Factories and Mills

Industry
Fieldwork Project-Part 2

The area that I focused on during my field observations on industry is marked on the map above by the purple lines. The blue spots are buildings/areas of interested that I observed. The first path that I took was along Pond St. to Jefferson Ave, turning down Canal then down Dorrance St. back to Pond. There were three areas of interest along this path. The first was along Pond Street, there was a tall clock tower with a large white building attached to it. The tower is called the Grundy Mill. This building did not seem to have any activity. The second spot was at Dorrance St. At this location, there were two large buildings, an ice skating rink, and an office building. The third was at Canal St. and Jefferson Ave, there was another large older building and in the parking lot there was several tractor-trailer trucks parked. This was a wood working mill. These sites lead me to my first inquiry questions that aided in my research of the area. Was there always offices located in the building at Dorrance St.? What was the building used for that is attached to the Clock Tower? Are these buildings related to each other, because they are located with close proximity of each other? What was economic importance of these buildings? What was the community importance of the areas? The Grundy Mill is shown below.

The second route that I took was walking several blocks straight down Radcliff Street. This is further north then the first path. I observed two spots along this path. The first one was a long building industry building. I believe that this was the back of the building. This was located directly across the street from the new expensive homes, which are discussed in the gentrification essay. The second spot was located next to these new homes. There is a large cleared space with only one building built on it. This building appeared to be a factory. There appeared that there use to other building here at one point. Several inquiry questions arouse. What was this long building? What use to be in the vacant spot? What is the building that is still standing? Is there any negative impact on the neighborhood across the street from the industrial building?

Bristol’s history is largely based on the industry that was once located here. Bristol had been a major manufacture in the country. This was due to the prime location along the water and because of the numerous factories and mills. The building across from the new homes is a book warehouse. The vacant area next to the new homes once was a major industrial area. There was the Dial Soap Factory and a manufacturing building of airplane products for the military. Through my research of area, I found that my first path could be considered a part of the historical industrial district of Bristol. This area was home to five major mills and factories during the early 1900’s. A major part of this area was the Grundy Mill Complex. On Dorrance St., the large building that is now offices once was a factory. This is also an example of gentrification. There are many similarities between Grundy and Stetson. Grundy was the major employer in the area and owned almost everything in town. All of the large buildings at one point were owned by Grundy and were factories or mills. The rise and fall of the communities around these mills is related to the rise and fall of the mills. When the factories began to close is when the area began to suffer economically. Most of the community is still blue-collar workers. This is similar to Stetson and North Philadelphia. Even though it is not covered on my routes, I feel that it is important when talking about the industry of Bristol to mention Rohm Haas. Rohm Haas is major industry in the region. For more on Rohm Haas refer to essay, Community Description of Bristol PA.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Bristol-Pennsylvania.html

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