USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 48
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The company has in the basement an apparatus for washing hose ;. which is the only one like it in use. It was gotten up and built. and pat- ented by members of the company and with a few men a thousand feet of hose can be thoroughly washed in ten or fifteen minutes.
It is very sad to look back over our records and find that some who. were once active in our circle have been taken by death. The first of our members who have died was George Van Ness who died March 16, 1896. On December 12, 1901, Walter Pond died. On September 23, 1904, Walter Hill died.
Uncas Hose Company.
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BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
NEICH
WELCH.
WELCH
Officers and members of Welsh Steam Fire Engine and Hose Co., No. I. (March, 1907).
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OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
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WELCH STEAM FIRE ENGINE AND HOSE CO. NO. I. (Of Forestville.)
In 1881 the citizens of Forestville, having purchased a steam fire engine and hose carriage, and a charter having been granted George H. Mitchell, Laport Hubbell, Chauncey L. Hotchkiss, Isaac W. Beach, Ho- bart Booth, and Samuel D. Bull, and associates, to the number of 100 men at any one time, as Welch Steam Fire Engine and Hose Co. No. I, of Forestville, a company was organized and the town erected a suitable building for the storage of the apparatus and the use of the company. The company has prospered since its very beginning, and is at present in first class condition, being splendidly equipped and having a fine personnel. On the opposite page is shown a group picture of the officers and men in March, 1907.
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BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
GILBERT W. THOMPSON POST No. 13, G. A. R.
Gilbert W. Thompson Post, No. 13, Department of Connecticut, G. A. R., was organized December 6, 1882, with the following charter mem- bers :
Nelson Bronson, Ist lieut. U. S. Army, retired; Grove E. Castle, private, Co. C., 8th Conn. Vols .; Wm Hubbell, private, Co. K., 16th Conn. Vols .; Walter H. Hutchinson, private, Co. C., 12th Conn. Vols., and Ist lieut. 99th U. S. Vols .; George Merriman, Jr., private, Co. K, 16th Conn. Vols .; Irving W. Tyler, private, Co. K, 20th Maine Vols .; Merwin H. Perkins, corporal, Co. E, 20th Conn. Vols. ; Augustus Lane, private, Co. I, Ist C. V., H. Art .; Henry H. Riggs, private, Co. C, 8th Conn. Vols .; Franklin Ball, musician, Co. C, 10th Conn. Vols .; James S. Reynolds, private, Co. I, 97th N. Y. Vols .; Gilbert S. Richmond, pri- vate, Co. I, 25th Conn. Vols .; George J. Schubert, corporal, Co. I, 25th Conn. Vols. ; Silas M. Norton, Ist sergeant, Co. K, 16th Conn. Vols .; Wm. W. Dickens, wagoner, Co. A, IIth Conn. Vols. ; Theodore Schu- bert, bugler, Co. A, Ist Conn. Cav .; W. E. Shelton, private, Co. D, 5th Conn. Vols .; Clifford D. Parsons, private, Co. A, 8th Conn. Vols .; Wm. H. Adams, sergeant, Co. M, Ist Conn. Cav. ; Asa Dillaby, corporal, Co. A. 18th Conn. Vols .; Burnham W. Francis, private, Co K. 16th Conn. Vols .; Aldelbert D. Webster, corporal, Co. ', 2nd C. V., H. Art .; Fred W. Crane, private, Co. A, 16th Conn. Vols. ; Sereno T. Nichols, private, Co. I, 25th Conn. Vols .; Henry A. Peck, captain, Co. I, 10th Conn. Vols .; Gilbert J. Bentley, sergeant, Co. B, 37th Mass, Vols .;
Some Members Gilbert W. Thompson Relief Corps, March, 1907
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OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
Past Commander Franklin Ball.
