"There's a lot of history jumbled up in the area: early farms, late mansions, churches, boutiques, factories - All of these threads of human activity are interwoven in a rich tapestry. The remembered past makes the woof of the fabric, the active present weaves the strands, the exciting future lies ahead."

In 1811 the surveyors from the Town of Boyle (soon to be renamed Brighton) began blazing a road (East Avenue) from the Stone-Tolan House to the Genesee Falls. Colonel Rochester persuaded town officials to turn the road at the present day Liberty Pole so the road would connect with his tract on the west side of the Genesee River. Soon the road was dotted with farms and taverns as stages from Brighton, Pittsford, Penfield, and beyond traveled to and from Rochester.

When the City of Rochester was incorporated in 1834, Goodman Street was the eastern border with the Town of Brighton beyond. In the 1840's the first mansions appeared and the stage road became East Avenue. Josiah Bissell, a nurseryman and contractor named the Avenue and also made it the most beautiful entry to the city with the planting of a double row of horse chestnut trees from his mansion to the Liberty Pole.

The first neighborhood organization of note, the East Avenue Shade Tree Association, in 1852 planted elm trees evenly on both sides of the Avenue from the Liberty Pole to Culver's place to replace the ailing horse chestnuts, and restore the grandeur of the Avenue.

During this period modest dwellings appeared on Meigs and Goodman Streets, however most of the area remained farmland.

The East Avenue residents organized again in the late 1850's to prevent the construction of horsecar lines on East Avenue.  Instead the horse-drawn trolleys began service on Main and Alexander Streets in the early 1860's.

After the Civil War, residential construction boomed despite the general flatness of the economy. 1873 was especially active as developers raced to lay out streets, prepare building lots and build homes in anticipation of the proposed annexation to the City of the land east to Culver Road. By the year of annexation, 1874, most of the building lots within the original city boundaries in this area were developed. The promise of city water and gas made development of the annexation inevitable.

Because of the close proximity to mansion-lined East Avenue, the area between Park and Monroe Avenues was favored by the middle class. Developers of Arnold Park and Oxford Street helped maintain the aura of East Avenue by placing restrictions on development and by adding amenities such as malls. The avai1abiliy of public transportation (the horsecar lines expanded down Park Avenue in the 1880's) and public education (including free high school) also enhanced the neighborhood.

Most of the area was laid out by subdividers who sold residential lots to be built upon by various builders. Because lots in a tract were usually standard and tended to be built upon at the same time, individual blocks were visually integrated. The standardization of many current developments was avoided because of the number of builders involved and the relatively small number of homes constructed each year.

Small businesses such as barber shops, variety stores, and grocery stores grew on Park Avenue to serve neighborhood needs and by the 1920's the entire area was developed just in advance of the automobile age.

As cars became the major mode of transportation, East Avenue, because of its strategic location, became a major arterial into the city, a role which continued until Interstate 490 was constructed in the 1960's.

The noise and congestion of auto traffic destroyed the genteel ambience of East Avenue forcing the wealthy into the developing, suburbs to the south and east. Beginning in the 1930's mansions were converted to other uses. Some became headquarters for religious and social groups. Others were split into apartments and some were even used as rooming houses.

The decline of East Avenue affected the surrounding area as well.  Changes in family size and life style reduced demand for the large homes built on the side streets of Park Avenue. Fortunately for property owners there was a demand for apartments first by the returning World War II veterans and later by young singles and married couples. The revised zoning code of 1957 supported the conversion of large single-family homes to multi-family dwellings.

However, the conversions created new problems for the area. Additional cars created serious parking problems. Absentee ownership became prevalent. Legally and illegally, houses were converted into several apartments where only two or three were feasible. Lovely old homes became ill-maintained rooming houses.

Fortunately for the neighborhood, the decline of East Avenue and what is now referred to as the Park Avenue area did not go unnoticed. Citizens began organizing in the 1950's and 60's into such groups as the Park-Oxford Neighborhood Association and Concerned Citizens for East Avenue, to preserve and upgrade the area. The Park-Oxford Association fought for code enforcement and against the granting of zoning variances. Concerned Citizens for East Avenue worked for new zoning regulations for East Avenue to preserve the mansions. And they all worked together to make the area a better place in which to live.

