Singer Sewing Machine (Bridgeport, Connecticut)

 historical layer / disappeared object  Add category

 Upload a photo

The origins of what was to become the Bridgeport Singer Sewing factory,occurred in 1851 when PT Barnum joined forces with landowner, William H Nobel, to develop the lands east of the Pequonnock River as East Bridgeport. The new planned community was to include factories, churches, commercial and residential areas of all types.

In 1854, to encourage the development of the community, Barnam approached Theodore Terry of the former Ansonia Clock Co. to re-establish his clock making factory in East Bridgeport as Terry and Barnum Manufacturing. The following year, the enterprise was acquired by the Jerome Manufacturing Co. which was the largest clock maker in the state. As an inducement to the company to move to Bridgeport, Barnum agreed to provide the company with financial backing. However, through lack of oversight on his part and bad management on the part of the clock company, the company failed by 1856, taking Barnum's fortune down with it.

At that time the vacant factory was bought by The Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Co. a manufacturer of sewing machines, which moved its operation from Waterbury, Connecticut to Bridgeport. A competitor of Singer, the company won numerous awards for its design, including medals at the 1861 Industrial Exposition in Paris and the 1862 International Exhibition in London. During the 1850s and 1860's Wheeler and Wilson machines outsold those made by Singer. By 1886,after several enlargements, the factory occupied over 7 acres and consisted of a 307'x368' main factory for assembly, metal working and testing, a 526'x219' square woodworking factory and a 368'x232' foundry and needle factory.

After selling 300,000 machines in 1875, the business entered into a period of slow decline as patent protection was lost and competition increased. Wilson retired in 1863 and Wheeler died in 1893. During this time Singer had, through clever promotion and advertising, become the dominant maker of sewing machines in America. Unable to catch Singer, the company was sold to its rival in 1907.

Enlarged from time to time, the facility grew to occupy 15 acres. In 1949 it employed 1,500 workers making sewing machines for non-household use. However, by 1964, the sewing machine industry was experiencing stiff competition from cheap off shore manufacturers. That year the sewing machine manufacturing operations ceased. Other Singer operations remained until 1970, when the plant closed.