Newell Moulthrop, private, Co. H, 23d Conn. Vols .; George H. Bates, corporal, Co. D, 2d C. V., H. Art. ; Chas. E. Russell, private, Co. A, 20th Conn. Vols .; Samuel R. Terrell, private, Co. D, 2d C. V., H. Art. ; Mortimer R. Keeney, corporal, Co. B, 13th Conn. Vols. ; David W. Hali, captain, Co. H, 4th Engrs .; Wm. C. Hillard, hos. steward, U. S. army; Arthur S. Parsons, private, Co. G., 16th Conn. Vols.
ROSTER JANUARY 1, 1907. Roster January I, 1907.
Wm. Hubbell, Walter H. Hutchinson, Geo. Merriman, Irving W. Tyler, Franklin Ball, Theodore Schubert, Wm. H. Adams, Henry A. Peck, Newell Moulthrop, Geo. H. Bates, David W. Hall, Wm. C. Hillard, Arthur H. Parsons, Austin D. Thompson, Henry B. Cook, Gilbert H. Blakesley, Geo. B. Chapin, Timothy B. Robinson, Wm. C. Richards, Harrison S. Judd, Wm. H. Nott, Henry S. Avery, Z. Fuller Grannis, Marvin L. Gay- lord, Albert C. Loomis, Elbert Manchester, Asahel A. Lane, Heman A. Weeks, Wm. L. Weeks, Augustus H. Funck, George H. Grant, Fairfield Dresser, Napoleon B. Neal, Chas. B. Upson, Aaron C. Dresser, Amzi P. Clark, Hiram W. Simons, Walter Fish, Chas. H. Johnson, Watson N. Smith, George T Cook, Thomas Bunnell, Clarence H. Muzzy, Hubert D. Royce or Rice, Wm. L. Norton, William W. Cone, Ira B. Smith, Homer W. Griswold, Sylvester P. Harrison, Isaac W. Judd, Nathan L. Bartholo- mew, John Walton, Francis Williams, Edward H. Allen, Epaphroditus Harrison, James B. Sanford, Stephen C. Robbins, Geo. F. Nichols, Clif- ford D. Parsons, Leroy T. Hill-total, 60.
LIST OF OFFICERS, MARCH 1, 1907.
Post Commander, George T. Cook; S. V. Commander, George H. Bates; J. V. Commander, Harrison S. Judd; Surgeon, Henry A. Peck : Chaplain, Franklin Ball; Officer of Day, Hiram W. Simons; Officer of
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Guard, Walter Fish; Quartermaster, George B. Chapin; Adjutant, Ira B. Smith; Sergeant-Major, Walter H. Hutchinson; Quartermaster-Sergeant, Thomas Bunnell.
LIST OF POST COMMANDERS.
George Merriman, Walter H. Hutchinson, Franklin Ball, Wm. Hub- bell, Irving W. Tyler, Wm. C. Hillard, Timothy B. Robinson, Z. Fuller Granniss, Albert C. Loomis, Heman A. Weeks, Ira B. Smith, John Wat- son
GILBERT W. THOMPSON RELIEF CORPS
On the 2d day of January, 1884, Gilbert W. Thompson Relief Corps, No. 4, of Bristol, was organized, Mrs. Elizabeth C. Keifer of Wadhams Corps, Waterbury, acting as the instituting and installing officer. The number of charter members was 27, viz .: Emma Parlin, Ellen Morse. Ellen Grant, Mary Norton, Mary Nott, Minnie Chapin, Sophia Schubert Mary Merriman, Fannie Stone, Augusta Judd, Henrietta Thompson, Re becca Hall, Martha Russell, Althea Hutchinson, Parmelia Holmes, Susan Traver, Hattie Webster, Emma Arnold, Sarah Potter, Alice Cook,. Eva Yale, Ellen Dickens, Minerva Hungerford, Ida Stillman, Jennie Riggs Betsey Downs, Jennie Williams. The first officers of Thompson Corps were : President, Emma Parlin (who is now Emma Wright of New Brit- ain, where she has since been President of Stanley, No. 12); Senior Vice-President, Henrietta Thompson; Junior Vice-President, Minnie J Chapin; Secretary, Mary B. Nott; Treasurer, Sophia M. Schubert Chaplain, Ellen Morse; Conductor, Ida Stillman; Guard, Jennie Riggs.
