Rochester - Rochester Wiki

Rochester skyline as seen from the bikepath near the U of R, 8-2008

Rochester, NY is located in the center of Western New York, the portion of NY which sits atop Pennsylvania. Rochester, NY is home to RocWiki. Census data for 2004 shows Rochester having 212,481 residents living withing the City of Rochester, and a total of 1,037,831 in the Greater Rochester Area.

History ¹

Rochester was incorporated as a city in 1834, primarily on land purchased from the Seneca Indians about 50 years earlier. The Genesee River was the economic engine of the era, powering numerous mills that led to Rochester being labeled the Flour City. Shoe and clothing manufacturing and the nursery industry replaced milling as the economic focal point between 1850 and the turn of the century.

Irish laborers (see Erie Canal) and German tailors and seamstresses comprised a large percentage of the non-native population of the 1800s, but a tidal wave of Italian immigrants began arriving in 1900 and has remained influential since.

Bausch and Lomb and Gleason Tool led the manufacturing charge after the Civil War, but George Eastman's Brownie camera became the single most significant invention of the region and spurred substantial job growth until the Great Depression made photography too much of a luxury for the common man. But World War II created a need for optics, precision grinding and other manufacturing, and then came the introduction of the Xerox copier by Haloid.

The end of the war was also the start of suburban growth. The city's population loss was initially offset by the migration of blacks from the south in search of manufacturing jobs. But hand-in-hand with that came stress on the infrastructure — housing, schooling and medical services — and Rochester was slow to react. According to the PBS Documentary July '64, Rochester's major employers refused to hire or promote African-Americans, despite record low unemployment rates.

Three days of riots broke out in July 1964, resulting in four deaths and numerous arrests. Saul Alinsky, an organizer of note according to some and a rabble-rouser according to others, soon arrived and the FIGHT organization (Freedom, Independence, God, Honor, Today) brought forth gifted black leaders including the Rev. Franklin Florence and Dr. Bernard Gifford.

William A. Johnson Jr. became the city's first black mayor in 1994, stepping into a most challenging era for Rochester. Kodak has shriveled to a mere shell of its old self, overwhelmed by complacency in the early days of the digital photography boom.

Random bits:

The Genesee River gave us power for flour mills
The Erie Canal gave us a way to deliver flour, greatly helping Rochester's growth.
Flour milling became the first important industry and thus the Flour City nickname.
Rochester holds the Lilac Festival in Highland Park to the attention of over 100,000 people from all over the world
Rochester was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
The principal source of the city's water is Hemlock Lake, which the city owns.
We also get water from Lake Ontario (which with Buffalo upstream on Lake Erie is not cool).
Average snowfall is around 95.0 inches.
July’s are usually in the 70’s ºF and February’s around 20’s ºF. Though we can easily hit both of those in one day.
The city has almost 50,00 families residing within its limits.
The population density is 6,000 people per square mile.
There are 90,000 households out of which

30.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them
25.1% are married couples living together
23.3% have a female householder with no husband present
47.0% are non-families.
37.1% of all households are made up of individuals
9.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older.
Average household size is 2.36 and the average family size is 3.19.

We have 11 public libraries, 2 main police stations and 16 fire stations.
For every 100 females there are 87.3 males.

Principal Suburbs:

Greece, Gates, Chili, Henrietta, Brighton, Irondequoit, Pittsford, Perinton, East Rochester, Fairport, Penfield, Webster, and Victor.

See also:

More Info:

This whole site is about Greater Rochester so head on over to the homepage and check out what people are saying.

Comments:

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OK, gang. I've taken a first shot at this entry, but it still amounts to little more than deck chairs on the Queen Mary. Please add some size, shape and direction to it. I'll be more than happy to make passes through it from time to time to flesh out any sketchy thoughts/outlines. — [JohnMoriello]

2005-10-14 14:59:45 hmm, I'll try to gather some basic, current information from the city website and the county —RossHattori

2007-06-21 10:50:19 Need some stuff about ~~Seth~~ Ebenezer Allen. He was the first permanent white settler in what is now downtown Rochester. Arch Merrill's Sketchbook has been digitzed. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nymonroe/book/sketchbook-1.htm—CarolLucky

1See Also: Past Events.