Arriving in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1870 at the age of 22, Peter W. Wren (born Byrne), joined with a partner to form a liquor house that prospered for thirty years, producing the revenues that allowed him to soar to the top echelons of the city’s leadership. Wren developed and co-owned one of the largest and most popular seaside resorts in the state, was president of two major breweries, a director of a bank owned by P.T. Barnum, a hydraulics company, and a hospital. He also served a term in the Connecticut legislature and years on the Bridgeport Board of Education.
Born in New York City in 1847, Peter was the son of Mary M. and Thomas S.Byrne, both of Irish ancestry. Educated in the schools of New York and New Haven, Connecticut, he left school at age 15 to pursue a career as a printer for the New Haven Journal and Courier until 1870 when he Moved to Bridgeport, his home for the rest of his life. For unknown reasons, sometime before 1880 he changed his surname from Byrne to Wren.
Still a youth of 22, Wren almost immediately joined with John McMahon, a Bridgeport local of a similar age, to found a wholesale liquor dealership located at the city’s Water Street dock and ferry terminal. The partners prospered there for almost 30 years until McMahon’s death in 1899. Their flagship whiskey was “Lexington Club,” shown below as advertised on shot glasses. The brand was not trademarked. Liquor profits soon fueled the partners’ forays into stocks, bonds and real estate.
Pleasure Beach: Wren and McMahon’s primary investment was to develop and own a seashore amusement park on an island in the Atlantic Ocean near Bridgeport, described as “one of the largest and most popular seaside resorts in Connecticut.” Shown above at the eastern tip of the island, the site was believed by many to have been a haven for Captain Kidd and the site of buried pirate treasure. Pleasure Beach featured a roller coaster, boardwalk, miniature railroad, wooden horse rides on tracks, skating rink, arcade, merry-go-round, and a 5000-seat coliseum.
The park was aimed at providing recreation for working people. “No exorbitant prices, an honest dollar’s worth for all,” was the motto. The Pleasure Beach Cafe served broiled lobster and soft-shell crab for 50 cents, broiled bluefish for 40 cents, and clams on the half shell (when local oyster beds were abundant) for 25 cents a dozen. In time Wren and his co-investors ran into financial difficulties operating Pleasure Beach, vexed by frequent fires that plagued the island. The first blaze occurred in 1907 and destroyed the grandstand and horse rail concession. The Bridgeport Board of Park Commissioners bought the park for $220,000 in 1919 and took over full operation, probably to the relief of Wren and the others. The postcards below give some indication of Pleasure Beach.
Breweries: Beginning in 1887, Wren broadened his attention to include beer. With McMahon and two businessmen from Meriden, Connecticut, he co-founded the Meriden Brewing Company and became its president and treasurer. Well financed, this brewery from its outset was hailed as a “substantial operation” with a distribution network that covered all of Connecticut and major commercial centers in surrounding states. Strategically located directly on the New York, New Haven and Hartford rail line, the company had the advantage of a steady in and out flow of supplies and product. The plant included a brewhouse, shipping and warehouse facilities, a cold storage unit, fermenting house, artificial ice-making plant, boiler house, and a stable for delivery wagons and horses. Among its most popular brews was “Nutmeg Beer,” sold in clear bottles.
The success of the brewery under Wren’s management caught the attention of investors in a smaller and struggling Bridgeport brewery. In 1890, the two organizations, located about 40 miles apart, merged to form the Connecticut Brewery Company. Wren was named president of both operations. Represented here by a beer bottle, according to a contemporary newspaper report: “The Connecticut Breweries Company enjoyed considerable success into the early 1900s and its line of lagers, ales, and porters gained both local and regional followings, with some product traveling as far as the Bahamas, Cuba, and South America.” National Prohibition forced the closing of both breweries.
Other Business Interests: The revenues from his liquor and beer allowed Wren to become a major investor and director of other Bridgeport businesses. Among them was the Pequonnock Bank, a financial institution founded by famed showman P.T. Barnum. The bank’s $3 bill, above, is considered a rarity. It depict’s Barnum and his Bridgeport home “Iranistan.” The lower right corner is portrait of Jenny Lind, a singer known as “The Swedish Nightingale.” Barnum actually signed some of these bills. Wren also served on the boards of the Bridgeport Hydraulics Company and St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Community Service: A fervent Democrat, Wren made one foray into politics, elected to the Connecticut General Assembly in 1882 and serving two years. He declined to run for a second term, preferring to focus his energies in Bridgeport where he was a member of the city’s first Board of Public Works and was its president for six years. Wren’s efforts on behalf of elementary and secondary education in Bridgeport are considered his most enduring contribution. He began his tenure on the Bridgeport Board of Education in 1880, serving for 26 years until resigning in 1906 at the age of 58. During that time he was board president for 15 consecutive years and the chairman of the committee on school construction and maintenance for most of his time on the board.
Wren’s biography in the 1907 “Men of Mark in Connecticut,” characterized his contribution to Bridgeport education this way: “…His name was synonymous with the management and control of local schools and his excellent performance of his great trust won the greatest respect and appreciation from the entire community.”
Family Life: In 1869, at age 22, Wren married his childhood sweetheart from New Haven, Johannah “Hannah” Carey, also 22. They would have six children, George W., Marion V., Frederick W., Sarah, Arthur and Irene. Hannah died in May 1920 at the family home at 484 State Street. Her well attended funeral Mass was held at the St. Augustine’s Catholic Church. Interment was in the family plot in St. Michael’s Cemetery. Dying at 80 years old, Peter would join her there eight years later. Unfortunately, no photo is available of their gravesite although a monument, shown here, marks the graves of Wren’s parents and other close relatives.
Note: This post was constructed from a number of sources available on the internet. Of those, the most important was Wren’s biography in “Men of Mark in Connecticut, Volume III,” edited by Colonel N. G. Osborn, editor of the New Haven Journal and Courier, and published in 1907. It also is the source of Peter Wren’s picture.
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