The Long Forgotten Fishers Island Jail by Pierce Rafferty November 2013 Immediately after E.M. & W. Ferguson purchased almost all of Fishers Island in 1889, they enlarged the Mansion House, extensively renovated the Lyles Beach Hotel, carved new roads, established a West End water system and revived farms throughout the island. One long forgotten improvement
Blimps on Fishers during World War II by Pierce Rafferty September 2013 Aerial view looking south by southwest over Fort H.G. Wright's main reservation, August 21, 1944. The photograph was taken from an altitude of 1000 feet. It provides a clear view of the Fort's extensive facilities, barracks and buildings during the World War
Island Telephone 1890’s ~ Fishers Island’s Telephone Co. is Formed The Fishers Island Telephone Co. was formed in the early 1890s by the Ferguson brothers. 1920’s ~ Olmsted Plan An infrastructure upgrade known as the “Olmsted Plan” brought brand new telephone lines and
Island Electricity 1899 ~ Fishers Island’s first electric power plant began operations Fishers Island’s first electric power plant began operations in 1899 in a brick structure that still stands across the street just north of today’s Goose Island Gas Station (formerly
Construction of the New Water Filtration Plant, Fishers Island, NY, circa 1927. All photographs in this gallery were taken for or by Mr. Donald F. Hine, an engineer who worked on the development of the east end of Fishers Island in the mid-1920s
FI’s Once Preeminent Hermit by Pierce Rafferty May 2013 Man standing at spot on South Dumpling where “Uncle Billy” burned his shanty. Oars mark allegedly “poisoned” well. 1895 A lengthy New York Times article, published on July 13, 1880, reviewed the new resort on Fishers Island. While the unidentified reporter appeared somewhat ambivalent
Throughout the decades, the Post Office steadfastly remained based in the same corner office as today. The Administration Building has served as H.Q. for the Fishers Island Utility Corp. while doubling as the island’s most visited daily destination, the venerable Fishers Island Post Office. (From
South Beach (1895 – 1914) South Beach was the social beach on Fishers Island during the pre-automobile era when the island’s east end beaches were relatively difficult to reach by horse and buggy. A band from the Mansion House Hotel played for beach-goers at South Beach on a daily basis for several years during
1877 Fishers Island Expense Account for James H. Lyles Trustee March 1877 – Sept 1889 This ledger book records land sales on Fishers Island beginning with the first sales in December 1876 and continuing until the sale of approximately 9/10ths of Fishers Island to the Fergusons in June 1889. It also contains
The Bell that Got Away by Pierce Rafferty November 2012 The passenger steamer Atlantic, bound for New York from Boston, stopped in New London early on the morning of November 26, 1846 in the midst of a furious gale. After proceeding from that port, she suffered a boiler accident several miles from the mouth of
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F.I. Sketchbook 2005
