The City of Jamestown is adjacent to Town of Ellicott and is at the southern tip of Chautauqua Lake. The town of Chautauqua, home of the Chautauqua Institution, is 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Jamestown.
The city has been a center for the manufacture of wood products such as furniture as well as a major producer of mattresses. The town was once called the "Furniture Capital of the World." Although many of these industries have migrated away from the area in recent times, Jamestown still retains a few large manufacturing plants for various multinational corporations. The city has a large concentration of citizens of Swedish and Italian ancestry.
As of the census of 2000, there were 31,730 people, 13,558 households, and 7,904 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,364.3/km² (3,534.6/sq mi). There were 15,027 housing units at an average density of 646.1/km² (1,673.9/sq mi). The racial makeup of the city was 91.52% White, 3.39% African American, 0.64% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.8% from other races, and 2.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.94% of the population. 19.7% were of Italian, 18.1% Swedish, 12.8% German, 9.0% Irish, 8.7% English and 5.5% American ancestry according to Census 2000.
There were 13,558 households out of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.1% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.7% were non-families. 35.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 91.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,837, and the median income for a family was $33,675. Males had a median income of $30,003 versus $20,039 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,316. About 15.8% of families and 19.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.1% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.
The Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport (JHW) is north of the city and provides scheduled and charter air service.
Bus service is provided by Coach USA of Erie. Connections are available. to the Greyhound service in Buffalo. There is also a county wide bus service (CARTS) and taxi service through various companies.
Jamestown is on the mainline of the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad which provides freight service. Amtrak provides a daily Thruway Motorcoach service between its Buffalo-Depew Station and Jamestown. The old Erie Jamestown station still exists to this day.
Railroads in the Jamestown area until the 1960s-1970s included the Erie Railroad at Jamestown, the Pennsylvania Railroad at Mayfield, the Nickle Plate and New York Central at Westfield. The electric interurban Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern connected all three towns and ran along the north side of the lake. Since that time, the railroads absorbed into Conrail, then split into other lines including the present day Norfolk and Southern and CSX. The interurban JW&NW quit passenger operation in 1947 and quit entirely in 1950, and its rails and right of way have slowly disappeared.
From 1914 until 1947, the Jamestown, Westfield, and Northwestern (JW&NW) interurban railroad (the "Chautauqua Lake Route") provided frequent passenger and freight trolley service from Jamestown to the Lake Erie town of Westfield. From Jamestown the route was along the north edge of Lake Chautauqua with major stops at Greenhurst, Bemus Point, Dewittville, and Mayville. From Mayfield, after crossing the Pennsylvania Railroad "interlocking," the single track climbed steep hills, passed through scenic "Hogsback Ravine" at the grade's summit, (ref.wnyrails.org/railroads link) and then followed a curving drop to Westfield. In Westfield the line crossed under the Nickle Plate Railroad to reach its depot at the west end of the New York Central Railroad station on the very active NYC main line New York to Chicago. A JW&NW schedule from 1941 shows six daily trips 6am to 9pm, each way, three hours apart to meet NYC passenger trains that stopped at Westfield. The Jamestown to Westfield trip took one hour. The JW&NW and the NYC interchanged considerable freight traffic as well as exchanged passengers. The JW&NW operated bright red heavy steel passenger interurban cars (including one with an observation platform) and interurban freight-express cars capable of pulling two or three freight cars to provide freight delivery between the two towns. The New York Central would set out cars on the interchange tracks to be taken to Jamestown and the JW&NW would set out cars for the NYC to pick up. At Mayfield, the JW&NW crossed a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad where there were interchange tracks for PRR lumber and coal setouts for Jamestown. PRR and JW&NW crossing control and signaling to prevent collisions (called interlocking) was the responsibility of the JW&NW tower at the interchange. This tower also contained the office of the JW&NW dispatcher. Dispatching orders for the the conductors of the interurban cars was by written order, and the interurbans stopped to pick them up. Passenger and freight business for the line was at its greatest in the 1920s. Furniture was manufactured in Jamestown, and the JW&NW hauled it to Westfield for the NYC. In a 1941 ad, the line offered 2 day LCL (less than full carload) shipping to New York City from Jamestown, and three days to Chicago. The grade out of Westfield into the hills to reach the Jamestown valley was quite scenic above and through what was called Hogsback Ravine (ref: map in www.wnyrails/railroads/jw&nw) but was steep, and the interurbans worked hard making the climb, particularly the electric powered freights. The thirty two mile JW&NW represented classic small town to rural electric interurban operation similar to interurbans all over the 1920s United States. The sight of the large red steel interurbans lumbering by at grade crossings was a familiar one for locals. Most interurban lines were abandoned during the 1930s due to increased car ownership and improving highways plus the dramatic financial impact of the Great Depression. The JW&NW's survival to 1947 was unusual and was due to the amount of freight that it hauled to the New York Central for the many Jamestown factories. After passenger abandonment in 1947 [ref. 11], the JW&NW continued freight operation with diesels, but gradually freight business declined along with Jamestown's industrial activity. Shipping usiness also was lost to trucks. Total abandonment occurred in 1950.