Did you know that the steamboat era on Chautauqua Lake is generally remembered as that period from around 1870 up through the 1920s when large steamboats carrying many passengers traveled the waters of the lake, making stops at the piers of the various resort hotels and trolley parks located along the shoreline. However, during that time – and beginning operation much earlier as far back as 1828 – a fleet of much smaller steamboats, numbering about 30 over the years, were in business carrying passengers to various destinations around the lake. Two such boats, named the Celoron and the Greenhurst, actually began their lives on Lake Michigan where they carried excursion parties during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Following that world’s fair, the boats were shipped to Chautauqua Lake where they provided regular passenger service in the south basin between Celoron, Lakewood, Greenhurst and Fluvanna until 1912. Pictured is the Celoron. Reference Credit and Photo courtesy of Chautauqua Lake Steamboats, Fenton Historical Society.

Did you know that the steamboat era on Chautauqua Lake is generally remembered as that period from around 1870 up through the 1920s when large steamboats carrying many passengers traveled the waters of the lake, making stops at the piers of the various resort hotels and trolley parks located along the shoreline. However, during that time – and beginning operation much earlier as far back as 1828 – a fleet of much smaller steamboats, numbering about 30 over the years, were in business carrying passengers to various destinations around the lake. Two such boats, named the Celoron and the Greenhurst, actually began their lives on Lake Michigan where they carried excursion parties during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Following that world’s fair, the boats were shipped to Chautauqua Lake where they provided regular passenger service in the south basin between Celoron, Lakewood, Greenhurst and Fluvanna until 1912. Pictured is the Celoron.

Reference Credit and Photo courtesy of

Chautauqua Lake Steamboats, Fenton Historical Society.