Sign text - "The town of Bristol was planned and laid out by Joseph Rhea Anderson in 1852. Development began on the sit in 1853 with the erection of Anderson's combined home and business. The building served as the community's first store, post office, bank and reality office. The first election, town council meeting, court session, church service, wedding and birth took place there. Anderson is buried in East Hill Cemetery seven blocks East."
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Joseph Rhea Anderson was a quick thinker and smart planner whose foresight resulted in the birth of Bristol.
For that reason, Believe in Bristol and the Bristol Historical Association unveiled a state historical marker on Tuesday that honors Anderson at the spot on which he built his home and office in 1853.
Although the building and the 7-foot black-and-silver marker were placed on the Tennessee side of town, Anderson gave life to what is now Bristol Tennessee/Virginia.
Bud Phillips, an association member, local historian and the driving force behind the push to mark the historical spot, gave a statement at the southwest corner of State Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard – a spot that once was nothing more than a field.
"Research as you will, you will still come right back to this very spot," for where the city began, said Phillips, whose 20-year desire came true when the marker was unveiled.
"He was a young merchant in Blountville and learned the railroads were considering forming a terminal point," he said of Anderson. "He is best known for being a shrewd merchant who had the ability to make things happen, and that’s what he did."
Early in 1852, Anderson heard that plans had been finalized by the Virginia-Tennessee Railroad to extend its line to King’s Meadows, and he immediately realized it would be an ideal location for a town.
He bought 100 acres of land from his father-in-law, the Rev. James King. Later that year, Anderson had the land laid out as the original Town of Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee. Maps were made and 216 $100 lots were offered for sale that year.
"Anderson was thinking ahead," Phillips said. "He envisioned a big, industrialized city here. That’s at a time when there were no roads, just fields before the town began to grow."
At about the same time, Samuel Eason Goodson founded a community named Goodsonville adjoining Bristol to the north of Beaver Creek in the downtown area.
Goodson, a Virginia legislator, was instrumental in rerouting the railroad survey from east of Bristol, near Paperville, to their land, which comprised both tracts of the original Sapling Grove purchase.
Incorporation for Bristol and Goodson, the community that later became Bristol, Va., happened in 1856. The Bristol of today – the two-state community divided by State Street – was formed in 1890.
"Bud Phillips has worked for 20 years to get this to happen," said David Shumaker, Bristol Tennessee’s mayor. "Knowing where we came from helps us understand who we are today."
Meanwhile, Christina Blevins, Believe in Bristol’s Main Street executive director, said Tuesday that the association is proud to honor Anderson.
"He is the father of Bristol," she said.
ggray@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
YOU SHOULD KNOW
Joseph Rhea Anderson was married to Malinda King, the Rev. James King’s daughter. Though her idea to name the town Paradise was seriously considered, her husband decided on Bristol, after Bristol, England.
Bristol’s founder was born on Oct. 23, 1819, at the Blockhouse in Scott County, Va. The Blockhouse was built about 1775 by his grandfather, John Anderson, and became a gathering place for travelers heading west toward Kentucky.
Anderson died in May 1888 of typhoid while in his late 60s. He was nominated for governor of Tennessee the same day he passed away. He never knew of his nomination.
From and article in the Bristol Herald Courier link