City Street Scenes, Rochester, NY

VINTAGE VIEWS OF ROCHESTER

CITY STREET SCENES

TIMELINE
TIMELINE: THE FOUR CORNERS
CITY STREET SCENES POST CARDS

TIMELINE

1803

Col. Nathaniel Rochester, Col. Wm. Fitzhugh, and Major Charles Carroll purchase a 100 acre tract on west side of river at falls. It took them 4 years to pay $1,750 for the land. Last annual payment of $350 made on June 7 1808, and they received the deed Nov. 18, 1811. The location was not immediately popular, it was largely swamp with dense forest, and swamp fever (malaria).

1811

East Avenue cut through forest from Orighn Stone's House towards the river.

Col. Rochester arrives complaining that road is being cut towards the High Falls, and not the lower falls upstream (where his property lies) as was the plan. The road was turned westward, to intersect the river at the Main Street Bridge, then under construction, and continued to it's western end at Bull's Head.

City laid out, first lots sold.

1813

Abelard Reynolds builds a two-story frame house on the site of Arcade. The first post office was in this house.

1817

Brown brothers, with adjoining 200-acre plot of Frankfort agree to street plan and are joined to the One Hundred Acre Plot forming the Village of Rochesterville, chartered with 655 acres

1819

The Erie Canal route is surveyed through Rochester.
A 'Village Night Watch' is hired.

1821

Monroe County separated from Genesee and Ontario Counties.
Rochesterville becomes the County Seat.
First Courthouse built.

1822

First sidewalks are four feet wide, on both sides of Buffalo, Carroll, Exchange, Hauge, and Sophia Streets. They are protested by tax payers as an extravagant public improvement.
Enos Stone, Jr's shanty is moved to an open lot near 12 Chestnut Street.

1823

Property of Elisha Johnson on east side of river is annexed, bringing total area to 1012 acres.
-ville dropped from Rochester's name.

1825

Buffalo Street west of the canal is renamed West Avenue.

1827

A English traveler wrote: "Out of the eight thousand souls in this gigantic young village, there was not to be found in 1827 a single grown-up person born there, the oldest native not being then seventeen years of age."

1828

City has 10 flour mills, 8 hotels, 9 saw mills, and is home port for 160 canal boats.

1830

Road building boom. Clifford Ave., Norton St., Ridge Rd., Titus Ave., Culver Rd., Portland Ave., Hudson Ave., Clinton Ave., and St. Paul Blvd. are all laid out.

1831

May 31, Col. Rochester dies, before Rochester becomes a city.
Carroll St. renamed State St.

1834

Rochester incorporated as city.
Jonathan Child elected first Mayor by the Common Council, resigned during second term. A strict believer in temperance, he did not want to issue liquor licenses. Starts construction on his home. He was a merchant and miller. The first to bring coal to Rochester. He was an early backer of the telegraph. Married Sophia Rochester in 1818, daughter of the city's founder.
Streets in Four Corners area are covered with Macadam. Cobble stone, creosted wood blocks, and cedar blocks give a total of 7.16 miles of surfaced streets in the city.
Two additional hand pumps are purchased for the fire department.

1837

Grading of Buffalo St. (Main St.) is first work offered for unemployed.

1855

Josiah Bissell erects signs renaming old Main Street from the Liberty Pole to Pittsford, East Avenue. The name becomes official when Main Street is extended from the Liberty Pole to Goodman Street. In the late 1880's Main Street reaches Culver Road, and twenty five more years pass before it is extended again to it's present end at Winton Road.

1859

Liberty Pole 101 ft. tall, 3-ft. dia. top had brass ball and arrow weather vane. It was located on the hill at Main & Franklin Streets.

1865

Accumulation of ice in Avon, and a sudden March thaw cause the worst flood in the city's history, 90% of the streets in 1^st ward are underwater. Water is 6' deep at Four Corners. 54,000 cubic feet of water flow into the city every second. Two streetcars are abandoned on the Main St. Bridge; both float downstream, one goes over the falls along with several horses. A New York Central Railroad Bridge collapses and is also swept over the falls. Business fear future floods, and move to higher ground.
Police force is organized, patrolmen are issued uniforms.

1865

Lincoln's funeral train passes through city, April 27, 3:20 AM
Police force is organized, patrolmen are issued uniforms.

1869

Street car turntable built at Four Corners.

1874

Steam powered Holley waterworks system built for downtown fire protection.

1882

First horse drawn fire equipment.

1884

Buffalo St. has it's name changed to Main St.
First mounted police.

1889

Dec. 26, 72 MPH wind breaks top off Liberty Pole.

1890

Cyclone causes heavy damage.
First brick pavement, joints are filled with pitch.

1892

Severe blizzard cripples city, March 11

1893

'Grand Union' built at 'Four Corners' (Main St. East & West, Exchange & State St.) for Rochester and Sodus Bay and Rochester and Eastern Interurbans. First 12-way rail crossing in the world.
Police force has 175 members, includes a bicycle squad to stop speeders.

1895

First motion pictures shown in city.

1896

First motion picture shown publicly.
Voting machines used for first time.

1897

City bans Sunday baseball games

1904

At 5 AM, Feb. 26 a fire starts in the Rochester Dry Goods Store on Main St., by noon the entire block had been destroyed. Sibley's Department Store lost $3,000,000 in buildings and inventory. Also lost was the company safe containing the books showing the several hundred thousand dollars owed the store. Within months voluntary payments were made, estimated to be 90% of what was owed. In just over a year a new, larger building was on the site and open for business.
Ice jam at the Clarissa St. bridge threatens to flood downtown.
Mayor Cutler forces city to stop pumping raw sewage into river, first sewage treatment plant built.

