Bridgeport

How Bridgeport began

Bridgeport was laid out in 1806 as Canton by Colonel Ebenezer Zane, the same Zane family credited with the earliest Ohio settlement across the river at Martins Ferry, and renamed Bridgeport in the 1810s for a bridge built near the town site linking it toward Wheeling Island and Wheeling, West Virginia. The Joseph Kirkwood House on Bennett Street, built in 1846 by the son of Revolutionary War veteran and early settler Robert Kirkwood, is the village's National Register-listed landmark. Bridgeport is also the hometown, by way of Bridgeport High School, of basketball Hall of Famer John Havlicek, whose famous 1965 playoff steal for the Boston Celtics was captured in one of the most famous radio calls in American sports history.

Platted 1806, as Canton, by Colonel Ebenezer Zane.

Where the name comes from

Originally named Canton when laid out in 1806, the town was renamed Bridgeport in the 1810s for a bridge built near the town site, part of the crossings that eventually linked it to Wheeling Island and Wheeling, West Virginia.

Before the town

No Native village, camp, or trail specific to the site of Bridgeport is documented in the sources consulted. The village's position on the Ohio River across from Wheeling Island lay within the same general eighteenth-century Lenape, Shawnee, Wyandot, and Mingo travel and hunting range as the rest of Belmont County.

Timeline

1. 1789 — Robert Kirkwood, a Delaware native and Revolutionary War veteran, emigrates to Belmont County, becoming one of the region's first settlers; his son Joseph is later born there.
2. 1806 — Colonel Ebenezer Zane lays out the town as Canton.
3. 1810s — The town is renamed Bridgeport for a bridge built near the town site.
4. 1846 — Joseph Kirkwood builds the Greek Revival-influenced I-house on Bennett Street that bears his name, with a large rear addition following in 1853.
5. 1940 — Bridgeport's population peaks at 4,853.
6. 1958 — John Havlicek, a three-sport athlete at Bridgeport High School who earns All-Ohio honors in all three sports and scores a school-record 53 points in one basketball game, graduates.
7. 1965 — Havlicek, by then a Boston Celtic, makes a decisive steal in Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, prompting broadcaster Johnny Most's call, 'Havlicek stole the ball!', long ranked among the most famous radio calls in American sports.
8. 1986 — The Joseph Kirkwood House, by then serving as a group home, is added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 13.
9. 2007 — Bridgeport High School renames its gymnasium the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium.

Stories

The steal heard on the radio

John Havlicek was born just across the river in Martins Ferry, but it was at Bridgeport High School that he became a three-sport star, good enough to earn All-Ohio honors in football, basketball, and baseball in his senior year and to score 53 points in a single basketball game, a school record. After Ohio State and a 1960 NCAA championship, he spent all sixteen years of his NBA career with the Boston Celtics, winning eight championships and becoming the franchise's all-time leading scorer. The moment that made him a household name came in Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern Conference Finals against Philadelphia, when Havlicek tipped away a desperate inbound pass in the closing seconds to seal a one-point Celtics win; Boston broadcaster Johnny Most's call, 'Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball!', delivered in a voice cracking with excitement, is still ranked among the most famous radio calls in American sports history. Bridgeport renamed its gymnasium for him in 2007.

A veteran's son builds in brick and wood

Robert Kirkwood, born in Delaware, fought in the Revolutionary War before emigrating to Belmont County in 1789, among the area's first American settlers. By 1846 his son Joseph was established enough in Bridgeport to build a substantial house on Bennett Street: a five-bay, symmetrical I-house dressed in Greek Revival styling, standing on a sandstone foundation with wood-and-brick construction, enlarged with a big rear addition in 1853. The house outlived its original purpose long ago; by the time it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, it was serving as a group home for people with intellectual disabilities, called Thresholds to Tomorrow, a second life for a building that had already stood for a century and a half.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

Every historic place in Belmont County on the full map

A well in the Ohio River valley (alluvial) aquifer serving the St. Clairsville-area system The water here

• Belmont Co. Sanitary District 357% of residentsOhio River valley aquifer (wells)
• Bridgeport Public Water System39% of residentsOhio River valley aquifer (wells)
• Martins Ferry Public Water System3% of residentsOhio River valley aquifer (wells)
• St. Clairsville, City Of0% of residentsSt. Clairsville Main & Provident Reservoirs (local runoff)

Dialysis centers (1)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Public libraries (1)

Police stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Money issues on the ballot since 2015: 5 of 9 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 0 of 1.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• Fiscal emergency: declared 2018-12-04, still in effect. source
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-31

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

Cite this page