Government and The gov ernment of the city is committed to a mayor, elected every two years, a board of 24 alder men, 2 from each district, a board of educa tion, 12 members, elected at large 4 members each year, a board of apportionment and taxa tion, appointed by the mayor. The mayor also appoints members of the. police board, board of health, fire commissioners, library board, park commissioners, board of charities, a city engineer and a director of public works. ,The city s assessed valuation of property is $137,621,212, its debt $1,578,691 and its tax rate about 15 mills per $1,000. The annual outlay is nearly two millions, about a half million being for schools. There are four national banks, five savings banks with deposits of over $30,000,000, two trust companies and a number of private banks. Notwithstanding the proxim ity of New York the retail business along all lines is extensive. The city has a cosmopolitan population consisting basically of the old New England stock, balanced with the thoroughly Americanized families from Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia. Later additions have been drawn largely from the southern countries of Europe. The growth of population has been as follows: (1810) 1,089; (1820) 1,500; (1830) 2,800; (1840) 3,294; (1850) 7,560; (1860) 13,209; (1870) 18,969; (1880) 27,643; (1890 48,866; (1900) 70,996; (1910) 102,054; (1914) 115,289; (1916) 160,000.
History.— The first settlement was made in 1639, on lands bought from the Paugusset Indians, who in 1659 were relegated to a reser vation on Golden Hill. It was called Pugh quannock or Pequonnock, and formed a p'arish in the towns of Fairfield and Stratford, where the inhabitants went to church till they built their own first one in 1695. In 1694 they peti tioned to have it renamed Fairford; the legis lature chose Fairfield Village instead; they rejected it and the next year fixed on Strat field, which, however, was not legalized until '1701. In 1703 the first school building was
erected, previous teaching having been in the church on week-days. In 1707 the first services of the Episcopalians were held; in 1748 their first church was built. In 1775 a company from here joined Arnold's expedition to Quebec ; and there was much privateering from this place in the Revolution. In 1795 the first newspaper, the American Telegraph, was issued. In 1800 the borough of Bridgeport was incorporated, including the village of New field, which' had grown up at the waterside, the old settlement being along the Boston and New York turnpike, or °Old Stage Road,* now in part North avenue. In 1806, the first bank, Bridgeport Bank, was organized. In 1821 the town of Bridgeport was set off, hav ing then 1,700 inhabitants, 218 dwellings, 73 stores and warehouses, and an assessed valua tion of $24,701. On 28 Sept. 1824 the first steamer ran from Derby past Bridgeport to New York; 16 April 1832, the first Bridgeport steamer, the Citizen, began regular trips. The Housatonic Railroad was opened to New Mil ford in February 1840; the New York, New Haven and Hartford began running to Fair field, 2 Sept. 1848, to New York, 1 Jan, 1849. This ushered in the period of real city de velopment, 1850-60. Gas was introduced De cember 1861; water, 1854-55; P. T. Barnum bought large tracts of land in East Bridgeport and opened it up after 1850; in 1856 the Wheeler & Wilson Company removed here from Watertown' and greatly enlarged their plant; the Howe Company came in 1863, and the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in 1865. In 1870 the city annexed a part of Fair, field; in 1899 Summerfield, and West Stratford across Pembroke Lake. Consult Orcutt's 'History of Stratford and Bridgeport) (New Haven 1886) ; Waldo, 'The Standard's History of Bridgeport) (Bridgeport 1897).