100 Years Ago
In 1910, Alonzo Devoe, for many years a resident of Jamestown and one of its best known citizens, died at his home on East Fifth Street, aged 74 years. His health had been poor since August and his death was not therefore entirely unexpected. A member of the board of assessors for 12 years, Mr. Devoe served the city faithfully and well. Not only was he a highly efficient public servant but in his private life he exemplified the best in man and throughout the city was highly regarded for his sterling traits of character. Of kindly disposition and always considerate of others, he was a man whom the community would sorely miss.
The big wrestling match between Zbyszko, the Polish Lion, and DeSautelle, the giant French-Canadian from Montreal, would take place in K. of P. Hall at 9:30 in the evening. Every indication pointed to a crowd that would pack the hall to the limit of its capacity. DeSautelle arrived in Jamestown in the morning from Toronto and Zbyszko came in from Buffalo with his manager, Herman, in the afternoon. Both wrestlers were in the pink of condition and the match promised to be the best ever seen in Jamestown.
75 Years Ago
In 1935, the Erie Railroad ferryboat Jamestown, crowded with morning commuters from New Jersey, smashed against its Chambers Street pier in New York City, injuring two passengers severely and knocking scores of others to the floor of the boat. The steel ferryboat, Jamestown, was named in honor of this city in line with the Erie Railroad Company's policy of naming its ferryboats after important points on its line. When it was launched many years ago, Miss Mary A. Maharon, daughter of the late Police Justice John Maharon, christened it with a bottle of champagne at the Staten Island ship building yards.
Lieutenant William Nuckols of the United States Army air force landed his ship at the North Main Street airport in Jamestown at 10 a.m. and was met by Benjamin M. Rose of the civic airport committee. They went directly to city hall where Lt. Nuckols conferred with the local engineering staff regarding plans for the proposed $292,000 municipal airport. "The job is now in the hands of Jamestown officials, ready to go, and we are prepared and anxious to lend every bit of assistance we can to see that the project is completed successfully," he said.
50 Years Ago
In 1960, Mrs. Claribel Hurlbut, 73, of Frewsburg, active for many years in Grange and Rebekah circles, was fatally injured in a head-on car-truck accident at 2:15 p.m. Saturday on Route 20 near the Schultz Road. The crash also claimed the life of the truck driver and injured three other persons. Mrs. Hurlbut died an hour after she was admitted to Our Lady of Victory Hospital at nearby Lackawanna. The truck driver was Charles White, 66, of Angola. Mrs. Hurlbut was a passenger in a car driven by her son, George S. Guild, also of Frewsburg. His other passengers were his wife, Mrs. Rachel Guild, and their daughter, Roxanne Guild, 14 months.
Film in color, of some of the wild places visited in retracing the journeys of great explorers of the New World, was shown by Mrs. Laurel Reynolds to a large audience at Washington Junior High School on Friday evening. Mrs. Reynold's film, "The New World Rediscovered," taken by herself and Mindy Willis, was the second in the Audubon Screen Tours sponsored by the Jamestown Audubon Society. Mrs. Reynolds said that in some areas they found the wilderness remarkably unchanged from the way it must have looked to 15th-century explorers.
25 Years Ago
In 1985, a request to build six duplexes on Martin Road was tabled by the Jamestown Planning Commission members. Commissioners said they would like more time to review the site plans, look at the property, and to hear what the public had to say about the proposed development. The developers, Samuel E. Del Popolo and John V. LaBardo, discussed their proposal for the Cedarwood Apartment complex, which would provide 12 large, high-quality apartments.
Area gas and oil drillers appeared ready to accept new state regulations over the huge underground deposit of oil called the Bass Island Trend, which was considered to lie under most of Western New York. The new regulations, if adopted, would set forth production level requirements and a system of initial and periodic tests. Also included in the regulations was a section on drilling practices, which included disposal of excess fluids such as brine and adequate cement capping of the wells. No landowners attended the hearings.