The state line between Virginia and Tennessee doesn't run behind Bristol — it runs through it, down the center of State Street, splitting the asphalt into two jurisdictions that share one downtown. The Historic State Street District covers about 23 acres and 106 buildings, roughly 80 percent of them contributing masonry structures dating from around 1890 to 1952, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. A landmark bridge marking the border went up in 1910 and earned its own National Register listing in 1988. That same year, Bristol Gas and Electric erected a sign on that seam to advertise the city; its original slogan was PUSH! — THAT'S BRISTOL. A 1921 contest replaced it with A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE, lit by 1,332 bulbs, and nobody has changed it since. Two governments, one street, one sign — the division is the point.
