Horton Manufacturing Co. (Bristol Rods).

Everett Horton had a clever idea back in the early 1880s. He wanted to go fishing on his day off, Sunday, but in the still puritanical city of Bristol, Connecticut, this was a no-no. Horton was a machinist, and he gradually developed his solution. He built himself a telescoping fishing rod that he could hide in his coat. This rod had no guides, the line ran up through the center of the tubes. However, by 1886 enough people had learned about his rod that he decided to go into production, and filed for patent rights for, and prepared to go into production.

Horton was granted his patent in 1887, and expanded his shop in preparation of going into production. However, in the Fall of 1887, Horton sold his idea to a Company that was formed to manufacture the rod. The initial stockholders were Charles Treadway, F.G. Haywood, both of Bristol, and Charles Pope of New York City. By 1888 The Horton Company had moved from the Horton shop into their own manufacturing facility. Shortly thereafter, the Bristol Manufacturing Company was one of the leading producers of fishing rods in the United States. They manufactured tubular steel rods of all types, not only telescoping rods. Their scope extended from light fly rods all the way to heavy salt water tackle. Bristol was soon one of the major advertisers in sporting magazines, and was producing some of the finest advertising catalogs, calendars, posters, and graphic advertising in fishing tackle history.

In August 1916 Bristol purchased the famous B. F. Meek Reel Company, and began producing these reels with the Meek and Bristol names on the line. Shortly thereafter, they purchase the equally famous Martin fishing line company, the makers of Kingfisher line. This product was soon added to the Bristol family of fine angling products.