By Rit Carter
The morning of Sunday September 1, 1918, started like many did in the City of Bristol.
Employees at Lake Compounce readied the park for a performance of the Governor’s Foot Guard Band, and a fireworks display for later that evening.
Parishioners in houses of prayer from the South Side to Federal Hill to Forestville sat elbow to elbow for Sunday services.
Readers of area newspapers searched the morning editions for the latest news regarding World War I.
And, a mere sixty miles away unbeknownst to anyone, a lethal virus was entering a port in New London that would have devastating consequences in just thirty days.
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 saw an estimated six hundred seventy-five thousand (675,000) Americans perish including nine thousand in Connecticut. For Bristol the final count was one hundred thirteen souls.
According to a report by the Connecticut Department of Health issued in June 1920, the influenza first appeared in New London near the naval hospital on the first of September. The illness spread south and west. Cities like Bridgeport, New Haven, New London, New Britain and Waterbury were soon ravaged due to overcrowded neighborhoods. While Bristol’s estimated population of nineteen thousand seven hundred seventy-one (19,771) avoided devastation, they were not immune from the suffering, loss and misery.
What started slowly in September accelerated rapidly with October being the deadliest month of the outbreak. By October 5there were at least fifty serious cases of the flu in Bristol. Schools closed in the Mum City and remained closed for a month. Churches and theatres followed suit and shuttered.
Within a week there were over one thousand Bristol residents, including six physicians, stricken with the Spanish Flu resulting in the sick not being treated. The shortage of physicians resulted in many of the unattended dying. Consequently, Mayor Joseph F. Dutton appealed to the health board for a physician to assist with the infected. Dr. B.A. Dawley of Toledo, Ohio, soon arrived in Bristol.
Around the same time, R.F. Rousch of the United States Department of Health was sent to Bristol, and Dr. Frank Hamblin, who recovered from a recent illness returned to lend aid. Four nurses, Florence Brainard, Jennifer Gamm, Marion Harden and Jeannette Durant were added to the staff courtesy of the Bristol Welfare Association.
Because Bristol did not have a city hospital until 1920, patients went to hospitals in other communities, which were now filled to capacity. As a result, the Parish House of the Congregational Church was drafted to be a temporary hospital for almost four weeks. During the outbreak sixty-six patients would be treated in the makeshift hospital but there were several deaths, including one man that died two hours after admission.
An Emergency Hospital on North Main Street was erected too and became Dr. Dawley’s headquarters.
The crest of the epidemic was the week of October 19 with thirty deaths reported. By the time October ended eight-eight Bristol citizens died due to the virus. However, November saw the death toll in Bristol declined to sixteen. Meanwhile, the emergency hospital had only twenty-four patients remaining, among them sixteen children.
Bristol schools reopened after a month with an attendance rate of sixty seven percent. One hundred seventy-nine students were excluded for illness, but the number was reduced to three by the end of the week.
Despite the havoc, distress and anxiety life soon resumed with Bristol residents returning to their routines.
On Saturday November 3rd, the Bristol High School football team defeated New Haven High at Muzzy Field 7-6. The local eleven hit paydirt with a scamper across the goal line in the 3rd quarter.
Tuesday November 5th, voters went to one of the four polling stations in the city to elect the next governor of Connecticut.
Come the 11th, a quickly organized parade was held celebrating the armistice agreement ending World War I. There was the New Departure Band, speeches by local dignitaries and a celebratory bonfire on the Federal Green.
Also, in November, movies returned to the Bristol Theatre among them Blue Blazes’ Rawden, a 1918 American silent film directed by William S. Hart.
And come December, city merchants prepared for Christmas with window displays and a hearty supply of goods. Gifts could be purchased at stores like J.R. Mitchell & Son, Lipson’s Fashions Store, the Bristol Hardware Company on North Main Street and Quality Bassett, where phonographs, records and standard goods were available.
Bristol postmaster William A. Hayes would report that it was the busiest Christmas on record for the Bristol Post Office.
The preceding months had been grim and filled with trauma and isolation. The newspapers detailed casualties from the war front, and family, friends and neighbors suffered or died from an invisible menace. Lacking the numerous distractions that we possess today to cope with the anguish, it was necessary to return to normal as soon as possible. Plus, it is human nature.
The
author’s great grandmother Anna Dabkowska Kaczmarczyk died at the Parish House from
the Spanish Influenza on October 26, 1918.
She was 36 years old.
While researching the story, the author learned his great grandmother died in the parish house at First Congregational Church on Oct. 26, 1918.
Total Deaths in Bristol from Influenza and Pneumonia September 1 to December 28
September 2
October 88
November 16
December 7
Total 113
Total Deaths from Municipalities of note from Influenza and Pneumonia September 1 to December 28
Bridgeport 870
Hartford 912
New Britain 466
New Haven 972
Waterbury 897
* per the State of Connecticut Thirty Sixth Report of the State Department of Health For Two Years Ended June 30, 1920 (page 287).
Sourcing:
Statistics of the 1918 Epidemic of Influenza in Connecticut: With a Consideration of the Factors Which Influenced the Prevalence of This Disease in Various Communities Author(s): C.-E. A. Winslow and J. F. Rogers Source: The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Mar., 1920), pp. 185-216
1918 Connecticut Register and Manual
Connecticut Health Bulletin Vol 33. No. 4 April 1919 pg. 9
State of Connecticut Thirty Sixth Report of the State Department of Health For Two Years Ended June 30, 1920
News of Bristol Hartford Courant Oct. 3 1918 pg. 20
Close Bristol Schools Hartford Courant Oct. 5 1918 pg. 5
Ohio Doctor in Bristol to Help Hartford Courant Oct. 13 1918 pg. 3z
Questionnaires to Bristol Subjects Hartford Courant Oct 16 1918 pg. 8
News of Bristol Hartford Courant Oct 18 1918 pg. 18
News of Bristol Hartford Courant Nov. 3 1918 pg. Z8
Bristol Wins by Score of 7-6 Hartford Courant Nov 3. 1918 pg. Z1
News of Bristol Hartford Courant Nov. 4 1918 pg.
Biggest Day in Bristol History Hartford Courant Nov. 12 1918 pg. 18
News of Bristol Hartford Courant Nov. 17 1918 pg. Z5
Christmas Shopping in Bristol City Hartford Courant Dec. 15 1918 pg. 18
Christmas in Business in Bristol Post Hartford Courant Dec. 25 1918 pg. 12
Rit Carter is a Bristol native and contributing editor to the Bristol Edition.