Mr. Harry Hardy was born in England , November 21, 1861, and was brought to this country as a small boy. He and his older brother, Sam, were vitally connected with the early history of Bridgeport . The Wise County Coal Company, represented by Sam Hardy, superintendent, began the opening of the coal mines at the same time the town lots went on sale (1893). Mr. Hardy and his brother, Harry, opened No. 1 mine in East Bridgeport . Harry was mine foreman, and then superintendent for a short while before the mine closed, about 1906. His brother and family moved to Newcastle in 1908. Harry was elected mayor of Bridgeport in 1929 and served almost seven years at a trying time when Lake Bridgeport was being built, a water system installed in the city, and the high school gymnasium erected. It was during his administration in 1934 that the catastrophe at the filtration plant took place and Dr. Buckner's hospital burned. Mayor Hardy was the man for the hour. He died at the home of his son, Luke Hardy, in Bridgeport on March 9, 1944, a short time after his wife's death, and not long after their Golden Wedding anniversary.