1905

Rochester given a first-class city charter.
Police traffic squad organized.

1910

First flight in Rochester attempted.
City flag first displayed.
Boy Scouts organized.

1912

First gas powered fire equipment used in city. . In less than 15 years, the last horse drawn truck had been replaced.

1913

Main Street West extended to junction of Chili and West Avenue.
Nelly McElroy appointed first policewoman.

1914

Earthquake frightens local citizens.

1919

Canal closed in city. New route goes south of city through Genesee Valley Park.

THE FOUR CORNERS

The intersection at Main Street where State Street approaches from the north and becomes Exchange Street has been a prominent location through out Rochester's history. It was located where the first two streets in the settlement crossed, then called Buffalo Street. (Main Street) and Carroll Street (State Street) . That intersection is still commonly called by its original name, The Four Corners.

1803

Col. Nathaniel Rochester, Col. Wm. Fitzhugh, and Major Charles Carroll purchase a 100 acre tract on west side of river at falls. It took them 4 years to pay $1,750 for the land. Last annual payment of $350 made on June 7 1808, and they received the deed Nov. 18, 1811. The location was not immediately popular, it was largely swamp with dense forest, and swamp fever (malaria).

1811

City laid out, first lots sold.
Henry Skinner buys lot Number one, on present site of Powers Building.
Skinner sells the lot to Hamlet Scrantom, contracting to build a cabin on the lot while Scrantom returns to Connecticut for his wife, four sons and two daughters.

1812

When the Scrantoms return on May 1st, the cabin was not finished, and they were forced to move into the only available structure, Enos Stone's shanty located behind his cabin on the other side of the river. Their cabin is finished (with a mud chimney, not the stone or brick one, as specified in the contract), and with a bonfire to celebrate, they move in on July 4th. This was the first permanent residence in the 100-acre tract.
The Main St. Bridge is built by the state at a cost of $12,000. It is the only crossing for 20 miles. Opponents to the bridge said there was no one there to cross it.
Scrantom family moves out of the cabin, December 12

1813

First public transportation, twice a week an ox cart goes to Indian Landing.
Abelard Reynolds builds a two-story frame house on the site of Arcade. The first post office was in this house.

1815

Henry Skinner reacquires Lot Number One and starts to convert the cabin into a two-story tavern.
Dr. Azel Ensworth buys the unfinished tavern from Skinner.
Oct. 8, First wedding - Delia Scrantom to Jethiel Barnard takes place in the Scrantom cabin.

1818

The large two-story frame Ensworth Hotel is completed. The Scrantom cabin was moved to the back of the lot and used as a stable. The hotel was later enlarged by the addition of a third floor, that included the first public hall. The hotel was the social center of the village, and was used for meetings, concerts, lectures, and ball room. The third floor hall was the location of the first County Court sessions from May 1821 until the Courthouse was built in September 1822.

1829

The Ensworth Hotel is torn down to make way for the brick Eagle Hotel. Soon after completion Dr. Ensworth sells the hotel to A. M. Schermerhorn.

1834

Macadam streets in Four Corners area.

1848

Omnibus drawn by four horses operates from the Eagle Hotel to Mt. Hope Cemetery, and the Steamboat Landing.

1850

University of Rochester opens in the U. S. Hotel on Buffalo St. Two four-year courses offered.

1851

Jenny Lind gave a private concert for four Indian Chiefs in the Eagle Hotel, while she was here to perform in the Corinthian Hotel. July 22 & 24

1856

Hiram Sibley's telegraph company merges with several other telegraph companies to become Western Union. This network is the driving force in a coast to coast telegraph line.

1858

2 vehicles added to Omnibus line with four trips per day to Pittsford, and five per day to Bullshead.

1863

After several owners the Eagle Hotel is sold to Daniel W. Powers, who begins to convert the property into a business block.

1865

Accumulation of ice in Avon, and a sudden March thaw cause the worst flood in the city's history, 90% of the streets in 1^st Ward are underwater. Water is 6' deep at Four Corners. 54,000 cubic feet of water flow into the city every second. Two streetcars are abandoned on the Main St. Bridge; both float downstream, one goes over the falls along with several horses. Business fear future floods, and move to higher ground.
Powers begins construction on State Street.

1868

Eagle Hotel is demolished as construction on the Powers Building moves toward Main Street.

1870

Powers Building completed.

1873

Powers Building Tower opens.

1875

Daniel Powers opens an Art Gallery on the fifth floor of the Powers Building.

1881

First commercial electric lights installed in Powers Building Art Gallery.

1883

Powers Hotel opens.
Elwood Building is erected to a height of seven stories.
Daniel Powers adds a second Mansard roof to the Powers Building, reclaiming the title as Rochester's tallest.

1884

Buffalo St. has it's name changed to Main St.

1888

Ellwanger & Barry Building is erected to a height of eight stories. Daniel Powers adds a third Mansard roof to the Powers Building, adding two additional floors, reclaiming again the title as Rochester's tallest.
Wilder Building erected to a height of thirteen stories. Daniel Powers adds to the height of the tower on the Powers Building, recapturing the title, for another five years.

1893

'Grand Union' built at Four Corners for Rochester and Sodus Bay and Rochester and Eastern Interurban. First 12 way rail crossing in the world.

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