National Register Listing

Barnum Museum

a.k.a. Barnum Institute of Science and History

805 Main St., Bridgeport, CT

The Barnum Museum derives its primary significance from Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891), its benefactor. Born in Bethel, Connecticut, 30 miles northeast of Bridgeport, he was successively a store clerk, newspaper editor, village storekeeper, and exhibitor of Joice Heth, the alleged nurse of George Washington; it was this act that began his career as a showman. Around 1840, P.T. Barnum opened the American Museum of Curios in New York City. He brought Jenny Lind for a concert tour of the United States in 1850-52. By 1871 he had a troop large enough for him to establish "The Greatest Show on Earth", which had its winter quarters in Bridgeport, his adopted home. Included in the show were the famous midget, Tom Thumb, actually Charles S. Stratton (1832-1883), a Bridgeport native who was only about twenty-five inches tall, and Jumbo, a huge African elephant bought from the Royal Zoological Society in London. In 1881 Barnum merged with the Bailey Circus, whose over was James Anthony Bailey (1849-1906) from Detroit. They created the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus, which, after Bailey's death, was taken over by Ringling Brothers in 1907.

Barnum was a man with a social and civic conscience. He was once mayor of Bridgeport. Later, he gave to the city a large tract of land for Seaside Park, now covering an area of 180 acres, with a water-side drive of three and a half miles. He laid out numerous street plans and built blocks of houses to sell on the installment plan to mechanics. He built four beautiful homes in Bridgeport; Iranistan, his first home, is pictured in many histories of the City and was designed to resemble a Persian palace. It burned many years ago. Perhaps the most enduring contribution was the Barnum Institute of Science and History. Just before his death in April 1891, he bequeathed $100,000 to the Bridgeport Scientific Society and the Fairfield Historical Society for a building His widow added $50,000. The building was formally opened in February 1893, with the first floor housing the museum and collections of the scientific society, the second floor, the collections of the historical society and the Bridgeport Medical Society, and the third floor an auditorium for the use of the three organizations. However, problems arose because there were no funds for maintenance. By October 1934, the City had taken over the building for municipal offices and the museum was relegated to the third floor. Some space was rented; the Hydraulic Company was there for some time.

The magnificent building was cleaned and refurbished as a WPA project and again much later by student volunteers from the University of Bridgeport. Each time, hopes were raised for a "Comeback" for the museum, and each time nothing came of it. When, in 1966, new City Hall made available ample office space for the museum's inhabitants, the rehabilitation of of the building was again undertaken. A complete exterior steam-cleaning and sand-blasting was done along with extensive interior renovation, such as removing the partitions used by the city offices. The Institute was officially reopened as the Barnum Museum on February 19, 1967, just 7 74 years after its first opening on February 18, 1893. The building is now under management by the city. It is alleged that the Museum has recently been endangered. In the commercial district of Bridgeport, less than a block from the Connecticut Turnpike, its site is highly valued for a modern business establishment. The present building, however, is a great asset, if something of an anachronism, in "brand new Bridgeport", currently consisting primarily of razed tenement houses, hence vacant lots, and handicapped by a lack of both funds and the ability to plan for rebuilding.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1972.