USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > Bristol > A history of Bristol borough in the county of Bucks, state of Pennsylvania, anciently known as "Buckingham"; being the third oldest town and second chartered borough in Pennsylvania, from its earliest times to the present year 1911 > Part 12
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A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
board in behalf of Bristol as the best point for the terminus of the canal. He employed two men who fol- lowed the water to secretly make soundings of the river to ascertain the depth at both points. When the board met, the advocates for Tullytown were first heard in favor of Scott's Creek. Swift then addressed the board in behalf of Bristol. He produced the men who made the soundings of the river. They swore there was not suffi- cient depth of water at Scott's creek at any time of tide to float vessels carrying 200 tons, while at Bristol there was sufficient to float vessels carrying 500 tons.
That settled the question. The commissioners de- clared in favor of Bristol. The advocates for Tullytown were dissatisfied. They charged the people of Bristol with acting unfairly in not informing them that they were going to make soundings of the river so that they might have been present to see that the depth of the water was properly taken. They claimed that it would have been a saving to the state of many thousands of dollars in making Tullytown the terminus. The expense in excavation of four miles of canal and the construction of three locks and six or eight bridges between Tullytown and Bristol might have been saved to the state.
David Dorrance and Richard Morris, citizens of Bris- tol, contracted for the excavation of the canal, building of the locks, bridges and wharfing from Bristol to Yard- leyville. They completed their contract in the summer of 1830 and the canal was declared open from Bristol to New Hope.
A boat prepared for the occasion, containing a number of citizens, drawn by four horses, made an excursion to New Hope. There was great rejoicing on the occasion ; a public dinner at the expense of the borough was given, speeches were made, the town house bell rung, and at night bonfires lit up the streets.
The whole line of the canal from Bristol to Easton was completed in 1832 at a cost of $1,374,743. It is sixty miles long, forty feet wide and has a depth of water of five feet, twenty-four locks ninety feet long and eleven feet wide with lifts from six to eight feet.
After the completion of the canal and commencement
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of shipping of coal to the Eastern states, business began to increase. There was a demand for Bristol property having a river front and it sold for good prices. Wharves were built and depots were established from the basin to Walter Laing's place from which coal was shipped in large quantities by the Lehigh, Beaver Meadow and Hazleton Coal Companies, Downing & Wood, Downer and others, giving employment to several hundred men at good wages.
As many as twenty vessels would be waiting to take on cargoes, some of them of heavy tonnage. The brig Eagle took on 450 tons at $2.50 per ton. Over 250,000 tons of coal were shipped in one season. The captains would take in their supplies before sailing from Bristol, making a lively trade for the dealers in their line. An average of 250 horses a week would be fed and cared for, consuming large quantities of hay, oats and straw, making a good market for the farmers. Many men made money and got rich.
But there came an end to this prosperous and desirable state of things, caused by two events : the shipping of coal by the Reading Railroad Company from Philadelphia and the construction of the outlet lock at New Hope. The Reading Company's shipping depot being twenty miles nearer the capes than Bristol had the advantage in time and distance in sending coal to the eastern markets. The coal companies sending their coal via the Lehigh and Delaware Division Canals, in order to compete with the Reading petitioned for an outlet lock at New Hope to enable them to send their coal via the Delaware and Rari- tan canal to Newark, Perth Amboy and New York, from which points coal could be shipped east at less rates than from Bristol.
The loss of the coal trade was a sad blow to Bristol. Over 300 persons left to seek employment elsewhere. The town subsided into a state of extreme lethargy. The life was completely taken out of it. The old residents walked through the quiet streets and enjoyed the balmy air of summer, and sat around their firesides during the fierce blasts of the winter months and waited for something to turn up. They knew that from its favorable situation
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between the largest cities of the United States, New York and Philadelphia, its unequalled facilities of transporta- tion, its natural advantages of various kinds, that the time would come when Bristol's arteries would again pulsate with the throb of business life.
In 1858, by Act of April 21st, the State sold its public works to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company for $3,500,000. On July 10th, the same year the Sunbury & Erie sold the Delaware Division Canal to the Delaware Canal Company of Pennsylvania for $1,800,000. The company issued bonds to the amount of $1,200,000 and stock for the same amount. In April, 1866, the Canal Company released the canal to the Lehigh Coal Company for ninety-nine years at a rental of 8 per cent.
