March 11, 1915 - LORDSHIP PARK TROLLEY TO BE READY MAY 20: That the new trolley line to Lordship Park operated by a private corporation entirely independent from the Connecticut Company would be ready for service on May 20, was the statement made today by a representative of the Wilkenda Land Company promoters of Lordship Park. Steps are now being taken to induce the Connecticut Company to furnish power for the new line. The work on the construction of the new line is now going on with a force of men busy building five bridges necessary to carry the tracks over the small streams that run between Stratford Avenue and the park. The largest of these is Johnsons Creek. The Wilkenda Companys representative could give no information regarding the transfer privilege being granted by the Connecticut Company, save that the matter had not yet been taken up with them. He said that the company awaited action on the bill before the Legislature which would require connecting lines to issue transfer over one anothers lines. The Lordship Park line will be about three miles long, a single track road. It is being built largely for the summer colony at the park, which numbers something over 1,000 persons. Three cars will be operated on the line, which will begin with a half-hourly service as soon as the line is completed.
April 20, 1915 - LORDSHIP LINE TROLLEY CARS TO BE READY SOON: It was learned today that the cars for the Lordship Park Line were shipped Saturday from Pittsfield, Massachusetts to New Haven where they are to be painted and put in first class running order after which they will be turned over to the Lordship Company. The contractors who laid the rails for the company will turn the road over to the Lordship Company on May 3 and the operation of the cars is supposed to start on May 15.
June 6, 1915 - CITY OFFICIALS TAKE TROLLEY TO LORDSHIP PARK: New Line Formally Opened, Guests Entertained At New Casino: Lordship was trolley-wise annexed to Bridgeport yesterday and by the same token the city came into possession of a first class shore resort. Since the closing of Steeplechase Island several years ago the residents of the city had to depend upon Seaside Park, the resorts between here and New Haven and what Fairfield had to offer. Lordship Park has always been looked upon as one of the most desirable shore spots on Long Island Sound. The ground is very high and it butts out into the waters of the Sound more than any bit of land between New York and New London. But up to the present time it has been a bit inaccessible for the ordinary man. The Lordship Company has connected it with the city by trolley and the formal annexation was held yesterday afternoon, when officials of the city of Bridgeport and the town of Stratford jointly took part. At the present time Lordship is in the town of Stratford, but the trolley connection is the first step in the real annexation to Bridgeport. The Bridgeport end of the new trolley line is at the corner of Stratford and Hollister Avenue. It shoots straight southeast to Lordship till it reaches the Casino at Ocean Avenue and Pauline Street. The line was completed Saturday a week ago yesterday and the first car was run over the line at that time. They way that you can tell it from the Connecticut Companys cars is that it has the word Lordship on it. That is the only difference. A party of 50 boarded a special Lordship trolley at 1:15 yesterday afternoon. They were the guests of the Lordship Company. The city was represented by City Clerk J. Alexander Robinson and his assistant Frank Braithwaite, Aldermen Vincent Whitney and W. Steigler, Assistant Town Clerk C. Winton. Stratford was represented by its selectmen Rollin Curtiss, James Lalley and John Holmes. Judge F. Bartlett who is president of the new Lordship Company, County Commissioner Frank Ballard, Sheriff Simeon Pease, Lew Corbitt and A. Burritt were among those present. When the guests arrived at the casino a lunch was served. There were no speeches, but after the lunch President Charles Davis of the Wilkenda Land Company which has been developing Lordship for several years, accompanied by John Kenworthy, general manager and William Hyde Secretary made an inspection of the arrangements at the Lordship Casino for the accommodation of summer guests and visitors. In the first place the Casino building which is for dancing is a handsome edifice and it has a splendid dancing floor. It will accommodate a large number. Last night about 200 dancers dedicated it to the use of the dance with the assistance of Bentleys Orchestra. D.C. Quilty, the