Civil War Veterans

Veterans of the Civil War gather on Memorial Day 1916 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Well into the 20th century, members of the Elias Howe Jr. local veterans chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic wold meet to share their memories of the Civil War and make sure that the sacrifices of the soldiers killed in the war were not forgotten.

The local Grand Army of the Republic post was formed by greater Bridgeport area veterans on April 15, 1867. It was named after Elias Howe, Jr., the first Bridgeport resident who signed up for duty in the U.S. Army in Bridgeport. Elias Howe Jr. was best known as the sewing machine industrialist. At the time of signing, he was in his late 40's. He enlisted as a private, however he never served in combat. Instead Elias Howe contributed money to the Union war effort.

The GAR post had 1,360 members soon after it was formed. By 1937, there were only seven Civil War veterans left in the area, and the seven men rode in an automobile down the parade route. In 1937, the oldest Civil War veteran in the Elias Howe, Jr. Post was 95 years old. The youngest of the seven living men was 88.

Marge Schneider

This young lady was amazing. In 1942, Marge Schneider lived with her family on Barnum Avenue near Central. With the flurry of war around her, Marge took a job at the Bridgeport Brass Company on Grand Street. Marge walked to work.

With the men all gone to war, jobs opened up at the factory for women. Marge's boss asked her to pose for this photograph showing women the proper way to dress so that their clothing would not get caught by the machinery.

Marge also went around the factory making sure that women were dressed safely for work. No high heel shoes, no open toes. The fashion of the 1940's were not conducive to working with machinery, so many of the women did not really know what to wear. It was Marge's job to make sure they knew.

When the men came back from war, many of the women who worked in the factory had to leave to make room for the men. Marge worked at the Bridgeport Brass for three years during the war. Marge got married soon after the war, and later took a job part time working at Read's. Marge was very involved with the YWCA since childhood, and continued her volunteer work for the Y until her death in 2000.

An oral history of Marge's life can be found at http://www.bridgeporthistory.org/

World War II Ration Books

Times are tough now, but in World War II it was especially difficult to get many goods from stores and elsewhere. Citizens were given a series of ration books during the war years. Each ration book was numbered. All kinds of things were rationed, from food to gasoline and even clothing.

The first ration book was given out in 1942. The first war ration stamps given out were for sugar. A series of four books were given out in the United States, and stamps were used for a variety of goods. On the back of the book which contained the stamps was the slogan, "If you don't need it, DON'T BUY IT."

This particular ration book was owned by Julian Sohon, the Head librarian of the Bridgeport Public Library in 1942.

Ration books had descriptions of the owner of the book, including height, weight, color of dyes and age. The address of the person to which the book was issued was also marked, with strict rules not to transfer ration stamps. Dealers had to post prices conspicuously so that buyers would not pay more.

1001 Good Things to Eat: A Cookbook from the Days of the Great Depression

In 1934, the Bridgeport Post-Telegram published a cookbook featuring prize recipes contributed by readers through Fairfield county. Many of the recipes in the collection reflected the psyche of the American public and the economics of the times.

The Great Depression,which covered the years of 1929 to the start of World War II, effected all of the households in Bridgeport. The Post-Telegram newspaper covered many of the effects of the Depression. The Post-Telegram also sponsored cooking classes for local women.

The classes were held at the Pyramid Mosque Temple, located on 1035 State Street. The cooking classes helped women learn some of the newest gadgets and cooking techniques. Many of the women were immigrants who did not know how to use the stove or other tools.

A recipe for "Depression Chocolate Cake" was featured on page 50

The result of this cooking school was a cookbook that boasted "A Thousand and One Good Things to Eat." Recipes covered many ethnic groups now living in the city; a German baked dinner, Irish stew, and apple fritters.

The Mystery of the Missing Plaque (Gone But Not Forgotten)

In 1992, someone noticed that the bronze plaques were missing from the the four sides of the base of the P.T. Barnum Statue in Seaside Park. Where had they gone. Residents quickly notified the Historical Collections of the Bridgeport Public Library.

