Bristol, Connecticut is a city 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. Roughly around 1/8 the population of Bristol, England, it is the largest Bristol in the United States.
Originally, Bristol was within the boundaries of Farmington, Connecticut, which was incorporated in the Connecticut Colony 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, Connecticut, and built a house north of Barnes Street, on the west side of King Street. The following year the first settlement arrived in what became East Bristol when Nathaniel Messenger of Hartford and Benjamin Buck of Southington bought land and built houses along King Street.
In 1785, New Cambridge, as it was known then, was incorporated as the town of Bristol, named after Bristol, England. By 1790, the industry for which the town later became famous was established by the pioneer of clock making Gideon Roberts. Roberts began making wooden moment clocks and peddled them by horseback through Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania. As Roberts' sons grew up and began helping with the business, Gideon increased production and Bristol clocks were soon sold all over the country. By the early 19th century, nearly all of the capital and skill in town was involved in the clock industry in some form or fashion.
The town was incorporated as a city in 1911. Today, Bristol is mostly residential and best known as the home of ESPN (which arrived in 1979 as the "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network"), the American Clock & Watch Museum (since 1952), and Lake Compounce, America's oldest operating theme park which opened in 1846. Otis Elevator Company has a huge 384 ft tall elevator test tower, the tallest in the United States, in Bristol.
Bristol (Connecticut History)
Bristol, Connecticut (Wikipedia)
Bristol Alive (Internet Archive) - A project by students of Bristol Central High School
Bristol Today - This blog does not appear to have been updated since 2016
City of Bristol (Connecticut Office of Tourism)
History of Bristol, Connecticut, USA (Green Pasture Genealogy)
North America's Tallest Elevator Test Tower (Roadside America)
Tory's Den, Bristol, Connecticut Carol Hanny's site (Internet Archive)