Jamestown is a city in Chautauqua County, New York in the United States. The population was 31,730 at the 2000 census. The City of Jamestown is adjacent to Town of Ellicott and is at the southern tip of Chautauqua Lake. The town of Chautauqua, home of the Chautauqua Institution, is 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Jamestown. The city has been a center for the manufacture of wood products such as furniture as well as a major producer of mattresses. The town was once called the "Furniture Capital of the World. " Although many of these industries have migrated away from the area in recent times, Jamestown still retains a few large manufacturing plants for various multinational corporations. The city has a large concentration of citizens of Swedish and Italian ancestry. Jamestown is noted as the birthplace of actress and comedienne Lucille Ball, as well as the fictitious childhood hometown of Lucy Ricardo, her character on the popular U.S. television sitcom I Love Lucy.