Leading Business Men of Fairfield County

the Bridgeport Republican, originally started in 1830, and in 1848 he took Julius S- Hanover as a partner into the management of the Standard. A daily issue was begun in 1854. The management of the paper passed from the hands of Pettengill and Hanover into the control of John D. Candee, in 1863. The chief editorial work has since been done by Mr. Candee. The Standard Association, with a capital stock of 830,000, and Mr. Candee as president, was organized in 1867. Mr. Geo. C. Waldo was associated with Mr. Candee as assistant editor in 1867, and at the present time the business management is under the charge of Mr. A. Wheeler. The Standard has always been thoughtful and active in promoting the best interests of the city. The Bridgeport Sun, a leading weekly, was first published in 1867, by William H. May, who has continued as editor ever since, as the Budget. Captain May gained editorial celebrity during the war by publishing the only successful paper — The Old Flag— issued by prisoners in the hands of the enemy. The pungent style and inde- pendent spirit of the Sun have made it at once respected and liked. The Morning Netos was originally published by Major Henry M. Hoyt, L. C. Prindle and John Beardsley in 1874, and after a discontinuance of several years was again started by Major Hoyt, with the assistance of A. W. French and T. W. Wood, in 1879. Rufus A. Lyon and L. C. Prindle took control of the paper in February, 1885, and in December of the same year the sole interest of editorial and business management was vested in Mr. Prindle. For six or seven years the News has been one of the most popular mediums of accurate and early reports of events in all parts of the world. One of the most successful newspaper ventures of recent years is the Evening Post, first issued by George W. Hills, in 1883, as a four-column sheet, about the size a "handkerchief," as a contemporary remarked. Within three months it had in- creased to five columns; six months saw it a six-column paper, and in a little over a year after its inception, it had become a seven-column daily, the exact size and make up of the New York Sun. George W. Hills assumed a partnership with his brother Henry M. Hills, in January, 1885, forming the firm of Hills Brothers. The Post has met with great success, its circulation and advertising patronage steadily increasing and placing it in the front rank among the leading papers of this part of the State. Like the Morning Neios and Sun it is " independent in all things." The Bridgeport Public Library and Reading Room has played an important part in the literary culture of the people. It was started about 1830, and continued a free library until 1857, when the Bridgeport Library Association was formed and for more than twenty years it was carried on as a subscription library, a fee being charged for membership. In 1881, as the result of a movement in which Judge D. B. Lockwood, Clarence Sterling and John D. Candee took a prominent part, a "free public library " was established, which received the volumes of the old association and as- sumed all of its debts. The original officers were : President, W. D. Bishop; Vice- President, John D. Candee; Secretary, Charles Sherwood; Treasurer, William B. Hincks; Directors: Frederick Hurd, W. J. Hills, S. S. Blake and Bernard Winghofer. The library has since met with unvarying success, receiving the support of the best citizens of the city. Among the more important donations which it has received are the following : The gift of one hundred dollars from Mrs. James C. Loomis; the donation of one thousand dollars worth of new books from the Hon. P. T. Barnuin, 46 BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT. and the bequeath by Mrs. Catherine A. Pettengill in January 1883," of the valuable and beautiful structure called the "Burroughs Building," to be converted into a permanent home for the library. The number of volumes now in the library is in the neighborhood of the seventeen thousand, and the present membership is about seven thousand. The Rev. Horatio Nelson Powers, D.D., was a resident of Bridgeport and Rector of Christ Church of this city from 1875 until 1885. He exercised a powerful influ- ence for higher education and culture during his residence here. He was one of the founders and first President of the Bridgeport Scientific Society. Valuable literary contributions were made by him to such periodicals as Harper's Magazine, Century, LippincotVs, International Review, Critic, Independent, and he was the American contributor to the prominent French journal, JO Art. He wrote the following works: " Through the Year," " Early and Late," a volume of poems, and " A Brief Biog- raphy