By Christy Nadalin

A century ago, the expansive property at 500 Wood St., now Unity Park, was the centerpiece of Bristol’s thriving industrial heart. After spending much of the last 50 years in decline, that industrial heart is beating again.

But first, a little backstory:

The National Rubber Company became an important business interest in Bristol around the end of the Civil War, when, in 1864, Augustus Bourn built the plant on Wood Street. It was bankrupt by 1887, and Samuel Colt reorganized the company as the National India Rubber Company, which would become the United States Rubber Company — the largest rubber conglomerate in the country.

During World War II, the factory employed about 6,000 people in the manufacture of rubber-insulated cable and wiring. Bristol had a population of

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