100 Years Ago
In 1912, the annual picnic of the Art Metal Construction Company employees and their ladies would be held at Midway Park Saturday, August 3, the first boat for the grounds leaving Jamestown at 9 a.m. and Celoron at 9:30. The offices and the plant of the company would be closed all day to give everyone ample opportunity for a full day of outdoor enjoyment. To a concern of the size of the Art Metal Construction Co., this meant a big contribution to the pleasure of its workers.
Webb's Sealskin band would give a free performance in the open air theater at Celoron Park every day in this week at 4 and 8 p.m. and the act was one of the best of the kind ever seen in this city. The seals played musical instruments, throwing and catching a ball and performing a variety of stunts which seals, of all living creatures, were not generally considered capable of performing.
75 Years Ago
In 1937, formal opening to traffic of Jamestown's new West Sixth Street bridge in the afternoon made reality of the old dream of eliminating the hazardous Fairmount Avenue grade crossing of the Erie Railroad. The new span, dedicated 11 years after the first span across the Chadakoin valley (the Third Street bridge) was opened to the public, was built entirely at federal government expense. The L. C. Whitford Company of Wellsville built the bridge for its low bid of $191,835. The new structure was 1,400 feet long. It started just west of the intersection of West Sixth Street and Fairmount Avenue. With a tooting of automobile horns and the whine of fire sirens, traffic started moving over the new bridge at 2:45 o'clock in the afternoon.
Men were at the wheel of 95 percent of the automobile accidents in New York state during the first six months of 1937, the Motor Vehicle Bureau said in reporting an increased accident toll over the 1936 period. During the six months there were 1,282 motor car deaths and 47,665 injuries, an increase of 235 fatalities and 4,780 injuries over the same period a year ago. The bureau, blaming the mild winter and an increase in registrations for the mounting toll, said 56 percent of the fatal accidents occurred at night.
50 Years Ago
In 1962, thunderstorms rumbled across Chautauqua County the previous afternoon bringing a welcome heavy rain but caused a power disruption for about a half hour in seven communities. The rain was the heaviest to hit the area since June 14 when a prolonged dry spell threatened drought conditions throughout the county, bringing a water curtailment to Jamestown. A bolt of lightning snapped a 34,500-volt line in two near Niagara-Mohawk Power Corp's substation on S. Dow Street, Falconer.
In Lakewood, discovery of a .22 blank cartridge, cooperation of a citizen and intensive police investigation had led to the apprehension of four boys in connection with the theft of three cars and a burglary. The car thefts were reported in the past two weeks along with the burglary. Three of the boys were brothers. Two boys were 13 years of age, another was 10 and the third was 8 years old. The burglary occurred at Lind's Fruit Market where a screen was torn to gain entrance into the store. Soft drinks and candy, valued at $5. were taken.
25 Years Ago
In 1987, work on a $655,400 project to improve the Hotel Jamestown and the Senior Citizens high-rise building should be completed by early October, Jamestown Housing Authority members learned. Most of the repairs were being made at the high-rise. While $29,430 was being spent to repair the Hotel Jamestown, $625,970 worth of work was being done at the high-rise. Housing Authority Executive Director Nannette Lindner noted residents of the two buildings would have to adjust to having a little more dirt than usual in the entrances until the work was completed. "When you're under construction and have $700,000 worth of work being done, you're going to have dirt brought in," she said.
Two rabid bats had been found in the Kennedy area, leading Health Commissioner Dr. Robert Berke to caution people to immunize their cats and dogs against rabies. Berke stated in a release that immunizing pets and staying away from wild animals, even if they are friendly, are the only protection s people have against the disease. Bats should always be considered potential rabies carriers, he noted. House cats should also be immunized because bats sometimes get into homes.