Our Town: Falconer
By John Siggins & Jason Sample   

Every week the Chautauqua Star & Bulletin Board takes you to a different community in Chautauqua County and tells you a little bit about its history.  This week, we take you to Falconer, which has a rich history that covers more than 200 years.

Worksburg

Edward Work

The area that is now Falconer played a crucial role in the development of southern Chautauqua County and present-day Jamestown during the early part of the 19th Century.   The first known settler was Edward Work (1774-1857), an attorney from Meadville, Penn.  In 1807, Work purchased a large amount of land on the Chadakoin River and built a log house where the river drains into Cassadaga Creek.  A year later, Work used lumber from a nearby pine forest and built a sawmill (40 x 60 feet) to begin a milling operation.  Others came and settled and the area soon became known as Worksburg.  At the same time, Work’s partner, Dr. Thomas Ruston Kennedy, had established a similar mill operation in what is now Kennedy, NY.  In 1814, a road from Kennedy's mill to Work's mill was laid, and the first bridge across the Cassadaga was constructed, about one-fourth of a mile above Levant.


Work’s mill was a great accommodation to local settlers and led to the opening of roads to the settlements at the lower end of Chautauqua Lake, including what is present-day Jamestown. In fact, both Work’s and Kennedy’s mills were built three years before the settlement at Jamestown, when almost all travel was in keelboats and canoes or by Indian trails.  Twelve of the boats used in the transportation of area salt down the Allegheny were built at Work's mill in 1808, but the discovery of the salt springs on the Allegheny, Kanawha and Ohio rivers caused the discontinuance of the salt trade by this route.  Still, the salt trade helped greatly in the settlement of the area.  The keelboats that came for salt almost always brought loads of provisions, whiskey, iron castings, nails, glass, dried fruit and other articles.  Edward Work’s original mill was finally razed in 1944, 136 years after it was constructed.

While overseeing his mills, Work also served as the postmaster, deputy prothonotary and the prosecuting attorney of Worksburg.  From 1818 he was a prominent member of the Methodist church, and his home a hospitable "Methodist tavern."  In 1836 he sold most of his property and retired from business.  He died 17 years later at the age of 83.


Falconer
Much of the land that Work had sold went to Robert Falconer, a Scottish immigrant who had settled in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania.  In 1840, Falconer’s son, Patrick, bought his father’s interests, and in 1844 sold his holdings to the west (near Jamestown) and acquired even more land in the Worksburg area.  A couple of years later, Falconer, who was on the Board of Directors of the Alleghany and Pittsburgh Railroad, donated a generous amount of land through Worksburg to the railroads, which ensured the two’s passage directly through the town.  As a result of his efforts the name of the town of Worksburg changed to Falconer in 1874.  Robert resided in Falconer until his death in 1887.

Patrick Falconer

Patrick’s son, William, who was born in Worksburg in 1850, represented the next generation of Falconers.  Although William was a miner, he quickly picked up where his father left off in the town’s development. He bought his father’s sawmill and businesses and even started several others, including building Falconer’s first hotel. From the late 1870s until his death in 1915, William Falconer helped Falconer become a thriving community with several manufacturing businesses taking root.  Falconer was officially incorporated as a village in 1891.

Railroads and Trucking Routes
Falconer’s success in manufacturing went hand in hand with its location as a regional rail hub during the late 19th Century and well into the 20th Century. Falconer was the junction for three of the lines of the Erie Railway System (The Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh railroads). The Jamestown Electric street railway also connected with the Pittsburgh area at a station in Falconer, north of the Chadakoin. Even though highway traffic has since replaced the railroads, Falconer remains a crossroads, with Interstate 86 and State Route 394 and County Route 380 all running through the village.
 

Falconer Today
In 2006, the Jamestown Container Company in Falconer, celebrated its 50th anniversary.  Many other quality manufacturers call Falconer home: Marlin Rockwell Corporation and Carborundum–Monofrax along with Truck Lite Company and Fancher Chair and Ellison Bronze all contribute to this thriving community.  A complete refurbishing of the old Worsted Mills into a modern Dowcraft facility was accomplished in 1998, restoring needed infrastructure. 

The headquarters and maintenance facilities for Chautauqua County Department of Public Works call the Village home. Also, the New York State Department of Conservation maintains a facility here located in the Town Hall on South Work Street.  Over-looking the Village is the headquarters of the Allegany Highlands Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which is celebrating scouting’s 99th anniversary in America.

Fine dining is waiting for you in Falconer with Hultman’s Four Coins serving a Chicken Picatta or a Fish Almandine that are the best this humble critic has ever tasted.  They feature a succulent Prime Rib, serving Monday through. The Belleview East has been serving quality food on Main Street for years and the portions, variety and tastes are huge. They also have a banquet room for those special gatherings.


Western New York’s largest Harley-Davidson dealer has just opened a state of the art showplace on Route 394, becoming a pilgrimage for bikers from around the area. Even if you aren’t a rider, this big boy toy store is a must see.

This Village, with its fine public parks, historic library and bustling business district has a lot to recommend it to visitors in any season. The spirit of community service shines here with the Falconer Fire Department; this fine organization has distinguished itself with 116 years of outstanding service to the citizens in its district.

It seems that many people around Chautauqua County often think of Falconer as just an extension of Jamestown, but you will find that it is a place all its own. So do yourself a favor and come and visit.



John H. Siggins is a community activist from Busti, hosting a local talk forum on WJTN radio three times a week. He also serves on the Southwestern Central School Board of Education and as Busti Town Historian.  Historical information for this article was taken from “History of Chautauqua County and Its People” (John P Downs-1921) and“Fancher Chair Company: Roots to Chairs” (Christina Erickson-2000).