(Seal of Chautauqua County displayed at the New York World's Fair 1939-1940.)
Research by Norman Carlson, Chautauqua County Historian
From early Independence Day milestones and memorable July Fourths to famous visitors, fires, floods, and firsts, this week in Chautauqua County history is rich with moments that shaped local culture, infrastructure, and civic pride.
June 29
1892 – The Swedish Salvation Army was organized in Jamestown.
1930 – The Goodyear Blimp Defender landed at Celoron Park and Jamestown, offering rides to the public.
1934 – Demolition began on the old Jamestown High School.
1953 – Fluoride treatment was first applied to children's teeth in Jamestown.
2001 – Empire Specialty Steel in Dunkirk closed.
2003 – The first performance was held on Bemus Point’s floating stage.
June 30
1739 – The last contingent of a French force of 442 men departed Montreal for Louisiana, passing through the Chautauqua portage around July 18.
1802 – The Seneca sold their Canadaway Reservation, a strip along Lake Erie from Canadaway Creek to Cattaraugus Creek.
1825 – The Dewittsville (now Dewittville) post office was established.
1841 – The first photograph in Chautauqua County was taken in Fredonia.
1868 – Theodore E. Grandin rowed from Mayville to Jamestown in 3 hours, 9 minutes, 30 seconds.
1875 – The Kent House Hotel in Lakewood (then called Cowings) was completed.
1887 – An elephant escaped at Long Point.
1897 – Starring’s stepladder factory in Silver Creek burned.
1905 – The Fredonia National Bank closed due to scandal.
1906 – The Lakewood Country Club formally opened.
1917 – A new trolley depot and entrance gate opened at Chautauqua Institution.
1962 – Last issue of the Jamestown Sun published.
1963 – Erlene Lydell proposed restoring the Busti Mill. (First proposed by Stanley Weeks around 1961.)
1982 – Ashville School closed.
1986 – Goranson Band Shell was dedicated in Allen Park, Jamestown.
July 1
1849 – The Z. Barney family arrived in Fluvanna—considered the first summer visitors to Chautauqua Lake.
1869 – A temperance picnic was held on what would later become the grounds of Chautauqua Institution.
1893 – First run of the double-decker streetcar Columbia, Jamestown to Lakewood.
1897 – Judge Jerome B. Fisher appointed official midwife examiners.
1901 – Cassadaga Union School organized; Star Furniture Company incorporated in Jamestown.
1906 – First performance of The Indian Passion Play: Hiawatha, held below Celoron.
1912 – Packard Mansion was occupied in Lakewood.
1914 – Jamestown’s first policewoman, Margaret F. Jackson, was hired.
1918 – A midnight snow shower occurred in Jamestown.
1919 – First airmail delivery in Chautauqua County, Dunkirk.
1922 – Official weather station established in Jamestown.
1924 – Second cross burning of the year in Jamestown.
1936 – Creche children’s ward opened at WCA Hospital; Woolworths acquired the Prendergast Building.
1943 – Income tax withholding began.
1954 – Landfill began in Jamestown; garbage no longer fed to hogs.
1962 – Jamestown city government took over bus operations from Jamestown Motor Bus Transportation Corp.
1963 – ZIP codes were instituted.
1966 – A carnival worker was murdered in Pomfret.
1986 – Folk legend Pete Seeger performed at Chautauqua Institution.
1998 – The "Portage" sculpture was removed from Tracy Plaza, Jamestown City Hall; now located at Keelboat Landing, Brooklyn Square.
2002 – Levant Christian Academy became Southern Tier Christian Academy.
2004 – Jamestown BPU began supplying water to Busti, Lakewood, and North Harmony.
2006 – GIS Chautauqua County online mapping service launched.
July 2
1872 – 118°F recorded in Farmington, Pennsylvania.
1999 – Marcel Marceau, the world-famous mime, performed at Chautauqua.
July 3
1888 – Cherry Creek Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) organized.
1911 – Chautauqua Pure Food, Drug, and Candy Exposition opened in Celoron, running for one week.
1924 – Airmail service began from Jamestown to the Pacific Coast.
July 4
1811 – Work began on the Old Chautauqua Road.
1817 – A sea serpent was sighted in Lake Erie near Dunkirk.
1828 – First steamboat trip on Chautauqua Lake; Kimball Stand Inn also opened to the public.
1832 – A Board of Health was established in Jamestown in response to a cholera epidemic.
1840 – A temperance celebration was held in Jamestown.
1845 – Dunkirk residents took horse-drawn rail cars to picnic grounds.
1888 – Dunkirk’s first electric street lights (carbon arc) were installed.
1891 – At 9 PM, Jamestown’s municipal electric plant went online.
1895 – Women’s Edition of the Jamestown Journal published.
1898 – American Library Conference held in Lakewood.
1910 – Daniel Farm, age 75, walked around Chautauqua Lake.
1934 – First flare lighting around Chautauqua Lake; statue of Governor Reuben Fenton unveiled in Jamestown.
1961 – U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater spoke at Chautauqua.
1972 – Brocton Museum opened.
1986 – Singer and television icon Dinah Shore appeared at Chautauqua.
July 5
1812 – 113 Chautauqua County soldiers departed, reaching Lewiston in four days—part of the War of 1812.
1816 – Puddles froze in the early morning during the “Year Without a Summer.”
1830 – One-year-old Barcelona Lighthouse was converted to gas.
1859 – A damaging freeze was recorded.
1872 – Panama’s “Dolly Varden” baseball team beat Clymer, 75–30.
1897 – Locomotive collision occurred at Greenhurst.
1905 – Cherry Creek News building burned.
1910 – Chautauqua County’s first automobile accident fatality: 7-year-old Joseph Jenks of Pittsburgh at Bemus Point.
1911 – Magician Harry Houdini visited spiritualist Ira Davenport in Mayville.
1916 – 165 men left Jamestown for the Mexican border with Co. E, 174th Infantry (Fenton Guards).
1939 – City of Jamestown purchased the former armory in Brooklyn Square from the county.
1965 – First use of a mechanical cherry harvester in the county—at the Woltzer Farm in Ripley.
1996 – Vitrification of atomic waste began at West Valley in neighboring Cattaraugus County.
