Fredonia Commons Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. 8 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1900.

From the record

“Fredonia Commons Historic District is a national historic district located at Fredonia in Chautauqua County, New York. The district encompasses the central core of Fredonia; the main civic buildings, churches and commercial structures clustered around the commons.”
Wikipedia article Fredonia Commons Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 50 National Register listings published here for Chautauqua County · listed in 1978 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Main, Temple, Church, Day, and Center Sts., Fredonia, 14063
When was it listed? October 1978
Category. district
Town. Pomfret town
National Register reference number. 78001843 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

253 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 253 fires within 5 miles of Fredonia Commons Historic District between 2000 and 2020, burning about 180 acres in total. 11 started naturally. 45 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	138
Arson/incendiarism	45
Debris and open burning	38
Natural	11
Equipment and vehicle use	10
Smoking	7
Recreation and ceremony	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
9 September 2004	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
7 September 2002	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
6 September 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
5 September 2016	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
26 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
22 September 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
17 September 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named

Every fire recorded in Chautauqua County

Mines and quarries near this property

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Fredonia Commons Historic District: 1 producer, 1 plant, 1 prospect. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Salt. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Allegheny Ludlum/ Dunkirk, N.Y.	Iron	Plant
Johnson No.1 Well	Salt	Prospect
Peck Gravel Bank	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Chautauqua County

Storms near this property

21 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fredonia, the town this property stands in, in 21 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 12 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 lightning, 2 heavy rain. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 1994	Tornado (F1)	Fredonia	2 hurt, $500,000	no account filed
August 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$50,000	no account filed
November 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$45,000	The media reported an apartment damaged by a falling tree.
May 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$40,000	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$35,000	no account filed
September 2013	Lightning	Fredonia	$25,000	Lightning started a barn on fire.
July 2003	Lightning	Fredonia	$25,000	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$15,000	no account filed
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$15,000	no account filed
January 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$12,000	Law enforcement reported trees and power lines down.
April 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$10,000	Multiple trees and wires were downed in Fredonia.
July 2010	Flash Flood	Fredonia	$10,000	no account filed
October 2018	Flash Flood	Fredonia	$5,000	Route 20 near Fredonia was reported to be flooded.
March 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$2,000	Power poles snapped due to thunderstorm winds.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$2,000	Trees and wires were reported down.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$1,000	A few trees were downed in the Fredonia area.
September 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Fredonia	$1,000	Multiple trees were reported down.
July 2018	Flash Flood	Fredonia	$1,000	Portions of several downtown streets closed due to flooding.
July 2018	Heavy Rain	Fredonia	-	Rainfall of 2.16 inches reported in 90 minutes.
July 2018	Heavy Rain	Fredonia	-	Rainfall of 3.40 inches total.
April 2019	Hail	Fredonia	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chautauqua County

Maps showing this location

8 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1900 USGS Dunkirk quadrangle1:62500 - 6 printings
1943 USGS Dunkirk quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1954 USGS Dunkirk quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1960 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:250000
1962 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1967 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:250000
1973 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:250000
1986 USGS Jamestown quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
US Post Office-Fredonia	under 500 feet	1988
US Post Office-Dunkirk	2.9 miles	1988
Point Gratiot Lighthouse Complex	3.9 miles	1979
Dunkirk Light	3.9 miles	1984
School No. 7	3.9 miles	1992
Lily Dale Assembly Historic District	6.1 miles	2022

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 78001843 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Chautauqua County	All 50 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.