An exterior view of the old Bristol Town Hall along Highway C in Bristol Woods County Park.
The Bristol Wisconsin Historical Society will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its moving and restoring of the original Bristol Town Hall building on Sunday, April 15 at 1 p.m. at the building new location of Firemen’s Park, 8323 198th Ave. in Bristol.
The town hall building, once moved, will be restored into a museum and open to the public. The move is tentatively scheduled for the week of Monday April 16.
Refreshments will be served at the groundbreaking.
The building, which dates from 1870, is currently located in Bristol Woods County Park, where it has been used for storage for years. The county agreed last month to give the building to the historical society.
Specifics regarding the move will be posted on the BWHS Facebook page to keep everyone informed. The route is Highway C west to Highway 45, then Highway 45 north to 84th Street, then 84th Street east to 198th Avenue, and 198th Avenue north to the park entrance.
Opportunities for sponsorship of the three-mile route along which the building will be moved are available. For sponsorship information please contact Jill Gillmore at (262)960-9145, Ed Gillmore at (262)206-0566 or Margaret McCabe at (262)857-9115.
In 1869 the people of Bristol started building their first town hall. On Oct. 15, 1869 the land where the building is located was given to the township for one peppercorn and one dollar. In legal parlance, a peppercorn is a metaphor for a very small payment, a nominal consideration, used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract. The Building was completed one year later in 1870. The building was built in the geographical center of Bristol as it was in 1869.