The efforts of the neighborhood groups began to bear fruit in the late 1960's. At that time, 'several factors worked in concert to reverse the trend of the previous" twenty years. The East Avenue Preservation District, which includes East Avenue, its side streets, and Park Avenue was established in 1969. A Housing Court was created in 1974 to speed enforcement of code violations by landlords. A new zoning code, adopted in 1975, linked zoning to present use. Rediscovery of the attributes that first made this a popular neighborhood increased demand for houses and apartments. A neighborhood newspaper, City East, provided a forum for residents, a promotion vehicle for neighborhood businesses, and an image for the area

Currently property values are increasing, and absentee ownership has decreased. Neighborhood associations continue to work for preservation of the residential character of the area and solutions to common problems such as parking, snow removal, and property maintenance. They serve a social function as well - Harvard-Canterbury sponsors an annual snow carnival, Park-Oxford a summer festival

As you walk through the area, you will see people of all ages using the streets. Downtown is easily accessible by bus (Monroe Avenue and Park Avenue), bicycle or foot. Buying groceries, visiting the library (Monroe Branch), swimming at the YMCA (Monroe Branch), attending church, getting children to nursery school, visiting museums,, and shopping in bookstores, boutiques, drug stores, clothing stores can all be accomplished without a car. Children walk to the elementary school. In the early morning and evening, the streets are alive with joggers. The houses are inhabited by people of all ages, various income levels and many professions, but many share the same concern: that this part of the city continue to be a-pleasant place to live.

THE TOUR:

This tour is meant to be a walking tour so that you can experience this special neighborhood.

1) The Third Presbyterian Church was designed by Orlando K. Foote in 1893 in the neo-Romanesque style associated with the 1880's. Note the plaque dedicated to Charles G. Finney, a Presbyterian revivalist who is credited with converting one-third of Rochester's population between 1830 and 1855.
.
The newer portion of the church (near the entrance to Arnold Park) occupies the site of Warner's Observatory, the first observatory in the United States open to the public.
.
2) Arnold Park was laid out from East Avenue southward in about 1870 by William E. Arnold, a real estate agent and inventor of the sash lock. The small subdivision with its mall, designed to attract residents who appreciated a quiet retreat, was fully developed by 1875. The lots near Park Avenue were developed slightly later by Mr. Green who thereby connected Arnold Park to the newly laid out Park Avenue. Note the unusual gate posts and the mall, one of Rochester's first designated landmarks.
.
No. 6 Arnold Park, was the home of Cornelius Parsons when he was elected Mayor of Rochester in 1876. The mansard roof was typical of the era.