I
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Old Town Hall.
OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
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Officers of Gilbert W. Thompson Relief Corps.
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BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
Newton S. Manross. Women's Relief Corps.
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WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS.
Newton S. Manross Woman's Relief Corps, No. 9, Auxiliary to Manross Post, was organized December 10, 1884, with a charter member- ship of twenty, including Forestville and Plainville ladies.
Its . first officers were: Sarah E. Reynolds, President; Kate F. Hills, Senior Vice President: Mary L. Tinker, Junior Vice President; Alice E. Wilson, Secretary; Jennie B. Atkins, Treasurer; Sarah J. Graves, Chaplain; Georgiana Newell. Conductor; Laurie E. Frisbie, Guard.
The meetings were held in the old Firemen's Hall until it was de- stroyed by fire, the Corps losing its original charter and organ. A new charter was procured and in spite of losses and the incompleteness of instructions in these early years, these loyal, faithful women, who were lits charter members and an equal number who had joined its ranks fabored on, and its present success is largely owing to their courage and aithfulness.
At the present time it has a membership of 67, and is now as in its first years striving to be a help to the veterans and to the Post to which it is auxiliary.
Some of the Members of Manross Post.
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BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
... ...
BRISTOL TRUST COMPANY.
The new building is a substantial structure composed of pure white marble. Its exterior outlines are sharply defined angles, while its stal- wart and symmetrical columns relieved by beautiful carving, classic in every line, impart stateliness and dignity to its appearance.
The tiled roof with its red and green and copper tints affords a strik- ing contrast with the white walls beneath.
The building is the embodiment of substantiality and prac- tical service, as well as architectural strength and beauty. Its style com- bines those qualities of ancient Greek architecture which appeal so strong- ly to the modern mind, that even its resurrected masterpieces are the marvel of modern architects. This style requires the most skilled work- manship and gives assurance that the building will permanently retain its beauty and command admiration in after years.
The building is surrounded by an attractive lawn provided with a profusion of plants and shrubbery after the Italian garden style, with an Italian garden bench at the concave corner.
Set in an ample green space, the white walls and red crowned roof of this building will inspire and develop esthetic ideals in the mind of even the most indifferent observer.
Four stately fluted columns guard the entrance which leads into an attractive vestibule, richly decorated in gold tints. From the vestibule one enters the public corridor where at once the entire main banking room is in view. The domed ceiling rises out of the large fluted Ionic pilasters with ornamental cornices and the floor is of Italian marble with
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green serpentine borders, and the side walls are wainscoted with polished Paonazzo marble, characterized by dark green veins. The woodwork is Honduras mahogany of the finest fibre and the highest finish.
The decorators of the building were Mortensen and Holdensen of Boston. Both Mr. Mortensen and Mr. Holdensen have had a thorough art education, having studied at the Royal Academy at Copenhagen and the Imperial School of Design in Vienna, and have worked with the best decorative artists of the continent.
The greater portion of the bank building is composed, of course, of the main banking room, devoted to the public and the transaction of the bank's regular business .
The walls of this room are of Empire blue, and the architectural features are gilded and toned down to a general impression of old gold.
The room occupies the whole height of the building, which gives space for an impressive coved ceiling.
The decoration in this cove is French renaisance with a leaning toward the classic. The four sides of the cove are decorated with em- blems representing, respectively, Finance, Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, to harmonize with the larger decorations painted by Mr. Ves- per L. George, which occupy the center of the sides, and which are en- closed by frames of laurel.
The public corridor occupies the heart of the building and is of octagonal shape with the paying and receiving tellers' and bookkeepers' windows facing it, and framed off from it by the metallic screen which guards the banking force at work. The building is thoroughly modern, absolutely fire-proof and is damp-proof and water-proof throughout.
