Waldo C. Bryant

The Bryant Electric Company was a manufacturer of wiring devices, electrical components, and switches founded by Waldo C. Bryant in 1888 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. The company was purchased by Westinghouse Electric in 1901 and continued operation as the Bryant Electric subsidiary of Westinghouse. By 1928, Bryant sold over 4,000 different products and eventually became the world's largest plant devoted to the manufacture of wiring devices.^[1][2]

Bryant Electric workers - 1894

Workers at the Bryant plant were involved in a number of notable strikes over the years, including a 1915 strike when a number of Bridgeport companies were closed down amid demands for union representation and an eight-hour day.^[3][4][5] As part of a larger process of regional deindustrialization, Westinghouse shut down the Bryant Electric plant in 1988. The closing exacerbated the neighborhood's already bleak economic situation. Westinghouse sold its remaining interests in Bryant Electric to the Hubbell Corporation in 1991.^[6] Bryant's 20 building, 6-acre (24,000 m²) site in Bridgeport's West End was torn down in 1996 to make way for a new industrial park.^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Bryant Electric Company". Bridgeport Public Library. http://www.bridgeporthistory.org/companies/companies_output.cfm?companyid=6. Retrieved 2009-08-21. 
2. ^ "Patent History Of Socket And Switch Manufacturers, Inventors And Their Inventions". Antique Light Sockets. http://antiquesockets.com/b4.html#Bryant. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
3. ^ "MORE BRIDGEPORT STRIKES: About 3,000 Workers Out Now, and More Threaten to Quit.". New York Times. August 21, 1915. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9901E4DB1138E633A25752C2A96E9C946496D6CF. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
4. ^ "Article 1 -- No Title; CHICAGO CAR STRIKE SEEMS A CERTAINTY Union Officials Say 15,000 Men on Surface and Elevated Lines Will Go Out. DECISION ON MONDAY NIGHT Companies Declare Higher Wages and Eight-Hour Day Impossible Without Increase In Fares.". New York Times. July 27, 1919. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A03E7D81638E13ABC4F51DFB1668382609EDE. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
5. ^ "Oral History Project: “Bridgeport Working: Voices from the 20th Century” Alfred Salamanca interviewed by Barbara Hall, December 10, 1997." (pdf). Bridgeport Public Library. December 10, 1997. http://www.bridgeporthistory.org/oral_history/AlfredSalamanca/Salamanca.pdf. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
6. ^ "Bryant Electric Company: A Proud History". HUBBELL INCORPORATED. http://www.hubbell-bryant.com/about.aspx. Retrieved 2009-08-22.