dancing instructor will have charge of the Casino during the season. The bath house will cost $7,000. It will have an upper veranda 70 feet long and 20 wide for the accommodation of spectators. The observation veranda over that again will be 50 feet long and 15 feet wide. From the upper veranda one feels like looking over the bow of a ship into the water. The only difference is that one will not feel the roll of the ocean. One of the diversions of the inspection was when First Selectman Curtiss of Stratford sent in a call for the fire chemical engine. The auto chemical got there in 12 minutes, which is quick enough time for even Chief Mooney. Until the real annexation takes place the Stratford Fire department is obligated to give Lordship fire protection, which was one of the reasons for the demonstration. The officers of the Lordship Company are: President F.A. Bartlett; Vice-president Lew Corbitt; Secretary C.A. Nicholls; Secretary and Manager John Kenworthy. Among the others present were Ernest Lyon, Merles Cowles, E.W. Wilson, F.H. Peterson, Alderman Oliver Cole, Alderman John Toole, Charles Blackman, George McCarthy, F.B. Keeler, Karl Cyrus, W.T. Hyde, Charles Chapman the general manager of the Connecticut Company. The bathing pavilion is about 1,000 feet from the end of the trolley line but is not completed. It will be ready for occupancy by the first of July. According to the slow march of summer it will be time enough. It will have 100 bathing rooms and will have a waiting room, a tea room, ice cream parlor, etc. The management predicts that it will be the finest bathing beach on the Sound shore. After the inspection the guests of the company took the special trolley for Bridgeport.
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May 18, 1918 - NO LORDSHIP TROLLEY EXTENSION THIS YEAR: The extension of the trolley from Lordship Park to Hards Corner Stratford for which a franchise has been held by the Lordship Railroad Company for some time will not be built this year, unless it is felt that it is a public necessity, said Frederic A. Bartlett, president of the trolley company last night. There are no extensions of the trolley lines of this company that will be made this summer unless a large increase in the number of residents at Lordship occurs.
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July 2, 1918 - LORDSHIP TROLLEY SUMMER SCHEDULE PLACED IN EFFECT: Increased Service Provided to Care for Crowds During Shore Season: A number of changes for the summer season went into effect on the Lordship Railroad yesterday and many more cars now leave from the center of the city than during the winter. Following are leaving times for the cars from Golden Hill and Main Street: A.M. 6:30, 7:45, 9:00. 10:00, 11:00; P.M. 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:10, 5:15, 5:30, 6:15, 7:00. 8:00. 9:00. 10:25. Cars will leave Lordship for Golden Hill and Main Street: A.M. 6:08, 7:15, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30; P.M. 12:30, except Saturday 1:30: 2:30, 3:35, 4:15, 5:45, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 10:00. Cars will leave Lordship for Stratford and Hollister Avenues: A.M. 6:38. 7:55, 11:30, P.M. 12:18, 12:45, these two cars run Saturday only: 2.00, 3:00, 4:10 , 5:15, 6:00, 6:55, 8:00, 9:00, 9:30, 10:55, 11:30. Leaving corner of Hollister and Stratford Avenues for Lordship the time will be A.M. 5:53, 6:25, 6:55, 7:30, 8:10, 9:15, 10:15, 11:15; P.M. 12:05, 12:30, Saturday only, 1:15, 2:15, 3:15: 3:45, 4:25, 5:00, 5:30, 5:45, 6:15, 6:35, 7:15, 7:45, 8:15, 8:45, 9:15, 9:45, 10:10, 11:15 and 11:50. This last car will run if there are passengers.
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September 4, 1922 - MICHAEL CONNELL IS EXPECTED TO SURVIVE WOUND: Although he is in critical condition in Bridgeport Hospital from a self-inflicted bullet wound on the left side of his face just below the ear, Michael Connell, 40 years old for the last ten years superintendent of the Lordship Street Railway Company car barns, is expected to recover. Connell was found shortly before 7 o'clock yesterday morning by Michael Houlinsky lying in a pool of blood in the car barn office, at Hollister and Stratford Avenues. He was conscious and told Houlinsky not "to bother" calling an ambulance, a request not granted. Police were informed by Connell he shot himself because he was "discouraged." His depression, authorities believe, may have been caused by financial worries, a deputy sheriff placing his automobile under attachment a short time after he was taken to the hospital.
