Four cars from the Chautauqua Traction Company line up at Celoron Park

History

The Chautauqua Traction Company operated interurban cars along the west side of Chautauqua Lake from 1904 until 1926.  The company was owned by the Broadhead family, the same family that owned the Jamestown Street Railway and the Jamestown, Westfield, and Northwestern Railroad.  With the success of the Street Railway in the 1880s and 1890s the Broadheads began looking at ways to expand their area of service.  In 1903 they began securing rights to operate an interurban line from the towns along the west side of Chautauqua Lake.  The company began building the line northward from Jamestown in the summer of 1903 and by July 4, 1904 they had reached the Chautauqua Institution.  The line reached the Pennsylvania Railroad depot in Mayville by September 1904.  This connection helped spur ridership on the line even more.

In 1906 the line was extended to Westfield where it serviced the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern (later New York Central) and Nickel Plate stations.  In 1909 a further extension was built from Westfield to the Lake Erie waterfront in Barcelona.

The prosperity that followed World War I lead to increased ownership of automobiles, which, in turn, led to decreased ridership on the line.  By 1924 ridership had decreased significantly.  With the death of Almet and Sheldon Broadhead in 1925 the entire Broadhead family of companies was reorganized.  By 1925 the line from Ashville to Westfield was abandoned and the section from Jamestown to Ashville was operated by the Jamestown Street Railway.

Lines and Stations

Articles

Photographs

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