The Town Hall .- The town hall has a history. Samuel Scotton, who retired from business in Philadelphia and settled in Bristol, built and occupied the house now owned by Fred Leibfried, the last one on the south side of Otter Street. Friend Scotton was a genial old gentle- man, prominent in good works. In his will he left to the burgess and council of Bristol the sum of $200, for the purpose of assisting in purchasing a town clock, pro- vided the council built a town hall within five years after the death of his wife. She lived some fifteen years after his death and the matter had been forgotten by Council, as no record had been kept of the time of her death. The Burgess, who was his executor, in looking over some borough papers in his possession, found a copy of the will. On examination he discovered that to secure the $200 the hall must be inclosed within five years after the death of the widow. Inquiry was made as to the time of her death and it was found she had been dead four years and ten months. The council was called together and the facts laid before them. The burgess stated that the hall must be enclosed on or before the 3Ist of December, 1831, to secure the gift. Council passed a resolution to com- mence at once to build. Then there arose the question where it should be located. A good deal of feeling was manifested on the subject. Some wanted it on the bor- ough lot, corner of Wood and Mulberry Streets, others
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A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
contended that it should be built on the market house lot, corner Market and Wood Streets, as that was the most central part of the borough, another party wanted it located on Radcliffe Street so that persons passing up and down the river in the steam boats could see that Bristol had a town hall and clock. Council referred the matter of location to a committee, which reported in
TOWN HALL.
favor of its present site. Market Street not being wide enough to have a roadway on each side of the hall, a strip of ground was purchased from Thomas G. Kennedy, thirteen feet wide, for $300.
The building was commenced about the middle of November, and on the 31st day of December, 1831, it was
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roofed in just in time to secure the $200. The building of the hall cost $2,700. The clock which was made by Isaiah Lukens, of Philadelphia, cost $500. The bell cost $156; the lot, $300; incidental expenses, $125. Three thousand seven hundred and eighty-one dollars was ex- pended to secure a gift of $200.
The First Railroad .- The railroad came to Bristol in 1834. The track was made of flat iron bars laid on North Carolina stringers. The first train of cars run on the road was from Trenton to Bristol, drawn by horses. It ran down Market Street to the wharf, and passengers for Philadelphia were transferred to a steamboat and car- ried down the river to their destination.
The first locomotive was run on this road in 1834. One of our respected townsmen, C. Wesley Milnor, who is now over 70 years of age, says he can clearly remember the trains going and coming down Market Street when he was a small boy, in 1850. The boat would come to Bris- tol from Bordentown and wait at the wharf to carry the passengers to Philadelphia. Mr. Milnor sold the Phila- delphia newspapers to passengers from Bordentown and Trenton, and some mornings, would sell from thirty to fifty papers, while the passengers were being transferred. Although not absolutely certain, yet he thought there were three trains daily, one from Trenton and two from New York. After a time the line was extended to Tacony, then again to Kensington and finally to Broad Street.
The old depot at the foot of Market Street was used during the Civil War as a store house for hay and straw, wherein hundreds of tons were baled and shipped to the front for the army. The building was later demolished.
The names of the boats which performed daily trips between Philadelphia and Bordentown in those halcyon days were the Trenton, Philadelphia, John Stevens, Richard Stockton and the cumbersome Burlington. The John Stevens was destroyed by fire which broke out at midnight while she was lying at her wharf at White Hall; the Trenton was converted into a tow boat; the Stockton
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A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
was sent to South Amboy, where for years it ran to and from New York daily, while the long, awkward looking Burlington was transferred to Philadelphia, where she was used in conveying cars loaded with freight across the Delaware. Among the captains were : Captain Kes- ter, Captain Thompson and Captain Stackhouse, the latter for many years commanded the Edwin Forrest which was the only passenger boat which ran as far up the river as Bordentown. Peter Bloomsburg and Robert Allen, Sr., were two of the old engineers.