February 11, 1925 - LORDSHIP RAILWAY ASKS LEGISLATURE FOR BUILDING TIME: Frederic C Bartlett of Bridgeport today appeared before the Legislative Railroads committee to ask that the time in which the Lordship Railway Company may complete its railway be extended to the rising of the 1927 General Assembly, at that a similar time extension be granted to the Lordship Park Association for completion of its railway. No one opposed the bills Judge Bartlett explained that the Railway Company would take over the line from the association upon the completion of the railway, about half of which is now laid and in operation. The present half of the line starts at Hollister and Stratford Avenues in Bridgeport, and runs to Lordship Point. The new lines which the company proposes to complete will run into Stratford by another route, joining the Connecticut company line there.
May 9, 1925 - SERVICE COMPANY PLANS FIGHT FOR FIVE CENT LINE: Bus Corporation Contemplates Appeal on Denial of Its Application for Road. Aims to Force Fare. Action of Commission Will Not Affect Replacement of Lordship Lines: The City Service company a bus corporation backed by Walter Lashar, president of the American Chain Company contemplates an appeal to the Superior court on the denial of its application for an operating certificate to rtm a five cent fare line between Central Avenue and the city Plaza, it was declared by Attorney John T L Hubbard yesterday. In the bus firms plans the line would have linked up with another to start, at Central and Connecticut Avenues and run to Lordship Manor, thus linking the Lordship settlement with direct transportation to the General Electric plant on Boston Avenue. Both schemes were defeated with the denial of the permit by the public utilities commission. The line on which the appeal will probably be taken was to have been south on Central Avenue to Connecticut Avenue, west to Stratford Avenue, on Stratford Avenue to Water Street to the Plaza. As now outlined, papers for the appeal are to be drawn up and writ served on the commission which probably will be defended by Attorney General Healy. As the basis for its denial the Public Utilities commission pointed out that the route sought by the City Service Company would conflict with existing trolley routes by paralleling their service. The bus firm will not file an appeal on a William Street route which was also denied by the commission. The action of the commission will not affect the replacement of the present Lordship trolley lines with motor busses as soon as the Lordship Meadows highway is rebuilt. Lashar declared at the hearing on the application of his company before the Utilities Commission that his purpose in asking the permits was to force the Connecticut Company operators of trolleys, to give a five cent fare to Bridgeport.
June 20, 1925 - BUSES REPLACE TROLLEY CARS TO LORDSHIP TODAY: Three Conveyances Will Operate on a Half Hour Schedule: With three new twenty nine passenger busses ready to begin operating, the Lordship Company will abandon the operation of trolleys to the shore suburb this morning, inaugurating instead a motor coach schedule from the City Plaza to Lordship running on the half hour from the city center. Operation of the motor busses will be under the City Service Corporation, controlled by Walter B. Lashar. The fare will be ten cents. The new coaches are painted gray and are the last word in motor bus construction. In test trip it has been shown that the trip to Lordship from the Plaza can be made in approximately 20 minutes, though the operating schedule will not call for as short an operating time. Experienced drivers have been secured. The trolley rails are not to be torn up, it was stated by Attorney John T. L. Hubbard for the bus concern. A new macadamized road has been built from Hollister Avenue bridge to Lordship and Director of Public Works, A. J. Northey has promised to repave Hollister Avenue from Stratford Avenue to the bridge, just now in poor condition.