The vault is directly in the rear of the working space and conveni- ently located with reference to the booth rooms which are used by pa- trons of the bank in examining their valuables that are stored in the Safe Deposit Boxes. The vault is of the most modern construction, equipped with every device for absolutely safeguarding important papers and valuables against fire, burglary or other danger or loss, and contains the Safe Deposit Boxes, and the safe provided for the cash, securities and other important holdings of the company.
OFFICERS.
The officers are: William E. Sessions, president; Charles L. Wood- ing, vice president; Francis A. Beach, secretary and treasurer: George S. Beach, assistant secretary and treasurer: executive committee, the president, hte vice president, the treasurer ; directors, William E. Sessions, president, The Sessions Foundryy Co. and The Sessions Clock Co .; Charles L. Wooding, secretary and treasurer, Bristol Water Co .; A. J. Muzzy, real estate; M. E. Weldon, merchant: Albert L. Sessions, presi- dent J. H. Sessions & Son; Joseph B. Sessions, vice president, The Ses- sions Foundry Co .; Francis A. Beach, treasurer, The Bristol Trust company.
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BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
Old Library Building, corner Main and High Streets.
BRISTOL'S NEW FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
(From Notes in Bristol Press Aug. 15, 1907.)
The formal dedication of the New Library took place Aug. 14, 1907. Callers were welcomed by Judge Epaphroditus Peck, Librarian Charles L. Wooding and assistants Miss E. J. Peck, Miss A. W. Darrow and Miss Emma Winslow. In the evening the following program was rendered :
William S. Ingraham, Chairman of the Board of Library Directors, presiding.
Flotow Music, Selection from "Martha," Miss Olcott's Orchestra Address, Epaphroditus Peck, Secretary of the Board of Library Directors
Address, Miss Caroline M. Hewins, Librarian of the Hartford Public Library Secretary of the State Library Commission
Dedicatory Prayer, Rev. A. H. Goodenough America
Singing,
Music,
The Great Divide, The Orchestra Maurice
Every seat in the assembly room was taken. Judge Peck's address was in part as follows :
Among the different causes of satisfaction in our new library build- ing, and in the library which it contains, the one most frequently ex- pressed is that it is not a gift from some world-famous plutocrat, or even
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from some single wealthy citizen of Bristol, but that it represents the general effort and the general interest of our entire community.
Over four hundred persons have taken part in the erection of this building by the contribution of larger or smaller sums, the smaller sums doubtless representing as much real sacrifice as the larger, and of these nearly all are residents of Bristol, and the few others are persons in- terested in Bristol by former residence or family connection.
It is interesting to note that the course of events out of which this library grew was not the beginning of the public library idea in Bristol. I hold in my hand a book in which are pasted three book-plates; one of the "Reformed Library in New Cambridge," one of the "Mechanics Library in Bristol," and the third our own book-plate.
The first book-plate reads as follows :
No. 61. This book belongs to the Reformed Library in New Cam- bridge. All books must be returned on the first Mondays of Oct., Nov., Dec., Jan., Feb., March, May, July and last Monday of August, on for- feiture of six-pence, one penny for every day's neglect afterwards. One penny for turning down a leaf. Other damages estimated by the in- specting committee.
The second plate is as follows :
No. 79. Price $1.25. This book belongs to the Mechanics Library of Bristol. All books belonging to this library must be returned on the first Thursday of every month, on penalty of fine of five per cent (prob- ably meaning five cents), and one per cent for every day's neglect after- wards. Two cents for turning down a leaf, twenty-five per cent for lending books to non-proprietors, and other damages estimated by the inspecting committee.
Now the name Bristol was given to this community when it was incorporated as a town in 1785, and the use of the older term "New Cambridge" as well as the use of the English currency, indicate that the earlier library must have been formed some years before 1800. The writ- ten inscription on the fly-leaf, "Newell Pyington's book bought October 28, 1816, of the New Cambridge Reformed library," probably shows that at that time the library association had broken up and was selling its books, and we may infer that the Mechanics Library was organized after- wards.