The First Public School Board and the First Pub- lic School House Erected .- The first board of school directors elected under the law of 1834, was in March, 1835. The gentlemen who composed that board were: Joseph Warner, James Johnson, William S. Per- kins, William F. Swift, James Harrison and Gilbert Tom- linson. The board made arrangements to carry out the objects of the law by levying a tax of $450 and renting rooms for the accommodation of the children. They em- ployed as teachers the Rev. Mr. Canfield, then a student for the ministry, and Mrs. Deborah Johnson. The schools increased in numbers and it was found necessary, in order to accommodate all the children who desired admis- sion, to erect a building for school purposes. This gave rise to much discussion and some opposition to the law, the opponents contending that the cost of building a new house would be oppressive to the large property holders, as it would increase their taxes and afford them no bene- fit, for their children were educated at their own expense and it was not just to tax them to educate other men's children. The friends of the school system, after holding a meeting on the subject, determined to make the build- ing of a new school house, an issue before the people at the next election. In March, 1837, three new members of the board in favor of building a new school house were elected. They were Jonathan Adams, David Wooding- ton and William Kinsey.
The first minutes of the Bristol Public School Board are dated March 27, 1837. The meeting was held at the home of Jonathan Adams and there were present, Gilbert
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Tomlinson, David E. Woodington, James Johnson, James Harrison, Jonathan Adams, William Kinsey. The board formally organized by electing Gilbert Tomlinson presi- dent, William Kinsey secretary and James Johnson treasurer. The board adjourned to meet at the same place on April 6, at 8 P. M., to take into consideration the propriety of levying a tax sufficient to build a new school
FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL, WOOD STREET.
house. At the next meeting it was decided that it would require the sum of $3,000 to build a school house large enough to accommodate the children in the borough. The secretary was instructed to advertise that the question of levying a building tax of $3,000 above the regular tax, would be voted on by the citizens on the first Tuesday in May, at the town hall, between the hours of 2 and 6 o'clock P. M., for the purpose of building a school house.
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A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
The count of the ballots showed eighty-one votes in favor of an additional tax of $3,000 for the purpose cited, and twenty-one votes against the proposition. The secretary was accordingly authorized to levy the building tax. A committee composed of William Kinsey, James Johnson and David E. Woodington, was appointed to wait on the burgess and council of Bristol and request that a part of the town lot at the corner of Wood and Mulberry Streets, be given to the directors for the purpose of building. a school house thereon, and also to procure a plan of the size and style of the new building. The burgess and council agreed to lease unto the board of directors and their successors in office, a part of the borough lot front- ing on Wood Street, commencing at the corner of the Methodist graveyard and extending fifty-nine feet towards Mulberry Street, and 110 feet deep, for a period of ninety-nine years, by paying a yearly rent of $1. The committee recommended that the school house be built of brick, three stories high, thirty-five feet front and fifty feet deep, which plan was adopted and the secretary was instructed to ask for bids for the construction of the building. Twenty-five sealed proposals were received and the contracts awarded as follows :
John Bessonett to furnish the stone.
William S. Emley to furnish the bricks.
Dorrance & Warner to furnish the lumber.
William Lazilere to build the stone walls and plaster the house.
Jackson Gilkeson to lay the bricks.
Gilbert Tomlinson to do the carpenter work.
William Kellingsworth to do the painting and glazing. Lewis P. Kinsey & Son to do the smithing.
William Kinsey, James Johnson and David E. Wood- ington were appointed a building committee to have gen- eral supervision of the work.
The borough council informed the board that it had enacted an ordinance providing for a loan of $5,000, on the credit of the corporation, out of which they would agree to appropriate the sum of $3,000, for the purpose of building a new school house, providing the board of school directors would receive it in lieu of the additional
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A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
tax voted for on the first Tuesday in May. The board agreed to accept the appropriation on the terms specified and instructed the secretary not to levy the tax. The school building was completed and the first session held on the second Monday in December, 1837, at which time there was an enrollment of ninety-five boys and ninety girls. In the following two weeks the number was in- creased to 126 males and 120 females. Classes were started in English grammar, geography, history, arith- metic, expositor, writing, spelling, reading and weighing. The school books were purchased by the board and sold to the scholars. James Anderson was employed as teacher of the male department at a salary of $65 a month, and Annie N. Smith was placed in charge of the female department, her salary being fixed at $30 per month. The total cost of the school house was $4,936.88. At the request of the school board the borough council made an extra appropriation of $1,938.88, which covered the additional cost of the building above the amount previously appropriated. The primary school was not opened until November 4, 1839, when Miss Nancy Cum- mings was placed in charge. The names of the teachers who taught in this building down to 1853, when the in- creasing population made necessary the erection of the Otter Street public school building, are as follows :
Male Department .- James Anderson remained until March 1, 1840, when schools were closed for want of funds.
