BRISTOL
Bristol - Places in the USA
BRISTOLS IN THE USA. There are 28 of them in North America and a few in other countries also.
Places named Bristol in North America
Some of these places seem to be very small and only a few of them have any web presence at all.
Bristol - Places in the USA
Connecticut - Official Site,
Massachusetts - Bristol County, Census,
Pennsylvania - Bucks County
Rhode Island - 1790 Census, Main site, Bristol Phoenix
Virginia - Official Site,
Bristol - Colorado
Most of these places are named after Bristol, England but Derek Bailey who now lives in Colorado, USA say,s that the Bristol there in Prowers County, Colorado, is named after a man named C H Bristol who was the Superintendent of the Santa Fe Railroad.
Bristol - Indiana
Map of northern Indiana
The following history was taken from mostly from two books, "Once Upon A Time In Bristol, Indiana" by the Rev. Bruce Mosier and "History of Bristol, Indiana" by Mrs Emma Bennett Kelly. A third "Borderline Indiana" by Wendell Trogdon was also used.
The first inhabitants of the area were the Miami Indians who were later replaced by the peacefull Pottawattami Indians. The first white explorers were the French, and it is supposed that Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who was born in France in 1643 passed through the area on his travels. A few years later iron ore was discovered along Sheep Creek, just west of Bristol. This was used in the manufacture of stoves, and it is thought that the last survivor of which is in the Elkhart County Historical Museum.
When Bristol was founded is not known for certain, but it was sometime in the 1830's. Washington Township, to the south of Bristol, was named after General George Washington and settled in 1830. The first doctor there was Dr Henry H Fowler who arrived in 1834 and who joined the community of fifteen families. Dr Fowler laid out a town on the west side of the Goshen-Bristol Road (Division Street). He named it Sydneyham after his birthplace in England. In 1834, Samuel P Judson, a merchant from Buffalo, New York, though his family originally came from Bristol, England, arrived and along with Hiram Doolittle set up a town, Bristol, on the east side of the road. The two townships eventually merged and were known as Bristol.
Bristol, Indiana is now a thriving town, although its population is still only around 1,300.
Welcome to Bristol, Indiana
A Bristol Pirate
The Town Clock
Bristol Opera House
Websites about Bristol, Indiana, there are quite a few, a selection of which can be found below:-
Elkhart County Historical Museum
Hometown USA, Bristol, Indiana
Bristol - The Phantom City
Here's a strange story, it concerns Bristol and Alaska. In a book called "Phenomena - A Book of Wonders" by J Michell and R J M Rickard and published by Thames & Hudson Ltd. It is probably a hoax, but the story goes for the sake of completeness.
For some reason the sky above Alaska seems strangely receptive to images of Bristol. Charles Hoy Fort in a book "New Lands" mentions reports that a mirage of Bristol appeared in the sky several times. Apparently these sightings are more common between 21st June and 10th July. Fort also reports that the local Indians were seeing these images before white settlement.
In 1887 the pioneer, Willoughby, saw and photographed this aerial city. Some people have claimed that this photograph was, in fact, a picture of the real city of Bristol and not some spectral phantom.
Willoughby's Phantom Bristol
On 31st October 1889, the New York Times an article appeared saying that Mr L B French reported seeing quite plainly in the sky near Mount Fairweather "houses, well defined streets and trees. Here and there rose tall spires over huge buildings, which appeared to be ancient mosques or cathedrals ... It did not look like a modern city - more like an ancient European city".
Fort quotes another correspondant from the Yukon who in June 1897 had seen a great city in the sky. Members of his party speculated on whether it most resembled Toronto, Montreal or Peking, but concluded that it was more like "some ancient city in the past".
The complete text for New Lands, the page that mentions Bristol is Part 2, Chapter 19.
Renaisance Fayres Wisconsin