Bridgeport Organ Company: From Music to Urban Development

As you drive along Interstate 95, you might catch a glimpse of the blown-out windows of the former Bridgeport Organ Company. This imposing structure, with its faded billboard, has stood vacant and abandoned for years. Inside, the scene is one of decay and disarray—dangling pipes, snack wrappers, empty alcohol bottles, spray cans, and collapsed floors. Signs of squatter activity, like overturned buckets used as chairs and sleeping bags spread across the wooden floors, were prevalent back in 2014.

Despite its current state, the site has a rich history. The Bridgeport Organ Company once produced exquisite organs with ornate wooden cases. These instruments, standing six feet high and four feet wide, were prized pieces of furniture in family parlors before the advent of record players. As musical tastes evolved, so did the factory's production. By the late 19th century, the demand for home organs declined, giving way to new inventions like the graphophone, an early version of the phonograph.

In 1898, the American Graphophone Company took over the complex from the organ manufacturer. This company, and its successors, operated there for many years, marking a significant chapter in the site’s industrial history.

Today, no businesses operate within the old factory. However, nearby, the Great Oaks Charter School and the Cherry Street Lofts apartments, which opened in 2020, signify a new chapter of development and renovation for the area.

The Railroad Avenue Industrial District in Bridgeport, Connecticut, stands as a testament to the city’s rich industrial heritage. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bridgeport was Connecticut's leading manufacturing city. This district captures that history through its well-preserved factories and the iconic products they produced, including primary metals, corsets, organs, typewriters, and electrical devices.

This area holds the most cohesive cluster of historic industrial sites remaining in Bridgeport. Key manufacturers associated with these factories include Bridgeport Organ, Wilmot and Hobbs, American Graphophone, Raybestos, Casco Manufacturing, Bryant Electric, and Harvey Hubbell, Inc. Each company contributed significantly to the city’s industrial boom.

The district’s architecture is also noteworthy. It features a variety of factory styles from the Victorian era’s somewhat ornate designs to the relatively plain brick-pier mills of the early 1900s. It also includes reinforced concrete buildings and structural steel/glass curtain wall construction from the 1930s. These buildings not only showcase the evolution of industrial architecture but also reflect the innovative spirit that defined Bridgeport’s manufacturing history.

Metro-North tracks just outside the building. 

The Bridgeport Organ Company, established in 1880, has a fascinating history that reflects the industrial growth of its era. Initially, it shared its complex with nine other businesses by 1889, but by 1898, the entire site was taken over by the American Graphophone Company.

One of the main buildings at 62 Cherry Street is notable. Originally a two-story brick factory, it was expanded in 1900 to three stories. It featured segmental-arched windows and had a small stair tower on the southeast corner. Early tenants included the Bostwick Button Company and the Steel Cutting Company, known for manufacturing steel shanks.

This structure connects to the American Graphophone’s 1916 concrete factory on Railroad Avenue. Tenants in this section included Bridgeport Silk and Cornwall and Patterson, who made organ and piano hardware. A steel-framed, three-story building was added in 1925, alongside a two-story brick powerhouse that supplied energy to the complex. The original home of the Bridgeport Organ Company, a large double-hip-roof brick building from 1880, still stands within the complex. Other early tenants were Chadwick Spool Cotton and L.L. Loomer Corsets.

Around 1930, the Casco Products Corporation made significant additions, including a steel-framed extension with glass curtain walls. The building continued through to Railroad Avenue, with a full third story and additional glass and steel structures on Hancock Avenue. Besides the organ company, other early occupants included the Connecticut Box Company, Meteor Despatch (makers of cash carriers), and the Cylindrograph Company, which produced embroidery machines.

Part of this heritage includes Cornwall and Patterson, who rented space to produce specialized organ and piano hardware. This arrangement highlights how the demand for parlor organs, a major consumer product, spurred the growth of secondary manufacturers that supplied parts to organ makers, including others in the city besides Bridgeport Organ.

As the early 20th century unfolded, automobile components became crucial to Bridgeport's economy, helping the city recover from the post-World War I slump. Raybestos brake linings were produced by the Royal Manufacturing Company, while Casco made fans, shift knobs, heaters, and cigar lighters, later becoming a key tenant of the former Bridgeport Organ property. Coe-Stanley Manufacturing, which took over Hurwood's plant, specialized in automobile pumps and horns.

Two notable factories in the district are linked to American Graphophone, a leader in sound recording devices at the turn of the century. These buildings underscore Bridgeport's role in the early development of audio technology.

The left corner building is now Cherry Lofts back then in 2016 it was vacant.

My friend taking in the rooftop views looking toward I-95. 

The Bridgeport Organ Company and its surrounding buildings have long stood as symbols of Bridgeport’s vibrant industrial past. Though the white building I once entered is now demolished, I realize I missed an opportunity to explore further and perhaps access the Cherry Street Lofts section. My exploration in 2014 was marked by inexperience, as I branched out from New York City to the numerous abandoned buildings in Connecticut.

Next door to the Bridgeport Organ Company was the American Graphophone Company, a significant player in the music industry. By 1898, they had taken over the entire Bridgeport Organ complex. Around 1905, they constructed a new three-story building with a sawtooth roof on Howard Avenue. Due to the high demand for players and records, they expanded again in 1916, adding a massive six-story reinforced concrete factory at the north end of the block. The graphophone, a complex consumer-oriented product, exemplified the innovative spirit that made Bridgeport a leading industrial city.

By the 1920s, as radios began to replace graphophones, American Graphophone shifted focus to recording devices for offices. Post-World War II, the company, rebranded as Dictaphone, continued to be a major employer in Bridgeport through the 1900s.

Today, part of the historic complex near Hancock Avenue is caught in legal limbo. Developer Gary Flocco of Corvus Capital Partners is dealing with legal issues with his former architect, affecting the continuation of the Cherry Street Lofts housing project. The city has issued a condemnation order but is hesitant to spend $10 million in taxpayer funds to demolish the buildings at 62, 72, and 80 Cherry Street and 1325 Railroad Avenue. They are waiting for Flocco to resolve his legal troubles and proceed with the demolition himself.

The Bridgeport City Council is holding off on taking action, waiting for the legal matters to be settled before moving forward with any demolition plans. This situation leaves the future of these historic buildings uncertain, a stark contrast to their once pivotal role in Bridgeport’s industrial heyday.

The complex had survived a decent fire sometime before I visited. 

Sources:

1. Clouette, B., Roth, M., & Devoe, P. (1985). 1985 Railroad Avenue Industrial Historic District National Register Nomination No. 85002697. National Park Service.

2. Bailey, H. (2014, December 6). (Breaking free of industrial wastelands). ctpost.

3. Central Labor Union. (1900). Centennial Illustrated History of the City of Bridgeport. Bridgeport: Central Labor Union.

4. Kane, J. H., & Wood, F. A., Publishers. (1898). Glimpses of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Bridgeport: John H. Kane and Frank A. Wood, Publishers.

5. W.S. Webb. (1883). Connecticut, Historical and Industrial. New York: W.S. Webb.

6. Bridgeport Organ Co. Connecticut Mills.

7. Lockhart, B. (2024, May 8). Bridgeport to hold off on demolishing Cherry Street Lofts buildings. ctpost. 

8. Connery, H. (2019, June 11). Former Bridgeport factory goes from blighted to revitalized. CT Mirror.