Curious Historian

Bridgeport’s recent tornado was not the first tornado the city ever had.  A tornado tore parts of Bridgeport and Stratford apart 134 years ago.  The storm had an eerie resemblance to our recent tornado, moving quickly and as suddenly as our recent storm hit and on a similar path of destruction.

Washington Park On September 14, 1876 Bridgeport in the middle of the night  residents of parts of Bridgeport were awakened by a windstorm  passing through town.  Around midnight, buildings began to shake.  The tornado, which was reported in the Bridgeport Standard the next day, had reporters tracking the storm through Highland Avenue  in the City’s Hollow where three houses  were unroofed, plus the timbers and  tin roof coverings of two other houses tore off. 

The next stop for the storm was at Housatonic and East Washington Avenue, where a huge willow tree fell down, falling on telegraph wires.  Lumber scattered everywhere from the Lyon, Curtis and Company lumber yard.  Lumber owned by the Wheeler and Wilson company also blew throughout the area. 

The gale hit the carriage shop at the corner of Wiliam and East Washington, and turned southeast, tearing a corner away. Then the storm hit Washington Park, leaving a large tree down and a trail of broken limbs and chimneys. 

It was also reported that damage also occurred in West Stratford.

The storm was a whirlwind, which seemed to be a couple of hundred feet wide at any point. The wind was quick moving, and only lasted a few minutes.  It was later reported to be a tornado.

A wonderful object was recently bought at an auction and donated by Ben Ortiz and Victor Torchia, Jr. to the Bridgeport History Center 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.

Walt Kelley was not born in Bridgeport.  He was born in Philadelphia, but he moved to Bridgeport in 1902.  Yet it seems that Bridgeport was the birthplace of Walt Kelly’s art. Kelly first started drawing, like other kids, but blossomed in art as a student in Harding High School.  He drew for the high school yearbook and also wrote poetry. 

Kelly began to work for the Bridgeport Post and later said, “I was the world’s worst reporter.”  He began drawing cartoons for the Post, drawing P.T. Barnum comic strips.  As a reporter he covered the Welfare Department during the Great Depression.

Kelly moved to California to work at Disney studios.  While working there he started developing a swampland series on his own time.  He moved back to the East Coast to work for the New York Star.  While there, Kelly created had his first “Pogo the Possum” comic strip.  In 1949, the Star newspaper folded, and Kelly moved to Darien and raised a family.  His comic strip Pogo became known for its political and controversial content.  Kelly continued his comic strip, becoming very famous during the 1970’s during the environmental movement for “We Have Met the Enemy and he is Us.”  Walt Kelly died 1973.

Dear Everyone:

You never write anymore!  Putting that stamp on the envelope is a lost art…ending the wonderful world of World War II letters, Civil War letters, letters from home, or letters from lovers.

Does writing a blog replace this?  I don’t believe it is the same.  Don’t we get excited to actually get an old fashioned letter in the mail?

If we don’t keep writing letters, there will be no more mail.  So…write a letter today!  Writing a letter on the weekend can do four things:   1. We can remember to physically write, 2. Can keep the post office in business, 3. remember how to use a pen and handwriting, and,  4. make the person we send the letter to…well..Happy!

I will write at least one letter to a member of my family or a friend every Sunday.  Why don’t we all try this! This is a tradition that can’t be lost.

Today…a letter to my sister or my mother!  Who will you write…?

Yours truly,

Mary

If you are becoming interested in tracing your family tree, you can start right here at the Bridgeport Public Library.  Our History Center has tools for every researcher.  And not just Bridgeport families…I’m originally from Detroit, yet I have been able to figure out my ancestors from sources right here in this library.

We have a subscription to Ancestry.com.  You don’t have to pay a cent.  We can help you get started.  Or we can help you continue your family research.  And you don’t have to be computer saavy, we can give you tips to get started.

The first step in a family tree is write down everything you know about your family.  You start with yourself.  Then you write your  parents name.  Then your grandparents, and so on. 

We have had patrons who have come in to research who only know one grandparent.  Or only their mother’s name.  We can still help.

If your family started out in Australia, or Italy, Botswana or Tahiti, we can still help you trace your roots. 

To get started with some tools, I encourage you to come into to the
Bridgeport History Center at the Bridgeport Public Library.  We are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 until 5 pm.

We also have a genealogy Roundtable group that meets on the Third Thursday of every month at 12:30.  Beginners and all levels are invited.  We can help!  Sources are free

Immigrants to Bridgeport, Warner Corset workers

..come to the Bridgeport History Center at the Bridgeport Public Library and start your own History!