The schools reopened in May with N. F. De Brown as teacher.
July 30, 1841, J. V. Buckman was selected and was still in office when the new building was erected.
In August, 1851, Miss S. J. Thompson was selected as an assistant to Mr. Brown.
In February, 1852, Miss Elizabeth Burrows was elected to the vacancy caused by the resignation of Miss Thompson.
In April, 1853, Miss Burrows was promoted to the position of principal of the Female Department, and Miss Sarah T. Brown elected to the vacancy.
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A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
Female Department -- Miss Annie N. Smith remained until November, 1838, when she resigned and Miss Fidelia Smith was elected.
Miss Fidelia remained until the school closed in March, 1839, for want of funds.
On the reopening of the school, in May, 1839, it was placed in charge of Miss Harriet Schneider. She re- signed in July, 1840, and Miss Alice Frame was elected as her successor.
Miss Alice resigned in April, 1841, and Miss Mahitable P. Moody succeeded her for a short time, when she was succeeded by Miss Sarah Pearson, who was employed in January, 1843.
Miss Pearson resigned in October, 1845, and Miss Hul- dah Hoag was elected to the vacancy.
In May, 1848, Miss Sarah Warner was elected to the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Miss Hoag.
Miss Warner resigned in 1851, and Miss M. L. Ernest became the principal, and Miss Matilda Goodwin her assistant.
Miss Goodwin resigned in 1852, and Miss Anna V. Thompson succeeded her.
In April, 1853, the principal (Miss Lawrence) resigned her position and Miss E. Burrows succeeded her. Miss Thompson resigned immediately afterward and Miss Anna Davis was elected to the vacancy.
Primary Department .- Miss Nancy Cummings re- mained until March, 1840, when the school was closed for want of funds. It reopened in May, under the control of Miss Adeline Cummings.
Miss Adeline resigned in October, 1840, and Miss Melissa Young was employed.
Miss Young resigned in September, 1841, and Mrs. Sarah Swift was elected to the vacancy.
In August, 1842, Miss S. Townsend was employed to assist her. In May, 1843, Mrs. Swift and Miss Hastings were jointly employed. In December Miss Hastings was made principal of the school.
In December, 1844, Miss Hastings resigned and was succeeded by Miss Roxanna Leonard, who resigned in
II
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A HISTORY OF BRISTOL BOROUGH.
October, 1845, when Mrs. Swift was made principal and her daughter Matilda the assistant.
In August, 1875, a frame addition, 181/2 feet by 24 feet, was built to this school house. The contract was award- ed to Edmund Lawrence for $325. An intermediate school was opened in the new addition in September, 1875, with Emily H. Stackhouse as teacher. This addi- tion was removed after the erection of the high school building in 1894. Since the completion of the new Jeffer- son Avenue building in 1908, this old building has been unoccupied. With the expansion of the commercial de- partment, it is probable that some day the upper story will be used for a Commercial High School.
Colored Children's Right to Attend the Public Schools Questioned by Townspeople .- In November, 1837, the townspeople were greatly excited over the action of the public school board, in granting permission to four col- ored boys who were boarding with Joseph Warner, to attend the public schools by the payment of $3 per month for each boy as tuition expenses. A public meeting of the citizens was held and resolutions adopted, which pro- tested strongly against the admission of the colored boys. At the following meeting, the action of the town meeting was laid before the board, at which time a petition con- taining the signatures of fifty-four citizens, and request- ing that the four colored boys be allowed to remain in the schools, was also read. The board laid the matter on the table and directed the secretary to lay the case before the superintendent and request his opinion. At the meet- ing on March 20, 1838, the superintendent gave his opinion in favor of the boys having the right to be admit- ted to the common schools, and the board sustained him in his decision.
