Mayville is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the town of

Chautauqua, New York Chautauqua ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town and lake resort community in Chautauqua County, New York, Chautauqua County, New York (state), New York. The population was 4,009 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Cha ...

. It is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Chautauqua County. The population was 1,477 at the 2020 census, 13.7% less than in the 2010 census. The village and town offices share a building on Main Street, directly across from the Chautauqua County courthouse. Elizabeth May Busti

History

The

Holland Land Company The Holland Land Company was an unincorporated syndicate of thirteen Dutch investors from Amsterdam,Kirby, C.D. (1976). ''The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus''. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company ...

anticipated establishing a village located at the eastern end of the Old Portage Road between

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

and

Chautauqua Lake Chautauqua Lake is located entirely within Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The lake is approximately long and wide at its greatest width. The surface area is approximately . The maximum depth is about . The shoreline is about of ...

. In 1804, the area was surveyed by William Peacock. In 1805, the village was named Mayville in honor of Elisabeth Busti (''née'' May), wife of

Paul Busti Paul Busti (8 October 1749 – 23 July 1824) was the ''Agent General'' (chief operating officer) of the Holland Land Company from 1799 until his death in 1824. As administrator of the Holland Land Company, Busti was responsible for the economic ...

, ''Agent General'' of the Holland Land Company.Safran, Franciska K. (1983) ''William Peacock, Holland Land Company Subagent in Chautauqua County'', New York. Fredonia, N.Y.: Thesis, pp. 24-25. The 1808 legislation establishing the formation of Chautauqua County required the appointment of a committee to locate the county seat. Gov.

Daniel D. Tompkins Daniel D. Tompkins (June 21, 1774 – June 11, 1825) was an American politician. He was the fourth Governor of New York from 1807 to 1817, and the sixth Vice President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Born in Scarsdale, New York, Tompkin ...

selected Jonas Williams (Batavia), Isaac Sutherland (Batavia) and Asa Ransom (Clarence) based on the recommendations of

Joseph Ellicott Joseph Ellicott (November 1, 1760 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania – August 19, 1826 in New York City) was an American surveyor, city planner, land office agent, lawyer and politician of the Quaker faith. Life Ellicott was born in Bucks C ...

, Resident Land Agent for the Holland Land Company in Batavia. The committee designated Mayville as the county seat, rubberstamping the Holland Land Company plan. In 1804, Alexander McIntyre of Meadville, Pennsylvania became the first land owner in the future village. The Holland Land Company established a sales office in Mayville in 1810 with William Peacock as sub-agent. William Peacock-Young 1875

The first Courthouse was a two-story wood framed building built by Winsor Brigham from 1811 to 1815. The village of Mayville was incorporated in 1830. In 1836, local residents rioted against the

and broke into its office, destroying furniture and papers. The second Courthouse was constructed under a contract to Benjamin Rathbun of Buffalo from 1834-1837. It was a Greek Revival temple form built of brick with six Doric columns. The

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

built a train station and pier on the shores of

at Mayville. This station was on a PRR route from Pittsburgh to Dunkirk to Buffalo route. The Mayville station, along with the Jamestown boat landing at the south end of the lake, was the main mode of transportation to the rest of the communities around Chautauqua Lake via the large fleet of steamboats operating before the

interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

lines were constructed. The Chautauqua Traction Company served the communities on the western side of the lake; and the

Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern Railroad The Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern Railroad (JW&NW) was an electric interurban railroad that served the New York towns of Jamestown and Westfield from 1914 to 1950. History Dubbed the "Chautauqua Lake Route", the single track electr ...

was the interurban serving the east side of the lake. In modern times the steamboat '' Chautauqua Belle'' still operates out of Mayville, running between Point Chautauqua,

Chautauqua Institution The Chautauqua Institution ( ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education center and summer resort for adults and youth located on in Chautauqua, New York, northwest of Jamestown, New York, Jamestown in the western southern tier of New York (state), N ...

