Chautauqua County was established in February 1811 when the 1810 tax rolls verified a population of more than 500 taxable inhabitants. Mayville was selected as the county seat and the first courthouse was constructed between 1812 and 1815 (the War of 1812 slowed construction).
The county, lake, and town of Chautauqua were all originally spelled with an ‘e' at the end, until 1859 when the county's Board of Supervisors voted to change the spelling to Chautauqua. The county originally had just two towns, Pomfret and Chautauque, and all other towns were taken from these as the population grew.
The last town to be formed in the county was North Harmony, taken from the town of Harmony in 1918.
The county archives, located in the courthouse complex in Mayville, is the largest repository of historical documents in Chautauqua County. The archive includes many of the county's earliest legal and court records dating from 1811. Since 1997, the records management program has utilized grant funds to improve the storage and preservation of historical documents.
County History Links
You’ve come to the right place! Consider exploring these elements of Chautauqua County’s rich and varied history:
Anti-Slavery Activists Map and the Underground Railroad in Chautauqua County
Materials written and collected by Douglas H. Shepard, Ph.D., an avid researcher and writer of local history, particularly of homes and businesses in the Fredonia area, and including county institutions, people, and events. He also contributed research to the county's Anti-Slavery Map and the Historic Structures Database.
Local libraries house vast stores of knowledge, including local genealogies, microfilmed and digitized newspapers, books by local authors, newsletters, collections of local lore, and papers. Local librarians are a treasure trove of information for studying local history and are a valuable resource.
Researching local history begins with the people responsible for its compilation. In New York State, every municipality (town, city, village, county) must have an appointed historian.