Questions arose. Where did the plaques go? And does anyone remember what did they actually look like? When the four plaques were missing, we had to search through postcards,photographs and files housed in the Historical Collections to try to figure this out.



Guess what we found out after looking at the postcard. The plaques were not the only thing that were missing from the statue. This vintage postcard from 1908 shows two urns on each side of the statue. The urns seemed to have disappeared not long after this postcard was published. Later postcards and photographs showed the urns absent.


The Barnum statue itself was cast in 1887. Barnum had posed for the statue, and afer his death in 1891, the statue was placed in Seaside Park.


The next question that arose was: wasn't there wording on the statue base?


Here is the answer to what the plaques looked like. The two side plaques were Greek funeral preocessions, and the back plaque was a laurel wreath. The front plaque, hower, looked like this:


"Pro benefiis exento vivet" is what was inscribed on the plaque. The motto was Latin, but a loose translation is: "For his benefactions, he will live forever."

When P.T. Barnum died in 1892, in a newspaper account it was said that Barnum said,"Let me be interred quietly, I've had enough show during my life." The statue stands as a monument to the great showman of the world.

A committee of residents collected money so that replicas of the plaques that surrounded the Barnum statue in Seaside Park were once again placed on the statue. The original bronze plaques were never found.

Submarines in Bridgeport

Inventor Simon Lake believed that the undersea world contained a vast wealth of natural treasures that were waiting to be tapped.

Besides the obvious riches of fish, Lake saw a world on which a great abundance of oil could be tapped from the sea as well.

Lake was always a dreamer, and he came from a family of inventors. His grandfather invented a seed planting machine, his father invented a window shade roller and his cousin invented a telephone.

Simon Lake even named his son after Thomas Edison. It was Lake's dream after reading Jules Verne's 1870 book, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" to invent a submarine. Lake launched America's first successful submarine in 1897.

The Lake Torpedo Boat Company was located on Seaview Avenue in Bridgeport's East End. Often, local residents would travel down to the Long Island Sound shore in Bridgeport to sea the latest submarine being launched. The events would attract huge crowds.

In 1918, Lake began to build R-21 submarines under government contract, joining in the World War I munitions activities with the rest of the local factories.

This photograph depicts the Lake Torpedo boatyard off Seaview Avenue in 1922. Pleasure Beach is visible in the background.

March Blizzard?

Don't let blue skies and warm March weather fool you. New England weather in March has shown to be fickle in that past. History has shown that snow may come down in March...but it may melt in a few days.

On March 11, 1888, the entire Northeast was struck by a winter storm. The wind and snow caused huge drifts to make it impossible to move. Remember...today we have the luxury of snowplows and snow blowers. In 1888 people used shear muscle to dig out from the nearly 14 feet deep drifts.

Trains couldn't get through to deliver goods. The entire coast was frozen in snow. Luckily, by March 15 the weather warmed up. Many of the photographs of the day show residents shoveling snow in light clothing. This view of State Street shows the huge piles of snow with a narrow path to walk.

So remember, Spring may be tomorrow, but March is still here until April showers bring May flowers!

The Blue Plate Special Unveiled

Good news! A local historian, Robert Berthelson investigated the origin of the term "blue plate special" online and came up with this answer (Wikepedia). It seems that the blue plate special was used along the railroad routes for diners eating on...you guess it...blue wedgewood plates!

Daniel Rogov, in the online Culinary Corner, recently provided an answer that may clear the whole thing up, though I’ve not been able to confirm what he says. He claims the first use of blue-plate special was on a menu of the Fred Harvey restaurants on 22 October 1892. These restaurants were built at stations to serve the travelling public on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad and it seems the blue-plate set meal was designed to rapidly serve passengers whose trains stopped only for a few minutes. He went on to say, “As to why the term ‘blue plate’ — no mystery here. Fred Harvey bought nearly all his serving plates from a company in Illinois. Modelling their inexpensive but sturdy plates after those made famous by Josiah Wedgwood ... these were, of course, blue in color. Thus, quite literally, the ‘blue plate’ special”.

