"Bath and Otter Street, Bristol, PA, Aug. 23, 1905"
On the right is the Closson House Hotel, later called the Keystone Hotel. Electric trolley tracks extended north to Doylestown. Tracks on Otter Street connected Philadelphia and Morrisville via Bristol.
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"Benj. Lantell. Merchant Tailor. BRISTOL, PA. 1887"
Benjamin Lantell was the great-grandfather of Albert DeVoe. He lived at 334 Dorrance Street. At that time, the numbering system was different and the number was 54 Dorrance Street. His tailor shop was at his home.
"Clossen [sic] House, Bath & Otter St., Bristol, PA."
Closson House Hotel at the corner of Bath and Otter Streets. The proprietor was Wilson Closson. Later it was called the Keystone Hotel. A fire destroyed it in the 1980s. A new building was erected and it is now the location of the local judge.
Information related to John Johnson from the Bristol Directory provided on back of photograph.
Corner of Jefferson Avenue and Radcliffe Street.
"Otter and Bath Streets, Bristol, Pa. 1909"
Hotel Closson at Otter and Bath Streets. Later it was called the Keystone Hotel. The trolley in the picture went to Doylestown.
Walnut Street taken from corner of Wood Street. In the background is PA Railroad and gate keepers post on the left. The name "Carter" is a printed advertisement for "Carter’s Little Liver Pills” on the J. J. Tyrol Wood and Coal Company, which was along the canal. Snyder-Girotti Elementary school sets on this property presently and the canal was filled in. The grocery store on the right belonged to Morris Helyer. Date of photograph is unknown, however, active railroad stopped in 1911. Street is also unpaved.
["Forge Bridge" looking east toward the river]
The bridge is over the Delaware Canal as part of Beaver Street. The original wooden canal bridge (1827) was replaced by this bridge in 1929. On the right is Buckley Street. The canal ceased to operate in October 1931. This bridge was removed in 1960 and the canal on either side filled in. The house was removed when the Snyder-Girotti Elementary School was constructed in 1956.
The blue and red houses are two of the oldest houses in Bristol.
The house with the windows boarded up was the Bilger home. They are deceased and a new family renovated it. The double house is one of the older houses in Bristol.
The house shows five windows across. A line on the right side of the house (in 1998) indicated that an addition was added. Also evident is the original chimney, which is now protruding two windows to the left of the present right side of the house. The porch roof has been raised to just below the third story. The house was owned by Bristol Councilman James Douglas and wife Dorothy.
[300 block of Wood Street, Historic Bristol Day]
Was once the site of Leibfreid Lumber Yard in the early part of the twentieth century. By 1941, Farmers Quality Food & Supply co-occupied the site. By the 1950s, David Landreth operated the Bristol Seed Company. The next occupant in the building adjacent to the street was Bristol Glass. By 2000, Bristol Glass moved to Cedar Street. The middle of these parallel rectangular buildings was removed. In 2001, the property was unoccupied.
Home of Peter and Sadie Grosky, who operated Bristol Beef, a slaughterhouse at 533 Maple Street. The house is now listed under the name of Aaron Mittleman, a family member, and the business is now called Bristol Park. The business has been a wholesale meat business (as of 2001).
They were formerly located on Garden Street. When the embankment for the Pennsylvania Railroad was made in 1910, houses were moved, some to Beaver Street and others to form New Buckley Street. In the background is the seven story Grundy Mill (constructed 1910). The frame house to the right of the two houses, as they now appear on Beaver Street, was also moved.
[7001 Riverview Avenue, Bristol, PA, Bob Wood with shovel]
Jo and Bob Wood Property owners. All photographs were taken on their property in front of their house. They were interested in learning what the purpose of the hole in the ground represented. The hole was outside of the house about 20 feet from the Delaware River. After examination it was guessed that it could have had something to do with water/toilet drainage from their house. The house is located about 25 feet from the hole. It may have been a cesspool for receiving drainage or sewage from within the house. One of the strongest clues that was found in the hole was a round clay pipe that was probably used as a sewer pipe.
[7001 Riverview Avenue, Bristol, PA, Jo and Bob Wood standing in yard]
[7001 Riverview Avenue, Bristol, PA, Jo Wood and Carol Mitchener standing on front porch]
Jo and Bob Wood Property owners. All photographs were taken on their property in front of their house. They were interested in learning what the purpose of the hole in the ground represented. The hole was outside of the house about 20 feet from the Delaware River. After examination, it was guessed that it could have had something to do with water/toilet drainage from their house. The house is located about 25 feet from the hole. It may have been a cesspool for receiving drainage or sewage from within the house. One of the strongest clues that was found in the hole was a round clay pipe that was probably used as a sewer pipe. Jo Wood and Carol Mitchener standing up on the front porch of the house. Note that the level of the front porch is much higher than the level of the hole, which is from where the camera was located.
