Bristol
by Jeffrey Marshall
Bristol is as old as Pennsylvania. In 1681 Samuel Clift received title to 262 acres covering the original part of Bristol—the same day as the Proprietary Charter of Pennsylvania. The grant was for a tract of land on the Delaware River, “at the mouth of Mill Creek” indicating that the town's first industry was already established. The mill gave name to the town's first and most important commercial avenue, Mill Street.
Doron Green’s 1911 history of Bristol Borough proudly proclaims in its title that the town “anciently known as Buckingham” was “the Third Oldest Town and Second Chartered Borough in Pennsylvania.” Green’s pride in his hometown was justified. Bristol is unique in Bucks County as being the focal point for advances in the field of transportation for three centuries and can claim preeminence in advances related to land, river, sea, and air transportation. From footpaths to airplanes, no community in the county has been the center of more transportation achievements than Bristol.
The town grew up along a prehistoric Indian path leading to the Delaware River. The path ended at what was to become Bristol because this was the best place in the vicinity to cross the river. The first settlers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania gravitated to the spot for the same reason. Bucks County’s first ferry across the river between the two states was on the site. The ferry operated until 1931 when the Burlington-Bristol Bridge was constructed.
With the dual advantage of its location on the river as the focal point of transportation between Philadelphia and New York City and as a port connecting the rural backcountry with ocean going vessels, the town flourished. For this reason Bristol became the site of the county’s great fairs which were held twice a year until 1796. In the course of time the fairs became very unpopular. Lawlessness and crime became so prevalent that on November 10, 1773, the town burgess and council resolved that the fair was useless on account of the “debauchery, idleness and drunkenness consequent on the meeting of the lowest class of people together.” However, since the fairs were granted in the charter, the borough could not cancel them. They applied to the state legislature and relief was eventually granted in 1796.
Adding to the site’s popularity was the Bristol Springs famous mineral water. Until the ascendency of New York’s Saratoga Springs in the early nineteenth century, Bristol was the place to go for health conscious Americans.
The fact that ocean going vessels could sail to Bristol was a key element in the creation of a shipbuilding industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This industry was expanded and revitalized in the twentieth century. When this industry declined, another industry, airplane manufacturing, was poised to take advantage of the location and the manufacturing facilities Bristol offered.
Although the Delaware River was a great facilitator of traffic from Philadelphia to Bristol, it also was an obstacle to travel from Bristol to Burlington so a ferry was established almost immediately. The exact date of the establishment of the first ferry is not clear. It is noted in the 1684 will of Samuel Clift. During the Revolutionary War, Bristol and its ferry was a strategic location for American troops. As the American army fled the British and Hessians, Colonel John Cadwalader with 1500 men guarded the ferry. If not for the ice on the night of December 25, 1776, Cadwalader and his troops would have crossed the river to meet up with Washington's troops at the Battle of Trenton.
By the Civil War period the original ferry had been replaced by a steam operated ferry boat. Steamboats including the Sun, Dayton, Mercer and the Elwood Doron plied the river between Bristol and Burlington. Ferries operated across the river until just before the opening of the Burlington-Bristol Bridge in 1931. The last ferry, the Wm. S. Doron ended service on February 24, 1930.
For most of its history, Bristol Borough was the county’s only seaport. It was not until 1932 after the channel was deepened that the first ship reached the port of Trenton. Bristol was the only location in Pennsylvania above Philadelphia where a shipbuilding industry was established. The first reported ship built in the county was the 25 ton sloop “Expedition” built in Bristol in April 1727. In the years following, a considerable number of ships were built in Bristol, some as large as 100 tons. Historian Doron Green noted that Bristol produced twenty one schooners between 1844 and the early twentieth century. At least one of these schooners, the James Buchanan was involved in the slave trade between Africa and Central America. On her last voyage, her speed allowed her to elude a British man-o-war and unload her unfortunate human cargo. Trapped by the British in the Bay of Honduras, her crew burned the ship rather than allow its capture.
Bristol played host to one of the nation’s first steamboats near the end of the eighteenth century. On July 27, 1790, a steamboat built by John Fitch, a Bucks Countian who developed the first practical steamboat several years earlier, landed at Bristol. Prior to this event, Fitch placed a notice in Philadelphia newspapers which stated: “THE STEAMBOAT sets out tomorrow morning at ten o’clock from Arch Street Ferry, in order to take passengers for Burlington, Bristol, Bordentown and Trenton, and return the next day.” A large crowd gathered to see the strange craft proceed up the river at seven and a half miles per hour. The Phoenix began service in 1809, cruising the river at 8 miles per hour with the tide.
This prime location along the Delaware River was a key factor in the establishing Bristol as the terminus of the Delaware and Lehigh Canal system, which brought anthracite coal and other commodities from the upper Delaware to Philadelphia and smaller local markets along the way. The canal also provided a source of power to a number of industries, which were established in Bristol. .
