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Born in Brooklyn in 1840, Henry Alonzo House lived most of his life in Bridgeport, dying in the city on December 17, 1930. A consummate inventor, he filed for patent after patent in diverse industries, and created the earliest known steam powered automobile in 1866. At his death, he had taken out approximately 300 patents for everything from button hole machines to paper cups to shredded wheat, reflecting diversity and ingenuity.