By Mark Prisloe, Senior Economist, DECD

Introduction

The City of Bristol’s Website notes: "From clock making, spring making, and ball bearing industries to the high-tech sportscasting and recycling businesses, Bristol has shown a steady, firm capability to grow and change with the world that surrounds it." Bristol is the ninth largest city in Connecticut with a population of 60,062.

Bristol earned its nickname as a distinction of its early industrial prominence. The town’s seal represents the face of a clock since Bristol was the first town in the country to manufacture clocks in 1790. Throughout the early and middle 1800s, Bristol was the premiere clock manufacturing center in the world. A renowned clock museum can still be visited in the City.

Clock manufacturing caused related industries to grow along with it. The most notable of these was the spring industry. Albert and Edward Rockwell came to Bristol in 1888 to start their "new departure" in bell manufacturing. Their invention used a spring driven mechanism to ring a doorbell rather than the commonly used electrical battery. The Rockwell brothers’ invention was so successful that their New Departure Bell Co. grew into one of the largest bell factories in America, giving Bristol its distinction as the Bell City.

Bristol is also considered the "Mum City" of the United States because of the many chrysanthemums grown and sold. Each year a "Mum Festival" celebrates this aspect of the City’s heritage. Bristol offers museums, the oldest amusement park in the country at Lake Compounce and is also known around the world as home to ESPN, the popular sports network, and the home of the Northeastern Regional Little League Headquarters.

Economy

Bristol’s labor force has remained fairly steady in recent years. As the table below shows, unemployment is down to its lowest level in a decade at 2.4 percent. The labor force even grew in 2000 by 2.1 percent from a year ago. The largest employment sector is services representing over one quarter of all employment, followed by manufacturing employing nearly 23 percent of the workforce. Also important is retail trade, which showed a rebound to $434 million in sales volume in 2000, up 7.8 percent over the year. Among the largest employers are ESPN, Bristol Hospital, Theis Precision, Barnes Group, and the Bristol Press. Among the highest paid are workers from the transportation, communications, and utilities sector with average wages over $63,000 annually. Manufacturing workers average $46,911 and those in wholesale trade $47,644. Although Bristol saw a large jump in housing permit activity following the early 1990s recession, recent housing permit activity was down except for spikes in 1996 and 1998.

Outlook

Downtown Bristol in 2001 is slated for a major revitalization effort. According to plans filed with the State, since the closing of a major General Motors plant in the City’s Chippens Hill area, the City secured Firestone Building Products from out of state to anchor the plant and twenty three companies have built new factories or relocated to Bristol since 1995. The City helped secure ESPN’s future growth, including 1,500 new jobs, by constructing $3.5 million in infrastructure. With over 500 new and expanded jobs from CIGNA, Bristol has fostered over 3,000 new Connecticut jobs in the last six years. CIGNA has committed to 300 new employees within the next few years. Tunxis Community College opened a satellite facility in the North End. Bristol Center Mall will be the site of major redevelopment including a new CIGNA parking facility, transportation center and access improvements, beautification, façade and traffic flow improvements, and rehabilitation of 80 housing units. Even a greenway with bike and walking trails and linkages is an anticipated feature of the plan. A new major exhibit is also anticipated at the Carousel Museum that attracts 16,000 visitors every year. In short, Bristol is a city on the move.