October 27, 1926 - LORDSHIP COMPANY GRANTED RIGHT TO SELL BUS PASSES: System to Be Tried put for Year, Utilities Commission Rules: The application of the Lordship Railway Company for permission to institute a system of weekly passes instead of regular fares on its motor bus route between this city and Lordship was granted in a limited form by the Public Utilities commission, meeting at the state capitol in Hartford yesterday. The application was
technically refused, but permission was driven for a year's trial of the system, and sponsors of the plan are confident that this one success, with resultant approval of the pass system for permanent use. The finding of the commission authorizes the company to establish and put into effect a weekly pass system, $1 per pass between the Plaza in Bridgeport and Lordship or Avon Park; also 60 cents per pass between Hollister Mill Bridge, so-called, and Lordship or Avon park for the calendar week. This week lasts from Monday morning to Sunday night inclusive and the new system is for a test or trial period of twelve months from and after November 1, 1926. No 50-cent pass shall be used on any portion of the route between Hollister Mill Bridge and the Plaza. The Lordship line runs from the Plaza in Bridgeport to the community known as Lordship, which is in the town of Stratford. The distance is a trifle over four miles, the round-trip totaling 8.5 miles, according to figures furnished the commission. Lordship and Avon Park residents are in favor of the pass system for it will mean that instead of having to pay 10 cents, for instance, for a trip each way between Lordship and the Plaza, which would total $1.20 a week for a man traveling to and from Lordship and his place of employment in Bridgeport six days a week, he will under the pass system be able to do this for a $1 a week. Moreover, he is not limited to one or two trips a day. He may make as many trips as he likes, and his wife or other members of his family may also use the pass. Counsel for other corporations operating bus lines strenuously objected to the Lordship Railway company's application, feeling that the success of the pass system on the Lordship line would result in a public demand for the institution of the system on other bus lines.
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The Lordship Park Association was organized to develop a large tract of real estate and in connection therewith it was found necessary to provide transportation to said tract. A charter was secured and a trolley line built connecting with the Connecticut Company street railway system. The details of capitalization refer to the whole project, no specific amount of stock being issued for the railway properties.
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August 8, 1947 - LORDSHIP RAILWAY ONCE MORE IS DENIED EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS: Operation of busses in and adjacent to Lordship by both the Lordship Railway Company and the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company will remain unchanged under a decision by the Public Utilities Commission which was issued in Hartford Thursday of last week. The Lordship Railway Company had asked that the commission cancel a wartime permission by which the C. R & L was allowed to operate cars through Main Street from Hards Corner to the municipal airport, a permission which was mainly to accommodate employees at the Chance Vought factory. A similar cancellation request was denied a couple of years ago. The decision rendered last week is signed by Commissioners Joseph McConnell and Eugene Loughlin. The White Line Bus Company has owned stock of the Lordship Railway Company for fifteen years or more. Neither the local company no the C. R & L Company has anything to do with railway operations; motor busses long since took over. The C. R & L was granted permission half a dozen years ago to operate between Hards Corner and the airport on a plea to accommodate workers at Chance Vought where the force was growing rapidly under mobilization for defense which became war production after Peal Harbor. Until then the bus service into the south end was furnished entirely by the White Line-Lordship Railway. Noting that by 1940 the number of Chance Vought employees had reached 4,000 the commission says there was no existing motor bus service traversing a route between the Lordship area and the center of the town of Stratford, but the Lordship Railway Company was then supplying its motor bus service established in 1925 between the center of Bridgeport and Lordship Park via the aircraft plant and the municipal airport but traversing a route in the southerly part of Stratford which did not go through the center of Stratford. In December of 1940 the Public Utilities Commission approved the C. R & L extension from Hards Corner to the airport and also approved a Lordship Railway extension from Woodend Road to Town Hall. The Lordship Railway later made an effort to have the C. R & L permission revoked. The commission refused to revoke by a decision in February 1942 saying the new arrangement had been of material benefit. Chance Vought intervened favorable to the C. R & L and one of its exhibits covering March of 1946 showed that an average of 148 employees used the Lordship Railway bus daily and 622 the C. R & L bus. In denying the request the opinion says: For the commission to hold otherwise would force the preponderant number of employees at the aircraft plant using the motor bus transportation service of the C. R & L Company to cease using that direct service and travel at a material increase in the rate of fare over the lines of the Lordship Railway Company and transfer to other lines in Bridgeport, and at the same time consume a materially greater time in traveling to and from the aircraft company and in transferring from one bus to another.