of William Cullen Bryant." Among his celebrated literary friends were Bay- ard Taylor, Bryant, and Philip Gilbert Hamerton of England. The influence of such gifted men as Dr. Powers has been like seed sown on good ground. The Rev. Charles Ray Palmer was born in New Haven, May 2, 1834. He grad- uated at Yale University in the Class of '55, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1859. After a pastorate of twelve years at the Tabernacle Church in Salem, Mass., he came to Bridgeport to take charge of the First Congregational Church in whose service he devoted his untiring energies until the close of his life. The beau- tiful serenity of his character and the powerful, though unconscious expression of his loving humanity were as strong aids to noble thinking and loving in others as the outward influence which he exerted through his sermons and poems. It is as a writer of sacred hymns that " Ray Palmer " will be chiefly remembered as a brilliant member of our list of American poets. There is no question that he was the greatest composer of sacred hymnology this country has ever had, and some of his best poems, as " My faith looks up to Thee," will remain as master-pieces of the English language. His recent death has caused universal sorrow in the hearts of those whom he had cheered and strengthened by his beautiful poems. The Rev. John Lyon is another of the literary men to whom Bridgeport owes much of its high culture. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in December, 1844, he studied at Glasgow University,- and came to this country in 1867. He accepted the call of the Bridgeport First Universalist Church in 1876, and since that time has labored assiduously here for the advancement of morality and the right. He has contrib- uted many powerful articles to the great journals and periodicals, and at the present time is about to publish a novel entitled "Vergilia, a Tale of the Primitive Church." He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Tufts College in 1886. During the dark days of the Revolution, the Rev. Robert Ross, the pastor of the Congregational Church in Stratfield at that time, composed several stirring patriotic poems, and at a later date some school text-books of value. Of recent years the can- didate for Holy Orders from Christ Church parish, C. W. de L. Nichols has attained favorable criticisms for articles on historical, literary and philosophical subjects. Bridgeport has always had an abundance of warm social feeling which is charac- teristic of New England, as, among other things the number and prosperity of her societies will testify. The third lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Connecticut was chartered at Stratfield, February 12, 1762, as the "St. John's Lodge." The BRIDGEPORT, PAST AND PRESENT. 47 lodge continued to meet in Stratfield for sometime, but was removed to Fairfield December, 1762, where it remained until it was moved to Bridgeport again in 1789. Since the beginning of the century, the lodge has grown steadily in numbers and influence, despite the adverse criticism temporarily excited in 1831 and 1832 by the troubles in New York State, and at the present time it numbers about five hundred. Other Masonic organizations have been formed in Bridgeport in the following chron- ological order : Jerusalem Chapter, No. 13, R. A. M., 1813; Jerusalem Council, No. 16, R. andS. M., 1S27; The Hamilton Commandery, No. 5, Knights Templar, with sixteen charter members, in May, 1858; De Witt Clinton Lodge of Perfection, in May, 1858; Pequonnock Chapter, R. C, June 1, 1858; Washington Council, P. of J., June 1, 1858; Lafayette Consistory, S. P. of R. S., June 1, 1S58; Corinthian Lodge, No. 104, F. and A. M., was founded in 1868, and at the present time it numbers about one hundred members. Pequonnock Lodge, No. 4, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was the fourth organized in the State, receiving its charter in 1841. The society prospered for a number of years until the approach of the war drew away attention temporarily from social matters, so that the Pequonnock Lodge had to be abandoned in 1860. The charter of Pequonnock Lodge was renewed in 1869, and the society has since met with unalloyed prosperity. Its present handsome rooms in the Burroughs building were first occupied in 1873. Steuben Lodge, No. 83, was chartered in April 1867, being chiefly composed of Germans, and has continued to increase stead- ily in numbers and wealth. The lodge formerly met in a hall on Water street, but since 1879 it has occupied the beautifully arranged and adorned rooms in Stanton Block. Lessing Lodge, No. 94, was established in 1874, as an offshoot of Steuben Lodge, and Arcanum Lodge was chartered in 1875.