Iconic Flour Tower in Bridgeport sells for $900,000

BRIDGEPORT –The iconic Flour Tower, a 1910-era grain storage elevator turned eclectic private residence, sold last month after being on the market since 2023. A notice on the online brokerage site Redfin said the 6,500+ square foot property sold for $900,000 on May 20.

Little has been disclosed about the purchasing party other than it is a west side resident who plans to use the Flour Tower as a second home. One issue that the new owner will have to address is winter ice buildup on the north side roof of the house. During the severe 2022 winter conditions ice fell several stories and crashed through the roof of the ground floor sunroom addition that overlooks the river.

The five-story, four-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath home at 1313 Jefferson Avenue was the vision of owner Capt. Winfield “Scott” Wright who purchased the vacant tower in 2006 and spent the ensuing years converting the declining derelict into the grand residence it told him it wanted to be.

“It just spoke to me,” Wright once said upon first laying eyes on the building.

Whatever it said should be bottled and sold because Wright tackled a challenge that would give pause to a man in his prime. Wright was then a spry 80 years young when he started remodeling. Over the span of three years, Wright and longtime companion Kathy Thompson breathed a second life into the 70-foot-tall behemoth. Well before Wright died at age 91 in 2023, his reborn residence provided him with years of pride, peace, and comfort.

Countless accounts have been recorded over the years about the bold project on the Bridgeport riverbank, the most recent being a KING 5 Evening piece by writer/producer Anne Erickson last December that featured Wright’s daughter, Lela, from Hondo, New Mexico, and RE/MAX listing agent Mary Signorelli of Chelan. The Quad City Herald was on hand to report on Erickson’s visit that included a segment on the city’s two dozen tree carvings and an interview with then-Mayor Janet Conklin.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media