Photos

1884 Hyannis Map, Boston Public LIbrary Collection

Barnstable Patriot Newspaper Office

Hyannis Main Street Horse Cart

Barnstable High School, 1909, on High School Road, downtown

Hyannis Main Street Horse Cart & Crowell’s Dining Room

1919 July 4th Parade, Downtown Hyannis

Main St. Downtown Hyannis, Liggets Drugs

Downtown Hyannis, 1963

Hill’s Dining Room, Centerville Road, Hyannis

Hyannis Airport, 1939

Hyannis Airport, 1951

Hyannis Business District, East End, Megathlin’s Drugs

Hyannis Harbor Train Pier

Hyannis Public Library

Jenkins House, 1910

Louis Arenovski Store

Main Street Hyannis, Bare Trees

Main Street, Hyannis, Looking East

Maritime Academy, Hyannis

Mildred's Chowder House… Now just an empty lot by the airport.

Music Circus / Melody Tent

Hyannis Normal And Training Schools - center is now Town Hall

Toy Store, Hyannis

Parker House Gosnold Street

Looking West, Depot Hyannis, 1938

People Outside Iyannough House

RR Wharf Looking South - see all the sails?

Hyannis Normal School Summer School Beach
(a “normal school” was the name for a teacher training school back then)

Sears Dry Goods Store sold bathing suits, rugs, dresses and fabric.
Also “Dove Celebrated Underwear”!

Seeing soldiers off to World War One

We welcome submissions of historic photos to be added to this site.

Please email them to webmaster: macmancape@icloud.com

Larger size images are preferred but all are welcome. Thank you!

Thanks to Barnstable Historical Society for sharing their photos!

The Hyannis Historical Society thanks the Hyannis Public Library for dedicating space in the Ora B. Hinckley building for the Society's new workspace. Items of interest are being cataloged in what was the library's reading room before construction of the Eagleston building in the 1930s. Today, the Hinckley building also hosts Ora's Parlor, the library's bookstore.

South Hyannis Light

Privately owned today, the lighthouse overlooks Nantucket Sound and is best viewed from the water. It was first lit in 1849 by Daniel Snow Hallet and was decommissioned in 1929. It guided boat traffic in and out of Hyannis waters when Hyannis was a thriving maritime village. A wharf and railroad tracks once stood nearby, connecting trains with ships in the mid-nineteenth century.

The "Octagon House" on South Street in Hyannis has a matching "Octagon Carriage House". Built of concrete in 1855 by Sea Captain Rodney Baxter, it was designed by Orson S. Fowler, who wrote a book in 1848 advocating for 8-sided houses, The Octagon House, A Home for All.(Order on Amazon). Fowler as a book seller and publisher was crucial in the original publication of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

The property is currently owned by the family of renowned pianist Dr. Susan Godoy, Baxter’s great granddaughter, who resided there until her death in 2020. Baxter was a deepwater and coasting captain who sailed throughout the world and was known for making fast passages. He sailed the schooner “American Belle” to Ireland in 22 days, to deliver corn and flour during the Great Famine in 1847.

Repeated attempts to get in touch with the current owners have been unsuccessful.

"Octagon House"

Model of the ship "Hoogly" made by the ship’s carpenter for the Captain, William Penn Lewis of Hyannis and given by him to the son of Mr. Daniel B. Hallett and, in turn, presented by Mr. Daniel B. Hallett to the Hyannis Public Library in 1925.

The 1950 Lustron House in Hyannis

The Lustron Corp of Columbus, Ohio built 2498 prefabricated homes between 1949 and 1951. This home stands at 370 Ocean Street in Hyannis, built of steel covered in enamel on a concrete slab. The homes took 2 weeks to complete and required little maintenance, priced at $9,500 - $11,000. The company served a critical need for housing after WWII, but could not compete with the price of traditional homes being built at that time.