History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

cieties, this amount has now increased to about twenty- buy the works of the Bridgeport Hydraulic ( 'ompany, two thousand dollars ; but, as the sum of sixly thou- or to build new works, if a pnnhasr eoiild not be sand dollars is needed before commeneing to build, it elfeeted upon terms satisliictory to the city. This ai't is obvious that much remains to be done. was duly ratified by the city, but at a city mceling called for the jiurpose, Aug. !•'', bS7;!, resolutions lo llvriK.MiLic OOMI'ANY. purchase the hydraulic company's works for the sum A very full account is given in the "Miinici])al Reg- of three hundred thousand didlars were lost by tweiity- ister" for IX?.'! and succeeding years of the history of seven majority, the wdiole number of votes cast being the water sup]ily of Bridge]iort, and only a few of the six hundred and seventy-six. .\ mw proposition leading facts will be recapitulated here. made by the company to a cinnmittee of the Common 9 122 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. CkjuiK'il, to sell the works, franchises, etc., for the sum of two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars was rejected, Nov. 3, 1873, by a larger majority than be- fore,— viz., two hundred and twenty-tliree out of a vote of seventeen hundred and forty-three. Eventually, Joseidi Jiicbardson, up t<> this time the president and leadln-; stockholder of the hydraulic company, sold his stock to Hon. Amos 8. Treat, and a new policy was inaugurated. The sources of supply have been greatly enlarged, old and worn-out pi])e has been replaced in many sections with new pipe of good (luality, and mains have been laid in localities not before reached. Since Aug. 25, IHl't, the date of Mr. Treat's purchase, the sum of one hundred and thirty-five thoasand dollars has been expended in laying down mains and thirty thousand dollais in building new reservoirs, etc. The total amount of mains now in use is forty-five miles and the elevation of the distributing reservoirs above tide-water is one hundred and ten feet. The company now depends for water chiefly upon natural flow, re.sort to the pumj) being had only in dry sejusons. Following is a list of present sources of supply : Trumbull reservoir, 00 acres ; Island Brook reservoir, 62 acres; BunucH's I'ond, '>0 acres; Bunnell's Upper Pond, 4.1 acres ; Ox-strcara reservoir, 15 acres ; Horse tavern reservoir, 5 acres; distributing reservoir, 3 acres; total, 240 acres. Otlicers of the company for 1880 are : P. T. Barnuni, President ; A. S. Treat, Treasurer ; C. H. Thorpe, Sec- retary ; George Richardson, Superinteiulcnt; J*. T. Barnum, N. Wheeler, ,1. Richardson, William H. Perry, A. S. Treat, T. B. i)e Forest, Samuel Wilmot, ,S. W. Baldwin, Directors. I INSURANCE. The Mutual Life Insurance Association of Bridge- port was organized in 1X78, and at the present time has about four hundred and fifty members. An ad- juission-fee varying from six to sixty dollars according to the age of the applicant is charged, and upon the •death of any member of the a.ssociation an a.ssessment •of two dollars is made upon each of the survivors for the benefit of the relatives of the decea.sed, or of such other person as he may have designated. This is the only insurance company in Bridgeport. Following is a list of the officers : Charles B. Ilotch- kiss, Pre.sident ; John D.Candee, Vice-President; W. O. Lineburgh, Secretary ; William E. Seeley, Trea.s- urer. IXTKHNAT, BKVEXrK. The Internal Revenue sy.stem of the United States was established in 18()2. Eadi congressional district was at first made a collection district, and David F. Hollister, of Bridgeport, wius appointed Collector of the Fourth District of Connecticut (Fairfield and Litchfield Counties) by President Lincoln, Aug. 15, 1862. In October, 1873, the Second and Fourth Districts were consolidated, anil Mr. Hollister was ai)pointed Collector of the consolidated territory, which comprises the counties of Litchfield, Fairfield, New Haven, and Middlesex, and is called the Second Connecticut Dis- trict ; and this position he still holds. The total amount of revenue collected from the old Fourth District from its organization in August, 1862, to the date of its consolidation, November, 1873, was $7,886,011.66. The collections in the Second District from its formaticm to Sept. 1, 1880, were $1,843,510.64, making the aggregate amount collected in a little over eighteen years .