BRADFORD 



887 



BRADFORD 



and towns. The first settlement was made in 

 1795 on the site of Braddock's Field, where, in 

 July, 1755, the British general was defeated 

 and fatally wounded by the French and In- 

 dians. The borough was incorporated in 1867. 

 In 1910 the population was 19,357; in 1914 it 

 was 20,936. The area is less than one square 

 mile. 



Braddock has extensive manufactures of 

 steel and pig-iron, especially of steel rails and 

 railroad and car supplies; the production of 

 cement and plaster is considerable. Possibly 

 because of the large steel interests in Brad- 

 dock, the first Carnegie Library in the United 

 States was established here. There are fine 

 public schools, many churches and a Federal 

 building. Kenneywood Park is the principal 

 recreation ground. 



BRAD 'FORD, an important center of the 

 woolen and cotton industries of England, sit- 

 uated on the River Aire, eight miles west of 

 Leeds in Yorkshire. The name is derived 

 from the Anglo-Saxon broad-ford. It stands 

 in the center of a rich coal and iron mining 

 district, is served by three main lines of rail- 

 way and is connected by canal with Liverpool 

 and with important ports on the Humber. 

 The smoke-blackened buildings give the city 

 a very gloomy appearance, though the streets 

 are broad and well laid out. Its textile manu- 

 factures are among the most extensive in Eng- 

 land, the worsted mills alone employing 36,000 

 persons. The cotton industries are not so im- 

 portant, giving employment to only about 

 8,000. 



All public utilities are municipally owned, 

 and the town is progressive and quick to adopt 

 measures calculated to benefit the community. 

 In 1907 the mayor was raised to the dignity of 

 lord mayor, a title at one time conferred only 

 on the chief executive of London. There are 

 numerous public parks and gardens, but the 

 smoke-filled atmosphere prevents trees, flowers 

 and grass from flourishing. Bradford has al- 

 ways taken a prominent part in the temper- 

 ance movement, and the first Temperance Hall 

 in England was erected there in 1837. It is 

 an ancient city, records showing that it ex- 

 isted previous to 1066, the year of the Norman 

 Conquest, and that it was a flourishing mar- 

 ket town in 1251. Population in 1911, 288,458. 



BRADFORD, PA., a city in McKean County, 

 in the northwestern part of the state, situated 

 near the New York state line, sixty-seven miles 

 south of Buffalo. Railway transportation is 

 provided by the Buffalo, Rochester & Pitts- 



burgh, the Pennsylvania and the Erie rail- 

 roads; electric lines operate to towns north 

 and south. Bradford was settled in 1823, was 

 chartered as a city in 1879, and since 1914 its 

 government has been administered on the com- 

 mission plan. In 1910 the population was 14,- 

 544. The area exceeds two square miles. 



Industry in Bradford is associated with the 

 natural resources of the region in which it is 

 located, namely, coal, petroleum and natural 

 gas. There is a large trade in oil, gasoline, 

 wood acid and alkalis, and extensive manu- 

 factures of tanks, well supplies, refined oil, 

 nitroglycerine, building and paving brick, cut- 

 lery, gas engines, torpedoes and air compres- 

 sors. The large oil refineries have pipe lines 

 to the seacoast. Large railway shops are also 

 located here. Bradford has a fine library, a 

 well-equipped hospital and a driving park. It 

 is lighted and heated by natural gas. 



BRADFORD, WILLIAM (about 1590-1657), an 

 American of the colonial period, second gov- 

 ernor of Plymouth Colony, whose work as an 

 historian of the Massachusetts Pilgrims makes 

 him the father of American history. He was 

 born in York- 

 shire, England, 

 j oined the Sep- 

 aratists at Scroo- 

 by, and suffered 

 imprisonment for 

 trying to escape 

 from E ngl and. 

 Later he succeed- 

 ed in reaching 

 the Pilgrims in 

 Holland, whither 

 many of them 

 had removed to 

 secure freedom 

 of worship, and 

 there he became a tradesman. In 1620 he 

 sailed with them on the Mayflower, and helped 

 to found Plymouth Colony. Chosen governor 

 of the colony in 1621 to succeed John Carver, 

 he held that office until his death, except for 

 five years when by "importunity he got off." 

 Throughout this period his tact, good judg- 

 ment and high executive ability were impor- 

 tant factors in making the colonizing experi- 

 ment a success. 



Bradford's historical work, The History of 

 Plymouth Plantation, is a day-by-day account 

 of the colony from 1631 to 1646, upon which 

 all later histories of Plymouth have been 

 based. The author left the work in manu- 



WILLJAM BRADFORD 



