Bristow, Perry County, Indiana

Slabtown USA. – Bristow, Indiana – The early history of Clark Twp., we find the town called Slabtown. Bristow, Indiana, formerly Slabtown, was low and the area was very muddy. The slabs from the local saw mill were used to make roads and streets. Thus, the area was called Slabtown. Later the town was named Bristow in honor of John James Bristow.The original plat of Bristow, recorded March 16, 1875 – fifteen lots and one school. The main street was 66 feet wide running north and south. Oak Street 49 feet wide running parallel. Water and First Street running east and west with a 16 1/2 foot alley crossing at right angles, Alexander and Phoebe Miller VanWinkle, William and Emeline VanWinkle, Elisha and Lettia Jarboe.  Weedman were the principal land holders and the town was surveyed by Daniel R. McKim.
The town grew and more lots were laid out. A street, second street northeast of Bristow toward Adyeville.There was the Flamion Garage, A general store, Hotel, Hospital, the Bristow Post Office, Bristow School, Community Hall and a Chicken Hatchery.  Then my favorites growning up Sam Beard and Claude Rickenbaugh’s Resturents.
Bristow, located on the banks of East Fork Creek of the Anderson Creek.  Early in the history of Perry County was the principal Town of Clark Township. The Bristow Milling Company was the life-blood of the small town. Farmers from Perry and Spencer Counties would market their grain and have their, feed ground at the mill.

THE BEGINNING

Slabtown USA. – Bristow, Indiana – The early history of Clark Twp., we find the town called Slabtown. Bristow, Indiana, formerly Slabtown, was low and the area was very muddy. The slabs from the local saw mill were used to make roads and The first store was opened by Elisha S. Weedman. Thomas Miles Hotel was the home for main travelers. The menu, a boarding house type of service, listed such meats as deer, pheasant and other wild game, vegetables and fruits in season, or from the spring house located on the hill.

The Baptist Church. Trustees of the church were William T. and Emline VanWinkle, William and Hettie Lomax, Jacob and Nancy Aders, Samuel Lasher and John Lanman. The early settlers are buried in the Lasher Cemetery , later a cemetery on the hill above Bristow.

At one time Bristow had Baptist and Christian churches. The German families moved out and the Lutheran church was sold to the Christian church that had moved the old Mosby school to Bristow and remodeled it.

The first medical doctor of Bristow was Dr. William Lomax who settled in Bristow in 1881, a graduate of Indiana Medical College. Dr. William Lomax married Hettie Dugan, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Jeffers Dugan. Dr. P. T. Coultas practiced in Bristow until he moved to Tell City.

Dr. Mayfield had a special building constructed for Perry County Clinic and Hospital. The untimely death of Dr. Mayfield closed the hospital. The fire that destroyed the Flamion garage and Beard home and set other houses on fire.

The high school is closed and torn down. The town has one service station, two general stores and a tavern. Highway 145 goes through the town, population 98. The town was 100 years old in 1975. Bristow is the home of James H. Mosby, author of Our Noble Heritage, Heritage of Faith and the Living History of Perry County.

From: A Living History of Perry County, author, James H. Mosby -1977.