At the meeting of August 27, 1842, it was reported to the board, that much opposition was made by the citi- zens of the town, to the right of two colored boys, board- ing with Joseph Warner, to the benefits of the common school law. The board took the matter under considera- tion and after examining the school law they promptly decided that the colored boys were not entitled to the
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benefits of the common schools of the borough, they hav- ing been sent into the district for a special purpose, money having been willed to them by their father, for the purpose of acquiring an education and learning a trade. The secretary was instructed to inform Joseph Warner, that the two colored boys boarding with him, could not be continued in the schools any longer as free scholars. Thus it will be seen that one of the earliest questions with which the public school board was obliged to wrestle was incited by prejudice against the colored race.
St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church .- In 1840 the Catholic population of Bristol was so small that its spirit- ual wants were attended to by a clergyman from Trenton,
THE ORIGINAL ST. MARK'S R. C. CHURCH AND RECTORY.
Father Mackin, who visited Bristol twice a month for that purpose, services being held at the house of Mr. Brady, in Adam's Hollow, just beyond the creek which bounds the borough on the northeast.
The Catholics so rapidly increased that in 1845 it be- came necessary to have a resident pastor in Bristol, and
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with the approbation of the church authorities it was de- cided to build a church and pastoral residence. Accord- ingly, a lot was purchased on Radcliffe Street, near the creek above mentioned, the site being convenient to the Hollow, where the larger number of the Catholics re- sided. Work on the church was commenced some time in 1845. It was completed and dedicated in the following year, an unpretentious square building of stone and with sacristy attached.
About the same time the house for the pastor was built, Bristol became a regular parish, and the Rev. Father Flanagan was appointed its first pastor. In the course of four or five years an addition had to be built to accom- modate the rapidly increasing congregation. In 1868, Father Flanagan, thinking it iwould benefit his health, which was poor, took a trip to Ireland, where he died soon after his arrival. He was succeeded in the following order by the Rev. Fathers Quinn, Keen, Russell, Nugent, Kelly, Brennan, McSwiggin.
Up to this time no incident occurred in the affairs of the church. Everything went along smoothly until the night of November 9, 1867, when the church was totally destroyed by fire, Father Cullin (who succeeded McSwig- gin), being pastor at the time. Father Cullin was suc- ceeded by the Rev. Father Prendergast, who is now co- adjutor Bishop of Philadelphia. He wasted no time but immediately went to work with such vigor and zeal that the interior of the present handsome church was com- pleted within a year.
The corner stone was laid in 1868 and the new church was dedicated in the following year. In the interim from the time the old church was burned, the Catholics having no place of worship, was tendered the use of Washington Hall, corner Radcliffe and Walnut Streets, where they worshipped until the new church was ready. In 1871 Father Prendergast went from Bristol to Allentown and the Rev. Father Lynch took charge of the parish.
There was much work yet to be done in the interior of the church, pews and other fixtures; besides the old resi- dence was in a very delapidated condition totally unfit for use. So Father Lynch had the old house taken down
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and in its place built a handsome brick dwelling. These additions and improvements created a considerable debt. Father Lynch died in Bristol on the 28th of April, 1879, and was succeeded by the Rev. Father Ward.
During Father Ward's pastorate the church was great- ly improved, the sidewalls were extended to a line even with the tower, finished at the ends with circular wings, which greatly improved the appearance of the church in front; also was built a new sacristy, the interior was painted and frescoed, and a new organ put in position.
Unfortunately it was again visited by fire, though very little damage was done the building but all the decora-
ST. MARK'S R. C. CHURCH AND RECTORY.
tions, the altar and organ were ruined, all of which had to be replaced. Notwithstanding these losses and diffi- culties, Father Ward, with commendable courage and energy, not only repaired the damage done by the fire, but concluded to build a parochial school for the children of the parish. For this purpose he purchased a lot about midway on Radcliffe Street. A handsome building was erected and is now under the care of the Sisters of the
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