Browse Items (18 total)

Photograph from a now-defunct news service company shows the High Falls area of Genesee River. At right we see the Gorsline Building that housed three main manufacturing operations at this time: Williams, Hoyt & Co. (a maker of shoes); the Rochester…

Somewhat idealized view of Rochester's High Falls has cattle grazing peacefully in the foreground of this print. The "Mercury" statue at rear center, however, dates the scene after 1881--which is when the Kimball Tobacco Factory commissioned it. By…

Wide-angle panorama of looks west where the Erie Canal crosses the aqueduct at present-day Broad Street. Its course points toward the tower of Rochester's city hall. Directly across the Genesee we see factory of Cluett Peabody & Co., manufacturer of…

Overlooking Lake Ontario, this amusement park has remained in operation since its opening in 1879--making it America's fourth-oldest such operation. It originated as a trolly destination in an era without air conditioning; temperatures due to the…

At the time of this photograph in the early 1900s, Rochester's public market had been in operation for more than seventy years. Initially located on Main Street just west of the Genesee River, it opened in 1827 and then moved to its current location…

Five miles downstream from here, the Genesee River empties into Lake Ontario at Charlotte, and the base of the falls has been a major spawning ground for salmon and lake trout until non-native fish like the alewife reduced their numbers. The…

A mile and a half downstream from Rochester's Upper Falls (later, "High Falls"), its Middle Falls originally had a height of 25 feet and were featured in Thomas Davies' 1768 engraving of the area. Here, we see one of two masonry dams built at the…

Following the success of George Eastman's introduction of affordable cameras, the company's manufacturing infrastructure expanded rapidly. Postcard announces Rochester company as the "largest industry of its kind in the world." At its height in the…

At nearly 100 feet in height, the "High Falls" were a determining factor in the location of Rochester. Mills took advantage of the drop and the Genesee River's water flow in the form of mills, beginning in 1807 and especially in the years following…

South Park, later taking its current name of Genesee Valley Park, was one of the last designed by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted prior to his retirement. Work began in 1888, and in 1893 he suggested keeping a flock of sheep on its west…