VINTAGE VIEWS OF ROCHESTER
COBB'S HILL PARK

  TIMELINE
  COBBS HILL POST CARDS

TIMELINE
 

12,000 years ago

• Retreating glacial ice heads northward, finds new strength and re-advances to the south, then stalls. Melting ice at this static point deposits huge mounds of debris forming the Pinnacle Range. This range of hills extends four miles, starting at Cobb's Hill and continuing on through Pinnacle Hill (the highest place in the city at 230 feet), Highland Park, Mt. Hope Cemetery and the University of Rochester River Campus. This series of hills is described as a recessional kame moraine. This means that the hills were not formed by the ice pushing debris and marking it's  furthest advance, but by the melt water carrying sand and/or gravel off the ice. ( There must have been a spectacular four mile long series of waterfalls!)  The huge deposits were left in a typical glacial manner, piles of sand and gravel, precisely sorted by size. The tremendous volume of  sand and gravel deposited here indicates that the ice sheet stayed at this position for a considerable time, creating a narrow lake along the face of the ice. There is also a deposit of glacial till spread over top of the area. This means that after the range was formed the glacier advanced again, covering the area with ice. This last southward invasion by the ice must not have been severe, as it did not scrape the hills away. It mearly smoothed the hill's contours as it flowed over them. The exit of this last ice sheet wasn't the slow retreat of the face northward as in the past, this time it just melted. The debris trapped in the ice hadn't been sorted by flowing water, like the sand and gravel that formed the hill, it was well mixed. This scattered deposit is called glacial till. The Pinnacle Range is the oldest geological feature of the area, being about 2,000 years older than the Genesee River Gorge.

10,000 years ago

• Area north and east of downtown is still underwater, part of Lake Dawson (elev. 480 feet).

1844

• William Miller determines from mathematical calculations based on Bible dates that the world will end on Oct. 24, 1844. As early as 1831 he was gathering believers. Local 'Millerites' gave shelter to others who had given away all their possessions. Pinnacle Hill, being closest to heaven, was chosen as the best place to be, so a crowd gathered from miles around. All night long hymns, prayers, and hysteria poured from the crowd. The disillusioned Millerites went home the next morning to the jeers of their neighbors. Many stay loyal to Miller, and today form the Adventist Church.  

  1824

• Eastern Wide Waters of Erie Canal provides area for boatmen to dock out of the flow of traffic. Winter brought a full time population.   

1880

• North side of Cobb's Hill is extensively mined as a sand and gravel pit. Pits are later buried by earth removed to create the reservoir on the hilltop

1904

• City buys hilltop for second reservoir at 640' above sea level.

1908

• Reservoir completed - 140,000,000 gallons. Gatehouse at top designed by J. F. Warner.
• Land surrounding reservoir is landscaped by Olmstead Brothers.
• Local citizens donate $30,000 for trees to forest east side of reservoir.
• George Eastman offers to donate 15 acres of costly north side of hill, if city will acquire Eastern Wide Waters for recreational park. Park contains 62 acres.

1911

• Ball fields & tennis courts built.

1933

• Refectory (cafeteria) built by Federal Public Works Administration.

1943-1945

• Cobb's Hill used as a POW camp.
  • 60 Italian prisoners arrive to work on area farms, and in local food processing plants. When Italy declared war on Germany the Italians were allowed to work unguarded, out of the camp, and local citizens brought food and organized weekend dances.
  • June 26, 1944 to Nov. 1, 100 German prisoners replace Italians in the newly strengthened camp. Tension mounts between the city, Army, and police, until fist fights start on the evening of Aug. 14, 1944 when police attempt to prevent area residents from gathering to listen to the prisoners nightly choir sessions.
  • After the war the abandoned barracks were converted to apartments to house returning servicemen.

   

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    View at Eastern Widewaters, Rochester, NY
     View at Eastern Wide Waters, Rochester, NY
    Bird's-Eye View from Cobbs Hill, Rochester, NY
     Eastern Wide Waters, Rochester, NY
    Culver Road Bridge over Eastern Wide Waters, Rochester, NY
    Erie Canal scene, near Cobbs Reservoir, Rochester, NY
    Gate Houses, Cobbs Hill Reservoir, Rochester, NY
    Gate House, Cobbs Hill Reservoir, Rochester, NY
    Rochester & Lake Ontario Water Company's Reservoir, Rochester, NY
     View from Cobbs Hill Looking West, Rochester, NY - 2 cards, same view, 1907 and an older card.
     Drive Around Cobb's Hill, Rochester, NY
     Fountain at Cobb's Hill Reservoir, Rochester, NY
     Pinnacle Hills, showing Rochester Orphan Asylum, Rochester, N. Y.

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