$9,729,522.30. During this whole time there has never been the discrepancy of a single cent between Mr. Hollister's accounts and those of government, and the office has been repeatedly com- mended for the accurate manner in which its trans- actions are recorded. The i)rinci])al office of the district is in Bridgeport. The other oflicers residing here are: Henry C. Lemon and Francis E. Barlow, Deputy Collectors; William 11. Kelsey, Clerk; and John A. Boughton, Ganger. LIBKAIIY. The present Bridgeport Library, incorporated in .lunc, 1850, was reorganized and a new act of incor- poration obtained in October, 1855. It was the suc- cessor of a similar institution, which disl)anded and transferred its books and other property to the new a.ssociation. The manner in which the original insti- tution was begun is briefly as follows: About the year 1830, S. M. Middlebrook, the i)resent treasurer of the City Savings Bank, wrote several anonymous articles urging the necessity of a public library in Bridgeport, and slipped them at dirt'erent times under the office- door of T/ie Weetlj/ Farmer, where they were found and published by the editor. Encouraged by their reception, young Middlebrook wrote another arti- cle, calling a i>ublic meeting to be held at Knajip's Hotel, corner of Wall and Water Streets, upon a cer- tain specified evening, to discuss the subject ; but, feeling that he was only a boy, did not sign his name to the communication. Like the others, it was pub- lished. The evening came; quite a number of the solid citizens of the j)lace were in attendance, but no one appeared to state the oliject of the meeting or to tjike the lead, and much wonder wius expressed as to the author of the call in the Farmer, and why he was not present to champion his idea. Certainly no one thought of sus|>eeting the young lad who was stroll- ing up and down outside, occasionally casting a keen glance through the wiinlow to see what was taking place within. Alanson Hamlin, the leading lawyer of the borough, finally took the chair and made a strong speech in favor of a library. Resolutions were passed, a coniniittee was appointed to take up subseri|)tions, and the result was that a small num- ber of well-selected books was obtained. This lilirary was kept for a time in the old .savings bank, ibc treasurer, Deacon George Sterling, acting BltlDCKroiiT. 12:! as librarian without (.•(iiiipi'iisatinn. Hnmetiiin's iiitrr- 4'st in tlu' alt'air wcjulil lautiuisli, ami the books wore boxed up tor a time; at other tiiius the institution was iiuite prosperous. It tinally ilisbamled, bei|ueath- ini;- its property to its sueeessor, as already relateil. The I'ridjrcport Library received a bonus ot' live hunih'ed dollars f'nim the Farmers' Bank, ami one of one thousand dollars from the Pequonnoek Bank, lioth in ISol. ('ousiderable sums of money have also been realized at dili'ereiit times by eoursi-s of lectures and other entertainnu'Uts, and by the eireulation of sub- seri]>tion-pa]iers in its behalf. Durin.ir the year bS.">r> the sum of three thousand dollars was subscribed by jiublie-spirited citizens of the place, and the collection of the Calliopean Society of Yale ('olleu;e was ]iur- chased and placed upon its shilves. The library and reading-room. orij;inally at No. 41 Wall Street, were removed thence to the court-house buildini;, and about ten years af^o to their present location, in Wheeler's Buildinjr. The nundierof volunu's is now about eifiht thousand, besides a large numbi'r of gov- ernmiiit <loeunieufs. Tlie rent is paid by the city, but the only source of income at pre.seiit po.ssessed by tlu' institution is the mendiership dues of about three fir four hundred dollars per annum. The institnticMi has always been fortumite in its librarians, and never more so tluui at present, but, owing to the want of funds, no new hooks liaM' been purchased for several years past, and a large munher of those owned by the association are badly dilapidated from long use. What this institution greatly needs is an eixlownient fund of not less than ten thousand dollars, the interest of which should hi- spei'ially de- voted to the purchase of new books. This would put new life into all its departments. Until such time as this can be obtained, it would seem that the town might wisely make an auiuuil apjirojiriation in its behalf, as is everywhere done in Massachusetts, and as permitted Ijy the statute law in this State. LIGHTHOtSES. The Bridgeport lighthouse is about one and a half miles south by east from the city, and consists of a tower and dwelling painted white, with slatc-ccdorcd Mansard roof and black limtern. The house stands upon iron piles, and was erected in the year 1S71. In entering the harbor vessels must i)ass to the eastward and not nearer than two hundred feet. The light is a fixed red one, tilty-three feet above the sea-level, and the fog-signal is a cast-steel bell struck by ma- chinery every fifteen seconds. The Black Rock lighthouse is u])on the southern extremity of Fayerwcather's Island, an<l consists of a stone tower erected in bSOS, white, with bhuk lantern, containing a fixed white light, fifty-two feet above the sea-level and visible for thirteen nnles. The breakwater adjoining the lighthouse was built in the summer of 1S37. Penfield Keef lighthouse, one ami a (juarter miles