The existence of still a third library, the "Philosophical Library," and perhaps a fourth, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, is shown by a record book which has lately come into the possession of the library from Miss Kezia A. Peck. This book contains in one end the "Rules and regulations of the public library in the first society in Bristol," (Burlington was then the second society in Bristol), dated De- cember 19, 1792, and signed by forty-three proprietors, whose names prob- ably give a good census of the solid and intelligent men in the Bristol of that day, headed by that of the Congregational minister, Giles Hooker Cowles. .
At the other end of the book are the records of the Philosophical library, organized on December 5, 1803, with twenty-eight subscribers. The record of annual meetings of this society continues till 1812, after which twenty pages or more are torn out. On a later page is the first invoice of books bought for this library ; Adam's Defense, 2 vols .. Morse's Geography, 2 vols., History of the French Revolution, 2 vols., Ramsay's American Revolution, 2 vols., Trumbull's History of Connecticut, I vol., Adam's View of Religion, I vol., The Farmer's Dictionary, The Rambler, 4 vols., Franklin's Life and Letters, and President Jefferson's Notes on ยท Virginia.
The Rambler is the only book in this list that could by any possibility be classed as light literature, and we may safely guess that the works of Anthony Hope and James Barr Mccutcheon would have little favor with the purchasing committee, even if there had been any books of that class to buy.
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Putting together the information gathered from these two book-plates, and that afforded by the record book, we can clearly identify at least three successive libraries. First, the "Reformed Library," of the older book- plate, which may be identical with the unnamed "publick library" of 1792, or may be (and more probably is) a still earlier one; second (or third) the Philosophical library of 1803, and third (or fourth) the Mechanics library of the later book-plate.
The series of events that have led directly to our present library began about 1845, with the organization of a sewing society by the ladies of the Congregational church to raise money for a new carpet for the church. This was officially called the "New Carpet Society" but popular- ly the "Old Maids' Society." When the carpet had been bought and laid down, the ladies found their association so pleasant that they decided to keep up their meetings and to use their earnings for a library for their common use. They bought books from time to time, and some mem- ber kept the collection at her own house. In 1868 this library had grown to 445 volumes and the society had also sixty dollars in its treasury.
In that year some public-spirited men were just organizing a Young Men's Christian association for the benefit of the young men of the town. They were naturally seeking attractions for their rooms, and I suppose that the "Old Maids'" library had reached such size as to be rather' burdensome to its owners. A contract was accordingly made by which the ladiesplaced their library with the accumulated cash in the hands of the Y. M. C. A., the most important part of the agreement being as follows: "The library shall be kept in Bristol as a circulating library, open to all persons who shall pay the fees and conform to the rules, and no portion of it or its funds shall be appropriated to any other purpose."
The only survivors of this ladies' society, so far as I know, are Mrs Ann North, Mrs. Ellen Lewis Peck, Miss Lucy Beckwith and Miss Ophelia Ives, all still residents in Bristol.
New Library Building in Process of Construction.
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OR "NEW CAMBRIDGE."
The Young Men's Christian association maintained a somewhat checkered existence here for twenty-three years, but during all that time it housed and cared for the library, twice replaced it after fires (in which all the original books but two were destroyed,) and faithfully devoted all subscription fees to its increase. By this means, the library had in- creased to 2,528 volumes in 1891.
Mrs. Norton's bequest to the town of $5,000 for library purposes, and her own fine private library of almost a thousand volumes, came at the critical moment, in the summer of 1891, when the Y. M. C. A. had voted to disband, and the library was left homeless. A project was immediately set on foot for the establishment for a free town library, a circular advocating it and signed by fifty leading citizens was mailed to every voter, and at the annual town meeting in October, 1891, by a vote of 489 to 130, the town voted to permanently appropriate for library pur- poses a three-fourths mill tax.
