New York Railroad Archive

Jamestown Street Railway

The Jamestown Street Railway Company provided city and suburban service to the Jamestown, NY area. It was incorporated on August 25, 1883 to provide horse-car service on narrow-gauge track from the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad crossing in Falconer westerly to the Boatlanding in Jamestown, down Steele Street to Brooklyn and along Windsor Street to connect back at East Second Street. The entire line was six miles and the company was capitalized at $50,000. It was decided that the narrow gauge was too small and the company was undercapitalized so new articles of incorporation were drawn up and filed on October 18, 1883. Construction began almost immediately and four cars were purchased from a Philadelphia firm. The first cars ran along the line from the Sherman House to the Boatlanding on June 19, 1884.

Original photo caption: FIRST STREET RAILWAY IN JAMESTOWN – The first horse-drawn street railway car to appear here made its initial run on June 19, 1884, from the Sherman House to the Boatlanding. The car was filled with directors of Jamestown Street Railway Company and invited guests. Photo shows the car, which was “retired” a few years later when the line was electrified, at the Boatlanding. Directors of the Street Railway Company were: Reuben E. Fenton, former Governor of New York State; Lucius B. Warner, Charles L. Jeffords, Willis Tew, John T. Wilson, Oscar F. price, Winfield S. Cameron, Frank E. Gifford, William C. J. Hall, Orsino E. Jones, John Langford, Robert Newland, and William T. Falconer. Photo from undated newspaper article.

The company operated smoothly and by the fall of 1890 the had 13 cars and 42 horses on hand. The word of the wonder of electricity to power street cars was spreading and on September 22, 1890 officers of the company appeared before the city Common Council to seek the Council’s concurrence to convert to electricity. The Common Council wavered and postponed granting its approval until on October 14, 1980 the reason became clear – Mr. I. W. Newcomer was in town representing a group of investors and was trying to generate support for a new electric street railway company. In November 1890 the “Citizens Street Railway Company” was formed and in December it petitioned the Common Council for the right to offer electric street car service on new routes in the city. The petition was granted and it appeared that Jamestown was to have two competing street car companies. The Citizens Street Railway Company soon faded when it was unable to provide a $60,000 bond to the city in February 1891 to cover the costs of building new streets for the company to operate over. On February 3 the franchises were revoked from the Citizens Street Railway Company and granted to the Jamestown Street Railway Company.

A 1908 postcard showing cars from the Jamestown Street Railway in Jamestown, NY. Source unknown.

Electrification proceeded quickly and the first electric car operated over the Third Street line on June 11, 1891. On June 23, 1891 the state railroad commission granted the company permission to use electricity on the new franchises in the city. New suburban lines were constructed, opening to the cemetery on July 6, 1891, Lakewood on August 1, 1891 and Falconer on August 30, 1891. The Lakewood line served the popular Celoron Park amusement park eventually was extended to Ashville.

Open-air Car 34 on the Jamestown Street Railway. Source unknown.

The company provided street car service until the automobile began its inevitable conquest of the streetcar. Service to Ashville was abandoned in 1931. The final car ran on the Jamestown Street Railway on January 29, 1938.

One noteworthy feature of the Jamestown Street Railway was the streetcar “Columbia“, a double-decker streetcar which ran to the amusement park in Celoron. The car was used from 1893 until sometime after World War I and was widely known in the area.

Digital Artifacts

Click on the links below to see various digital artifacts related to the railroad, including photos, maps, timetables, advertisements, and equipment rosters.

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