, and the vessel's home port in Mayville. The Pennsylvania Railroad Station was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1993. The Point Chautauqua Historic District was listed in 1996. The third (and current) Courthouse was designed by the

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New ...

architect William J. Beardsley and built by Shellberg, Lindquist, and Bailey from 1907-1909. This building was expanding in 1968 with the construction of a significant annex designed by local architects Naetzker, Thorsell & Dove.

Geography

Mayville is located near the geographic center of the town of Chautauqua at (42.251402, -79.500015). It is situated at the northwest end of

. Mayville is at the junction of New York State Routes

394 __NOTOC__ Year 394 (CCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Western Europe as the Year of the Consulship of Flavianus without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1147 ''Ab urbe condi ...

and

430 __NOTOC__ Year 430 ( CDXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Valentinianus (or, less frequently, year 1183 ''Ab urbe condita''). The deno ...

, south of the

New York State Thruway The New York State Thruway (officially the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and colloquially "the Thruway") is a system of controlled-access toll roads spanning within the U.S. state of New York. It is operated by the New York State Thruway ...

(

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

) at Westfield. Mayville is the nearest village to the

, which draws thousands of visitors during the summer months. Businesses in the village do a brisk tourist business both with Chautauquans and with visitors to cottages and resorts on the east and west sides of the lake. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the village has a total area of , all land.

Climate

Mayville has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb''), typical of southwestern New York state. Winters are cold and snowy, while summers are warm and humid.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,756 people, 686 households, and 399 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 860 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 93.85%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3.64%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.51% Native American, 0.51% Asian, 0.17% from other races, and 1.31% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.59% of the population. There were 686 households, out of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.8% were non-families. 36.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.92. In the village, the population was spread out, with 21.8% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 114.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 118.3 males. The median income for a household in the village was $32,250, and the median income for a family was $45,595. Males had a median income of $30,574 versus $24,028 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $16,561. About 5.5% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 10.5% of those under age 18 and 8.4% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

Leslie Carter Leslie Barbara Ashton ( Carter; June 6, 1986 – January 31, 2012) was an American pop singer. In 2001, she debuted through DreamWorks Records with the single " Like Wow!". Originally set to release her debut studio album through the label, it ...

, singer * Henry Cousins, Wisconsin state assemblyman * Carlton Brandaga Curtis, former US congressman from Pennsylvania * Michael H. Hall, Wisconsin state assemblyman * Donald Mackenzie, explorer, fur trader and former governor of the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

Thomas Rodman Merritt Thomas Rodman Merritt (October 17, 1824 – January 11, 1906) was a Canadian businessman and political figure in Upper Canada, later Ontario, Canada. He represented Lincoln in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal member from 1868 ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

political figure *

Vin Moore Vin Moore (January 23, 1879 – December 5, 1949) was an American film director, actor and writer. He directed 83 films between 1915 and 1938. He was born in Mayville, New York, and died in Hollywood, California. Selected filmography * ''Ca ...

, film director *

Lorenzo Morris Lorenzo Morris (August 14, 1817 Smithfield, New York – October 2, 1903 Fredonia, New York) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Life He was the son of David Morris. The family removed to a farm near Mayville, New York in 1829. H ...

, former New York state senator *

Victor M. Rice Victor Moreau Rice (April 5, 1818 Mayville, Chautauqua County, New York – October 18, 1869 Oneida, Madison County, New York) was an American educator and politician from New York. Life Rice was born 5 March 1818 in Mayville, New York to stat ...

, former New York State Superintendent of Public Instruction and New York state assemblyman * Albion W. Tourgée, lawyer, author, and editor; represented

Homer Plessy Homer Adolph Plessy (born Homère Patris Plessy; 1858, 1862 or March 17, 1863 – March 1, 1925) was an American shoemaker and activist who was the plaintiff in the United States Supreme Court decision '' Plessy v. Ferguson''. He staged an act of ...

in the infamous

Plessy v. Ferguson ''Plessy v. Ferguson'', 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that ...

(1896) case * Samuel S. Whallon, former New York state assemblyman, Canal Commissioner

References

External links

Village of Mayville official website

''Mayville Sentinel-News''
{{authority control Villages in New York (state) County seats in New York (state) Populated places established in 1804 Villages in Chautauqua County, New York 1804 establishments in New York (state)