Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Apex Tool Co. 1929-ca. 1945
• Bridgeport Machines Inc. 1939-1951, 1960-late-20th c.
• Bridgeport Pattern & Model Co. 1916-1939

Use (Historic)

• Fabricated Metal Products
• Machine Tools, Machinery

Largest Documented Workforce

700 (1966, all three plants).

Historic Narrative

Bridgeport Machines, Incorporated was originally established in 1909 as the Bridgeport Pattern and Model Company. The business was founded by a Bridgeport, Connecticut patternmaker, Charles Gregory, who began the firm in a rented shop at 143 Cannon Street. The Bridgeport Pattern and Model Company manufactured wood and metal patterns, which were sold to industrial plants and machine shops. In 1916, the company erected a new three-story red brick factory on Remer Street, which it shared with several tenants. In 1917, these consisted of the Bridgeport Cutter Works and Loudon C. Minor’s toy manufactory. By 1930, these firms had vacated the plant and the Bridgeport Pattern and Model Company was joined by the Apex Tool Company and the Huenerberg Machine Company. In 1927, ownership of the Bridgeport Pattern and Model Company was acquired by Rudolph Bannow, a foreman at the shop. Bannow was a Swedish immigrant who arrived in the United States at the age of 13. He was trained as a patternmaker and worked his way up the ladder at the Bridgeport Pattern and Model Company before purchasing the business. Bannow managed the firm for two years, whereupon he took on Magnus Wahlstrom, another Swedish immigrant, as a partner. The pair began their collaboration by trying to develop an electric hedge clipper, yet soon abandoned this project in order to focus on machine tools. During the early 1930s, Bannow and Wahlstrom began manufacturing machine tools of their own design, among them being the company’s Universal Milling Machine, or ‘Model C,’ which was in production by 1932, and their Bridgeport Turret Mill Machine, which was completed by 1938. The design for the Bridgeport Turret Mill Machine, more widely known simply as the ‘Bridgeport,’ was allegedly sketched out by Bannow on a paper bag while waiting to make a delivery to a client. Regardless of the character of its origins, however, the Bridgeport would prove both a financial and engineering success for Bannow. The machine not only served as the foundation of a reorganized manifestation of the Bridgeport Pattern and Model Company, Bridgeport Machines, Incorporated, which was established in 1938 in order to produce the Bridgeport, the tool became an industry standard vertical milling machine and earned Bannow a place in machine tool legend (he was inducted into the American Precision Museum Machine Tool Hall of Fame in 1992). The Bridgeport Turret Mill Machine was instantly accepted and sales rose rapidly. After turning out its first miller in 1938, Bridgeport Machines, Incorporated delivered its 5,000th Bridgeport in 1945, and its 10,000th machine just three years later. This demand soon necessitated the construction of a new larger plant, which was built on Lindley Street and occupied in 1951. The firm’s Remer Street factory fell vacant for several years before being occupied by Powr-Pak, Incorporated, a chemical manufacturer, during the late 1950s, however Bridgeport Machines, Incorporated eventually reoccupied the mill as a second plant in 1960. The 100,000th Bridgeport Miller was completed in 1967, just one year before the company was sold to Textron, Incorporated. Bridgeport Machines continued operations in Bridgeport under another holding company, Hardinge, Incorporated, until 2002, whereupon production of milling machines was moved to Elmira, New York.

Number of Existing Buildings

Roughly four (4) adjoining primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

ca. 1860, 1916, ca. 1920, 1940, ca. 1940.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The former Bridgeport Machines, Incorporated plant is comprised of four adjoining primary blocks located on the east side of North Avenue, roughly 125’ north of North Avenue’s intersection with Remer Street; and on the north side of Remer Street, roughly 150’ east of Remer Street’s intersection with North Avenue. The original factory was erected on Remer Street by the firm’s predecessor, the Bridgeport Pattern and Model Company, in 1916. The building is a two-story, 40’ x 88’ red brick block with a fieldstone foundation, large rectangular window openings with concrete sills, a stepped red brick façade (south elevation) parapet, concrete coping, and a flat roof. A concrete plaque that reads ‘1916’ is centered in the parapet. A two-story, 40’ x 100’ red brick manufacturing block was erected immediately west of the original mill ca. 1920. The addition is connected to the 1916 building via a one-story red brick secondary ell and a second-story red brick passageway. The ca. 1920 building has a brownstone foundation, large rectangular window openings with concrete sills, a stepped red brick façade (south elevation) parapet, concrete coping, and a flat roof. The main entrance to the block is centered on the façade (south elevation) and consists of a metal replacement door flanked by pilasters. A three-story stairtower adjoins the northern end of the block’s west elevation. A one-story, 50’ x 140’ red brick manufacturing block was erected adjoining the north elevation of the 1916 block in 1940. The addition fronts on North Avenue and has a concrete foundation, large rectangular window openings with concrete sills, a low red brick façade (south elevation) parapet, and a low-pitch hipped roof. Red brick piers with concrete caps frame the entrance on the west (front) elevation of the building, and the window openings on the south (side) elevation. Another one-story red brick block was added to the plant shortly after the 1940 building was completed. This surrounds a two-and-a-half-story, ca. 1860 Italianate style frame residence and served as an office and stock room. The brick addition has large rectangular window openings and a flat roof, while the residential building has a T-shaped footprint, rectangular window openings with various arrangements of double-hung sash, and a pitched roof with pitched cross gables and cornice returns. A two-story shed-roofed addition adjoins the house’s south (side) elevation.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof Form

• Flat
• Gable
• Shed

Roof Material

• Asphalt
• Tar and Gravel

Power Source

• Electricity

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The complex is in fair condition. The exterior walls are in need of cleaning and many of the original window openings have been reduced in size or infilled, however, the various blocks all appear structurally sound.

Specific Location

One 0.89-acre parcel (643 North Avenue) located on the east side of North Avenue, roughly 125’ north of North Avenue’s intersection with Remer Street; and on the north side of Remer Street, roughly 150’ east of Remer Street’s intersection with North Avenue.

Adjacent To

• Main Roads

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 53/1514/4 buildings 2 and 3 / Link →

Acreage

0.89

Use (Present)

• Vacant

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

01/19/2016

Bibliography

1. List of Connecticut Manufacturers, 1922, 1924, 1930, 1932.
2. Directory of Connecticut State Manufacturers, 1936, 1939.
3. Industrial Directory of Connecticut, 1947.
4. Register of War Production Facilities in Connecticut, 1951.
5. Map of Fairfield County; Baker, William A., 1854.
6. Atlas of the City of Bridgeport; J.B. Beers & Co., 1876.
7. Atlas of the City and Town of Bridgeport; G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1888, 1917.
8. Atlas of Bridgeport; Kershaw, William H., 1910.
9. Sanborn Map Company, 1884, 1888, 1898, 1904, 1913, 1939, 1950.
10. Aerial Survey of Connecticut, 1934, 1951, 1965, 1970, 1985.
11. Bridgeport City Directory, Various editions.
12. Hartford Courant, 1929, 1940.
13. Rudolph Bannow, American Precision Museum website, 2016.
14. A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport; Orcutt, Samuel, 1886.
15. History of Bridgeport and Vicinity; S.J. Clarke Publishing, 1917.