3) The Zen Center occupies No.5 Arnold Park (the Johnston House) and No.7 Arnold Park (the Morse House). Almost immediately after the Zen center moved to the Morse House in 1968 it was gutted by fire and had to be entirely rebuilt. One-third of the Johnston House was destroyed by fire in 1972 and it was boarded up for several months. After the Zen Center purchased it from the Third Presbyterian Church, it was rehabilitated and joined to the Morse House with a central entrance hall. Zen Center members have done all the restoration work including the garden which contains a redbud tree said to be the oldest redbud in New York State.
.
No.13 Arnold Park was the residence of George Eastman prior to his move to the Hutchinson House on East Avenue in the 1890's.
.
4) Park Avenue began in the late 1860's as three separate streets, which explains its erratic course9  Park Avenue ran from Alexander to Goodman. Crescent Street, part of the original driving park, ran between Vick Park A and B. Bates Street, named for an early East Avenue resident, ran from Barrington toward Culver Road. By 1875 the three were joined and shortly thereafter the street was renamed Park Avenue.
.
A City Directory in the early 1890's showed a shopping area centered around Meigs Street and Park Avenue which consisted of a variety store, grocery store, barber shop, loan association and a Baptist Church. Today, commercial uses are scattered between Goodman and Meigs Streets, but the main commercial center in this area of Park Avenue is-at the corner of Park and-Goodman.  Current businesses include a gas station, laundromat, grocery store, stereo shop, and a pharmacy which carries the stock of a normal drug store plus clothes  and gourmet cookware.
.
The 1975 Zoning Code states that the basic use of Park Avenue is residential, with the exception of three commercial areas:  (1) the Goodman Street corner,  (2) the Oxford Street corner, and (5) the Berkeley Street corner and the surrounding area. To allow for flexibility of use, a "boutique overlay district" was created which allows for boutiques, antique shops, decorators, small restaurants, artists' studios and galleries, and small stores selling books, clothing, specialty foods, plants, handicrafts, jewelry, and arts and crafts supplies in residential areas. Offices are permitted in certain portions of the street designated 'office overlay district.' Exterior alteration of houses is prohibited.
.
5) Rowley Street, unlike most of the streets in the area, was developed from Monroe Avenue northward, first to Harvard Street and then to Park Avenue by 1875.  Present zoning of Rowley Street is R-4 (medium density residential; no more than 44 units per acre; with a three-story limit). Most houses contain apartments, -note the number of mail boxes and door bells.  Children in this area attend No.15 School, not No. 25 School which we see later on the tour.
.
6) Harvard Street, although named for a developer's brother-in-law not the college, started the adoption of college names for streets in the area. Harvard Street began at Meigs Street in the early 1870's and was gradually extended eastward to Culver Road by 1900.
.
7) Goodman Street, one of the first streets in the area, takes its name from Titus Goodman whose farm stood north of East Avenue. This street was the city limit until 1874. Most of the earliest houses on the street (pre-l85O) have been replaced.
.
8) Brighton Street, was named for the Town of Brighton which began just beyond Goodman Street when the street was laid out in the early 1870's.
.
Brighton Street east of Goodman Street was developed by H. E. Hooker who was in the nursery business.  In l87O, the Hooker Nurseries had over 40,000 hardy rose bushes. However, by the late 1870's there was more money to be made planting houses than planting rose bushes, so Hooker began subdividing his nursery holdings. To add prestige to the development, Oxford Street was laid out "with a magnolia and cambria pine filled mall and Brighton Street was lined with cut-leaf birch trees. All of the houses were designed in the Queen Anne style popular during the 1880's. According to some accounts, all houses in the development had to cost a minimum of $7,000.
.
Brighton Street was to have extended to Barrington Street, but a lawyer named Joseph Taylor persuaded the City to sell him a double lot on Oxford Street where Brighton was to run. His house, which stands at 366 Oxford Street, still includes the double lot.
.
9) Oxford Street, began development from both ends: Nichols Park which started at Monroe Avenue and Wilder Place which started at East Avenue. When the central part of the street was subdivided in the 1870's the street became known as Oxford Street. The central mall, which was developed to match the mall on Nichols Park, is now maintained by the Park-Oxford Neighborhood Association.
.
Present zoning in this area is R-4, like Rowley Street. Many houses have been converted to apartments, but some single-family homes remain. The neighborhood association has been instrumental in eliminating most of the rooming houses on the street.
.
10) Park Avenue and Oxford Street, at this corner is a second small commercial district. The portion of Oxford Street that extends to East Avenue, formerly Wilder Place, was subdivided in the early 1870's by Samuel Wilder, Vice President of the Mechanics Bank, on the rear of his East Avenue estate. The Cenacle Retreat House stands on the site of his mansion.
.
From here to Dartmouth Street, Park Avenue is zoned R-2.
.
11) Vick Park A and B, were originally a driving park laid out by the noted horseman Joseph Hall in 1856.  In 1865, the driving park was purchased by James Vick for use as a seed nursery.  In the early 1870's he subdivided it into modest building lots. Vick himself resided at 12 Vick Park A, (now a city landmark) and retained nursery grounds south of Vick Park B for many years. The curve in Park Avenue at this point is the only reminder of the street's original use.
.
The new townhouses at the corner of Vick Park B were developed by Arun Gade in 1975.
.
12) Thayer Street was subdivided between 1890 and 1922. It is presently zoned R-2.
.
At the corner of Thayer and Westminster is a striking example of redevelopment. 13) 176 Westminster which had been constructed in the 1900's as a three-family dwelling, in 1954 was a twelve-family dwelling (probably twelve studio apartments).  In 1973 and 1974 it sustained extensive fire damage, and demolition hearings were instituted by the city. The building was vacant, except for transient squatters, and was referred-to as the 'Brown Ugly". When the owner was denied permission to erect six new units on the site, he proposed 'restoring' the building to eight units.
.
Finally the building was purchased and restored by Howe Development Corporation, with architect John Fayko.  It contains four luxury apartments.