The opening of the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal in Bristol was one of the major influences on the development of the town. The canal was designed as an alternative to river travel, with the aid of a system of lift locks, could easily be travelled upstream and could avoid the obstructions, rapids, eddies and falls which plagued river travel along the Delaware River. From Easton to tidewater at Bristol, a distance of 60 miles, the terrain drops 165 feet. The Delaware Canal overcame this problem with a series of “levels” and 23 lift locks. The lock that was installed at the Bristol basin gave access to the Delaware River at tidewater.
The coal from most of the boats was unloaded at Bristol to be shipped by ships up and down the coast. Coal boats consigned to Philadelphia and adjacent ports were assembled in the river outside the tide lock in tows of up to twenty-one boats, three abreast, to be taken down the river by steamboats. Boats consigned to New York were towed across the Delaware River to Bordentown where they entered the Delaware and Raritan Canal
Within a few years the number of boats headed for Bristol became so great that, in the words of W.H. Gausler, “the canal seemed to be a solid mass of boats.” Stores sprang up to provide food and other supplies for the boatmen; stables were built to house the mules. The mules for the boats continuing on to Philadelphia and New York were left behind at Bristol until the return trip. Blacksmith shops were a necessity; and farmers did a thriving business in supplying hay, oats, and straw for the animals. Then there were the grog shops to satisfy the thirsty boatmen. Bristol became a boom town.
The arrival of the railroad in Bucks County coincided with the opening of the Delaware Canal. Like most innovations in the transportation history of the county, the first railroad ran the familiar route along the Delaware River through Bristol to Morrisville. The Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company was incorporated on February 23, 1832. It eventually became part of the line between Philadelphia and New York. Construction began in 1833, and the eight mile section between Bristol and Morrisville was in limited use by April of 1834. Horse drawn carriages were used initially since there seemed to be some concern about steam engines being dangerous. The railroad company executives did not want to “sport with the lives of passengers at forty miles an hour.” Advertisements ran “No locomotive, no monopoly, fare only $1.50.” By November, when the entire length of the line opened, the railroad had purchased a locomotive.
The Philadelphia and Trenton Company continued to operate the line until it was leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1871. The train was used by Abraham Lincoln on his tour through the nation prior to his second inauguration. The main line ran through Bristol until 1910 when an elevated line was constructed. A new four lane elevated track, with a new station, was built in Bristol to straighten the line and eliminate dangerous crossings.
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Bristol Improvement Company was chartered to attract more industries to the town. Between 1876 and 1898 the Bristol Improvement Company organized by Joshua Pierce constructed the Bristol Worsted Mill, Keystone Fringe Mill, Star Woolen Mill, Wilson and Fenimore Wall Paper Mill and Bristol Carpet Mill. Of these the worsted mill, first leased to Grundy Brothers and Campion and later owned solely by Joseph G. Grundy advanced the Bristol textile industry, which started in 1815 with a woolen mill, to be the most dominant industry of the area. Today, the clock tower at the Grundy Mill still shines as a local landmark.
The First World War revealed the need for the United States to vastly increase its shipbuilding capacity. As a result, the United States Shipbuilding Board and the Emergency Fleet Corporation was chartered in 1916. The corporation funded the construction of new shipyards and contracted for new ships. New shipyards were needed because existing facilities lacked adequate transportation facilities, adequate housing facilities, or both. One of the events that literally changed the face of Bristol was the construction of a large shipbuilding yard with its own town for employees in the early twentieth century. Shipbuilding was elevated to the town’s most important industry.
Bristol became directly involved in the war effort when the Chester Shipbuilding Company bought the Standard Cast Iron and Pipe Foundry in 1917. The Chester Shipbuilding Company had just been purchased by the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation controlled by W. Averill Harriman. The Bristol foundry along the Delaware River offered the dual advantages of a location for a large shipyard with what the June 7, 1917 Bristol Daily Courier noted was an existing operation “… having foundries, machine shops, and buildings for machine work, engine construction and boilers.” The company soon opened its North Bristol Shipbuilding Plant. The site totaled 260 acres and had 3,600 feet of river frontage. Twelve concrete shipways were built. Each was served by two electrically operated boom type travelling cranes. Additionally, an 1135-foot long fitting-out pier was constructed.
The Bristol shipyard was part of a large scale system of constructing what now is referred to as “prefab” construction. Eighty percent of the material for the ships was fabricated in industrial plants far distant from the shipyard. By April 1920, twenty eight of the ships had been launched.