[7001 Riverview Avenue, Bristol, PA, view facing Delaware River]
Jo and Bob Wood Property owners. All photographs were taken on their property in front of their house. They were interested in learning what the purpose of the hole in the ground represented. The hole was outside of the house about 20 feet from the Delaware River. After examination, it was guessed that it could have had something to do with water/toilet drainage from their house. The house is located about 25 feet from the hole. It may have been a cesspool for receiving drainage or sewage from within the house. One of the strongest clues that was found in the hole was a round clay pipe that was probably used as a sewer pipe.
The lot to the left of the house was part of the property of Comfort’s Lining and Carriage Rental business. William Salerno (as of 2000) has his law office at 220 Radcliffe Street in the former Thomas Scott house, just south of the original Farmer’s National Bank (presently called Wells Fargo).
[A parade float turning the corner from Pond Street on to Jefferson Avenue, traveling to Radcliffe Street]
Note the building at Jefferson Avenue and Pond Street with the metal awning over the sidewalk--a grocery store. This warmer weather image may have been a celebration at the conclusion of World War II (1945) with a parade.
[A religious parade from St. Ann Church on Dorrance and Pond Streets]
The nuns and other participants are photographed on Pond Street about to turn on to Jefferson Avenue. To the right is the Jefferson Avenue Public School.
At the bottom is U.S. Route 13. Across the top, parallel to Route 13, are the four, elevated tracks of the former Pennsylvania Railroad between Philadelphia and New York. The streets perpendicular to the railroad with underpasses are (left to right): Beaver Street just out of view, Corson Street, and Pine Street.
[Band playing in a parade on what is possibly Cedar Street]
Based upon the trees it was summer, the cars on the street indicated that it was early twentieth century.
[Bath Street looking north just above Buckley Street, on right and Mifflin Street on left]
Building left of center was Kay’s Bakery. It has been removed. The trolley tracks to Newtown/Doylestown are visible on the street.
[Bath Street near the corner of Bath and Buckley Streets (east side)]
The delivery truck belonged to Francis Wear who had a grocery store on the corner. The middle building has been removed, but it is the side of a drug store (fist owned by Mr. Watson and then Alan Vogenberg).
Located on the Landreth Estate called Bloomsdale. It was closer to Green Lane than the Bloomsdale House. Berwick was built in 1875 by David Landreth and the cost was twenty-two thousand dollars. It was made of brick. David Landreth lived there until 1895 when he moved back to Bloomsdale House. He remained in Bloomsdale House until 1903. At that time, Annie Landreth took possession of the estate and home in a sheriff’s sale. Mr. Landreth moved to a rented house on Radcliffe Street in Bristol at number 628. The people in the photograph are (from left to right) Burnet Landreth, David Landreth V with dog, Meta Phillips Landreth, Van Phillips, Nellie Phillips, Frances Landreth, and Symintgon Phillips Landreth with dog.
[Bloomsdale Estate, belonging to the Landreth family, located on the grounds of the Landreth Seed Farm]
[Bloomsdale Estate, belonging to the Landreth family]
This was the original estate house build on the Landreth Seed Farm (Bloomsdale) located at Radcliffe Street and Green Lane. The oldest part of the house dates from 1752. December 25, 1776 either General Cadwalder or General Putman used this house as their headquarters when preparing to cross the Delaware River to help General Washington. The Landreth family lived there until 1903. It had eight bedrooms on the second floor and many closets. The third floor had three bedrooms, a water tank room, numerous closets, and three garrets for unused furniture storage. There were two large parlors on the first floor, named ‘winter’ and ‘summer’ parlors. A fine hall of walnut and ash separated the parlors. The rear hall door opened upon a portico. There was an observatory on top of the house. There was a sitting room separated from the dining room by folding doors. There were two kitchens, two rear halls, and a rear stairway. Next to the ‘winter parlor’ were two library rooms with walnut and ash. There was an immense cellar. Every room had a fireplace. Apple tree wood, red-cedar, and locust were burned without limitation until the old wood supply was used. They then burned West Virginia soft coal. The house was sold at a sheriff's sale in 1903 to a sister of David Landreth named Annie. A year later, it was sold out of the family. About 1860, the lawn was at the zenith of its perfection.
[Bristol Commerce Park at US Route 13 and PA Route 413]
[Building at the corner of Wood and Market Streets opposite from Bristol Fire Company No. 1]
The building dates back before the American Revolutionary War. It has been said that American officers from that war stayed in this building for a while. We (Harold and Carol Mitchener) know that the Friends Meeting House (Quaker) at Market and Wood Streets was built in 1711 and served as a temporary hospital for American troops during that war.
[Building with red siding was the former home/carriage rental business of Ellis Comfort, located at Dorrance & Cedar Streets]
There had been a livery stable behind the house. Their son Ellis ‘Speet’ Comfort, once operated an antique repair shop in the building boarded up in the photograph. The house now has new siding and a large fan-type window on the side third story where the two windows are located in this photograph.