The clubhouse for Lakewood Golf Club was located on the west side of Chautauqua Avenue, Lakewood, New York (Note railroad station in the background.) This building, which was moved to the Chautauqua Avenue location, originally served as an early schoolhouse at the SE corner of Winch Road and Route 394 (Fairmount Avenue).
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With the increasing population, there was a demand for additional village services and utilities. The Home Telephone Company installed the first telephones in the village in 1901. The concern for an adequate water supply for fire fighting and citizen use led to the sale of bonds for the development of a water system – drilling wells and laying pipes – in 1905. The vital fire-fighting duties were first carried out by the general citizenry forming bucket brigades when fire broke out. In 1898 the Lakewood Bucket Brigade was organized – a volunteer group.
Public transportation which had been provided by the lake steamers, or by horse-drawn carriages over tortuous muddy paths, improved in the 1890s when the Jamestown Street Railway Company extended its trolley line from Celoron to Lakewood. In 1903 the Chautauqua Traction Company built lines through Lakewood, providing both a direct run from Jamestown and also trolley access all the way to Mayville. That same year, 1903, the village contracted to buy electricity for street lighting from the Traction Company.
Warren and John Packard, among the earliest developers of the lakeshore section of the village, saw their efforts for village improvement continued into the second generation. Warren Packard’s two sons, William and James Ward, entered into an ambitious cottage building program along the lakeshore in the 1890s. By the end of the first decade of the Twentieth Century, J. Ward (James) married Elizabeth Gillmer, and made plans to build a fine mansion on the large family holding just west of the present beach area, on both sides of West Terrace.
A remarkable relocation of cottages took place in the years 1905 to 1910 in preparation for construction of the large home and extensive outbuildings and gardens which were to be included in the entire estate. The cottage moving process was painstakingly slow, but exceedingly careful. It is said that nothing in the cottages was packed or removed, and at the end of the journey, not a dish was broken, or artifact damaged.
The Packard’s handsome neo-Georgian mansion was first occupied in July of 1912. Surrounding the main home were attractively designed formal gardens reminiscent of those found at English country houses. A well-furnished boathouse stood at the dock on the lakeshore. Mr. Packard’s power boat was his special pride and still exists to this day. Across Terrace Avenue, south of the main buildings, there were cutting gardens and a greenhouse. Garages for the Packard’s several vehicles, and houses for the chauffeur and the household servants were located in this area also. Today, some of the large garden area has been converted into a townhouse development. The automobile garage remains, having been extensively and interestingly renovated into a residence. A portion of the extensive garden can still be observed, stretching south from Terrace Avenue.
After he became a well-established citizen of Lakewood with the development of his estate along the lake, Mr. J. Ward Packard promoted the well-being of his adopted area by gifts of long-term benefit. In 1915 he deeded to the village the plot of land on the northwest corner of Owana Way and West Summit on which to build a Village Hall and Fire Station. In the same year he provided the fire company with its first motorized vehicle, a Model T Ford Chemical Fire Truck. This vehicle is carefully preserved along with other memorable pieces of equipment in a museum-annex to the fire station.
Public transportation which had been provided by the lake steamers, or by horse-drawn carriages over tortuous muddy paths, improved in the 1890s when the Jamestown Street Railway Company extended its trolley line from Celoron to Lakewood. In 1903 the Chautauqua Traction Company built lines through Lakewood, providing both a direct run from Jamestown and also trolley access all the way to Mayville. That same year, 1903, the village contracted to buy electricity for street lighting from the Traction Company.
Warren and John Packard, among the earliest developers of the lakeshore section of the village, saw their efforts for village improvement continued into the second generation. Warren Packard’s two sons, William and James Ward, entered into an ambitious cottage building program along the lakeshore in the 1890s. By the end of the first decade of the Twentieth Century, J. Ward (James) married Elizabeth Gillmer, and made plans to build a fine mansion on the large family holding just west of the present beach area, on both sides of West Terrace.
A remarkable relocation of cottages took place in the years 1905 to 1910 in preparation for construction of the large home and extensive outbuildings and gardens which were to be included in the entire estate. The cottage moving process was painstakingly slow, but exceedingly careful. It is said that nothing in the cottages was packed or removed, and at the end of the journey, not a dish was broken, or artifact damaged.
The Packard’s handsome neo-Georgian mansion was first occupied in July of 1912. Surrounding the main home were attractively designed formal gardens reminiscent of those found at English country houses. A well-furnished boathouse stood at the dock on the lakeshore. Mr. Packard’s power boat was his special pride and still exists to this day. Across Terrace Avenue, south of the main buildings, there were cutting gardens and a greenhouse. Garages for the Packard’s several vehicles, and houses for the chauffeur and the household servants were located in this area also. Today, some of the large garden area has been converted into a townhouse development. The automobile garage remains, having been extensively and interestingly renovated into a residence. A portion of the extensive garden can still be observed, stretching south from Terrace Avenue.
After he became a well-established citizen of Lakewood with the development of his estate along the lake, Mr. J. Ward Packard promoted the well-being of his adopted area by gifts of long-term benefit. In 1915 he deeded to the village the plot of land on the northwest corner of Owana Way and West Summit on which to build a Village Hall and Fire Station. In the same year he provided the fire company with its first motorized vehicle, a Model T Ford Chemical Fire Truck. This vehicle is carefully preserved along with other memorable pieces of equipment in a museum-annex to the fire station.