With the coming of 2026, Jamestown Street Railway Trolley Car 93 will have reached its 100th year mark.

First put in service in 1926, it was one of the many street cars that serviced passengers somewhere within Erie County, New York, Erie County, Pennsylvania, and Chautauqua County, New York. It is arguably the last surviving stand-alone car remaining from these areas.

Today most people when they hear the word trolley think of the trolley replica buses that are a common sight for various local mass transportation users. Original vintage trolley cars (those that ran on electricity supplied by overhead wiring and along steel tracks laid between destinations) actually were a major mode of transportation before the first automobile. The term streetcar is often used to describe both trolley cars (those using electricity) as well as those that came even before electricity and used horses to pull them around.

Starting in 1866, Dunkirk, New York, was the first to use horse drawn street cars in Chautauqua County. Early on, Dunkirk was quite the transportation hub for railroads and Great Lakes vessels, so it followed that it was ahead in the streetcar game too. Jamestown, New York, didn’t have its first horse cars until 1884, but got up to speed when they introduced the county’s first electric trolley cars in 1891.

Street cars had a great run, but the streetcar’s need for tracks and constant electricity source made it difficult for them to compete with the more mobile cars and buses. The Jamestown Street Railway ended service in 1938 and the Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern Railway that serviced the Midway Park side of Chautauqua Lake from Jamestown to Westfield, N.Y., ended the county’s last trolley car passenger service in 1947.

Trolley Car 93 is pretty much cosmetically restored, there is still some work to be done on the trucks (the four railroad type wheel assembly that supports the trolley on the rails), but that is waiting on the completion of its final display location. Plans for a display building in conjunction with the Fenton History Center are moving forward , while fundraising for the project continues toward providing all that is necessary to ensure that this last remaining piece of Chautauqua County streetcar history is preserved.

Those wishing to support the project and celebrate the 100th anniversary may make donations to the endowed (for the future) or non-endowed (current expenses) trolley funds with the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation. You can also purchase any of these books, Collecting Chautauqua County New York Postcards, Milk Bottles of Chautauqua County NY and Their Stories, and Early Chautauqua County New York Brewers and Bottlers. Proceeds go into the trolley fund. Please visit our website at Jamestowntrolley.org for additional fund and contact information.

There is also a rather unique option for donating to the trolley. The idea is to offer the poster advertising space above each seat on the trolley just as they did in the past on streetcars and then on buses for a donation to the fund. Posters will be continuously displayed for a fixed amount of time for all those who visit #93 to see. There is room for (18) 11″x20″ trolley posters. The details are still being worked out, but there would be a rate scale for length of time displayed and possibly an option for a permanent display of an advertisers self-designed poster.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Bob Johnston at 716-338-5051 or park2@netsync.net with any questions regarding the project or if you would like to see the trolley. Please help us carry a piece of the past into the future.

Bob Johnston is a Jamestown resident.