Bristol, Connecticut

Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, 20 miles southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The city is part of the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 60,833.

Bristol is the location of the general studios of ESPN, and the location of Lake Compounce, the United States's oldest continuously operating theme park. Bristol was known as a clock-making city in the 19th century, and is the location of American Clock & Watch Museum. Bristol is also the site of the former American Silver Company and its predecessor companies.

Bristol's nickname is the "Mum City", because it was once a leader in chrysanthemum production and still holds an annual Bristol Mum Festival.[6]

This map shows the incorporated and unincorporated areas in Hartford County, Connecticut, highlighting Bristol in red. It was created with a custom script with US Census Bureau data and modified with Inkscape.

Neighborhoods

• Cedar Lake
• Chippens Hill
• East Bristol
• Edgewood
• Federal Hill
• Forestville Village
• Maple End
• Northeast Bristol
• Rustic Terrace
• West End

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Connecticut

History

The area that includes present-day Bristol was originally inhabited by the Tunxis Native American tribe, one of the Eastern Algonquian-speaking peoples that shared the lower Connecticut River Valley.

Originally, Bristol was within the boundaries of Farmington, Connecticut, which was incorporated in 1645. This deed was confirmed by another deed in 1650. The first actual settler of Bristol was Daniel Brownson, who built a house near West Street, but did not stay in the area very long. The first permanent settler was Ebenezer Barnes, who the next year built a home on King Street. Also in 1728, Nehemiah Manross arrived from Lebanon, and built a house north of Barnes Street, on the west side of King Street. The following year the first settlement arrived in what is now known as East Bristol when Nathaniel Messenger of Hartford and Benjamin Buck of Southington bought land and built houses along King Street.

Other houses were soon built around present-day Bristol wherever land was available for farming. This included the slope of Fall Mountain, now called Wolcott Street, and on Chippens Hill. By 1742, the families inhabiting the area petitioned the Connecticut Colony General Court for permission to create their own Congregational Society, citing the difficulties traveling to Farmington during winter. The Court approved their petition for the winter months only, and in 1744, agreed that area residents could set up their own ecclesiastical society. It was called New Cambridge. With their own congregation, area settlers began forming their own local government. However, since homes were so widely scattered, the General Court formed a committee to locate the geographic center of the settlement. The area now known as Federal Hill was deemed the center, and the first Congregationalist church was built there.

In 1785, New Cambridge was incorporated as the town of Bristol, named after Bristol, England. By 1790, the industry for which the town later became famous was established by the pioneer of clock making Gideon Roberts. Roberts began making wooden moment clocks and peddled them by horseback through Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania. As Roberts' sons grew up and began helping with the business, Gideon increased production and Bristol clocks were soon sold all over the country. By the early 19th century, nearly all of the capital and skill in town was involved in the clock industry in some form or fashion. The clock business gave way to related industries, which included brass, springs, bearings, and hardware. As Bristol began to grow, many ethnic groups arrived to work in the industries.

It was incorporated as a city in 1911. Today, Bristol is mostly residential and best known as the home of ESPN (which arrived in 1979), the American Clock & Watch Museum (since 1952), and Lake Compounce, America's oldest operating theme park—opened in 1846.

Notable people

• Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), father of Louisa May Alcott, taught school in Bristol on two different occasions: in 1823 and, after teaching in Cheshire for a time, again in Bristol from 1827 to 1828. Alcott later moved to Concord, Massachusetts, where he became acquainted with many prominent Transcendentalists and literary figures
• John R. Broderick (born 1957), President of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, was born in Bristol
• Gary Burghoff (born 1943), actor who played the character Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly in both the film and television series M*A*S*H, was born in Bristol
• Bob Crane (1928–1978), actor who played the title role in the television series Hogan's Heroes, worked for WBIS radio station in Bristol early in his career
• Chris Denorfia, former Major League Baseball outfielder, was born in Bristol
• Frank Filipetti, music producer, was born in Bristol
• Amethyst (drag queen), grew up in Bristol
• Michelle Guerette (born 1980), Olympic athlete, graduated from Bristol Central High School
• Aaron Hernandez (1989–2017), NFL former tight end for the New England Patriots and convicted murderer
• Gordon J. Humphrey (born 1940), U.S. Senator from New Hampshire (1979–1991) was born in Bristol
• Cliff Johnson, author of The Fool's Errand, was born in Bristol
• Karen Josephson (born 1964) and Sarah Josephson (born 1964), twin sisters who won the silver medal in synchronized swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, were born in Bristol
• Jocelin Donahue (born 1981), actress most famous for her role in Ti West's critically acclaimed horror film The House of the Devil, born and raised in Bristol
• Fred Lynn, debuted in his professional baseball career playing for the Bristol Red Sox at Muzzy Field, an early twentieth-century ballpark in Bristol. Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice, who debuted with Williamsport in the New York-Penn League and then played for Winter Haven of the Florida State League, also played part of his minor league career for the Bristol Red Sox
• Scott Perkins (born 1980), American composer, was raised in Bristol and graduated from Bristol Central High School
• Steve Pikiell (born 1967), head basketball coach at Rutgers University; formerly coach at Stony Brook University
• Mike Reiss (born 1959), longtime writer for The Simpsons, is a Bristol native
• Albert Rockwell (1862–1925) inventor, manufacturer, industrialist, and philanthropist who moved to Bristol in the 1880s. He designed and manufactured doorbells and other kinds of bells (hence the name Bell City), bicycle brakes, ball bearings, and automobiles
• Michelle Theriault (born 1986), stock car racing driver, was born in Bristol
• Adrian Wojnarowski, New York Times best-selling author and NBA Columnist for Yahoo! Sports, Fox Sports One, and now ESPN was raised in Bristol and attended Bristol Central High School