JAMESTOWN, city, Chautauqua county, New York, U.S.A., at the southern outlet of Lake Chautauqua, 68m. S. by W. of Buffalo. It is served by the Erie and the Jamestown, West field and North-western railways, by inter-urban trolley and motor-bus lines, and in summer by lake steamers. The population was 38,917 in 1920 (29% foreign-born white, largely from Sweden) and increased to 45,155 by the Federal census of 1930. It has a delightful situation among the hills of Chautauqua county, in a fertile farming and dairying region. The shores of the lake are lined with summer cottages and hotels, and on the west side, near the upper end, are the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution.
Jamestown has important and rapidly growing manufactures, notably of furniture (metal and wood) and building trim. The factory output in 1925 was valued at $51,805,812. Bank clearings in 1926 amounted to $78,600,000, and the assessed valuation of property in 1927 was Jamestown was settled in 181o, incorporated as a village in 1827, and chartered as a city in 1886. It was named after James Prendergast, an early settler.