JAMESTOWN

Van Buren Point

 

In August of 1910, the Andrews Real Estate Company of Erie, PA, bought 100 acres of popular summer resort property in the Town of Portland along the shore of Lake Erie from Judge J.S. Lambert of Fredonia, NY ①. By the next summer, it had been subdivided into 492 lots for summer cottages, each with the following promise: “No cottage or lot will be sold, nor can it be resold, to any undesirable foreign element or to colored persons.  This restriction is made part of the deed in perpetuity… These restrictions will be in every deed ②."  This claim was legally enforced in deeds signed and transferred by James A. and Josephine Andrews that bore the following racial covenant:

 

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Within a few years, local newspaper reports show that more than 100 lots were sold to “Pittsburgh people” by 1913 ③.

 

By 1921, the remaining 50 unsold lots were advertised in the Dunkirk Evening Observer as for auction, stating – perhaps with a wink and a nod – “There are no restrictions or conditions whatsoever, except that each purchaser must be able to qualify under the regular restrictions of the property ④.”

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A 1940s sales brochure for Van Buren Point further described the exclusivity of the development in this way:

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Belmont

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Nebraska-based real estate firm N.P. Dodge and Company developed the Belmont Addition in the nearby Town of Ellicott in 1913.  Located on Magnolia, Sycamore, Yolande, Handford, Butts, and Sessions Avenues, and West Sixth Street, the subdivision offered 245 lots.   The Jamestown Evening Journal accepted advertisements for the subdivision from N.P. Dodge that were clearly exclusionary, stating that "Every lot restricted for all time to desirable white people only,” and “You may sell your contract at any time, subject to our restrictions that prevents your selling to a colored person or to an undesirable foreigner….⑤” and that "no colored person or undesirable foreigner can buy or rent on Belmont at any time ⑥."

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​N.P. Dodge, Jr., signed and submitted a deed for Lot #49 in the Belmont Addition that included the following racial restrictive covenant:

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​Fairfax

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The Fairfax Addition was also developed in 1915 by N.P. Dodge in the Town of Ellicott. Consisting of 177 lots on Hanford, Butts, Chicago, and Woodbine Avenues between Livingston and Fairmount Avenues, the subdivision was restricted to white homebuyers only as later evidenced by a 1943 legal notice published in the Jamestown Post-Journal that read, in part, "It is understood and Agreed that [Lot 112 and half of Lot 113] shall never be occupied by a colored person....⑦".

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N.P. Dodge, Jr., had previously signed and submitted a deed for Lots #32, 33, & 34 in the subdivision that included the following racial restrictive covenant:

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Forest Park

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Schultz & Foster purchased a tract of land in the Town of Westfield along the southern shore of Lake Erie in December, 1922 ⑧.  By October of 1923, they had filed a plat map for a new subdivision consisting of 281 lots on Lake Road, and Main, Shore, Centre, West Centre, East Centre, and East Drives.  The Forest Park Annex added 53 more lots to the subdivision in 1925.

 

It was reported in the Dunkirk Evening Observer that the developers invested $25,000 to add gravel roads and clear trees for parks at the waterfront, and plans to bring electricity, water, and sewer to the subdivision were announced.  It was further noted the “the sale of lots is progressing rapidly and such restrictions are being made that will insure the Park of having a desirable patronage ⑨."

 

Apparently Blacks, Jews, Italians, and people of Slavic ancestry did not qualify as “desireable patronage,” as evidenced by the racial covenants included in deeds signed and transferred by Otto H. and Helen Schultz like those below:

 

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​Harding Heights

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The Homestead Housing Corporation opened the Harding Heights subdivision in 1923 in the Town of Ellicott, proclaiming “We want to encourage every mechanic, clerk, laboring men and women, rich or poor to own their own home ⑩.”  The development included 179 lots between Howard Street and the Jamestown city line on Glenwood, School, and Central Avenues, High and Brook Streets, Homestead Boulevard, and also on the Hunt Road Harding Avenue Extension.

 

Homebuyers were also offered Homestead Housing Corporation Building Stock valued at $50.00 per share, granting residents of the subdivision the opportunity to “participate in all the profits of the building company ⑪.”

