Formed January 1, 1747 (4th county)
Bristol County (50,786), Bristol* (22,493)
The white brick courthouse was built in 1816. It is located on Court Street at Hope Street. Rhode Island State Highway 114 is Hope Street. Russell Warren was the designer of the courthouse. Bristol County was formed on January 1, 1747 as the 4th county from parts of Bristol County, Massachusetts. The county and its county seat are named for Bristol County, Massachusetts. Bristol County is the birthplace of 3 Rhode Island governors, Byron Diman, Francis M. Diamond, and Thomas G. Turner.
Bristol County doesn’t have a unified government nor a sheriff as each township governs. Twenty-six Superior Court Judges and Fourteen District Court Judges serve the entire state. The county is on the northeast border with Massachusetts. Providence, Rhode Island is northwest and New Bedford, Massachusetts is southeast of the county. The county center is 6.9 miles Northwest of Bristol in Barrington. The county is surrounded clockwise by Massachusetts and Newport, Kent, and Providence counties.
The area of the county is 24 square miles. It is 5 out of 5 in the state. It ranks 5 out of 5 in population in the state. It has a density of 2116.1 persons per square mile making it 1 out of 5 in the state. Bristol County has 0.0% of its population in its incorporated areas since there are no incorporated cities. There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county. The county looks like a leaning capital letter J. The City of Bristol is at the southern tip of the county. Bristol is the county seat and the largest populated area although it is unincorporated. It is 44.3% of the county population. This county is in the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Bristol (unincorporated)
