In 1912, the annual exhibit of the Jamestown Camera Club was held in its rooms in the Arcade building Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, coming to a close Tuesday evening. In spite of the fact that recent weather conditions had been rather disastrous for picture taking, the local club managed to secure several splendid views. The exhibit consisted solely of pictorial views which were taken in this vicinity. A large number of people visited the rooms during the three days of the exhibit.
Westfield suffered a break in the big water main Tuesday afternoon and a short time later an alarm of fire was turned in from the residence of Edward Ford. It looked like a bad combination but the fire proved to be a small one from a defective chimney and the firemen formed a bucket brigade and put it out with little delay or loss. The broken main left the village not only without fire protection but absolutely without water. Westfield fortunately had a reserve water supply in what was known as the Kent reservoir and this was turned on. The big main was to be repaired at the first possible moment.
In 1937, Asa Cheney, 35, Bemus Point, owed his life to a fishpole and three Jamestown men who rushed to his assistance when he broke through the thin ice off Vukote while skating on Chautauqua Lake. Mr. Cheney, who was the father of four children, was skating across the lake when the accident occurred about a half mile from shore at 10:30 in the morning. Placing a fishing pole he was carrying across the hole in the ice, Cheney managed to support his weight on the half-inch thick ice until rescuers in the immediate vicinity reached him. Bert Bloomquist of Broadhead Avenue, Herbert Seagard of Buffalo Street and Bert Youngberg of Foote Avenue, who were skating nearby, came to Cheney's aid.
The century-old farmhouse known as the McKenzie home, located on the Ellery-Greenhurst Road and not far from the Maple Grove school house, was destroyed by fire Friday evening about 9 o'clock. It was owned by a Mrs. Ellsworth of Corry, Pa. The estimated loss would be abut $500. The place had been unoccupied for three or four months until within the past week when three young woodcutters fixed it up as temporary quarters. It was believed that a defective chimney was the cause of the fire. The young men were not home at the time of the fire.
In 1962, the lengthy debate on the fluoridation issue was ended the previous night when Jamestown city council, for the second time, instructed the Board of Public Utilities to fluoridate the city's water supply. Merle W. Smedberg, superintendent of the Department of Public Utilities, indicated it was possible that fluoridation of the city's water supply could start about the end of February. Climaxing a stormy two-hour session during which pros and cons of fluoridation were hotly debated, Council unanimously approved a directive that the BPU complete arrangements to have the water fluoridated without further delay.
Smoke-filled fog shrouded much of New York state early this day and disrupted air and ground travel in the midst of Indian summer weather. The smog stretched over the Hudson Valley and west to the Elmira area as mild weather continued into a second week and warmer air in the upper atmosphere caused smoke and fumes to collect in the lower atmosphere. The Weather Bureau said the air lid might lift by the following day. High temperatures across the state ranged mostly in the 40s and 50s. A heavy fog blanketed the New York metropolitan area, closing down all three major airports and contributing to the collision of two ships off Staten Island.
In 1987, Chautauqua Institution President Dr. Daniel L. Bratton had accepted an invitation to attend a reception at the Soviet Embassy in Washington D.C. to honor Soviet General Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The Soviet leader would be in the nation's capital for a summit meeting with President Ronald Reagan. The session was scheduled to be capped by the signing of a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range missiles. Bratton would be attending by himself, noting that he understood the Soviet Embassy was quite small and only a limited number of guests could be invited.
More than 30 pieces of railroad-type dynamite were destroyed safely the previous afternoon in Jamestown by the Chautauqua County Bomb Squad after the explosives were found in a suitcase at the Jefferson Manor Motel, 330 W. Third Street. Cleaning personnel at the motel found the dynamite in a suitcase that was kept in a storage area, said Jamestown Police Department Lt. William R. MacLaughlin. The lieutenant noted that not only were investigators concerned about the danger of the dynamite but also because it had crystallized, making it unstable. "It had to be disposed of immediately," said MacLaughlin, a member of the bomb squad. Police were continuing their investigation to determine where the explosives came from.