Editing Bristol, Pennsylvania (section)

== History ==
[[File:King George Inn.JPG|thumb|The historic [[King George II Inn]], founded in 1681 in downtown Bristol, the oldest United States–based inn, November 2010]]
[[File:200 Mill Bristol.JPG|thumb|House on Mill Street, built in 1781, November 2010]]
[[File:Grundy Mills Complex.jpg|thumb|Grundy Mills Complex, a former textile mill in Bristol, March 2011]]
[[File:Harriman historic district.jpg|thumb|Bristol Borough's [[Harriman Historic District]], March 2011]]
[[File:Bristol, PA borough hall, March 2024.jpg|thumb|Bristol Borough Hall, March 2024]]
[[Samuel Clift]] founded the Borough of Bristol, having received a land grant from [[Edmund Andros]], who was then [[governor of New York]]. The grant became effective on March 14, 1681 ([[new style]]) or March 4, 1681 (old style) at the same time as [[William Penn]]'s Charter from [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] became effective. Clift was required by the grant to maintain ferry service across the [[Delaware River]] to [[Burlington, New Jersey]], and to run a public house or inn. The inn later became known as the ''George II''.<ref name="bristhist">{{cite web|last1=Ferguson|first1=Paul|title=Founding to Revolution 1681-1780|url=http://www.bristolhistory.org/|website=Bristol History|publisher=Bristol Cultural & Historic Society|access-date=June 22, 2016}}</ref>

Bristol Borough was settled in 1681, and named after [[Bristol]], England.<ref>{{cite book|last=Espenshade|first=A. Howry|title=Pennsylvania Place Names|series=Pennsylvania state college studies in history and political science,no. 1College series |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012934249;view=1up;seq=41|year=1925|publisher=The Evangelical Press|location=Harrisburg, PA|page=37}}</ref> It was originally used as a port and dock. It is rich in history, with many historic and restored houses along the streets of Radcliffe and Mill. In 1697, the [[Pennsylvania Provincial Council]] ordered that a town be laid out in the location. A petition was submitted by Joseph Bond, Anthony Burton, John Hall and William Wharton to the Council for incorporation, and was granted in 1702.<ref name="PlaceNames">Place Names in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; George MacReynolds; 1955; Bristol</ref>

Until 1725, Bristol Borough served as county seat of [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania|Bucks County]].<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Bristol (Pennsylvania) |volume=4 |page=582}}</ref>

From its earliest days, it was a center of textile mills,<ref
 name=Bristol/> [[foundry|foundries]], milling, and miscellaneous manufacturing. With the building of the {{convert|60|mi|km|1}} long, forty feet wide, and five feet deep<ref
 name=Bristol-2>{{cite web
 |url = http://www.bristolborough.com/history.html
 |author = official town website, unattributed
 |title = The History of Bristol Borough
 |quote = ''(Between Bristol Borough's docks and Easton), quote: `the (Delaware) canal was sixty miles long, forty feet wide, and five feet deep'.''
 |access-date = 2016-04-29
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160416115805/http://www.bristolborough.com/history.html
 |archive-date = 2016-04-16
 |url-status = dead
 }}</ref>  [[Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division)|Delaware Canal]], it became a transshipment gateway<ref
 group=notes name=DelDiv>Delaware Canal was later organized and known as the [[Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division)]].</ref> connecting the [[anthracite]] barges floating down the [[Lehigh Canal]]'s end terminal at Easton to Philadelphia. Bristol Borough 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 power]]ed barges and coastal/inland shipping vessels. Its docks also had regular ferry services to New Jersey and other points east from as early as 1681<ref
 name=Bristol/> until 1931. Developed by [[John Fitch (inventor)|John Fitch]], Bristol was the home of the first steamboat ferry service taking up to 30 passengers bound for [[Philadelphia]] and other ports on the [[Delaware River|Delaware]]<ref
 group=notes name=port>Steam boat service between Trenton, New Jersey and Philadelphia also played a key role in community development, since many lines had historic sailing ship ferry stops in Bristol.</ref><ref name="PlaceNames"/>

In 1740, William Davis established a shipyard in Bristol, building small vessels such as schooners and sloops. One such vessel was the ''Morning Glory'', noted as the fastest sailing craft on the Delaware. In 1800, John Reed acquired the shipyard.<ref name="PlaceNames"/>

