Quick History Stops: Bristol, RI, Part 1

On the same day I visited Coggeshall Farm Museum at Colt State Park and Linden Place, I took a long walk through the center of Bristol, RI. During this sunny stroll, I photographed so many beautiful historic buildings and monuments that I am dividing the Quick History Stops into three parts, each with similar material. Throughout this sidewalk hike, I followed the Historic Bristol Walking Tours provided by Bristol Historical and Preservation Society, which was founded in 1936 and has used its current name since 1972.

Due to its proximity to Linden Place, my first stop was Colt Memorial High School, built by Samuel Pomeroy Colt in honor of his mother, Theodora Goujaud DeWolf Colt. Colt hired architects Cooper & Bailey to build the neoclassical school in 1906. On the pediment over the entrance is the Colt family crest, similar to a coat-of-arms. Not to be outdone, and with the town growing, Robert Dudley Andrews paid for the construction of the red brick Andrews School in honor of his father, Robert Shaw Andrews, in 1938. Robert D’s mother was Eliza Viets DeWolf Andrews but only distantly related to the DeWolf family at Linden Place. The designer of this Colonial Revival style school was George Maxwell Cady who lived in Bristol for his entire life. Near the school was a plaque for Memorial Square in honor of veterans from Bristol who died during World War II or the Korean War.

Across the street is Industrial Trust Company, a colonial revival style bank constructed in 1952 and designed by Wallace Eastburn Howe. The local architect had also designed the Colt Dairy Barn that now serves as park ranger storage at Colt State Park. As for the trust company, it was founded by Samuel P. Colt in 1886 with headquarters in Providence, RI. The massive bank absorbed littler Banks until 1953, when it merged with Providence Union National Bank and changed its name to Industrial National Bank. Several name changes and mergers later, the bank was absorbed by Bank of America. Meanwhile, this building now houses a branch of BayCoast Bank.

While no other residential home in this post is as grand as Linden Place, several other historically significant houses stand on the street. Architect Russell Warren built the Greek Revival style Francis M. Dimond House in 1838. A shortlist of Warren’s other accomplishments included the Bristol County Courthouse and New Bedford City Hall (now the library) in New Bedford, MA; Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, MA; and St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Bristol, RI (appearing in the next part of Quick History Stops). Although the house received the name of the Vice-Counsel or ambassador to Haiti (according to the historical society), this job must not have paid as well as Dimond hoped, since he was bankrupt by 1839. His memorial on Find a Grave lists him as a Consul to Mexico and a Governor of Rhode Island, showing that early financial troubles did not hinder his political career.

Other nicely maintained buildings included Jeremiah Wilson House, an upper middle class Colonial style home built in 1751. Down the road at 698 Hope Street was the home of an African American family, including husband Carrington Palmer Munro and wife Louisa DeWolf Munro who was enslaved by the DeWolf family, one of whom may have been the father of her first child at age fifteen; currently known records do not specify if she was ever freed by the family. Nearby is Leonard Bradford House built before 1790 and now painted eye-catching yellow and salmon.

Charles Greene House is a Late Victorian style building from 1879 built for the owner of the Bristol Phoenix newspaper, along with taking on many important local political roles. I was not a fan of the bright yellow, green and red color scheme, but Victorian houses are often decorated this way. In the area is a marker for George Roland Fish, a World War I veteran and Boy Scouts leader in Bristol who lived from 1891 to 1969. The final stop in this section is Captain Parker Borden House. The captain worked for the DeWolf family for their China trade operation. His house was built in 1798 with a small addition in 1805. I loved the color scheme: a blue wall facing the street, brown walls on the sides, a bright red front door, and white trim. A plaque on the side of the building showed the high water mark from the Hurricane of 1938 who has not made an appearance on the blog for over a year! The refresher of other properties damaged by this hurricane will give you some reading material until I return next week.