Tag Archives: island road history

Island Road History | Gertie Johnson Road

Street of the Week: Gertie Johnson Road

Location: East off Rolling Bay business district

History: Gertrude Johnson was accustomed to being first. She lived in the first beach house off Logg Road; she helped create the area’s first park; she was Bainbridge Island’s first women legislator.
Outside her accomplishments at the capital, Johnson may be best known for her ties to Fay Bainbridge.

In the wake of the Great Depression, the state was looking for land. Johnson heard the property of a longtime Island family, the Fays, was up for sale. On a hunch it would be a perfect spot for a new park, Johnson picked up the phone.

The state couldn’t afford the $15,000 asking price, she explained. That’s fine, the Fays replied. You can have it for $5,000, just name it after the family. And Johnson did just that.

Source: “A History of Bainbridge Island,” Katy Warner, 1968

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Island Road History | Wacky Nut Way

Street of the Week: Wacky Nut Way

Location: A residential street running east off Rockaway Bluff Road

History: When submitting the required three suggestions for his new street, Jared Vogt added his daughter’s idea of “Wacky Nut,” never thinking it be used. But the county opted for the wackiest option. Vogt decided to keep the name, silly as it may be.

This occasional Islander series explores the history of island street names, as compiled by Elinor Ringland and fellow Bainbridge Island Historical Society volunteers. If you have an island road story to share, email Ringland at elinorjoe@msn.com.

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Island Road History | Yankee Girl Lane

 

Street of the Week: Yankee Girl Lane

Location: East off Fort Ward Hill Road, just south of Blakely Harbor Park

History: Developer John Green’s deep love of Sparkman & Stephens sailboats led to this road’s name.

The company was founded 75 years ago when self-taught sailor Olin J. Stephens went into business with yacht broker Drake Sparkman. Twenty-one-year-old Stephens shared a passion for naval architecture with his brother Roderick. Rod worked at the legendary Nevina Yard in City Island, New York, and was key in helping Sparkman & Stephens survive the financial storm of the Great Depression.

Since its founding, Sparkman & Stephens has completed more than 2,600 designs, four of which are also Bainbridge street names: Bolero Lane, Charisma Lane, Intrepid Court and Yankee Girl Lane. All four designs are yacht cup winners.

This occasional Islander series explores the history of island street names, as compiled by Elinor Ringland and fellow Bainbridge Island Historical Society volunteers. If you have an island road story to share, email Ringland at elinorjoe@msn.com.

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Island Road History | Cosgrove Street

Street of the Week: Cosgrove Street

Location: Runs north-south between Wyatt Way and Shepard Drive.

History: John Cosgrove lived on the Sound for two decades until evenutally meeting his end thanks to a bunch of bananas. When he arrived in 1858, Cosgrove claimed a plot near Port Madison and began working at the local mill. Eventually, he sold the claim to the mill’s owner. His price: the steamer Mary Woodruff.

Now a captain, Cosgrove set sail. Known as “Humbolt Jack,” he lived with a Native American woman and their children.

One day Cosgrove visited a Port Blakely blacksmith shop carrying a bunch of bananas. He wanted to hang the fruit from the ceiling to ripen. While standing on a chair, Cosgrove lost his footing and fell to the floor.

The local paper later reported the captain shouted such things as “Get up steam” before murmering his last words: “I’m going.”

Sources: “Port Madison, Washington Territory, 1854-1889,” Fredi Perry. Perry Publishing, Bremerton, 1989.

This occasional Islander series explores the history of island street names, as compiled by Elinor Ringland and fellow Bainbridge Island Historical Society volunteers. If you have an island road story to share, email Ringland at elinorjoe@msn.com.

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Agate Passage an artist’s legacy | Island Road History

Streets of the Week: Agate Street; Agate Beach Lane; Agate Pass Road; and Agate Point Road

History: In 1841 Captain Charles Wilkes found himself on the Puget Sound, leading the United States Exploring Expedition.

The expedition was the result of more than a decade of political debates and personal conflicts. Finally, with the support of Congress, six U.S. Navy ships left Norfolk, Virginia, on August 18, 1838. On board: 424 crew members and nine scientists set to explore the South Pacific.

After almost three years of sailing, the expedition reached what is now Bainbridge Island. There, Captain Wilkes dubbed the waterway separating the island from the peninsula the Agate Passage.

The name was in honor of artist, Alfred T. Agate. Only 26 when the expedition set sail, Agate traveled around Cape Horn, throughout the South Pacific, to the Antarctic, and, of course, along the Pacific Northwest.

Agate’s contributions to the expedition extended beyound detailed drawings and portraits for the crew. He also documented shipboard life and scientific discoveries with much of his work still celebrated today.

After four years at sea, Agate returned home in 1842. Shortly after he married Elizabeth Hill Kennedy. Unfortunately, only four months after their marriage, Agate died. His health had suffered from his various expeditions and he eventually succumbed to tuberculosis on January 5, 1846. He was 33.

Agate’s name, however, is remembered throughout the island he first helped document all those years ago.

Sources: “Picture Bainbridge,” Jack Swanson. Bainbridge Historical Society, 2002.
“Bainbridge Through Bifocals,” Elsie Frankland Marriott. Gateway Printing Co., 1941.
“A History of Bainbridge Island,” Katy Warner. 1968.

This occasional Islander series explores the history of island street names, as compiled by Elinor Ringland and fellow Bainbridge Island Historical Society volunteers. If you have an island road story to share, email Ringland at elinorjoe@msn.com.

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Beans Bight Road | Island Road History

Street of the week: Beans Bight Road

Location: Runs off Upper Farms Road, just west of Restoration Point.

History: The farmer who first claimed the land above Blakely Harbor had a name reminiscent of two foods: Reuben Bean. It’s unknown whether either snack had anything to do with his move west from Maine; Bean was killed in 1859 before he could begin using his 148.5 acres.

Thirty-one years later, the newly formed Washington State Legislature authorized the purchase of Bean’s land. The resulting Fort Ward sits upon Bean Point. It protects the island’s curving south shoreline, geographically known as a “bight.”

Sources: “Picture Bainbridge,” Jack Swanson. Published by the Bainbridge Historical Society.
“The Story of the Little Fort at Bean Point,” Ivan W. Lee, Jr. & Lois B. Lee.

This occasional Islander series explores the history of island street names, as compiled by Elinor Ringland and fellow Bainbridge Island Historical Society volunteers. If you have an island road story to share, email Elinor at elinorjoe@msn.com.

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