Submitted photo The Jamestown Street Railway Trolley Car #93 Restoration Project is looking for more businesses and local organizations to sponsor posters to go into the trolley car.

The man behind the restoration of Jamestown Street Railway Trolley Car #93 is looking for a little help to get the project to its destination.

Bob Johnston has been working for years to restore the trolley car, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in existence. Johnston is working to put the finishing touches on a poster fundraising project.

“We’ve been restoring the trolley car for quite a few years now in the city,” Johnston said. “I’m always coming up with ideas for promoting history in the area. We decided we were going to save the trolley and have a home for the trolley and build a building for the trolley. Money went to the restoration, and money is being saved for the building. Now, we’ve come to find out the Fenton History Center is applying for grants to build their own fairly good-sized building on their property and they want to include the trolley in that building, so it will be on display there.”

Early trolley cars and buses displayed advertising signs above the passenger seats, promoting various products and services of the day. When it was in use, Trolley Car 93 had room for 18 separate advertising posters. The idea behind the poster project, Johnston said, is to bring something similar to that back for current local businesses and advertisers, giving people something extra to check out when coming to visit the trolley.

The plan is to offer a poster space to area advertisers willing to support the preservation and display of this last area survivor with a donation. Plans are in motion that will provide Trolley Car #93 with a permanent display area within the next year or so. A $300 to $500 donation will get a poster spot that will be used in the car upon receipt as well as through to and including the first years that the car moves into its new home. Following that, things may be rotated to make room for new arrivals.

Johnston said the idea follows a similar fundraising project done a few years ago that replaced the trolley car’s seats. At the time, that fundraiser was to help restore or replace each of the trolley’s seats, and by the end each seat was sponsored. The current project with the posters came from a friend of Johnston’s who is a collector, and was involved in a transaction where they received a bunch of old trolley posters.

“So I said, well maybe I can do that again, get people to pay to do that again, to donate a certain amount of money to the trolley and get a poster made up for that business,” Johnston said.

A few local organizations and businesses have donated to sponsor a poster so far, including Southern Tier Brewing and the Tarp Skunks. Johnston said it is better if people design their own poster and then he can hang it up, but help can be provided if needed. Posters must measure 11 inches by 20 inches.

“Essentially, I’m trying to encourage local businesses to help out, just like they did in the old days, and sponsor a poster,” Johnston said. “Eventually, when the trolley moves to the new home, people that come to visit it will go in the trolley and look at the posters for local advertising and encourage them to stop by a restaurant or deli or take advantage of their services for whatever businesses and services they provide.”

The idea behind the poster project is to help the restoration project for Trolley Car 93 continue and to keep the car preserved. Johnston emphasized that Trolley Car 93 is pretty much the last stand alone trolley left in the Tri-County area. Between Erie County, Pa., Erie County, N.Y., and Chautauqua County there were hundreds of trolley cars that serviced the area for many years, and Johnston said the rest are pretty much gone.

“It would be nice instead of seeing pictures and hearing about them to actually be able to go and look at one,” Johnston said. “Promoting the trolley and trying to get donations to the trolley are ways that we can preserve this last piece of pretty good sized history.”

There is also a history of steamboats in the county, which Johnston added are also all gone except for the Chautauqua Belle, which is a replica, and there are other replica trolleys in existence. Johnston said if any of the old trolley cars that were actually in use were to be saved, Trolley 93 is the last option. The restoration project has been going well, he added, with everything on track for where they want to be. With a home for the trolley secured, building a display is basically the final goal, he added. An endowment fund with the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation is also being built up, for in the future once the trolley is in its home to be used to help continue to sustain it.

Additionally, Johnston said while for some younger people priorities have changed and there seems to be less of an interest in local history, it is still important to save something like the trolley car, as once it is gone it is gone forever. He added that he had one woman in her 90s come to visit the trolley with her family, saying that it was the trolley she used to take into the city on Swede Hill. The idea is also to continue to support local history, and Johnston said there is always an opportunity for a renewed interest.

“One of the main thrusts of the whole thing is, the trolley car was put in service 100 years ago,” Johnston said. “2026 marks the 100th anniversary for Trolley Car #93. Back in 1926 the street rally purchased these cars. 93 was the Swede Hill trolley that went up and down Willard Street. Any of the old Swedes left in Jamestown, that’s the car that took care of their parents and grandparents probably. 1938 was the last year that the Jamestown Street Rally was in business.”

Besides this fundraiser, other events of note that connect to the Trolley Car #93 Restoration Project include the Chautauqua Region Vintage Book and Paper Show, starting on August 1. Proceeds for that go towards the Trolley Fund, and that will take place at the Chautauqua Suites in Mayville. Vintage history posters, maps, books and more will be available for purchase. The following day is the History Fair in Mayville, at the old Mayville School. Johnston said it will be a “full weekend” to buy and learn about local history.

More information on the Restoration Project and poster project can be found at jamestowntrolley.org or by contacting Johnston at 716-338-5051 or park2@netsync.net.