Bristol’s Dorrance mansion a portal to past on banks of Delaware River

It seems only appropriate for local historians like Wynne Wert and I to open up a can of condensed Campbell’s soup, put it in a Thermos and head for the Delaware riverside green at Radcliffe and Mulberry streets in Bristol. The grounds and view to the 5-story residence of Mark and Regina Swift are a good place to sip the potage and ponder the home’s linkage to borough history and a trademark known around the world.

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Bristol industrialist John Dorrance – father of sons John Jr. and Arthur – built the imposing mansion during the Civil War. A small soup company hired Arthur to manage its canning factory in Philadelphia. He in turn hired his brother’s son, John Dorrance III. As a chemist, JD III invented the formula for condensed soup that catapulted Campbell Soup Company to worldwide fame. In 1915, he bought the company. Generations of the family have maintained control down to the present day. One of them – another John Dorrance – inherited a major share and sold it in 1995 to become one of the richest men in the world with a net worth of an eye-popping $2.2 billion.

All of this traces back to Bristol’s John Dorrance who built the unique Italianate mansion Wynne and I were about to tour.

Born in Connecticut in 1803, JD arrived in Bristol in his 20s. He kick-started his success in 1827 by investing in century-old Bristol Mill at the town’s seaport wharf behind Mill Street. Buying out his partners, he rebuilt the mill and added saw mills, a lumberyard, coal sheds, a blacksmith shop, a store and two dwellings. Mill workers loaded sailing ships moored at the wharf with tons of cornmeal for shipment to the South and Caribbean islands. One shipment notched a $1.4 million payday for JD.

Ambition became Dorrance’s calling card. Director of the state’s second oldest building and loan association. Excavation contractor for the Delaware Canal. Owner of the first railroad between Trenton and Bristol. Developer of the Dorrance, Washington and Lafayette Street neighborhoods in Bristol. Borough councilman from 1835 to 1860.

After retiring from public service, he built his dream mansion in 1862. Its classical Italian architecture today overlooks the river opposite uninhabited Burlington Island. Built on a center hall plan, the home features a winding staircase to a fifth-story, elliptical watch tower. A distinctive three-story backside porch invites spectacular views of passing ships. The street front is centered on a double-door entrance with inset fanlight. Classical sandstone frames the doorway with similar sandstone surrounds of windows decreasing in size on the second and third level to give an illusion of greater height.

John and wife Mary moved in during the Civil War. He passed away 6 years later. The couple’s heirs would sell the mansion in 1921 to the Bristol Knights of Columbus which retained ownership for 60 years. Amid fears the building might be leveled due to age and neglect, restoration experts Mark and Regina Swift bought it for $32,500 in 1982. They moved in and began careful renovation and redecoration with authentic period furnishings from trusted antiques companies in New England. In addition, Mark got the home listed on the National Registry of Historic Properties in 1986.

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On our visit, we found Regina chatting with a neighbor while sweeping the doorsteps at the home’s main entrance on Radcliffe Street. “I do everything,” she laughed, leading us inside where we greeted Mark, a Navy veteran and former CEO of manufacturing companies. He and Regina escorted us around an elegantly set interior recapturing the Dorrance lifestyle of the 1860s.