Bristol County is a
county located in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, adjacent to the state of
Rhode Island. As of 2005, the population was estimated at 546,331. Some governmental functions are performed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, others by the county, and others by local towns and cities. See
Administrative divisions of Massachusetts. Despite multiple seats being displayed on some maps, the formal
county seat is
Taunton;
Fall River and
New Bedford are not county seats, but there are some courthouses and other county-operated facilities in those two places. The property deed records are kept in
Taunton,
Attleborough,
Fall River, and
New Bedford. The adjacent counties are
Plymouth County,
Norfolk County,
Bristol County, Rhode Island,
Newport County, Rhode Island,
Providence County, Rhode Island, and
Dukes County.
The county offices are located in the Taunton County Building in Taunton at the Taunton Green.
Elected county officials
- Maria Lopes—Chairperson of Bristol County, Massachusetts
- Paul B. Kitchen—Commissioner
- Christopher Saunders—Commissioner
- C. Samuel Sutter—District Attorney
- Kevin Finnerty—County Treasurer
- Barry Amaral—Register of Deeds
- Bernard McDonald—Register of Deeds
- J. Mark Treadup—Register of Deeds
- Marc Santos—Clerk of Courts
History
Bristol County was created by the
Plymouth Colony on June 2, 1685, and named after its "shire town" (county seat),
Bristol.
The Plymouth Colony merged into the
Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
The towns of Bristol, Barrington, and Warren were awarded to Rhode Island in 1746 as part of a long-running boundary dispute (see
History of Massachusetts), forming
Bristol County, Rhode Island. At the same time,
Cumberland, Rhode Island was carved out of
Attleborough, Massachusetts and annexed to
Providence County, Rhode Island;
Tiverton and
Little Compton were transferred to
Newport County, Rhode Island.
East Freetown was officially purchased by
Freetown, Massachusetts, from Tiverton in 1747, and so remained on the Massachusetts side.
After the departure of Bristol, Taunton was made the capital of the county. A second county courthouse was constructed in 1828 in the growing town of New Bedford (designed a "half-shire town"). In 1862, part of Seekonk (now
East Providence, Rhode Island) and the entirety of
East Pawtucket were transferred to
Providence County, Rhode Island. At the same time, land ceded from Rhode Island was added to Fall River and Westport. The growing Fall River became the site of the third county courthouse in 1877.
[History of Bristol County, Massachusetts with Biographical Sketches of many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 1 edited by Duane Hamilton Hurd. J.W. Lewis and Co., 1883. . p. 1.]Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 691 square miles (1,790 km²), of which, 556 square miles (1,440 km²) of it is land and 135 square miles (350 km²) of it (19.56%) is water. The highest point in Bristol County is Sunrise Hill (Watery Hill) at 390 feet above sea level located in World War I Memorial Park in
North Attleborough.It is also to note that Bristol, Plymouth and Taunton are all places in South West England.Thier
Massachusetts cousins were named after the originals as South West England was the vocal point for sailing and descovery at the time of Americas discovery.John Cabbot set sail from Bistol and sailed down the Severn no which lies Newport over in Wales. He then stumbled across mainland U.S.A.
Adjacent counties
To the south,
Dukes County, Massachusetts is opposite
Buzzards Bay from Bristol County.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 534,678 people, 205,411 households, and 140,706 families residing in the county. The
population density was 962 people per square mile (371/km²). There were 216,918 housing units at an average density of 390 per square mile (151/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 90.98%
White, 2.03%
Black or
African American, 0.24%
Native American, 1.26%
Asian, 0.03%
Pacific Islander, 3.12% from
other races, and 2.34% from two or more races. 3.60% of the population was
Hispanic or
Latino of any race. 29.7% were of
Portuguese, 13.0%
Irish, 8.9%
French, 8.2%
English, 6.8%
Italian and 6.4%
French Canadian ancestry according to
Census 2000. 79.1% spoke
English, 13.9%
Portuguese, 2.9%
Spanish and 1.6%
French as their first language. The United States Census Bureau reported Bristol County as being one of two counties in the United States with a plurality of people of
Portuguese ancestry (the other being the contiguous
Bristol County Rhode Island).
There were 205,411 households out of which 33.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.60% were
married couples living together, 13.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.50% were non-families. 26.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the county the population was spread out with 24.60% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 30.50% from 25 to 44, 22.20% from 45 to 64, and 14.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 92.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.50 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $43,496, and the median income for a family was $53,733. Males had a median income of $39,361 versus $27,516 for females. The
per capita income for the county was $20,978. About 7.80% of families and 10.00% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 13.00% of those under age 18 and 12.00% of that age 65 or over.
Transport
Transportation authorities providing public bus service include the
Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority; and the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority serving the Fall River and New Bedford areas.
Airports include the
Mansfield Municipal Airport,
Myricks Airport,
New Bedford Municipal Airport and
Taunton Municipal Airport; of these, the New Bedford airport is a
commercial airport, with flights serving the
Cape Cod,
Nantucket and
Martha's Vineyard area.
Cities, towns, and villages*
Bristol County Superior Courthouse in
Taunton.
- #df58248c414f342c81e056b40bee12d17a08bf61## Villages are census division, but have no separate corporate existence from the towns they are in.''
See also
