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Bridgeport

(Encyclopedia)Bridgeport, city (2020 pop. 148,654), Fairfield co., SW Conn., on Long Island Sound; inc. 1836. Long a chief industrial city in Connecticut, it makes el...

Judah, Theodore Dehone

(Encyclopedia)Judah, Theodore Dehone, 1826–63, American railroad builder, b. Bridgeport, Conn. He built the Niagara Gorge RR and did canal work before going (1854) to lay out a railroad near Sacramento, Calif. Th...

North Platte project

(Encyclopedia)North Platte project, unit of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, in the North Platte River valley, W Nebr. and E Wyo. It supplies hydroelectric power to many towns and industries and provides irrigation ...

Long Island Sound

(Encyclopedia)Long Island Sound, arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.90 mi (145 km) long and 3–20 mi (5–32 km) wide, separating Long Island, N.Y., from the SE New York mainland and Connecticut. On the W the East River...

Chester, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Chester, city (2020 pop. 32,605), Delaware co., SE Pa., on the Delaware River south of Philadelphia; settled c.1644 by Swedes, inc. as a city 1866. A po...

Howe, Elias

(Encyclopedia)Howe, Elias, 1819–67, American inventor, b. Spencer, Mass. He was apprenticed in 1838 to an instrument maker and watchmaker in Boston at whose suggestion he turned his attention to devising a sewing...

Tom Thumb

(Encyclopedia)Tom Thumb, 1838–83, American entertainer, whose original name was Charles Sherwood Stratton, b. Bridgeport, Conn. His career as General Tom Thumb began in 1842, when the showman P. T. Barnum gave hi...

Mitchum, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Mitchum, Robert (Robert Charles Duran Mitchum), 1917–97, American film actor, b. Bridgeport, Conn. He found extra work and bit parts in early 1940s movies, and first achieved wide notice for his sup...

Kramer, Larry

(Encyclopedia)Kramer, Larry (Lawrence David), 1935-2020 American gay-rights activist and playwright, b. Bridgeport, Ct., Yale Univ. (B.A., 1957). After graduating co...

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