Marge Schneider: Bridgeport’s Own Rosie the Riveter
This young lady was amazing. In 1942, Marge Schneider lived with her family on Barnum Avenue near Central Avenue. With the flurry of war around her, Marge took a job at the Bridgeport Brass Company on Grand Street. Marge walked to work.
With the men all gone to war, jobs opened up at the factory for women. Marge’s boss asked her to pose for this photograph showing women the proper way to dress so that their clothing would not get caught by the machinery.
Marge also went around the factory making sure that women were dressed safely for work. No high heel shoes, no open toes. The fashion of the 1940′s were not conducive to working with machinery, so many of the women did not really know what to wear. It was Marge’s job to make sure they knew.
When the men came back from war, many of the women who worked in the factory had to leave to make room for the men. Marge worked at the Bridgeport Brass for three years during the war. She got married soon after the war, and later took a job part-time working at Read’s. Marge was very involved with the YWCA since childhood, and continued her volunteer work for the Y until her death in 2000.