Bridgeport Blue Plate Special

Read's Department Store Souvenir Plate

Photograph courtesy of Bridgeport Public Library Historical Collections. Click on photo to enlarge image.
Shopping in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut in the early 1900's was a joy. You get off the trolley on Main Street, and find yourself surrounded by a variety of stores.

One of the favorite stops for shoppers was Read's Department Store. David M. Read had opened a partnership with W.B. Hall and moved to Fairfield Avenue and Main Street. Going solo in 1877, David Read's store became known for clothing and other goods...kind of a one stop shopping place.

D.M. Read's was popular because souvenir gifts were given out with purchases. One of the finest gifts given out was the "rolled edge souvenir plate" that was manufactured by Rowland and Marsellus of Staffordshire, England.

The blue and white souvenir plate featured scenes of various points of Bridgeport...Seaside Park, the Barnum Museum, the harbor, Soldiers and Sailors Monument, as well as Bridgeport Hospital.

The plate has become a highly collectible piece of Bridgeport history.

Bridgeport Souvenir Plate the Gift of Robert and Sally Factor, in Memory of Robert Factor

The Pie Plate that Made Bridgeport Famous

It was beat up. It looked like it had been in a fight. The years of scraping crust out of the bottom of the pie in order to get the last piece had scored lines into the metal. The many washings of the pie plate had made the once bright silver dull with age.

What was the lettering found in the bottom of the plate. The letters were scraped also, with lines from the sharp metal pie servers that carved through the words.

We could barely make it out. What did it say?

There it was.

FRISBIE'S PIES
What was this? Residents who grew up in Bridgeport could tell me. It was a pie tin from the old Frisbie bakery what was located on Kossuth Street in Bridgeport's East Side.

Maybe this pie tin was fished out from the nearby Pequonnock River, where alot of pie tins ended up after nearby school kids tossed them around. Playing this game of toss, the kids would yell "Frisbie" so they wouldn't get hit by the spinning pie tin.

What would William Frisbie have thought about this new use for his pie tins? He started his business of baking pies with his family on Kossuth Street in 1871. Maybe it was his sister baking the pies, maybe it was him, maybe it was his wife's recipe. But the pies became famous, and everyone would line up to buy a pie at the bakery.

Residents would also remember buying pies for 5 cents when the crust was broken. The pies were delicious.

The game the children were playing made its way to college campuses and the rest is history. Whamo Corporation made the pie plate idea out of plastic, called it "Frisbee" in 1957, and the pie factory itself closed its doors on Kossuth Street in 1958.

A quick look on Ebay shows Frisbie plates selling from $14.99 to $150.00

If you find Frisbie pie plates in your cupboard, keep your pie plates...they make a great story for your children.

The Day That Lincoln Came to Bridgeport

March 10, 1860 is the date that Republican candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln came to Bridgeport.

It was a Saturday night that Lincoln came to Bridgeport to give a speech. Four days earlier, Lincoln had given a speech in New Haven which was described as "an impassioned political speech against slavery."

Lincoln was scheduled to give his talk at 7 p.m. in Washington Hall downtown. According to a small notice in the newspaper, Lincoln's speech would "commence precisely at 7 o'clock, as he is obliged to leave on the Express train at 9:07 pm."

The speech was planned to be given at Washington Hall, which was a lecture room in the Fairfield County Courthouse (now known as McLevy Hall). A report appeared later in the paper that said, "a great crowd attended at Washington Hall on Saturday evening to hear the Honorable Mr. Lincoln of Illinois. No special means had been used to ensure a large attendance and no posters were got out."

Lincoln arrived on the train, when Wheeler and Wilson band played, and around 100 members of the Republican Committee greeted him. More residents went to Washington Hall and it was packed as Abraham Lincoln spoke for two hours, giving much the same speech he had given in New Haven days before.

