Bridgeport, Connecticut Lottery Bridge across the Pequonnock, connecting the wharves on its east and west banks. Bridgeport Bank was established in 1806. In 1821, the township of Bridgeport became independent of Stratford. The West India trade died down around 1840, but by that time the Bridgeport Steamship Company (1824) and Bridgeport Whaling Company (1833) had been incorporated and the Housatonic Railroad chartered (1836). The HRRC ran upstate along the Housatonic Valley, connecting with Massachusetts's Berkshire Railroad at the state line. Bridgeport was chartered as Connecticut's fifth city in 1836 in order to enable the town council to secure funding (ultimately $150,000) to
Bridgeport, Alabama withdrew from the area, and the Bridgeport Land and Improvement Company went out of business. Frank Kilpatrick returned to Bridgeport in 1895, and managed to lure some industry to the city. The Mission Revival-style Bridgeport Depot was completed in 1917, and two hosiery mills were operating in the city by the 1920s. The construction of the nearby Widows Creek Power Plant by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1950s brought a small housing boom to the city. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (4.00%) is water. The