Jamestown Historical Society: Library Exhibit, February 2022: Signs And Plaques

Press release from the Jamestown Historical Society:

by JHS

Feb 13, 2022

The JHS library exhibit for February displays some of the smaller signs and plaques from the Jamestown Historical Society’s collection of signs.  Many of the larger ones are on permanent display in the town’s Recreation Center lobby and the back stairwell of Town Hall.

A shield shaped plaque from a stone wall identifies the wall as the work of the Work Projects Administration (WPA).  The WPA employed millions of jobseekers to carry out public works projects during the Great Depression.  In Jamestown, they built the seawall at East Ferry and the retaining wall along High Street near Walcott as well as other similar projects.

The Pusey & Jones Company of Wilmington, Delaware, put a brass builder’s plate on the ferryboat Beaver Tail when they built it in 1896 for the Jamestown & Newport Ferry Co.  The plaque was removed after the Beaver Tail was destroyed in the 1938 Hurricane.

Other signs on display include a P.O.W. sign and a building identification sign from World War II and farm and post office signs from the early and mid-20th century.

The signs will remain on display in the Jamestown Philomenian Library foyer until the beginning of March.

This press release was produced by the Jamestown Historical Society. The views expressed are the author's own.