Bristol

Bristol is on Farm Road 660 eighteen miles northeast of Waxahachie in northeastern Ellis County. Among the first settlers in the area in the early 1840s was Joshua W. Brock; from 1854 to 1869 a post office operated under the name of Brockville. Dancing was a popular diversion in the area's early social life, and for a time the community was unofficially called Heelstring. Community development revolved around a steam gristmill, a sawmill, and a cotton gin constructed by the Sparkman family in the late 1860s. The first community building, a log church, school, and lodge room, was constructed in 1870. The Bristol post office opened in 1872. By 1890 Bristol had 200 residents served by a half dozen businesses, a bank, two churches, and an elementary school. The population reached a high of 300 in 1933 but dropped to 200 by 1950 and below 200 in the mid-1960s. From 1972 through 2000 the community reported ninety-four residents. In the late 1980s Bristol continued to serve as a supply and service center for area farmers and as a school and church community.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.