The Daily Standard described Lincoln as a "tall, bony, angular, big jointed figure with a great towering head and very expressive countenance. His eye satisfies you at once that there is brain...intellectual power in the man, and this is the secret of his success."

The crowd followed Abraham Lincoln to the train and applauded and cheered as he left.

Somewhere on his route in Bridgeport that day, Kentucky born Abraham Lincoln ate his first plate of New England fried oysters.

If Walls Could Speak

Our patron Fernando Alvarado came in recently with several objects he had found in the walls of an old house on Crescent Place near Washington Park in Bridgeport's East Side. The tattered piece of paper was difficult to decipher, but after looking at fragments and piecing together the paper, we figured out that it was a receipt.

Fernando persevered and continued to look through the old Bridgeport city directories. There he discovered after comparing the writing, that the receipt was made out to Charles E. McBride who was a machinist that lived in the house on Crescent Place.

Fernando also uncovered several bottles and old cans in the same wall. He loaned them to the Historical Collections to place in our exhibit.

Here are the bottles.

We discovered that the first bottle was from 1914 and had the name

W.H. Kennah, Wine and Liquor merchant from 114 Wall street.

G.C. Hamilton, a druggist is a bottle circa 1890's and was located at East Main, the corner of Clarence Street.

H.A. Dupee bottle is circa 1900 according to the city directory, address was 81 Fairfield Avenue.

Fernando found the history of the house and the neighborhood around Washington Park fascinating. We found it interesting too!

Look around your neighborhood, and even look behind your walls! Maybe you will find something!

Martin Luther King in Bridgeport?

A question arises every year in Bridgeport. Did Martin Luther King visit Bridgeport?

On at least four occasions, Reverend Martin Luther King spoke to crowds in Bridgeport. The first time was in 1961, when the Reverend King was invited by the University of Bridgeport to give a lecture at Klein Auditorium.

More than 2,700 people attended the lecture.

In 1962, Reverend King spoke at Central High School in a program co-sponsored by the NAACP and the Interdenominational and Ministerial Alliance of Greater Bridgeport.

In early 1964, just months after President Kennedy's assassination, King spoke again to a capacity crowd at Klein Auditorium.

King said, "I think that the greatest tribute Americans can pay to the memory of John F. Kennedy is to see the civil rights bill is passed just as Kennedy presented it."

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's last visit was on March 13, 1966. He spoke to a large and racially mixed crowd at Klein Auditorium.

When the civil rights leader was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, a local memorial service was held at Klein Auditorium. The audience over flowed out into the street.

Typewriters? Shorthand? How Times Have Changed

A recent gift to the Bridgeport Public Library Historical Collections was this small wooden ruler, only six inches in length. The ruler had the name "Gutchess College" engraved on the side, with the addess 46 to 54 Cannon Street.

What was Gutchess College?

The Bridgeport City directory for 1911 gives us the answer. S.D. Gutchess was the properietor of the Gutchess College at 46 Cannon Street. The ad in the 1911 city directory says that Stephen D. Gutchess took over as the properietor of the college from Brown's Business College. Brown had started ihis school n 1896 teaching young men and women about the business trade.

Long before computers, instructors taught stenography, typewriting, telegraphy and bookkeeping. The school boasted that they filled "had 500 positions annually." The 1911 city directory said that they had thirty typewriters at the school, and "up-to-date" instruction.

My how times have changed!

The Cane Came From the Captain

A wonderful object was recently bought at an auction and donated by Ben Ortiz and Victor Torchia, Jr. to the Historical Collections of the Bridgeport Public Library. The object is a wooden cane with a gold knob on top with the inscription “Presented to Capt. John McNeil By Friends and his Associates in the Grand Marine Display at Bridgeport, July 3, 1888.”

Who was this cane owned by? The top of the cane is inscribed with the words:
“Presented to Captain John McNeil by Friends and his Associates in the Grand Marine Display at Bridgeport, July 3, 1888.”


Who was Captain John McNeil?

