Bristol, Pennsylvania This article is about the borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
For Bristol Township, the township in Bucks County, see Bristol Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Borough of Bristol Location of Bristol in Bucks County Location of Bristol in Bucks County Borough of Bristol is positioned in Pennsylvania Borough of Bristol - Borough of Bristol Location of Bristol in Pennsylvania Bristol is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 23 miles (37 km) northeast of Center City Philadelphia, opposite Burlington, New Jersey on the Delaware River.
Bristol was first incorporated in 1720 but historically, after 1834 became very meaningful to the evolution of the American Industrial Revolution as the end town/city of the Delaware Canal providing greater Philadelphia with the days High Tech Anthracite fuels from the Lehigh Canal via Easton.
The canal and a short trip on the Delaware also gave the town access to the mineral resources available in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York via each of the Morris Canal, the Delaware and Hudson Canal, and the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and connected the improve to those markets and trade from New York City.
All these factors spurred evolution of Bristol and close-by towns, explaining in part the industries which advanced in the region.
Although its charter was revised in 1905, the initial charter remains in effect, making Bristol one of the older boroughs in Pennsylvania.
Samuel Clift established Bristol, having received a territory grant from Governor Edmund Andros of New York.
Bristol was platted in 1697, and titled after Bristol, England. It was originally used as a port and dock.
Bristol is rich in history, boasting many historic and restored homes that line the streets of Radcliffe and Mill.
Until 1725 Bristol served as governmental center of county of Bucks County. From its earliest days Bristol was a center of textile mills, foundries, milling, and miscellaneous manufacturing.
With the building of the 60 miles (96.6 km) long, forty feet wide, and five feet deep Delaware Canal it became a transshipment gateway[notes 1] connecting the anthracite barges flowing down the Lehigh Canal's end terminal at Easton to Philadelphia.
Bristol was chosen to terminate the Delaware Canal because it already had regular shipping connections to other parts of Philadelphia and Delaware River ports by both the era's typical animal powered barges and era typical coastal/inland shipping vessels.
The historic King George II Inn, in downtown Bristol Grundy Mills Complex, a former textile foundry in Bristol.
Bristol's Harriman Historic District.
The cost of digging the canal was justifiable as the banks of the Delaware southerly from Easton were less suitable, there was insufficient real estate for extensive additional harbors, so the council figured the Delaware Canal avoided the need to transship barge loads of coal to boats, drastically saving costs and time.
Since Bristol's long established docks were accessible to the Delaware, the town also became the Delaware Canal's southern (main distribution) terminal end.[notes 3] Consequently, later, the Pennsylvania Railroad would also connect to the anthracite flowing through the canals, to the riverine barge and boat traffic, and to furnish rail depots servicing the manufacturies.
Even before the canal, Bristol was positioned along a chief land route to New York City, Trenton, and New England so with assembly of the canal and barns s, it became a primary center of transit and an even more attractive locale for industry. By the 1880s Bristol was home to many factories, including companies manufacturing wall paper and carpet. In World War I, the Bristol docks had sufficient space for a shipyard to construct twelve building slips for the assembly of merchant vessels. In 1917 Averell Harriman organized the Bristol shipyards beginning the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation (later called Merchant-Sterling) and given the U-boat menace, would territory a contract to build 40 identical cargo ships for the war. The residentiary region that advanced around the shipyards was soon titled Harriman, Pennsylvania, and most of the housing assembled therein is still in use today. In 1922 Harriman was took in by Bristol. Most of the shipping was rather than too late to enter World War I, but some of the shipyard's output was used post-war in relief and troop support missions. The majority of the contracts were canceled in 1919, and the ship yards quickly became excess real estate. Between the world wars, the eighty-acres of the shipyard were let out to various concerns, including one region converted to building amphibious planes the flying boats technology which was the heart and soul of long distance air travel until the technological advances theretofore the middle years of World War II.
In 1961, Bristol attained national consideration when the song "Bristol Stomp", by The Dovells hit #2 on the Billboard pop chart.
Today the preserved elements of the shipyard, and other buildings once meaningful in Bristol's past service are enshrined and jubilated in the Bristol Historic District, Bristol Industrial Historic District, and tourism sites celebrating the suburbs history and rich ethnic range.
Historic sites in the town such as the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, Dorrance Mansion, General Stores and Mold Loft Building-Harriman Yard of the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation, Grundy Mill Complex, Harriman Historic District, Jefferson Avenue School and Jefferson Land Association Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal is also designated a National Historic Landmark District. All held at the Bristol Lions Park, Bristol Wharf and in the Historic Mill Street Shopping District by the Delaware River.
Bristol is positioned at 40 6 12 N 74 51 5 W (40.103382, -74.851448). According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the borough has a total region of 1.9 square miles (4.9 km2), of which, 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2) of it is territory and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km2) of it (10.81%) is water.
14.2% of the populace were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. There are 661 veterans living in Bristol Borough.
The Bristol Borough School District comprises two enhance schools: Warren Snyder-John Girotti Elementary School (K-8) and Bristol High School (9-12).
Other schooling opportunities in Bristol are offered through the Roman Catholic church school of St.
Delaware Canal was later organized and known as the Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division).
Steam boat service between Trenton, New Jersey and Philadelphia also played a major part in improve development, since many lines had historic sailing ship ferry stops in Bristol.
Both the Delaware and the Lehigh canals directed over 100 years, into the 1930s, and Bristol saw most of that traffic once the canal was online; though some coal shipped from Easton.
Bristol History.
Bristol Cultural & Historic Society.
Bristol, Pennsylvania - Love - To - Know 1911 "The History of Bristol Borough".
"The History of Bristol Borough".
(Between Bristol's docks & Easton), quote: `the (Delaware) canal was sixty miles long, forty feet wide, and five feet deep'.
"Bristol Yard".
Bristol, PA: History, Destinations and Activities "Pennsylvania: Population and Housing Unit Counts" (PDF).
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bristol, Pennsylvania.
Bristol Cultural and Historical Foundation, Inc Municipalities and communities of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States Bristol Chalfont Doylestown Dublin Hulmeville Ivyland Langhorne Langhorne Manor Morrisville New Britain New Hope Newtown Penndel Perkasie Quakertown Richlandtown Riegelsville Sellersville Silverdale Telford Trumbauersville Tullytown Yardley Bedminster Bensalem Bridgeton Bristol Buckingham Doylestown Durham East Rockhill Falls Haycock Hilltown Lower Makefield Lower Southampton Middletown Milford New Britain Newtown Nockamixon Northampton Plumstead Richland Solebury Springfield Tinicum Upper Makefield Upper Southampton Warminster Warrington Warwick West Rockhill Wrightstown
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