CHAPTER XXXV.
EAST BRIDGEPORT.
ANOTHER NEW HOME—LINDENCROFT—PROGRESS OF MY PET CITY—THE CHESTNUT WOOD FIRE—HOW IT BECAME OLD HICKORY—INDUCEMENTS TO SETTLERS—MY OFFER—EVERY MAN HIS OWN HOUSE-OWNER—WHISKEY AND TOBACCO—RISE IN REAL-ESTATE—PEMBROKE LAKE—WASHINGTON PARK—GREAT MANUFACTORIES—WHEELER AND WILSON—SCHUYLER, HARTLEY AND GRAHAM—HOTCHKISS, SON AND COMPANY—STREET NAMES—MANY THOUSAND SHADE TREES—BUSINESS IN THE NEW CITY—UNPARALLELED GROWTH AND PROSPERITY—PROBABILITIES IN THE FUTURE—SITUATION OF BRIDGEPORT—ITS ADVANTAGES AND PROSPECTS—THE SECOND, IF NOT THE FOREMOST CITY IN CONNECTICUT.
FOR nearly five years my family had been knocked about, the sport of adverse fortune, without a settled home. Sometimes we boarded, and at other times we lived in a small hired house. Two of my daughters were married, and my youngest daughter, Pauline, was away at boarding school. The health of my wife was much impaired, and she especially needed a fixed residence which she could call “home.” Accordingly, in 1860, I built a pleasant house adjoining that of my daughter Caroline, in Bridgeport, and one hundred rods west of the grounds of Iranistan. I had originally a tract of twelve acres, but half of it had been devoted to my daughter, and on the other half I now proposed to establish my own residence. To prepare the site it was necessary to cart in several thousands of loads of dirt to fill up the hollow and to make the broad, beautiful lawn, in the centre of which I erected the new house, and after supplying the place with fountains, shrubbery, statuary and all that could adorn it, I named my new home “Lindencroft.” It was, in truth, a very delightful place, complete and convenient in all respects, and there is scarcely a more beautiful residence in Bridgeport now.
Meanwhile, my pet city, East Bridgeport, was progressing with giant strides. The Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine manufactory had been quadrupled in size, and employed about a thousand workmen. Numerous other large factories had been built, and scores of first-class houses were erected, besides many neat, but smaller and cheaper houses for laborers and mechanics. That piece of property, which, but eight years before, had been farm land, with scarcely six houses upon the whole tract, was now a beautiful new city, teeming with busy life, and looking as neat as a new pin. The greatest pleasure which I then took, or even now take, was in driving through those busy streets, admiring the beautiful houses and substantial factories, with their thousands of prosperous workmen, and reflecting that I had, in so great a measure, been the means of adding all this life, bustle and wealth to the City of Bridgeport. And reflection on this subject only confirmed in my mind the great doctrine of compensations. How plain was it in my case, that an “apparent evil” was a “blessing in disguise!” How palpable was it now, that, had it not been for the clock failure, this prosperity could not have existed here. An old citizen of Bridgeport used to say to me, when, a few years before, he had noticed my zeal in trying to build up the east side:
“Mr. Barnum, your contemplated new city is like a fire made with chestnut wood; it burns so long as you keep blowing it, and when you stop, it goes out!”
I like, now-a-days to laugh at him about his “chestnut wood fire.” Of course, I did blow the fire in all possible ways, but the result proved that the wood which fed the fire was not chestnut, but the best and soundest old hickory. The situation was everything that could be desired, and I knew that in order to induce manufacturers to establish their business in the new city, a prime requisite was the advantage I could offer to employers, agents and workmen, to secure good and cheap homes in the vicinity of their place of labor. To show the method I adopted to secure this end, I copy from the files of the Bridgeport Standard, an offer which I made, and the editorial comment thereon. This offer, I may add, was not so much for the purpose of blowing the fire, which was already fairly roaring with a lively blaze, as for the sake of helping those who were willing to help themselves, and, at the same time, contribute to my happiness, as well as their own, by forwarding the growth of the new city.
“NEW HOUSES IN EAST BRIDGEPORT.
“EVERY MAN TO OWN THE HOUSE HE LIVES IN.
“There is a demand at the present moment for two hundred more dwelling-houses in East Bridgeport. It is evident that if the money expended in rent can be paid towards the purchase of a house and lot, the person so paying will in a few years own the house he lives in, instead of always remaining a tenant. In view of this fact, I propose to loan money at six per cent to any number, not exceeding fifty, industrious, temperate and respectable individuals, who desire to build their own houses.
“They may engage their own builders, and build according to any reasonable plan (which I may approve), or I will have it done for them at the lowest possible rate, without a farthing profit to myself or agent, I putting the lot at a fair price and advancing eighty per cent of the entire cost; the other party to furnish twenty per cent in labor, material or money, and they may pay me in small sums weekly, monthly or quarterly, any amount not less than three per cent per quarter, all of which is to apply on the money advanced until it is paid.