In 1912, a large part of the business section of Findley Lake was wiped out by a fire which started at 2 a.m. Sunday and destroyed or seriously damaged eight of the business blocks on Main Street in the center of the village. Findley Lake was a thriving inland town on the shore of Findley Lake and this fire loss was a very serious blow to its resources and prosperity. The origin of the fire was a mystery but there were strong suspicions that it was of incendiary origin. Lost in the blaze were the W.L. Nuttall general store, William Coulthard general store, Barmore Hardware Co., Johnson Meat Market, I.O.O.F lodge, Findley Lake Grange, the old U.B. Church, William Barton restaurant and living quarters and Findley Lake Telephone Co. The Jones Harness Shop was slightly damaged.
The Republican campaign in Chautauqua County, as far as public meetings were concerned, would open Wednesday evening of this week, Oct. 9, when Surrogate Harley M. Crosby of Falconer and Elezer Green of Jamestown, a former district attorney of Chautauqua County, would address a rally in Grange hall at Ashville. The Ashville Cornet band would give a program of selections and there would also be some good singing. This rally would be the first of a series to be held during the week.
In 1937, Mr. and Mrs. Asa Westervelt, who had been the guests of the latter's uncle, Judson Morgan, had returned to their home in McCune, Kansas. Mrs. Westervelt was a native of New York state, being a daughter of Mrs. Alvira Morgan Peters and James Peters, who used to live on Ravlin Hill at French Creek, but it was Mr. Westervelt's first visit to the east. He paid high tribute to the people in the east generally because of the friendly, helpful spirit manifested in the neighborhoods where he visited. He also remarked about the beautiful complexions of the women who looked much younger than their ages. The lovely coloring of the native trees, many of which he saw for the first time, which covered the hills and valleys, was also greatly admired.
More than 20 residents of the South Stockton-Burnhams Road district were present at the hearing called at Falconer in regard to improving the seven miles of road which served the district and Pleasant Valley community. It was generally conceded that the road should be improved either as a graveled road or with black top. It was reported that such improvement would provide a much shorter road between Jamestown and Fredonia and would do away with the hills between Sinclairville and Cassadaga.
In 1987, the Greg Springer family on Smith Road in Leon was a living example that being prepared for a fire was the best preventive measure. They survived a fire that destroyed their home because they had a planned escape route. Springer told The Post-Journal he, his wife, Romona and 1-year-old son, Wesley, were saved because they had a prepared escape routine, a plan he learned as a child while living with his parents. The Springer family was in bed the night of Aug. 27 when a sudden thunderstorm sounded in the distance. Springer was awakened about midnight by a slight smell of smoke. He went downstairs, saw no fire and continued to the basement. "When I opened the cellar door it (the basement) was all in flames." He said he went upstairs to wake his wife and get their son, then 10 months old, out of the house.
A Jamestown building long considered for consolidation of Chautauqua County's spread-out offices in the city was being recommended for such a use once again. The structure was the Unigard Building at 110 E. Fourth St., unanimously recommended for the purpose in the report of the South County Office Building Task Force to County Executive John A. Glenzer. The county executive said that while thanking Jamestown insurance man Timothy B. Magnuson and his committee for a "super job," he still had a lot of questions he wanted to discuss with John R. Luensman, county planning and development director.