The Bristol County Statehouse/Courthouse was constructed in 1816 as one of 5 locations for meetings of the Rhode Island House of Representatives and Senate. This use continued until 1854 when the General Assembly decided to meet only in Providence or Newport. The building continued as the seat of the Bristol County Court which presided over cases in the building into the 1980s. From then until it was purchased by the non-profit Bristol Statehouse Foundation in 1997, the building was largely abandoned with only one room on the first floor still housing the office of the Bristol County Sheriff.