ISLAND HISTORY


Plans to restore the Revolutionary War earthworks off Battery Lane moved forward with approval by the town council to hire the Vermont consulting firm Landscapes, The Jamestown Press reported Jan. 14, 1999.

According to project supporter Edwin Connelly, the next phase calls for constructing a parking lot and trail to the battery, erecting interpretive signs and removing tons of material from the site.

100 years ago — Jan. 11, 1920
(Newport Mercury)

The final steps in the organization of the General Assembly were taken with the announcement of the committees by Speaker Arthur Summer. The announcement caused dissatisfaction to a number of members, including Providence’s Harry Sanderson, who declined all appointments. Among the Newport County appointments, Jamestown’s George Peckham was named to the Corporations Committee.

75 years ago — Jan. 11, 1945
(Newport Mercury)

Harry Clair, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, has received an award for wounds received in action in the Central Paci fic area. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Clarke of Jamestown.

50 years ago — Jan. 11, 1970
(Newport Daily News)

More than 10 years after what is believed to be history’s worst collision in the East Passage, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Edward Day has blamed the collision of the Gulfoil and the S.E. Graham on the Gulfoil.

The skipper and 17 crewmen died as a result of the collision at 6:53 a.m. Aug. 7, 1958, in dense fog between Fort Adams and the Bull Point buoy in Jamestown.

In his 19-page decision, Day ruled the Gulfoil failed completely to prove that another ship, the Laurel, obstructed with the Gulfoil in any manner while leaving the channel to cause the collision.

25 years ago — Jan. 12, 1995
(The Jamestown Press)

Plans for a bike path that would allow children on the north end to reach a new ballfield at the corner of Eldred Avenue and East Shore Road without having to travel heavily trafficked streets got approval from the town council.

George Meservey, town planner, said the entire cost would come from a grant from the state Department of Management.

The path would go from North Main Road along the shale mat at the base of the North Pond dam, and then turn south to cut across a municipal lot. About a half-mile long, the path would continue onto a parcel of state land next to the highway before cutting east and then diagonally across another a municipal lot. It would end on a section of Eldred Avenue that only would be traveled by motorists using a westbound access ramp to Route 138.

10 years ago — Jan. 14, 2010
(The Jamestown Press)

After analyzing all of its collected data, a review committee reported it did not find a “compelling programmatic reason” to recommend Jamestown students change high schools..

A group of parents turned out at the school committee meeting to hear the panel’s presentation about the potential future placement of Jamestown’s middle school graduates.. “Both Narragansett High School and North Kingstown High School are viable options for Jamestown students,” the committee concluded.