Our HistoryOur History

Bridgeport, West Virginia, is today an active town of almost 6,900 residents, and it continues to grow. Nestled among the beautiful rolling hills of north central West Virginia, this picturesque community has a most interesting historical background.

      The town's roots are deep. The first white man to enter the area was John Simpson, a trapper and fur trader. In 1764, he gave his name to Simpson Creek upon whose banks the town is built. Between 1771 and 1774, the families of Joseph Davisson, James Anderson, John Wilkinson, Andrew Davisson, and John Powers crossed the mountains from eastern Virginia and found the settlement that was to be Bridgeport.

Before the Revolutionary War when Harrison County was a wilderness, a fort was built by the first settlers for protection against the Indians atop the hill on what is now Davis Street. They cleared the rich, level bottomland across the creek and planted crops. To cross from the fort to their farmlands, the settlers constructed a pontoon bridge of short logs tied with long hickory withes across from Simpson Creek not far from where the present US Rt. 50 now stands. The settlement thus derived its name of "The Bridge-fort." According to one local historian, the name changed to Bridgeport when a mapmaker mislabeled the settlement.

Joseph Johnson, who settled in Bridgeport in 1803, was its most distinguished citizen. He was the only Governor of Virginia from west of the Allegheny Mountains and served four years in that capacity. He obtained passage of the Act of the Virginia Legislature on January 15, 1856, which established the Town of Bridgeport.

Other established Bridgeporters included Dr. William Dunkin, who was an early Bridgeport physician with a practice extending from Weston to Morgantown. His stepson, William Micheal Late also became a doctor and set up practice in Bridgeport. Dr. Late helped organize the West Virginia Medical Association in 1867, and he was a member of the West Virginia State Medical Licensing Board for several years. Both Dr. Dunkin and Dr. Late were delegates to the 1863 convention at Wheeling where they voted to make West Virginia a separate state.

The present city of Bridgeport was incorporated as the Town of Bridgeport by an order of the Circuit Court of Harrison County on March 21, 1887. At this time its first mayor, Sylvestor Wright, was elected by 112 qualified voters. In 1987, the city celebrated its Bicentennial with a year-long observance. Highlighting the year was the dedication of the newly constructed Rt. 50 bridge, the re-signing of the city charter and the observance of the 100th birthday with a party on March 21, 1987. As an added present, Bridgeport was named an All West Virginia City in April 22, 1987.

The Simpson Creek Baptist Church, originally located on the site of the old cemetery, was the oldest church west of the Allegheny Mountains, having been organized about 1776.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad has been serving Bridgeport since 1856. Time was when the arrival of the afternoon passenger train was an event of major interest, and the station was a popular place for meeting and greeting of friends and relatives.

The Northwestern Turnpike was built through Bridgeport about 1836. For many years US Rt. 50 has bisected the town, serving as a truck route and bringing many tourists into the area. Now on our northern border we have Interstate 79, which is a North-South route from Charleston, West Virginia, to Erie, Pennsylvania. This route is intersected from Corridor D, which replaces old Route 50 from Bridgeport to Parkersburg.

Two sites of historical interest remaining in the area are a covered bridge over Simpson Creek and a concrete bowstring bridge, one of the first of its kind built in West Virginia. The bowstring bridge, built in 1916, has been declared a landmark by civil engineering authorities because of its rare construction.

Through the years, Bridgeport has had many illustrious citizens. One of the most notable was Michael Late Benedum, who was born in Bridgeport in 1869 and worked in area mills as a youth. As a young man, he became a "wildcatter " who became rich through his discoveries of oil and gas. Mr. Benedum was quite generous with his wealth. He built the Bridgeport United Methodist Church, provided funds to maintain the Bridgeport Cemetery and built a memorial chapel there, and purchased land for the use of the fire department.

He also endowed the city with a civic center, built as a replica of his boyhood home. The Benedum Civic Center was dedicated in 1956, and it offers the town's citizens several large recreational rooms, a spacious auditorium, a large swimming pool, and tennis courts.

Bridgeport's first school house was built out of logs and stood near the present site of Simpson Grade School. This edifice was replaced by a stone building and in 1903 by a buff brick building, which still serves as the grade school. In 1923, a new high school building was completed on "high school hill" or Newton Street. In the 1950s, a second grade school, Johnson Elementary, was added to the growing community.

Further growth prompted the building of the current high school in 1963, leaving the old high school to serve as a junior high. When this building became outdated, a new middle school was built adjacent to the high school. The students enrolled in these four schools live in Bridgeport, Anmoore and surrounding unincorporated areas, such as Quiet Dell, Johnstown, and Mt.Clare.

Bridgeport as been described by the old-timers as a warm, comfortable place to live. The history of Bridgeport is more a history of the lives of its people than a history of great events, and it is a history that is rich and varied. Bridgeport is a city with an absorbing past, a busy present, and a promising future.