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History · Melville

1 of Melville’s places is on the National Register

Most of Melville was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1939 on.

1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Melville’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Melville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Melville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Melville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAerial view of US Naval Fuel Depot: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Melville, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Melville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Melville is a census-designated place (CDP) in the towns of Middletown and Portsmouth in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. It lies along the shore of Narragansett Bay. As of the 2020 census, Melville had a population of 1,609. The CDP is named after Admiral George Wallace Melville. Past names for the area include Portsmouth Grove and Bradford.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,320 to 1,609 (+22%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Melville, 1939 to 1972

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1939In the archiveAerial view of US Naval Fuel Depot
  3. 1943In the archivePT-140 underway off Melville (Rhode Island) in 1943
  4. 1972In the archiveUSS Sustain (AFDM-7)
By decade

Melville, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1970s4 items
Aerial view of US Naval Fuel Depot1939Aerial view of US Naval Fuel DepotAerial view of USN Fuel Depot1939–1947Aerial view of USN Fuel DepotPT-140 underway off Melville (Rhode Island) in 19431943PT-140 underway off Melville (Rhode Island) in 1943USS Sustain (AFDM-7)1972USS Sustain (AFDM-7)
1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
The Ice Cream Train2014The Ice Cream TrainCommunity Center2014Community Center
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Aerial view of US Naval Fuel Depot
Retake this viewAerial view of US Naval Fuel Depot, 1939

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Melville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Melville

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Melville

Nobody well known was born in Melville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
M
Mena SuvariAmerican actress, fashion designer, model · b. 1979
O
Olivia CulpoAmerican model · b. 1992
Benjamin TuckerAmerican journalist and anarchist · b. 1854
Matthew C. PerryAmerican naval officer · b. 1794
Robert AldrichAmerican film director · b. 1918
Van JohnsonAmerican actor · b. 1916
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Newport East8 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMiddletown15 historic placesA−Jamestown11 historic placesA

Questions about Melville’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.