Why Bridgeport? Small City with Big Accomplishments
By Jon Griffith on August 03, 2024 from Why Bridgeport?
Irving Berlin composed the show tune “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” for the 1946 Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. While I wasn’t around for the initial stage production featuring Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton, I am familiar with the song from some of its more recent performances.
The song has been recorded and performed an incalculable number of times. I recall four instances in particular; The Muppet Show featuring Ethel Merman and Miss Piggy, a Bridgeport High School performance of Annie Get Your Gun starring Gina Caputo in the early 1990s, a 1999 Gatorade commercial pitting Michael Jordan against Mia Hamm, and a 2021 Gatorade commercial remake this time with Abby Wambach and Usain Bolt.
The song is an unquestionable and unashamed nod to “One-upmanship”. That is something I am quite familiar with. Growing up my 
brothers and I were fiercely competitive. Frequently (actually nearly constantly) we sought to outdo each other.
brothers and I were fiercely competitive. Frequently (actually nearly constantly) we sought to outdo each other.
It was not only in athletics. We were indifferent to the arena. Everything was an opportunity to challenge each other; sports, board games, chores, eating, even calling dibs for the front seat in the car. Anything could be turned into a competition.
Based on stories from my grandparents, that competitiveness wasn’t something new to my generation of the family. It was passed down from my father, uncle, and grandfather. The debate about whether it is the result of nature or nurture is best left up to the psychologists.
Some may view that attitude as less than ideal. At times, it did contribute to a little sibling hostility and the occasional confrontation in our family. However, the constant competition did lead us to become productive, motivated, and successful adults.
As I have alluded to in previous blogs, that competitive spirit is prominent in Bridgeport too. When I moved here in 1987, I found an entire town filled with like-minded people. No wonder I felt so at home here.
At approximately 9200 residents, Bridgeport is only the 18th largest city in the state. We are not a big city, even by West Virginia standards. Yet even though our community may be on the smaller side, we do some big things.
Let’s take a look at some of Bridgeport’s unique accomplishments.
Bridgeport and the North Central West Virginia Airport are home to MHI RJ, the largest regional aviation MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) service provider in the United States. Additionally, the airport boasts the longest commercial service runway in the state at 7,800 feet.
On the retail front, Bridgeport’s Meadowbrook Mall added Boscov’s last October. At 151,000 square feet, it is the largest department store in West Virginia. Boscov’s arrival solidifies the Mall’s status as a vibrant and growing retail hub for North Central West Virginia. 
In a recent announcement, the new Hive Entertainment Zone is under construction in the mall. At 54,000 square feet, it will be the largest trampoline park and amusement center in West Virginia. The facility plans to open for business by December of this year.
Regarding athletics, The Bridge is one of the largest sports complexes and the first GameChangers Sports Complex in West Virginia. The site held the state’s first-ever pro basketball combine event in 2023. Members and guests generate well over one million visits to the facility annually.
The Bridge will also be the site of the largest inclusive playground in the state when it is completed this fall. However, Mylan Park in Morgantown is in the planning stages for one as large or possibly even a little larger.
Pete Dye is ranked as the second-best golf course in West Virginia and perennially listed as one of the top 50 in the country. Bridgeport High School has amassed 48 state championships across 15 different sports.
Cubby’s Childcare Center located in the Charles Pointe development is the largest childcare provider in West Virginia. Education in our community is excellent. Bridgeport schools are consistently ranked at or near the top academically across the state.
Simpson Creek Baptist Church on Philadelphia Avenue in downtown Bridgeport is the oldest Baptist Church in West Virginia and was the 
country's first Protestant church west of the Allegheny Mountains.
country's first Protestant church west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Bridgeport was the first “Gigabit City” in West Virginia thanks to Citynet’s high-speed fiber-optic Internet service.
The Bridgeport Public Library was ranked as the United States’ number one small-town (population from 5,000 to 9,999) library in 2003 by the American Libraries’ Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings (HAPLR). Our library was ranked in the Top 10 in the nation, and the only one in West Virginia, on that list every year from 1999 until 2010 when the rankings were discontinued.
Since then the Bridgeport Public Library received a 5-star Index Score, the highest given, from the Library Journal’s American Star Libraries each year from 2011 through 2016 for libraries in communities our size.
Due to all of the factors listed above, and many others, along with our low crime rates, excellent quality of life, high level of educational attainment, and high median income Bridgeport was named by USA Today in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 as the best city in West Virginia to live. Bridgeport is consistently ranked as one of the top places in West Virginia to live by any number of publications and websites.
Why Bridgeport? How does the 18th largest city in the small state of West Virginia manage to accomplish all that we do? Is it simply a case of one-upmanship?
To some degree, that may be true. We don’t view ourselves as a small community. We are more than ready, willing, and able to compete with the bigger communities across the state.
Our competitive nature drives the city’s motivation and work ethic, just as it did for my brothers and me. We desire and strive to be the best, as does the City of Bridgeport.
There is another factor at play here, however. American author and historian, Will Durant, summed it up this way: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit.” In other words, success breeds success. That is the key to understanding Bridgeport.
We don’t strive to be average, we aim higher. Bold vision, careful planning, and determined execution lead to success. Confidence from those successes and repetition of the steps that got us there result in more and greater success. New accomplishments build on previous ones.
While we aren’t content to be average, we are also not satisfied to sit back and rest on our laurels. We are always looking to extend and expand our success into the future. Bridgeport is not a community comfortable with complacency. We are always looking ahead to the next challenge or accomplishment.
The bottom line is simple. We believe anything you can do, we can do just as well if not do it better.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows the MHI RJ facility in Bridgeport, while second image is from the grand opening of Boscov's at the Meadowrook Mall. Bottom photo shows the outside of Cubby's at Charles Pointe. All photos courtesy of Jon Griffith.
Leave a Comment
Log in or create an account to post a comment.