Historical Bristol

Historical Bristol. Changing Transportation. , In Bristol's early years, the waterfront was an important means of transportation. In addition to ships engaged in the trans-Atlantic merchant trade, smaller boats ferried people and goods around both Narraganset Bay, and beyond to cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. In the late 17th century, catboats and horse-powered ferries were the earliest ways to transport people between Bristol and Aquidneck Island. Ferry service between Bristol and Prudence Island began in 1904 when Captain Harley Chase founded the Prudence Island Navigation Company., Over time, Bristol began to depend less on its waterfront for transportation. By 1870, foreign trade had been severely reduced and waterfront transportation had shifted from moving goods and people to moving raw materials for Bristol's growing waterfront mills and the National Rubber Company Factory. Shipping now only consisted of local freight and passenger transport with Fall River, Providence, Boston and New York. By the early 1900s the Federal Government removed Bristol as a Port of Entry., Like many other towns, the construction of the railroad brought great change. In 1855, the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad established the Providence, Warren and Bristol railroad line, which ran from Providence, along the bay through Warren, to its terminus at Franklin Street on Bristol's waterfront. Rail service made the transport of freight and passenger service over land a less dangerous and less expensive venture. Not long after, the rail line was extended down Thames Street to Constitution Street to collect passengers located in the southern part of town and to deliver freight and materials to the factories along Bristol's southern waterfront. Bristol remained the end of the railroad line because there was no bridge to carry the tracks over to Portsmouth. New London, Fall River, New Bedford, and Providence. Because of the convenience of Bristol's rail line, steamship passengers could disembark in Bristol and board trains to Boston. From the 1860s to 1938, the Fall River Steamship Line stopped at Bristol to exchange passengers on their runs between Fall River and New York. Steamships landed at a steamship dock and end of Franklin Street, at the State Street dock, and, after 1903, at the Constitution Street wharf., Because of Bristol's superb waterways and easy access to railroad transportation, overland travel in personal vehicles was minimal until the twentieth century. Roads connecting Bristol with Warren, Swansea, and Fall River existed but were not the major thoroughfares they are today, and horse-drawn traffic was relatively light. After the Civil War, W.E. Chadwick ran the stagecoach between Bristol and Providence from his livery stable on Wardwell Street., The development of automobiles and other motor vehicles finally ended the waterfront's role as a transportation hub. Bus service between Newport, Bristol, and Providence had been established by the 1920s. The construction of the Mount Hope Bridge in October, 1929, finally created a way for land vehicles to continue between Bristol and Portsmouth. At 285 feet tall, this two-lane suspension bridge was the longest suspension bridge in New England, before the construction of the Pell Bridge in 1969. Today, the Mount Hope Bridge is a major thoroughfare that connects Bristol with Portsmouth and the other communities on Aquidneck Island.