Fort Getty transformed from military site to town park
In 1900, the federal government confiscated 41 acres of Fox Hill farm to build a fortification to protect Narragansett Bay.
The U.S. Army built Fort Getty between 1901-05, orienting the armaments to engage ocean-going warships. The development of the airplane and the submarine as military weapons made the fort obsolete almost before it was completed. The fort was manned in World War I (1917-18) and served as the coastal artillery headquarters during World War II (1941-45), although most of the weapons were relocated to other sites at that time.
For a short while after the war, the fort was used as a school to educate German POWs who had opposed the Hitler regime in the operation of a democracy. In 1948, the Army decided they had no further use for the area and declared Fort Getty surplus property.
Ownership by a public entity, whether the federal government or the municipality, meant no property taxes could be assessed. The town estimated the 41 acres of Fort Getty, if held in private hands, would have a taxable value of $3.1 million, which would generate revenue for the town.
The evaluation did not consider the cost of removing the barracks, demolishing or filling in the batteries, redesigning the roads, or installing utilities to service the imagined community. A committee was formed to encourage the War Assets Administration, which was in charge of disposing of the fort, to sell the property to private owners so it could be taxed.
In 1950, this group offered the land to the town for $9,500 and the town appropriated money for the purchase. With the escalation of the Korean War (1950-53) while negotiations were ongoing, the offer was withdrawn in 1951.
After the July 1953 ceasefire, the property again was made available. The General Service Administration, now in charge of the negotiation, established the value of the property to the federal government at $11,000. In a letter to the town council dated May 20, 1954, Paul O’Brien stated, “We will be pleased to consider your application for the use of the entire area for recreational purposes. Disposal to the town on this basis would be a cost of $5,500.”
For a while, things moved quickly. At its May meeting, the town council directed the planning board and the recreation commission to make a joint study of the area and make recommendations, which would determine if the council should move forward.
At the financial town meeting in June, which attracted about 26 percent of Jamestown’s 1,050 taxpayers, Resolution No. 3 read, “Shall the sum of $5,500 be withdrawn from the General Fund and be appropriated and expended for the purpose of purchasing the so-called ‘Fort Getty Military Reservation’ from the United States Government?” The resolution passed, 159-114.
The reasons some voters were reluctant to purchase the property, even at the reduced price, were many. The post-WWII years were bad economic times in Jamestown.
The military, which had been stationed at Beavertail, Wetherill and Getty during the war, were no longer bringing money to local businesses. Many drivers were afraid to take their cars across the grating at the top of the 1940 Jamestown Bridge or unwilling to wait for the ferry to Newport, leading to lower than anticipated through traffic. The town-owned ferry service, which was never a large money-maker, but one of the largest employers in the town, was leased to the state in 1951 and turned over in 1956.
Taking on the expense of a new park seemed to some to be fiscally irresponsible. As one old Jamestowner said in a 2011 interview in The Jamestown Press, “Let’s face it, New England Yankees are tight.”
On June 14, 1954, the town council authorized its attorney to start preparations for the buying of the Fort Getty property. It also directed the planning board, fire department and building inspector to recommend what could be saved and reused as part of the park.
For almost a year, negotiation between the federal government and the town continued. Questions arose about the boundaries of the land and rights-of-way. The federal government reserved the rights to fissionable material if any were found and removed the temporary barracks. All other remnants of the Army’s occupation remained.
The town promised to maintain the property as a “public park” for a period of 20 years or risk the land being repossessed.
Finally, on June 2, 1955, the town paid $5,500 for the land that is now Fort Getty. The restriction on use expired in 1975, although the federal government still retains a claim to the minerals in the unlikely discovery of uranium or other fissionable materials.