That was before the establishment of the state library commission ; and I think I am right in saying that Bristol was the first town in Con- necticut to establish a free library, supported and managed wholly by the town.
Another most pleasant surprise came in 1893, when we were notified of the bequest to the town by Mrs. Julia M. Tompkins of Chicago of $5,000 for library purposes.
These two bequests, both totally unexpected, each given by a lady who had long since removed from Bristol, were certainly striking pieces of good fortune, and well calculated to stimulate the people of our own town to do their share.
I may add that Mr. Dunbar, then Chairman of the Board of Libarry Directors, was connected with the making of this bequest in much the same way as I had the good fortune to be with the Norton gift. Mr. Tompkins, who had been a shopmate of Mr. Dunbar in his young man- hood, and who in the latter years of his life had desired to express his interest in Bristol by some gift, had consulted with Mr. Dunbar and been advised, first, to make his gift to the Y. M. C. A. and afterward to make it to the public library; and this purpose of Mr. Tompkins was carried out by his wife, who survived him.
The town library was opened in the modest second story of the Ebers Block on January I, 1892, with Mr. T. H. Patterson as its librarian. Mr. Patterson laid the foundations of the library on sound and workman- like lines, but later in the year he resigned the office to resume his school work. I shall ever recall, as another of the fortunate events in our library history, the coming into my office of Mr. Wooding, then a newly fledged graduate of Yale, with a most modest inquiry as to whether he would be deemed eligible for the position of librarian. I preserved a due severity during the interview, but after he went out I shouted (met- aphorically) for joy in the conviction that we had found the right man. That was just fifteen years ago; and you will agree with me that our confidence was not misplaced.
In 1896 the wooden dwelling house on this lot was offered for sale. It seemed to the Board most important to secure this lot, the most desir- able in town for library purposes, and we used the Norton and the Tompkins bequests, which had been allowed to accumulate on interest, some $11,000 in all, to buy the house and lot, and to fit the old house up for the temporary service which it performed for nine years and a half. We moved into it on December 1, 1896, and it was torn down to make room for this building just one year ago, in August, 1906.
Now as to the present building. During the ten years that we oc- cupied the old building, our library increased from 6,200 to over 14,000, and the annual circulation from 34,000 to 46,000. This great increase, both in the size and in the use of our library, made it evident several years ago that the old building would before long become wholly in-
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BRISTOL CONNECTICUT,
New Library Building.
sufficient. The problem was discussed and its solution postponed from year to year until early in 1905, when the time seemed for various reasons propitious, and the Board appointed a committee to make a general canvass for a library building fund. Mrs. Augustine Norton had in 1901 made a bequest to the library of over $4,100; nearly $1,000 of this had been used for the printing of our present catalogue, but the rest had lain on interest, and up to July first of this year amounted to exactly $3,800.12. Mr. C. S. Treadway, who as a member of the Board had always taken a warm interest in our building plans, had died just before the definite launching of the project, leaving in his will a gift of $1,000 to the library. Your committee have received subscriptions from living doners aggre- gating $40,171 ; from the sale of the old building $200, and from interest on early payments over $120, making a total building fund to date of $45,368.10.
One item of importance we have not yet, however, fairly approached.
Most of you know of the interesting historical collection which for some years was kept together in the Linstead Block, and of which a considerable part is now stored in the High School building. Dr. Wil- liams has also presented to the town his fine collection of Indian and pre- historic relics, certainly one of the best private collections in the United States.
When the Board appointed its building committee, consisting of Messrs. Ingraham. Wooding and Peck, we were all agreed that the library of an old New England town, situated on residence streets, shaded by stately and beautiful elms, ought to be of that quiet and dignified style popularly known as "colonial," which is really an adaptation of the classic forms of Greece and Rome to modern purposes. A library, also, made to contain chiefly book-cases and reading-tables, is almost of neces-
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