 

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Unfortunately, neither the benefit of becoming a shareholder, nor of the "restrictions both to class of homes and people ⑫," or even the “wonderful view of Chautauqua Lake and Jamestown ⑬” afforded by this new development’s location do not appear to have been available to “Sicilians, Italians, or negroes” as evidenced by the racial covenant included in the following deed for lots #112, 113, & 117:

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Groff Park

 

Groff Park was opened by the Owner’s Development Company of Jersey City, NJ, in 1923.  The subdivision was comprised of 127 lots on Fairmount, Fairdale, Nicholas, Miller, Baxter, and Sessions Avenues, and Muto Street in the Village of Lakewood.  Little information, and no advertisements, specific to Groff Park has yet been found in newspaper archives.  However, a full-page advertisement in the Jamestown Evening Journal from 1926 (see below) announcing the subsequent opening of Lakewood Terrace describes the “tracts known as Franklin and Groff Parks” as successful developments built by the same company during the prior three years ⑭.

 

F.L. Groff, President of Owners Development Corporation, transferred a deed for Lots #51 & 52 in the Groff Park subdivision of the village of Lakewood that included the following racial restrictive covenant:

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​​Lakewood Terrace

 

The Owner’s Development Company also built Lakewood Terrace in 1926 in the Town of Busti.  Located on what was the Sheldon Jones Farm (and previously part of the Winch Farm), the subdivision fronted onto Fairmount Avenue and overlooked Chautauqua Lake.  The plat map, detailing the number of lots and streets in the development, has not yet been acquired.

 

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A full-page advertisement in the local newspaper (above) informed homebuyers, “Remember this place is restricted and no one but people that you will not be ashamed to live next door to will be allowed to buy and you won't have to worry about what may be built next to your good house ⑮.”  Evidence of racial covenants in deeds for lots in Lakewood Terrace, such as that below for Lot #34, suggest that the Owner's Development Company believed residents of the subdivision would be ashamed to live next door to “Negroes, Italians, [and] Polanders”:

 

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Woodland Shores

 

The Findley Lake Development Corporation platted Woodland Shores in the Town of Mina in 1927. The realty company had been founded earlier that year by Louis Swartz of Findley Lake, and  Joseph J. Schwing and Richard E. Jacobson, both of Buffalo ⑯.  51 lots hugged the shoreline of Findley Lake along Shadyside Road.

 

A deed for a lot in the subdivision, alternately known as The Findley Lake Improvement Association, included the following racially restrictive covenant:

 

 

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Broadhead, Fisher, and Wade

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A 1933 legal notice published in the Jamestown Evening Journal announced that Clarence G. Pickard, an attorney acting as the court-appointed referee in a mortgage foreclosure proceeding, would conduct a public auction to sell three parcels of land in the City of Jamestown previously owned by DeSilver J. Bissell.  These lots, two of which were located in the the Broadhead, Fisher, and Wade subdivision, came with the following condition: “This mortgage is executed and delivered subject to the restriction or condition that the premises described herein shall not be sold to or rented, leased, sub- leased or occupied by Italians or a person or persons other than of the Caucasian Race for a period of ten years from the 2nd day of November, 1931… ⑰ .”  A sample of deeds for property sold by Bissell in Jamestown did not find any racial covenants.

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​①  Dunkirk Evening Observer, August 2, 1910. p. 6.  Accessed via newspapers.com

②  Dunkirk Evening Observer, July 5, 1911, p. 10.  Accessed via newspapers.com

③  Buffalo Evening News, August 16, 1913, p. 13.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

④  Dunkirk Evening Observer, August 4, 1921, p. 10.  Accessed via newspapers.com

⑤  Jamestown Evening Journal, July 3, 1913, p. 5.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑥  Jamestown Evening Journal, July 7, 1913, p. unknown.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑦  Jamestown Post-Journal, July 29, 1943, p. 23.  Accessed via nyshistoricnewspapers.org

⑧  Dunkirk Evening Observer, November 21, 1924, p. 17.  Accessed via newspapers.com

⑨  Ibid.

⑩  Jamestown Evening Journal, May 7, 1923, p. 4.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑪  Jamestown Evening Journal, November 3, 1923, p. 13.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑫  Jamestown Evening Journal, December, 5, 1923, p. 18.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑬  Jamestown Evening Journal, June 12, 1925, p. 16.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑭  Jamestown Evening Journal, August 6, 1926, p. 12.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑮  Ibid.

⑯  Chautauqua News, June 22, 1927, p. 5.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑰  Jamestown Evening Journal, May 12, 1933, p. 16.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

 

© AUGUST 2026