More From My Postcard Collection
More scans of old postcards I have collected of places I have lived and liked.

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All images and text Copyright © 2001-2014 Susan White Pieroth

Jamestown, Rhode Island - Page 1

Sources of history include Greetings from Jamestown, Rhode Island; Picture Post Card Views; 1900-1950, by Sue Maden 1988
Jamestown Visitor Information with Pictures and History

See the History Page on the Jamestown Philomenian Library Website

A map of Jamestown from a 1905 brochure by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. West Ferry was located where the letter 'E' of Jamestown is printed. Dutch Island is not that close. Amaziah's Lane, now called Eldred Avenue of Route 138, leads to the Jamestown Bridge. The Newport Bridge, completed in 1969, is off Taylors Point. The brochure lists the hotels, with capacity, as: Bay Voyage 75; Champlin House 75; Thorndike Hotel 250; Gardner House 300; Bay View 200; Prospect House 50; Tenant Cottage 25; Allen Cottage 30; Bay View Annex 50. Click for a picture and information about the North Pt. (Conanicut) Light, built in 1886.

Left: "Jamestown Ferry and Dutch Island" shows one of the ferries from the West Ferry.

Right: "Ferry Slip West Side, Jamestown" with ferry J. A. Saunders.

Left: Jamestown West Ferry, February 1934, before the bridge was built to the mainland. Right: Ice on the west shore the same day.

Left: An original plan for the Jamestown Bridge over Western Passage of Narragansett Bay. Parsons, Klapp, Brinckerhoff & Douglas were the consulting engineers. Right: a detail showing the crossing location to Conanicut island. The mainland is labeled "Boston Neck". The photos were generously provided by Louis Rhyner - thank you very much.

"New Jamestown Bridge... July 1940." This real photo card of the bridge was taken before it opened August 5, 1940. A new bridge opened October 17, 1992 alongside and access to the old (on right in 1999) removed. On April 18, 2006 demolition was begun.

Interesting Facts and Figures on Jamestown Bridge - from a brochure promoting the bridge and ferry to get to Cape Cod. The cost was $2,900,000. It was approximately 1 1/2 miles long and took about 19 months to build. There are two videos on YouTube showing the final implosion of the bridge: One (from a TV newscast), Two (home video).

Left: East Ferry from a 1905 brochure put out by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail Road. This picture was probably taken about 10 years before. Right: a little later showing changes in the buildings.

Left: This view of the east ferry dock and store includes an aircraft carrier in the background, not an uncommon sight in those days, and what appears to be a blimp, not a common sight. Right: a slightly older card of the stores.

Far left: Ferry Wharf. Beyond is the yacht club and pier. Hurricane Carol badly damaged the ferry terminal at the end of the wharf in 1954, but it was restore. It and the line of stores are still there (1999 photo above, left). Right: 1968 photo of the Newport Bridge construction. In 1969 it replaced the ferry system to Newport.

Jamestown about 1929. The three large buildings are the hotels. The Thorndike was torn down in 1938, Gardner House was torn down about 1939. To the right of the ferry wharf is the Bay View Hotel. Right: ferries Beavertail and Governor Carr.

Left: Jamestown, showing the twin ferries, "Jamestown" and "Newport." The tower of the Bay View is gone along with the upper porches. Right: a view after 1990 showing the new waterfront marina, condominium that replaced the Bay View.

Left: Number 5 of a series of photo postcards taken September 20, 1914 after the Conanicut ferry caught fire that day while in the Jamestown slip. You can see the tower roof of the Bayview Hotel at the top left. Right is number 8 showing the hull with the name (enlarged in the corner of the image) and a view of the Gardner Hotel and the Bay View in the background. For a larger view, click here.

The Conanicut was sunk to put out the fire. Here the process of pumping out the water has begun. The ferry was rebuilt and continued in service at various locations until 1930.

Right: On the back is a note of a visit in September 1914 that says, "I spent three days at Jamestown in Aug. and crossed in this ferryboat from Newport a number of times. It accommodated 18 automobiles beside foot passengers.... It was a pretty sail of 20 minutes..." Obviously the visit was before the fire.

The Governor Carr Ferry, built for the Jamestown to Newport route in 1927, remained in service until 1958. Caleb Carr, for whom the ferry was named, was Governor in 1695. Ferry service ended when the Newport Bridge opened 6/28/1969.

I bought these on eBay. The seller said they came from a family estate. Each is labeled with the information provided. Left: Jamestown Edwin Hugh Ballinger Navy at the age of 18. Right: "Capt. E. H. Ballinger, Thames St. going to Ferry." Edwin Ballinger is listed as one of the ferry captains (with no boat or dates) in the book The Jamestown Ferryboats 1873 - 1969, by Wilfred E. Warren of Jamestown. The Social Security Death Index shows his birth date as February 15, 1891 and death as August 1976 in Newport, Newport County, RI.

This card is labeled "Jamestown, R. I. taken from the U. S. S. Brooklyn." On the right is the "House on the Rocks" and just to the left behind is is a ferry near the dock. On the left is Horsehead. The second Thorndike and the Bay View are between. This was probably taken in the mid-1930's. For an enlargement of the shore, click here.

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