest winter was 1996 as Bridgeport received 76.8
inches of snow.
As of the 2020 census, Bridgeport had a population of 148,333. It was
42% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 37% African-American, 19% White, and
5% Asian. Of the Hispanic groups in Bridgeport, 22% of Bridgeport's
population (31,900 in 2013) was of Puerto Rican origin, the seventh
largest Puerto Rican population in the United States.
In terms of
Hispanic groups, in the 2020 survey; 28,944 people of Puerto Rican
origin were counted, 8,479 of Mexican origin, 8,458 of South American
origin, 6,701 of Central American origin, 5,248 of Dominican origin,
1,271 of Cuban origin, and 1,814 people from any other Spanish-speaking
country, including Spain were counted in Bridgeport in the the 2020
federal American Community Survey.
There were 50,307 households
of which 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35%
young married couples, 24% had a female owner with no husband, and 34.9%
were non-families. 29% of the dwellings were made up of individuals and
11.3% by someone 65 years of age or older living alone. The average
house size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.34.
As of
the 2000 census, there were 139,529 inhabitants, 50,307 houses, and
32,749 families residing in the city. The population density was
3,367.0/km². There were 54,367 dwellings with an average density of
1,312.0/km². The racial makeup of the city was 45.02% White, 30.76%
African American, 0.48% Native American, 3.25% Asian, 0.11% Pacific
Islander, 14.81% from other races, and 5.57% from two or more races.
31.88% of the population were Hispanic or Latino. In the city the
population was divided with 28.4% under 18 years of age, 11.2% from 18
to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 11 .5% of people
over 65 years of age. The mean age was 31 years. For every 100 women
there were 91.2 men. For every 100 women under the age of 18, there were
86.3 men. The median income for a household in the city was $34,658, and
the median for a family was $39,571. The men had an average income of
32,430 against the 26,966 of the women. The city's per capita income was
$16,306. About 16.2% of families and 18.4% of the population were below
the poverty line, including 24.8% of those under 18 years of age and
13.2% of those older than 65 years.
Bridgeport is home to the University of Bridgeport and Housatonic
Community College.
The city's public school system is made up of
30 schools for primary education, 3 for global education, 2 for
alternative programs and a professional training school for aquaculture.
The system has over 23,000 students making Bridgeport the second largest
school system in Connecticut. This school system employs more than 1,700
professionals.
The city has begun a major school renovation and
construction program, with plans for new schools and modernization of
existing buildings.
Bassick High School, Home of
the Business Magnet
Central High School established in 1876, home of
the Central Magnet, is the largest high school of all
Warren Harding
High School which is home to the International Baccalaureate Program as
well as the Health Magnet Program which is associated with Bridgeport
Hospital St. Vincent's Medical Center north of Bridgeport.
The
Bridgeport Regional Vocational College of Aquaculture is located near
historic Captain's Cove and is open to students from surrounding cities.
It is one of the first schools specializing in marine and aquaculture
studies.
Bullard Havens Technical High School is a vocational
training institute. (Public)
Kolbe Cathedral High School:
Bridgeport's exclusively Catholic high school
The Bridge Academy:
Bridgeport High School
Bridgeport also has several Catholic colleges.
Saint Ambrose, the greatest of all, Saint Raphael, Saint Augustine, and
Saint Peter.
After the loss of industry, Bridgeport at the turn of the century has been on the mend.
Bridgeport is famous for having had a socialist mayor for 24 years;
Jasper McLevy served as mayor from 1933 to 1957. More recent mayors,
including Joseph Ganim, have been accused of corruption, reflecting a
similar pattern to other Connecticut urban centers. In June 2006, Mayor
John M. Fabrizi admitted to having used cocaine since he began his term,
but that he had not taken the drug in a year.
Its status as a
struggling, poverty-stricken post-industrial city is well known in
Connecticut, most notably its neighbors on the Gold Coast.
Popular culture
The town was mentioned at the beginning of Mark
Twain's novel "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court":
After an hour's walk, a sleepy city appeared in the distance on the
banks of a winding river, and behind it, on a hill, a huge, dark
fortress, with towers and turrets, a scene I had seen only in the
streets until now. illustrations.
Bridgeport? I asked for.
"Camelot" he replied.
Bridgeport is a three-time host of the Gathering of the Vibes, a weekend-long festival of art, music and camping featuring some of the best names in festival talent. In 1999, 2000 and again in 2007, thousands of people have come from all over the world to camp at Seaside Park and enjoy the talents of Buddy Guy, Bob Weir and Ratdog, Bridgeport's Deep Banana Blackout, Les Claypool, Assembly of Dust, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Los Lobos and many more.
Klein Memorial Auditorium
Total Mortgage Arena - home of the
Bridgeport Islanders, the experimental team of the New York Islanders
National Hockey League. It is also the temporary home of the White
Plains Westchester Knicks (the experimental team of the NY Knicks of the
National Basketball Association. A 10,000-seat stadium in the center of
the city, it is also used for hockey, and friendly games of major
league.3233
Downtown Cabaret Theater
Stress Factory Comedy Club
Hartford Healthcare Ampetheature