A year after the announced purchase, the Bristol Daily Courier revealed that the new town site would be named Harriman in honor of the company’s Chairman of the Board. A town was created with hundreds of dwellings, handsome streets, a fine Spanish Mission style 500 room hotel, several stores and its own new school. The town had its own police station, post office, and telegraph and telephone station. By April 1919, it was reported that 320 houses, a hospital, a school, 281 apartments (including bachelor’s quarters, boarding houses, and bunk houses), a heating plant, one hotel, 18 stores, and a cafeteria were completed in Harriman Village. The Merchant Restaurant covered nearly an acre of ground and could serve 12,000 every twenty four hours. After the war, the buildings were sold at public auction, and the village annexed to Bristol Borough. The hotel was torn down. The hospital was purchased by Dr. George Fox and opened to the public in 1922.
In the twenty first century, when most new airplanes are multi-million dollar investments, it is difficult to appreciate that in the early twentieth century an airplane was often a homemade assemblage of sticks, wires, and muslin. This was an age of barnstorming daredevils and airplane companies which operated on a shoestring; and Bristol was a part of it.
The Keystone Aircraft Company was one of the numerous small companies that jumped into aircraft manufacturing. The two largest companies of the time were the Curtiss Aeroplane Company and the Wright Aeronautical Company. These companies eventually merged and bought a number of smaller companies including Keystone.
Keystone was in the race to complete the first trans-Atlantic flight, which was won by Charles A. Lindbergh. In 1927, a prize of $25,000 was offered for the first New York to Paris flight. One of the planes involved in the attempt was a specially modified three engine Keystone Pathfinder. The first official test flight of the plane, American Legion, was held at the flying field of the Keystone Company on Beaver Street in Bristol. Newspapers and motion picture cameramen were on the scene to record the event. Unfortunately, before they could make their attempt, Noel Davis and Stanton Wooster, U. S. Navy pilots, were killed when their Pathfinder crashed near Langley Field in Virginia. Keystone produced the successful Pronto airplane. According to a 1927 Aero Digest article, the Pronto would demonstrate for the first time in civil aeronautics the practical application of the supercharger to increase horsepower. This additional power was vital to enable the plane to fly over the mountains. The Pronto was used as both a seaplane and regular plane.
Bristol was also the home of another innovation of the airplane industry. The Fleetwings Seabird was the first attempt to design, build and license a stainless steel airplane. The Seabird, which was developed and produced at the company’s Bristol plant, was also the first amphibious stainless steel airplane for commercial use. The company moved to Bristol in 1934 after purchasing the old Keystone Aircraft Company property. Fleetwings built the first stainless steel airplane designed for military use in 1939. The Fleetwings Company was sold to Kaiser Industries during World War II. Kaiser expanded rapidly to meet military demand for aircraft. A second plant was constructed on Green Lane in Bristol Township and a third plant on Beaver Street was rented to increase production. Although the company continued to make complete airplanes, it really excelled in making parts for a variety of airplanes including Flying Fortresses, Brewster Buccaneers, Thunderbolts, Havocs, and Avengers. After the war, work at the Fleetwings plants shifted to other areas of production.
The commerical core of Bristol is Mill Street. Its shops have gone through generations of boom and bust. Radcliffe Street constituted Bristol's most prestigious residential address almost from the date of the borough's establishment. In general the grandest houses along Radcliffe Street are located on the southeast side of the street overlooking the Delaware River. The houses on the northwest side of the street tend to be more modest in appearance, though still obviously designed as upper middle class and upper class residences. Most of the buildings in this part of town date from the second half of the nineteenth century, though there are scattered examples of early nineteenth and early twentieth century residential architecture. These buildings exhibit a wide range of architectural styles, including excellent examples of Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival styles. Many of these buildings are the finest examples of their kind in the county.
Typical of the upper class residences that line Radcliffe Street between Walnut Street and Jefferson Avenue are the massive three story brick 1858 Elizabeth and J. Jenks House (435 Radcliffe), the 1894 Leopold Landreth House (430 Radcliffe), an early Horace Trumbauer design, Jessie B. Mears' c. 1860 Gothic Revival style double (417 19 Radcliffe), the exuberant Queen Anne style brick double constructed c. 1884 for Philip M. Hatzell (508 l0 Radcliffe), William H. Grundy's eclectic brick mansion (610 Radcliffe), the handsome Victorian Gothic Revival stone house built c. 1876 for John Dorrance (725 Radcliffe), the massive Frank Bell House, a mayor 1889 remodeling of an earlier Second Empire style residence (824 Radcliffe), the eclectic 1877 Joseph Keim House, with its imposing tower, and the 1816 Federal style mansion of shipbuilder John Reed (921 Radcliffe), one of the oldest buildings northeast of Walnut Street.
Bristol is typically Bucks County but it is not like anywhere else in Bucks County. Its townspeople come from the earliest inhabitants of Pennsylvania and the multiple waves of immigration that occurred during the latter half of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century. The people of Bristol are patriotic about their town and convinced that there is no better town anywhere. The history of Bristol in its founding, its architecture and commercial and community life parallels not only the history of the state of Pennsylvania but also American history in general.