Bridgeport City Hall is located at 45 Lyon Terrace, Bridgeport CT 06604.
Phone: 203‑576‑1311.
Neighborhoods
First settled around 1659, Bridgeport was incorporated as borough in 1821 and, subsequently, as a city in 1836.
Beginnings [1]
The history of the City of Bridgeport proper begins in 1798 when the inhabitants of the Village of Newfield, in the Town of Stratford, were recognized by the General Assembly in that they were granted the right to maintain a fire engine company, and the founding of the community known as Stratfield. This must be recognized as one of the first governmental moves leading to the creation of the City of Bridgeport.
The locality when first visited by the English was the site of an Indian village, comprising four or five hundred inhabitants. The two families who first settled west of the Pequonnock River were the households of Henry Summers, Sr., and Samuel Gregory. Their original houses were located near the junction of Park and Washington Avenues.
The history of the City of Bridgeport may be divided into five parts, namely:
(1) Beginnings with the year 1798, when the inhabitants of Newfield within the Town of Stratford, living within certain limits, were authorized by the General Assembly to maintain a fire engine company and ordain by-laws for the protection of their property against fire.
(2) Beginning with the year 1800, when the General Assembly, by a special act, extended the territorial limits of Newfield, gave the inhabitants more governing power, and gave the corporation the name of the Borough of Bridgeport.
(3) Beginning with 1821, when the General Assembly of the state divided to Town of Stratford and bestowed upon the inhabitants living in the western portion thereof the authority to maintain a separate town government under the name of the Town of Bridgeport.
(4) Beginning with 1836, when the General Assembly by a special act of incorporation extended the territorial limits of the Borough of Bridgeport and gave to the inhabitants more power of self-government under the name of the City of Bridgeport.
(5) Beginning with 1889, when the General Assembly of the state consolidated the town and city into one government, to be known as the City of Bridgeport, with territorial limits the same as the town.
Nearby Towns: Fairfield Town •