STRATFORD’S SUBWAY INVENTOR IN 1855, ALFRED Ely Beach, Thomas Edison’s patent attorney and a successful publisher, writer, and
Oldest African American Church
inventor, bought his first property in Stratford. A man of many talents,
THE YEAR WAS 1877, just a short
The dawning of a new century saw
Beach conceived the idea for an
fourteen years after the signing of the
a mass migration of Negroes from
underground system to alleviate
Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
the south looking to prosper from
the traffic woes of New York
Slavery was still very fresh on the
industrial growth in the north. The
City. He created a prototype for
minds of the Negro population when a
church (then known as the Pilgrim
“his people-carrying cyclinder”
small group of black settlers formed a
Baptist Society) continued to grow, and
and demonstrated it at the 1867
Sunday school class where they could
eventually a member of the original
American Institute Fair.
worship and learn and study the word
Sunday school class, Mr. Matthew
of God. Aided by a Mrs. Sarah Talbot
Johnson, gave part of his land to the
and Mrs. Judson, the group held the
group. Located on Main Highway, now
classes in Mrs. Talbot’s home. It was
known as Stratford Avenue, Johnson
inevitable the Sunday school class
and three others pooled their limited
would grow larger and with further
financial resources and built what
assistance, larger quarters were
is today The First Baptist Church
secured at the Old Academy School
of Stratford, located at the corner of
which stood on Academy Hill.
Stratford Avenue and Johnson Court.
Alfred Ely Beach’s “early” subway. Beach secretly built a one block-long pneumatic subway under the streets of New York, PHOTOS COURTESY OF STRATFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
only publicly announcing it upon completion in 1870. It included a single car holding 22 passengers and one station located in the basement of Devlin’s clothing store. Beach operated this 300-foot demonstration railway for several years, but the concept failed to pass legislation. It lay forgotten until 1921, by which time contributions to electricity from Edison and others
The First Stratford Baptist Church held early meetings in the Old Academy School
made the subway a reality.
on Academy Hill before eventually moving to its present home on Stratford Avenue.
Stratford Connecticut 29 Three Hundred Seventy-Five