Captain John McNeil served as the City of Bridgeport’s first Harbor Master in 1882. He championed the City’s development as an important harbor. McNeil was a skipper on the steamer Schuyler in 1866, after working on several other vessels.

This cane was presented to Captain John McNeil after he helped the City put on a huge “Marine Parade” on July 3, 1888. Captain McNeil had worked diligently on helping to deepen the City’s harbor, making sure that channels were deepened so that ships could safely enter the city’s inner passages.

In order to celebrate the newly expanded harbor, the Marine Parade involved many steam and sailing vessels that began to arrive before dawn from different ports along the sound. Boats carried crowds of happy people who came into the harbor to help celebrate the occasion.

The newspaper the next day said Captain John McNeil was Chairman of the Harbor Committee and that his work could not have been accomplished by any other man in the City.

Our Own Antiques Roadshow Puzzle

Can you guess what this is?

We have the answers right here in the library. History doesn't have to be dull or stagnant. If you want to do a little detective work of your own, come into the Bridgeport Public Library's Historical Collections Department and do a little sleuthing of your own.

Jasper McLevy was a Socialist, who served as the Mayor of the City of Bridgeport for twenty-four years, from the critical years of the Depression, through World War II, and the postwar years. He was Mayor from 1933 to 1957.

But who remembers that Mayor McLevy first started his working life as a roofer? The other day, a local resident, Charles Andrewson donated to the Historical Collections a strange object. Charles told the story of how, when he was growing up, his family lived next door to Jasper and his wife Vida McLevy. Jasper gave little Charles a tool that McLevy used in his roofing trade.




What do we know about Jasper McLevy and his roofing trade? Where did Jasper learn his trade of roofing? We checked the census, and find that Jasper was listed as a "roofer" in 1920. The 1930 Bridgeport City Director lists Jasper's company, which specialized in slag, gravel, asbestos, tile and slate roofing. The 1906 city directory lists George McLevy and Sons in an advertisement for roofers.
But lets look further back. George McLevy and Mary McLevy are listed as his parents in the census of 1900. Searching still further back, a very important clue: a ship passenger list for Mary and George McLevy shows the couple leaving Glasgow, Scotland in 1868. Guess what trade George McLevy lists on the ship's passenger list? George McLevy, Jasper's father describes his trade on the list as "slate roofer."

Click on the 1868 Passenger
list to see George and Mary Ann
McLevy's listing!

The Family Photo Found in the Cubbyhole

What does everyone who is doing genealogy dream of? Finding the family photograph that shows what your ancestors looked like.

Historical Collections staff member Sarah Greenberg, who assists our patrons in their own genealogy research every day found this photograph hidden in a cubbyhole in her own house.

Now the question: Who was this in the photograph? Did this photograph have any connection to her own family history?

Here is Sarah's own story written in her own words about what she found out! Sarah had found the photograph of her father's family in her own home, yet uncovered the information she needed right here in the Bridgeport Public Library Historical Collections. Read this and discover what you too might be able to find out about your family history through newspapers, census, city directories and asking family members. Also through a little help from the Historical Collections staff!

Greenberg & Horowitz: Grand 5-10-25 Cent Store

Who can recall the bygone days of the dry goods/variety stores in which anything and everything was sold. Adolph Greenberg a Jewish immigrant from Romania who settled in Bridgeport about 1914-15 operated one of these located on 1232 State Street, along with his partner William E. Horowitz.

According to a search in the Bridgeport City Directories, Adolph & William were operating the Store located at 1232 State Street from 1916-1923. Sometime after 1923, Adolph and William parted ways, and then Adolph operated a store on 1308 State Street from 1924-1926.

In 1927 Adolph moved his family to New York, but it did not last for they were back in Bridgeport by 1929. Its uncertain whether Adolph picked up where he left off with operating a dry goods store or if he was then operating a men’s clothing shop. Adolph died in 1936 at the age of 50.

