Click image to enlarge. Shown is a Spanish-Mission-style train depot saved and restored by the Bridgeport Area Historical Society. The community of Bridgeport is perhaps the most pristine of the state's late nineteenth-century speculative "boom towns." Ideally situated on the Tennessee River and at the intersection of two railroad lines, Bridgeport seemed a sure bet in the 1880s to several New York and New England capitalists looking for a good investment. Indus tries sprang up overnight--from a stoveworks to a wire nail manufacturer to a basket and package company--until growth came to a sudden halt with the Panic of 1893-94. During the subsequent depression, industries pulled out. T he railroad remained, of course, and continued to bring a measure of prosperity to the town, but its heyday was over. Today, Bridgeport retains its Victorian ambiance, including outstanding examples of late nineteenth-century architecture and a turn-of-the century commercial district.
The Bridgeport Area Historical Society is attempting to save a historical rail road bridge and to make in roads in to other aspects of preservation. Pervasive and complex threats to the town, like the near abandonment of its downtown commercial area and slowly encroaching modern industrial development, are more difficult issues to confront. A statewide interest in the unique Victorian environment of Bridgeport is needed if this "period" community is to maintain its historic fabric.
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