Mary K Witkowski

Bridgeport at Work Mary K Witkowski

What was it like to work and live in Bridgeport during the past two centuries? No one could tell us better than the people who worked on the line in the factories, sold goods behind the counter at a department store, taught children in local schools, ran a travel agency, worked as a housewife, drove a truck, or ran one of the many prosperous businesses that helped Bridgeport grow and develop.

Bridgeport at Work chronicles the working life of Bridgeport, a center of industry and home to several legendary individuals. P. T. Barnum, who made Bridgeport his adopted home, began an 1851 project that established an industrial center in East Bridgeport, spurring many other companies to set up in this remarkable city. Igor Sikorsky, Simon Lake, Lucien and I. DeVer Warner, Harvey Hubbell, Elias Howe, and for a short time even Buckminster Fuller all produced some of their best work in Bridgeport. World Wars I and II helped to build the munitions and defense industry in the city, and companies such as Remington Arms, the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, and Sikorsky Aircraft thrived. Bridgeport at Work shows the workers and companies, producing everything from Frisbie pies to firearms, that made Bridgeport the "Arsenal of Democracy," and an industrial leader at a crucial time in American history.