Pictured here is a photo of the store located at 1232 State Street circa 1916-1923. I hope local residents will view it and perhaps remember some past memory of shopping there or a memory of growing up in that area of Bridgeport.

submitted by Sarah Greenberg

Ives Toys Make Happy Boys

Everyone knows that Bridgeport was a center of manufacturing of large machinery and other industries, but did you know that this city was also one of the largest manufacturers of toy trains and mechanical toys?

Edward Ives started his toy company in Bridgeport and built some of the finest clockwork toys on the market. In 1901, Ives made mechanical trains that ran on tracks.
The trains became very popular, and by 1907, Ives opened a factory on Holland street in the city’s West End.

The slogan of the company became “Ives Toys Make Happy Boys.” This became the popular slogan found in all of their catalogues.

Lionel trains began making trains along with several other toy manufacturers. Competition became keen. Lionel would actually promote that they could repair the trains for free, and Ives Toy company had trouble competing.

In 1929, Ives Toy filed for bankruptcy. Ives was sold to a competitor, however the plant was closed in 1932.

The Ives toy trains that were made here are scarce but highly collectible today. If you find Ives toy train sets or Ives mechanical toys up in your attic...they are worth much more than the few dollars they were worth in 1910.

Brisk Bicycle Battle

This strange silver vaselike object has a little man on top of it next to an even weirder thing that looks like a bicycle. The engraving on the object says "Presented by the Warwick Cycle Mfg. Company August 5, 1890.

What was this beautiful trophy given for? On the old silver trophy, the bicycle on top is of course a clue. The date, August 5, 1890 could be easily tracked in the old Bridgeport Daily Standard, found at the Bridgeport Public Library.
The story in the old Bridgeport Daily Standard on the date that follows, August 6, 1890 has the headline "Brisk Bicycle Battle." The second headline says, "Frank Soule wins the Wheelmen's Road Race."

Frank Soule? The other side of the

trophy shows a different name. The trophy has

nicely engraved on it, "William Seltsam" with the date of the race that Frank Soule supposedly won.

Who Actually Won the Race???

The account in the Bridgeport Standard tells the exciting story of the race. On the very hot summer day of August 5, 1890, seventeen bicyclists, including bicyclists from the local Rambling Wheelmen and the Bridgeport Wheel Club took off from Horan's Nursery at 647 Fairfield Avenue to the big elm in Norwalk and returned. The weather was fine but very hot.

Competition was high among the local clubs. The bicyclists, all men, took off on their bicycles at 4:07 p.m. that day. By 5:45, spectators lined up again to see the men return on their bicycles. Cheering the incoming bicyclists on, Frank Soule of the Bridgeport Wheelclub was the first to arrive, clocking a time of 2:03:37. The next to arrive, clocking in as 2:04:24 was the Rambling Wheelman's contestant, William Seltsam. The two clubs argued about the final result. However, Frank Soule was awarded a solid gold watch and Henry Seltsam, who came in second, was given a silver cup twenty inches high, presented by the Warwick Cycle Company.

The second place winner, William Seltsam of the Rambling Wheelmen and his bicycle

Taking the Trolley from Main Street and Beyond

It is a fine fall day. The year is 1905, and you have just immigrated to Bridgeport, Connecticut from Europe. You and your family want to see more of the countryside. What can you do? You have no form of transport. Sam, a fellow worker at the Warner Brothers Corset factory told you that by just walking up the corner to Main Street from your South End rooming house, you and your family can catch a trolley north to see the countryside.

Sam hands you a book called "Trolley Trips Through Southern New England," and you study the map in the book to see how far the trolley can take you.

Map of the trolley lines heading north.

How wonderful! You are amazed! You can take the trolley all the way from Bridgeport to New Haven! You can take it to Hartford! You can even take it all the way to Springfield, Massachusetts!

Inside the book, several trips are described. As a newcomer to New England, even the description of Bridgeport is interesting.

Since your family has never been anywhere north, you pack a picnic lunch and travel Sunday on the trolley to Hartford. The price for the trip is less than 80 cents for the whole family! You catch the trolley at noon and spend a glorious day seeing the fabulous tree colors in your new Connecticut countryside!