Bridgeport, Connecticut

Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The population was 148,654 in 2020, making it the fifth-most populous city in New England. It is a port city in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Island Sound, 60 miles (97 km) from Manhattan and 40 miles (64 km) from The Bronx. Bridgeport and other towns in Fairfield County make up the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, as well as the Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk–Danbury metropolitan statistical area, the second largest metropolitan area in Connecticut and a component of the greater New York metropolitan area. Inhabited by the Paugussett Native American tribe until English colonisation in the 1600s, Bridgeport was incorporated as a town in 1821 and as a city in 1836. Showman P. T. Barnum was a resident of the city and served as the town's mayor in 1871. Barnum built four houses in Bridgeport and housed his circus in town during winter. In the early 20th century, the city saw an economic and population boom, becoming by all measures Connecticut's chief manufacturing city by 1905. Bridgeport was the site of the world's first mutual telephone exchange (1877), the first dental hygiene school (1949), and the first bank telephone bill service in the US (1981). Inventor Harvey Hubbell II invented the first American electric plug outlet in Bridgeport in 1912. The Frisbie Pie Company was founded and operated in Bridgeport. The world's first Subway restaurant opened in the city's North End in 1965. After World War II, industrial decline and suburbanization led to the loss of major employers and affluent residents, contributing to poverty and violent crime. Since the early 21st century, however, the city has undertaken significant redevelopment efforts, and its crime rate fell by nearly 50 percent between 2010 and 2018. Bridgeport is home to three museums; the University of Bridgeport, Housatonic Community College, and part of Sacred Heart University; and the state's only zoo. It is officially nicknamed "Park City" due to its 35 public parks, which take up 1,300 acres. Although none are headquartered within the city itself, more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies are based in its metropolitan area. Bridgeport has been consistently ranked by various sites as among the 25 most ethnically and culturally diverse American cities.

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