Our address is 925  Broad Street, Bridgeport Connecticut.  We can be reached at (203) 576-7417

Once you take your first step into Genealogy…you wil be HOOKED!

Main Street Bridgeport…1945…busy streets and your choice of stores!  So many residents remember everything that was available downtown…Lerner’s, Woolworth’s, the Poli Theaters, great food.  Well…I think that Bridgeport is coming back…there are many great restaurants to dine at, plus good theater and arts…we can’t stop in 1945!

It is my hope that while the past is the past; the future will give us equally good memories.  Write down your memory of Bridgeport past, or a good recent memory and send it to me, Mary Witkowski at the Bridgeport Public Library, 925 Broad Street, Bridgeport. 400 words or less…with a little editing, we will put it in our Bridgeport Memoir writing blog!  www.bridgeportmemoirwriting.com or to mwitkowski@bridgeportpubliclibrary.com

Read’s Department Store Display Window, 1936.  Downtown shopping at department stores was always a thrill…and the yearly displays were fabulous.

I can remember as a child, taking the bus Downtown to go Christmas shopping.  It was a thrill…my mother and my sisters and I go from
Department store to store to Department store.  There were so many stores to choose from, we would sometimes split up and meet later at some designated spot.  We would gaze in amazement at the wonderful window displays, showing the latest fashions and goods.

“I’ll meet you under the clock,” my Mother would say. After speeding  through the revolving doors of the store, we each would head towards our chosen shopping goal.  Our allowances were in our pockets; waiting to be spent.

 I grew up in Detroit, however, Bridgeport, Connecticut had the same crowded stores with the many varieties of goods.  The department store had women’s gloves, wallets, and scarves on the lowest floor.  We often stopped to admire a scarf or hat that was on display, and then go to the bank of elevators where the elevator operator would ask, “what floor please.”  At each floor, the operator would give a verbal guide to what was on each floor:  linens, better clothing, men’s, and our favorite…toys. 

The top floor of the department store was Toyland, and where children stood in line with their parents to see Santa. 

After a long morning of shopping, my mother would treat us to lunch somewhere…either Kresge’s or Woolworth’s at the lunch counter.  After a grilled cheese sandwich, we would be out in the street again, ready to continue our shopping.

It was getting dark by the time we took the bus home, and our arms were so laden with packages, we dropped into the seat on the bus. All that kept us awake were the dazzling display of Christmas Lights, as we “oohed” and ”awed” in wonder.

The Historical Collections at the Bridgeport Public Library received an old letter a patron found tucked in an equally old family book.  The typewritten letter, written by John M. Wheeler, was to Mr. Thomas Leonard.  Reading the letter brought many questions to our minds.

The letter was dated March 3, 1894 and was on Wheeler and Howes Coal letterhead, Bridgeport, Conn.

The letter is to Mr. Thomas Leonard and sends him a “present,” presumably money.  Mr. Wheeler thanks Leonard, “for good judgement, daring courage and the grand result… capture of all the burglars.”

What was Mr. Wheeler referring to?  Upon looking through the Bridgeport Evening Post of March 1, 1894, the first column tells the story of a daring capture of three thieves from New York, who broke into John Wheeler’s house at the corner of Park Avenue and State Street. 

The capture of the thieves was credited to Special Leonard, Officer Hall and Larkin, but it was Officer Larkin at three in the morning, who first saw a strange site as he stood in front of Mrs. Teugel’s cigar store on State street…a figure striking a lighted match again and again inside Mr. Wheeler’s dark house.  The officer walked toward the house, and then saw a group of men come out of the Wheeler’s house.  Officer Leonard drew his pistol and yelled, “Go back in there or I’ll blow your head off.”

Meanwhile, Officers Hall, Leonard and Larkin surrounded the house, and as one burglar came out the side door, and an officer shot him in the back.  Two men were taken to jail, and the last man who was shot was eventually taken to the hospital.

It turns out the burglars were breaking into several homes in town in the last few weeks, including the house of Nathaniel Wheeler and the Bishop family.

The burglars, who wore  had taken little items from the house, and wore white handkerchiefs over their faces like masks, were thought to be “New York sharpies.”

Mr. Wheeler and his family remained asleep until the gun was fired.  They had no idea that their house was broken into.

If you have other items of interest including photographs, letters and other ephemera, please contact the Historical Collections at (203) 576-7417.