The expense 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 docks, so the legislature figured the Delaware Canal avoided the need to transship barge loads of coal to boats, drastically saving costs and time.  Since Bristol Borough's long established docks were accessible to the Delaware River, the town also became the Delaware Canal's southern (main distribution) terminal end.<ref
 group=notes name=canals>Both the Delaware and the Lehigh canals operated over 100 years, into the 1930s, and Bristol Borough saw most of that traffic once the canal was online; though some coal shipped from Easton. Canal traffic diminished as the Railroad age matured, but shipping bulk goods by water transport has decided economic advantages, so the canals lasted until the economic crash in the [[Great Depression]].</ref>  Consequently, later, the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] would also connect to the anthracite flowing through the canals, to the riverine barge and boat traffic, and to provide rail depots servicing the manufacturies.  Even before the canal, Bristol Borough was located along a main land route to New York City,<ref
 name=Bristol/> Trenton, and New England so with construction of the canal and railroads, it became a major center of transportation and an even more attractive location for industry.<ref
 name=Bristol>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.bristolborough.com/history.html
 |author=official town website, unattributed
 |access-date=28 April 2016
 |title=The History of Bristol Borough
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416115805/http://www.bristolborough.com/history.html
 |archive-date=16 April 2016
 |url-status=dead
 }}
 {{void |2016-04-28 replaced deadlink:
 http://www.bristolborough.com/content/history-culture |title=History & Culture |accessdate=22 July 2013}}</ref>

By the 1880s, Bristol Borough was home to many factories, including companies manufacturing wall paper and carpet.<ref
 name=Bristol/> In World War I, the Bristol Borough docks had sufficient space for a shipyard to construct twelve building slips for the construction of merchant vessels.<ref name=Bristol/><ref name=gsec/> In 1917 [[Averell Harriman]] organized the Bristol Borough shipyards founding the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation (later called Merchant-Sterling)<ref
 name=gsec/> and given the U-boat menace, would land a contract to build 40 identical cargo ships for the war.<ref name=gsec>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/bristol.htm<!--
 |quote=Page last modified: 05-07-2011 02:43:34 ZULU 
 | website=http://www.globalsecurity.org
 --->
 | website= www.globalsecurity.org
 | title = Bristol Yard |access-date=2016-04-28
 | date = 7 May 2011
 | publisher=Global Security}}</ref> The residential area that developed around the shipyards was soon named [[Harriman, Pennsylvania]], and most of the housing built therein is still in use today.<ref name=gsec/> In 1922 Harriman was annexed by Bristol Borough.<ref name=gsec/> Most of the shipping was finished too late to enter World War I, but some of the shipyard's output was used post-war in relief and troop support missions.<ref name=gsec/> The majority of the contracts were canceled in 1919,<ref name=gsec/> and the ship yards rapidly became excess real estate.<ref name=gsec/> Between the two world wars, the eighty-acres of the shipyard were let out to various concerns, including one area<ref name=gsec/> converted to building amphibious planes&mdash;the [[flying boat]]s technology which was the heart and soul of long distance air travel until the technological advances theretofore the middle years of [[World War II]]. During World War II the old shipyards were used to build those<ref name=Bristol/> and other airplanes,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.delawareandlehigh.org/town.asp?townid=30 |title=Bristol Borough, PA: History, Destinations and Activities |access-date=2008-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612035454/http://www.delawareandlehigh.org/town.asp?townid=30 |archive-date=2008-06-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> but most of the manufacturing in WW-II was not directly related to the war.<ref name=gsec/>

In 1961, Bristol Borough gained national attention when the song "[[Bristol Stomp]]", by [[The Dovells]] hit #2 on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' pop chart. The song remains a local favorite, and it is often played at ceremonies, parades, and sporting events. The Merchant Shipbuilding site returned to the news in the 1990s when the ''Bucks County Redevelopment Authority'' using state and federal funding<ref name=gsec/> targeted the area as a priority for urban redevelopment.
 
Given its riverfront location, the old shipbuilding site was ranked highest in priority,<ref name=gsec/> and on 20 October 2000 various legislators and officials held a press conference at the former shipyard heralding the construction of the residential development already under way, known as the'' 'Riverfront North Project''',<ref name=gsec/> and publicizing how derelict portions of the slipways were being removed.<ref name=gsec/> The project also established a park with four monuments celebrating the town's past in the redevelopment.<ref name=Bristol/>
 
Today the preserved elements of the shipyard, and other buildings once important in Bristol Borough's past service are enshrined and celebrated in the [[Bristol Historic District]], [[Bristol Industrial Historic District]],<ref name=Bristol/> and tourism sites celebrating the town's history and rich ethnic diversity. Various annual festivals, in particular keep a multi-ethnic cultural identity alive and well.<ref name=Bristol/>
 
Historic sites in the town including the [[Pennsylvania Canal (Delaware Division)|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]].  The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal is also designated as a [[National Historic Landmark|National Historic Landmark District]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

In March 2023, there was a [[2023 Delaware River chemical spill|chemical spill in the Delaware River]], caused by an equipment failure at the [[Trinseo]] chemical plant in Bristol.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Sandoval |first1=Polo |last2=Tebor|first2=Celina|last3=Cullinane|first3=Susannah |date=2023-03-27 |title=Philadelphia officials closely monitor drinking water after a chemical spill in the Delaware River |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/27/us/delaware-river-chemical-spill-philadelphia-monday/index.html |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>