Bristol Connecticut History & Facts

Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, 20 miles (32 km) southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. 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 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.

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 through 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.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Bristol has a total area of 26.8 square miles (69.5 km2), of which 26.4 square miles (68.4 km2) is land and 0.39 square miles (1.0 km2), or 1.51%, is water. Bristol contains several distinct sections, including Cedar Lake in the southwestern quarter, Chippens Hill in the northwestern quarter, Edgewood in the northeastern quarter, Forestville in the southeastern quarter and the city in the approximate middle of Bristol. The majority of Bristol's area is residential in character, though since 2008 there has been a push for commercial development in the city. The city is part of the Naugatuck Valley Regional Planning Organization following the closure of the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, the metropolitan planning organization for Bristol, New Britain, and surrounding towns for decades.

Famous Peoples From Bristol Connecticut

Gary Rich Burghoff

(born May 24, 1943) is an American actor who is known for originating the role of Charlie Brown in the 1967 Off-Broadway musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and the character Corporal Walter Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly in the film M*A*S*H, as well as the TV series. He was a regular on television game show Match Game from 1974 to 1975 for 140 episodes, standing in for Charles Nelson Reilly, who was in New York doing a Broadway play, and continued to make recurring appearances afterwards.

Burghoff was born in Bristol, Connecticut, moved to Clinton, Connecticut, and then later moved to Delavan, Wisconsin.

He studied tap dance and became a drummer, despite being born with brachydactyly caused by Poland syndrome, which made three fingers on his left hand significantly smaller than those on his right hand. He gained early experience acting with the Belfry Players of Williams Bay, Wisconsin. He received his acting training at HB Studio in New York City.

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