In the 1900s, Middletown was transformed by immigration, war, economic upheaval, and urban change. Between 1900 and 1910, its population grew from 17,464 to 21,000, and by 1940 one of five residents had been born in a foreign country, with many newcomers coming from Melilli in Sicily. After the United States entered World War I, 1,500 Middletown men served and thirty-seven died in military service. The Great Depression brought hardship, including the closing of the Remington-Rand typewriter plant after a 1936 strike and the Middletown Silver Company in 1941, though the Arrigoni Bridge was built across the Connecticut River between 1936 and 1938. In World War II, 3,700 men and women from Middletown served, one hundred and one died, local factories produced vital war materials, the Russell Manufacturing Company employed 5,000 workers making military supplies, women entered jobs left by men at war, and black workers from the South arrived as the African-American population increased sharply. After World War II, an economic downturn in the Northeast closed several long-time employers, yet downtown flourished in the 1950s with busy streets, stores, theaters, restaurants, and public buildings. At the same time, the rise of the automobile reshaped the city as Route 9 was built along the Connecticut River in the early 1950s, cutting Middletown off from the waterway, and urban renewal destroyed several historic landmarks, including the 1893 town hall. Later in the century, new development brought a Pratt and Whitney Manufacturing plant in 1966, Middlesex Community College in 1969, an Aetna Life and Casualty facility in 1983, and a fourteen-story Middlesex Mutual Assurance Company office tower in 1989, while Wesleyan University grew in size and prestige. By its 350th year, Middletown had become a cosmopolitan city of 45,000 and a center of business and education, with a diverse population that included African American, Polish, Italian, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific residents, continuing a pattern of newcomers seeking homes there that had begun in 1650 and carried into the 21st century.