.
14) Barrington Street, is one of the older streets in the area. originally it ran all the way to Monroe Avenue, along the Erie Canal (now 490). Barrington is presently zoned R-2.
.
15) #23 School (Francis Parker School), celebrated its centennial in 1974. The first building, "the Little Red Schoolhouse", was built on the site of the Star market on Park Avenue, and remained there until 1902. The bell from that school still hangs in the bell tower of the present school. When the original school was destroyed by fire, the new school was built here, in 1902. Notice the appropriate weather-vane.
.
The school has always had an extremely active parent group. Capacity enrollment is 400 students, most of whom walk to school.
.
16) Barrington Mini-Park, at the corner of Park and Barrington, was a bus loop until 1968. The city removed the black-top and put in curbs and sidewalks, and the neighborhood did the rest, aided by matching Federal Beautification Funds. The park has been maintained by the neighborhood since its completion in l974.
.
This section of Park Avenue is zoned R-3.
.
17) 600 Park Avenue was built in 1920 for Alexander Lindsay, for use as a residence. Designed by Carl Schmidt, it is a copy of the Wyck House in Germantown, Philadelphia. For many years, it was Jewett's Dress Shop.
.
The present occupants, Pierce-Brown Associates, Inc. a marketing communications firm, moved into the building in 1974. They had outgrown their Allen's Creek Road offices and wanted to be closer to downtown.
.
18) New development in this area is limited by lack of open space on which to build. Some developers are building on the spacious back lawns of the East Avenue mansions.  One such development is visible through the Star Market parking lot. These new condominiums are located at the rear of 963 East Avenue and were built by Arun Gade. Barrington Park townhouses (to the left) and Parklawn Apartments 602 Park Avenue (to the right) are other examples of "new" development.
.
19) 603 Park Avenue, one of the oldest houses on Park Avenue, was built in the 1860's in what was then the Village of Brighton. The family of an early owner, Albin Geyer, a cabinet-maker, lived in the house-until the 1930's.  It is presently occupied by Vitoch, a decorator.
.
20) 623 Park Avenue, was once the Rochester Telephone Exchange. Since 1960, it has been occupied by Stever's, a candy company.
.
21) Vassar Street, sometimes called 'little Vassar', was a two-way street until the early '70's. When the area was first developed, it was a dead-end street known as Geyer Alley. Here redevelopment and improvement are still taking place. Buildings that were standing burned out or empty a few years ago are now being restored and occupied. many of the properties are better-maintained, and the neighborhood association continues to press for improvement and is trying to change the more recent image of the street.
.
22) Key Drug /Star Market Shopping Center, was first occupied by Hart's Food Store (a forerunner of Star Markets) in the late 1940's. When the Star Market recently remodeled and expanded, Jim Miller's Restaurant, a long-time fixture of the area, moved to Alexander Street. The Edgerton Vassar Neighborhood association maintains the planted area in front of the stores.
.
23) The corner of Park Avenue and Berkeley Street, has always been a commercial area with a variety of enterprises. Marie Baetjer, the florist, has been here since the 1940's, Rasnick's since the early '50's. The Park Avenue Pub and Charlie's Frog Pond opened after a fire in 1972 which destroyed a portion of the block. Lilac Laundromat was expanded and modernized at that time, Jine's Restaurant remodeled and the Rainforest moved here from Park Avenue near Meigs Street.
.
Look up at the roofline of Marie Baetjer, Inc. and you will see a commercial conversion of a house typical of an earlier period. The old house roofline is visible above the street-side store front. This type of conversion is no longer permitted in the boutique overlay district on other parts of Park Avenue.
.
The plantings and brick work were added to this area as a result of the Park Avenue Beautification Project in 1974. Neighborhood groups worked to get Federal Funds for this, and fought for installation of the colonial-style lighting, rather than the proposed "free-way" style high-intensity lighting.
.
Parking space is one of the unsolved problems of the Park Avenue area, as more people from out of the area are drawn by the new stores, restaurants and boutiques. The Star Market lot cannot accommodate them and they seek street parking, which complicates traffic flow (particularly in winter) and occupies parking space used by neighborhood residents. Parking on side streets worries property owners; they feel it detracts from the residential character. The city and the neighborhood associations continue to work on the parking problem.
.
Security Trust opened their branch on this corner in 1974. Beyond their building, under construction on the site of a former gas station, is a 24) new shopping plaza which will contain ten shops and a restaurant. It is being developed by Ted Bunce, owner of the Park Avenue Pub, and Louis Brescia, and designed by Robert Macon. The developers went through the long process of approvals by the Zoning and Preservation Boards before receiving permission to begin construction. Most initial opposition to the plan came because the developers requested a variance to reduce off-street parking requirements.  In response to the opposition the building size was reduced to allow for additional parking. The Preservation Board will have final approval of plantings on the site, all signs, lighting and surface coverings.
.
The Wilson Gallery and Park Printers are among the businesses that have been on this part of Park Avenue for a number of years, but other businesses are newer, for example, those housed in the apartment building at 713 Park Avenue.
.
25) The old Park Avenue Hospital, is at the corner of Brunswick and Park. It was built in 1894 as a proprietary hospital (owned by three doctors) and became a non-profit community hospital in 1921. When it closed in September, 1975 to move to its new suburban facility, many uses for the property were suggested. Most involved use as a high-density residential area; some involved demolishing the building and surrounding structures on Morningside Park. The building was purchased by the Talmudical Institute of Upstate New York for use as a school. The school moved here from Pinnacle Road this year.
.
26) Park Avenue Project, at the corner of Park Avenue and Culver Road, is sponsored by the Immanuel Baptist Church and is a non-profit organization whose activities include concerts, poetry readings, counseling, referral services and community dinners and festivals.