Midland County, Iowa (USA)

[RickD]

Great industrial developments. 

[sc-4]

Very nice MD there

[corydreinhardt]

Update 10: Northland Township and Bristol, Iowa

Welcome to Bristol, Iowa! Bristol is a quaint little manufacturing town located 15 miles north of Midland along SR 19. It is a small community with about 2,300 residents as of the last census. Many of the residents commute to Midland along SR 19, making this a busy two-lane roadway between Bristol and Midland. A little background about Bristol:

- Home to the Midland County 4-H Fairgrounds, which happens to be the 3rd busiest fairgrounds in the country

- Despite its small size, it has become a mecca for high-tech industry because of the invention of the prosthetic leg. Ironically,  it happened in a small factory in Bristol.

- Bristol marks the beginning of hillier terrain. The more north you go, the hillier it gets. As you have seen in previous updates, everything south is nothing but FLAT.

- Bristol School Corporation serves the town of Bristol and the area south toward Midland. It has two elementary schools and a combined Jr/Sr High School building.

Here is a image showing where Bristol is located, in comparison to the other cities in Midland County. Duluth is farther south, and is not located in the picture.

10.1


10.2

Downtown Bristol would be quiet, other than fact that SR 19 generates heavy truck traffic through the center of the town. This is the intersection of Bristol Street and SR 19 (heading north). Plans were in the works to build a bypass around the city, but then the economy tanked and no such plans are in the works anymore. Just another sign of the times.

10.3

Bristol Elementary. Approximately 435 students attend here. Part of the Bristol School Corporation.

10.4

Bristol Jr/Sr High School, serving grades 7-12. Part of the Bristol School Corporation. Despite primarily serving the city of Bristol, it is located about 2 miles south of the town in the countryside along SR 19. Some of the students from Northland Township attend here as well.

10.5

This is the Bristol Industrial Park, which primarily serves the medical industry. I mentioned that many of the buildings are high-tech, as evident here.

10.6

Despite its small size, Bristol actually boasts a second industrial park on the north side of the city. This is called the Northwood Industrial Park. Many of the businesses are either in manufactured homes or RVs.

10.7

Some residents prefer to live in the country, with more hillier terrain. It doesn't get much better than this in Iowa! This is along SR 19, just south of Bristol.

10.8

Older neighborhood called Enchanted Woods, just a quarter mile outside of town. This was considered suburban at one time.

10.9

Aerial view of the Midland County 4-H Fairgrounds. Last summer, it recorded an attendance of over 225,000 in 6 days! Parking is abundant here on this hot July day. I believe Toby Keith was playing on this particular day.

10.10

Entrance to the fairgrounds.

10.11

Another close-up view.

I should have put these images first, but just to give you an idea of the size of Bristol.

10.12 & 10.13




In this update, I also wanted to show you a few images of Northland Township. Northland Township is located north of Midland, but south of Bristol. It is sandwiched right in between. SR 19 is the main corridor through the township. It is mostly farmland, however, a few suburban subdivisions have sprouted up.

10.14

I mentioned earlier how the Bristol School Corporation has 2 elementary schools. This is Northland Elementary. It is primarily in the countryside, however, does serve a few suburban neighborhoods. It was built in 2003 to accommodate the rising population north of Midland.

10.15

Countryside living. Fresh air.

10.16

Large suburban subdivision called Northland Garden Estates. While this looks like it is in the middle of nowhere, you have to remember that Midland is just two miles to south of this subdivision. It is surrounded by farmland, however.

10.17

Neighborhood tennis courts. Residents only.

10.18

If you don't have a large pool, you would be considered "low-class."

And that concludes Update 10: Bristol and Northland Township, Iowa. Please leave a comment!

Post Replies:

sc-4: Thank you so much!

RickD: Glad you appreciate the industrial developments. I love creating industrial parks.

[art128]

I like your work around the Bristol area. The gigantic farms and the housing is well made.

My only critic can be about the hills, I don't think it's a good idea to put farms on such hills. Maybe some forest would have been better.

[NASCAR_Guy]

Pretty impressive for a mostly Maxis city.