2009 Welcome to Wise.indd - Wise County Messenger

BRIDGEPORT Historical Society
BRIDGEPORT
STAGE COACH
MESSENGER PHOTO
BY JOE DUTY
Concerned about the need for preserving the city’s history, members of the Bridgeport
community began collaborating in 1994. Since then, the efforts of nine individuals have
become the Bridgeport Historical Society,
which boasts a membership of
about 50 and approximately a dozen
marked sites.
The society is in the process of
marking the first state-recognized
marker for Colonel W.H. Hunt, who
began the Butterfield Stage operations.
Although the application is
being processed in Austin, the society
expects to have the marker placed at
his gravesite in East Bridgeport Cemetery
by the end of the year.
In addition, three other sites in
Bridgeport have been marked by the
Wise County Historical Society — the
Butterfield Stage Line on the Trinity
River, the Bridgeport Coal Mines
southeast of the Lion’s Club, the
Masonic Lodge Hall in the 1000 block
of Halsell Street, and the First United
Methodist Church on 17th Street.
The WIse County Historical Society
has marked several other sites including
the Brazelton Sanitarium at 1817
Stevens St., the original Bridgeport
High School at 1407 Carpenter St.,
Coal Mine Drift No. 1 at 10th and
Hovey streets, the First National Bank
at 1001 Halsell St., the Bridgeport
State Bank at 1004 Halsell St., H.H.
Hardin Lumber Co. on Halsell Street
and the Cage Hotel Well Site at the
southwest corner of 10th and Cates
streets.
Originally located in the City of
Bridgeport Recreation Building (Senior
Citizens Building), the museum’s
items are currently in storage while
the new location in the original city
hall building at 812 Halsell, is being
renovated. The building is expected
to open this year. In addition to such
artifacts as coal mine relics and the
Rock Island Railroad display, the new
location will also house a Stagecoach
wagon exhibit.
Membership fees are $5 per year.
• Paradise Historical Society
The society met for the first time in
June of 2000 with the goal to record
the history of Paradise and surrounding
communities, to distribute historical
data, to complete work on the
city’s Veteran’s Park and museum and
establish a Paradise museum.
The society meets at 7 p.m. the
second Tuesday of January, March,
May, July, September and November
at the Paradise First United Methodist
Church, 301 South Oak Street, in
Paradise.
The society sponsors the annual
Main Street Festival in the fall, with
proceeds benefiting the Veteran’s
Park.
Dues are $10 per person, per year.
• Wise County Historical Society
Inc.
See page 74 for details.
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