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.
