Honey, I’m Coming Home!

Nice to see the engineering firm Fletcher-Thompson www.fletcherthompson.com is planning to return to the city after a 10-year departure in Shelton. From CT Post reporter Keila Torres Ocasio:

An engineering and design firm that left the city in 2002 will be moving back.

www.ctpost.com/local/article/Historic-company-decides-to-return-to-Bridgeport-2392934.php

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  1. My father’s law office was at 114 State Street from before I was born until I joined him in the practice and we moved to 1188 Main St. 114 State Street was known as the Cilco Building. It was built by the City Lumber Company, owned by our Schine relatives, Nathan and Isaac Schine.

    I have many fond memories of that building. Before the parking garage was built, and long before the new train station, our office windows offered a great view of the wholesale food emporia along Water Street.

    There was a nice diner on the first floor, and several small shops on the corner of state and Main before Mechanics and Farmers expanded and broke through.

    I am very excited this fine building will be refurbished into apartments. The best apartment will be on the southeast corner of the top floor–my father’s old office!

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    1. Hi Jon–I’m working on a fairly large project, and I’m looking for detailed information about the Cilco Building at 114 State Street. Since your father worked at 114 State Street and the Cilco Building was built by a company owned by your relatives, would you have any information about the building you could share for my research purposes? I am specifically looking for information about WLIZ and WICC broadcasting from this location. This would have been from 1951-1953, and was the era of Bob Crane, Wallie Dunlap, Morgan Kaolian, Phillip Merryman and Dick Alexander. Also, the current brick building that is there now–on the back side of Mechanics and Farmers and on Middle Street, is this the same building that was there in 1951? Any details you can provide will be extremely helpful. (Feel free to contact me privately at cmford714 at gmail dot com.) Thanks so much!

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  2. I think the back portion was originally an open market on the first floor that opened onto the “Plaza.” The place has to be aired out because when it was first abandoned the pipes froze and filled the place up with water. It is still entrapped. Structurally it is very sound. The front part is magnificent but I heard when they shot a movie in there a few years ago, they destroyed it.

    It sure will be good for Bridgeport if this comes to fruition. Currently the place feels desolate and abandoned with all the vacant buildings. The old Bank Mart with the Board of Ed has no life and now McLevy Hall is vacant since the City inexplicably emptied it out for one more vacant structure, recently. The City owns dozens of buildings Downtown and I hope they do something soon before it it too late. It’s great to have Bridgeport homegrown Fletcher-Thompson back!

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  3. Restated from a prior post:

    yahooy // Dec 11, 2011 at 9:28 am

    OFF TOPIC:
    Great news. Fletcher-Thompson announces it is ‘contemplating’ returning to downtown Bridgeport by 2014. They have been awarded the contract to remediate the Mechanics and Farmers building then occupy most of the resulting commercial space.

    This is significant. With a prestigious firm like F-T moving in, I would expect more like enterprises to follow.

    I point my finger right at the noses of Mario Testa and Paul Timpanelli. Both of you keep your greedy paws off of this project!

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