West Second Street, Jamestown, in the early 1920s. Note the chains visible on the car tires to the right.
It would be a great understatement to say winter in Western New York isn’t easy.
Take away modern roads and snow-removal methods and – for someone born in the last quarter of the 20th century – the difficulties seem almost unimaginable.
Thanks to the Fenton History Center, we offer this photo album of Winter images in Jamestown and Chautauqua County, N.Y. from the early 1900s. Several action shots show how people and goods stayed on the move, even when Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating.
Snow removal efforts in Brooklyn Square, Jamestown, at the corner of Taylor and South Main streets, ca. 1920.
The Fenton History Center, serving Jamestown and Chautauqua County, is named for local lumberman and politician Reuben E. Fenton (1819-85), who served New York as a U.S. Congressman (1853-64), Governor (1864-69) and a U.S. Senator (1869-75). Governor Fenton’s mansion on Washington Street in Jamestown has housed the history center since 1964. The Italian Villa-style home, built in 1863, was designed by Aaron Hall and was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1972.
Farmer’s Market in Brooklyn Square on South Main Street, Jamestown, in 1910.
Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern track running through Jamestown on West Third Street, ca. 1935-40.
A horse-drawn sleigh on Chandler Street, Jamestown, near the Erie Railroad Freight Station, ca. 1935.
A pair of men admiring their catch at an ice fishing house on Chautauqua Lake.
A postcard showing the rotary snowplow at work in Jamestown. The rotary was a large circular set of blades affixed to the front of a train car to cut through snow on the track ahead.
A Jamestown, Chautauqua and Erie Railroad plow has come off the track on Westfield Hill north of Mayville, ca. 1935.
The Jamestown, Chautauqua and Erie Railroad at Boat Landing in Jamestown. Engines #4, #9 and #5 have just returned from fighting the snow, ca. 1912.
A plow on a Jamestown city railway car in the 1930s.
Children sledding at the corner of Newland and Hazzard streets, Jamestown.
East Third Street, Jamestown, near the corner of Pine Street, ca. 1906-09.
A horse-drawn sidewalk plow on Beechview Avenue at Clyde Avenue, Jamestown, ca. 1950.
