Major General Lafayette’s Triumphant Farewell Tour to Bristol Borough

In 1824, the United States was soon to be 50 years old, and it was an election year. The people were deeply divided by political differences and President Monroe felt that patriotism was in decline. In order to “instill the spirit of 1776” and celebrate the nation’s birth, President Monroe invited his old friend and comrade in arms, the Marquis de Lafayette, to return for the United States. As the last surviving Major General of the Revolutionary War, Lafayette was welcomed with gratitude by Americans in all 24 states. Everyone enthusiastically embraced the “Nation’s Guest”. Lafayette loved America and Americans everywhere loved him right back! On September 27, 1824, Bristol saluted him with a huge crowd, a parade from Adam’s Hollow Bridge, under the “Welcome Friend” Arch that now hangs proudly in our Town Hall, and down Radcliffe Street to the corner of Mill and Radcliffe Streets – depicted in the mural above.

Integral to this celebration is the dedication of this mural by artist Jared Bader, that commemorates this historic event. The inception for this mural project started with Robert Marquis who was also the sponsor and building owner. Mr. Marquis, Amanda and Daniel Yaeger, all of BMP Development Company, gifted this mural to the town. Their idea was to portray the parade in 1824 of the Marquis de Lafayette’s return tour of the United States through Bristol, PA. A historical mural such as this one begins with both textual and visual research. Jared began by combing through the internet for imagery that would most accurately show how the buildings, streets, the people and the actual parade of the Marquis would have looked at that time. He discovered details about the parade and residents of Bristol involved with the Marquis by reading “A History of Bristol Borough…” by Doron Green from 1911. He was also greatly assisted in tracking down imagery with the help of Robert Marquis, Abigail Duffany and Dana Barber from the Grundy Library. Of particular difficulty was tracing back the look of the present-day Mill Street Cantina building prior to its various renovations. He then composed, using the relevant imagery he had, and digitally drew and painted a design using Photoshop.  After the design was completed Robert Marquis and other interested parties critiqued and advised him of relevant changes, which they thought were necessary. The Bristol Cultural & Historical Foundation was also involved in approving the design and advising of any historical inaccuracies. With all the advised changes completed, the next step was painting the mural. The mural was painted on a special cloth material of non-woven polyester colloquially referred to as “Parachute Cloth”. In Bader’s studio the design was projected using a digital projector onto four connected 5’ x 6’ sheets. He traced the outline of the design on the cloth and then hand painted the imagery using the design and various other pictures as references. The mural is painted using acrylic based mural paints in sections of four sheets at time moving from left to right. When he finished painting the mural in his studio, he then glued the cloth sections onto the wall using an acrylic gel material from “Golden” brand paints with help from his assistant, Adam Alli. Thanks to Robert Marquis and his crew for priming the wall prior to installation which usually the artist must do himself. To reach the wall, he was loaned an aerial lift with special thanks to Bernard Mazzocchi. The mural on cloth gets adhered to the wall in a manner similar to hanging wallpaper. After all the pieces were glued, he touched up areas with leftover paints where sections didn’t match up exactly. Once that was done the whole mural got a coating of clear acrylic sealer and on top of that Mineral Spirits Acrylic “MSA” varnish was applied. That protects the mural from fading for years to come from the weather and sun.

200 years later, Bristol Borough recreated the bicentennial of the Farewell Tour with a grand procession following the same route as the original procession. 

Why Bristol?  Lafayette was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, he spent the night at the home of Simon Betz.  Betz’s niece, Mrs.Bessonett, tended to him there.  On September 27, 1824, Marquis de Lafayette was escorted to the home of Mr. Bessonett at the corner of Mill and Radcliffe while on his return tour of America.  The Marquis had lunch there and was reintroduced to the woman who tended to him, Mrs. Bessonett, to whom he extended sincere appreciation. Afterward, Lafayette and his group marched to Philadelphia.