_{Updated September 24th, 2026.}

Odd things draw my eye for unusual reasons when I’m reading through historical newspapers. Sometimes it causes me to delve into a topic I otherwise would have overlooked. For example, this entry started when I came across a familiar name among newspaper ads–John Vanderslice.

That happens to be the name of a favorite musician of mine. Obviously, it wasn’t the same guy, but it intrigued me enough to want to learn more about him. Researching Vanderslice introduced me to an aspect of historic city life I’d never deeply considered before; the popular oyster bar, which enjoyed its heyday in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s and 1890s.

John Vanderslice was a well-known oyster bar proprietor, having followed the footsteps of his father Jacob Vanderslice into the business. Though the shellfish eatery may have been Vanderslice’s meal ticket, it would also lead to a somewhat ironic downfall.

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Jacob A. Vanderslice

Jacob Vanderslice, a born Philadelphian, came to Rochester around 1887 to ply his trade as an oyster house proprietor. His first oyster house was opened at No. 10 Cortland Street with his son, John S. Vanderslice. The location was in the rear of the Schleyer Building, where Joseph Schleyer’s Sons had their meat market.

This location was part of what is now known as the famous “Parcel 5”, the former Midtown Plaza plot which recently has been designated a permanent green space.

Finding the location to be too cramped, the Vanderslices moved their business to No. 5 North Avenue, across from the Triangle Block.

“The Philadelphia Oyster House” was the name of Vanderslice’s oyster house at No. 5 North Avenue. He lived at No. 278 East Main Street, an apartment in an adjacent building to the business.

The location of the Philadelphia Oyster House at No. 5 North Avenue and Vanderslice’s boarding space would both eventually be replaced with the Sibley building. North Avenue itself would be truncated, and the street which the oyster house would have faced became a pedestrian plaza for the Liberty Pole.

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Boston & Vanderslice

The location at No. 5 North Avenue was sold in 1889, whereupon Jacob Vanderslice went into business with William Boston, former proprietor of Buckley’s Oyster House on St. Paul Street. Together they opened an oyster parlor at No. 252 East Main Street.

The address for Boston & Vanderslice’s shell oyster parlor given above is wholly inaccurate. The actual location was No. 252 East Main Street, not No. 242. The confoundment is compounded by No. 242 actually being the “Jordan Block” as identified in the article.

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Salty the Horse

Jacob Vanderslice was also an avid follower of horse-racing, having ownership of a racing horse named “Salty” as well as one or two others. His horses ran at the old Driving Park racecourse, at Geneva, and various other racetracks.

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Jacob’s Death

Come the 1910s, Jacob Vanderslice’s health was beginning to fail. In 1913, while living at No. 779 Harvard Street, Vanderslice suffered a massive heart attack while viewing a film, during which he also fell and injured himself.

Jacob Vanderslice was able to remain in business, even opening a new Vanderslice restaurant location with his son and a business partner, Thomas S. Reese, at No. 78 West Main Street, in 1917. However, two years after that, he would die after a weeklong bout of pneumonia.

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John Springer Vanderslice

John Springer Vanderslice–his middle name after his mother’s maiden name–was born in Philidelphia and followed his father Jacob to Rochester NY, where he engaged in the shellfish and seafood trades as well. The popularity of Jacob and John’s seafood establishments made the Vanderslice name synonymous in Rochester with fine oysters.

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No. 6 Franklin Street

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No. 78 West Main Street

After a brief stint around 1913 serving seafood at the Triangle Cafe–most likely while the statue of Joe Wood stood out front–John S. Vanderslice joined his father Jacob and restaurateur Thomas S. Reese in conducting a new oyster house at No. 78 West Main Street.

Intriguingly, the location at No. 78 West Main Street seems to have been in the Wegman Building, which the Public Library’s Local History blog very recently covered in exhaustive depth.

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Vanderslice & Reese

As of 1917, Vanderslice was in business with Thomas S. Reese, under the style of Vanderslice & Reese Shell Oyster and Sea Food Parlors, located at No. 78 West Main Street.

Thomas S. Reese was himself a veteran oysterman, having begun his career in Rochester restaurants in 1885. His first restaurant was Ocean & Reese.

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The Fatal Slice

Pearls weren’t the only thing to be found unexpectedly in the tightly-clamped shell of an oyster. Lurking in the bivalve is also the potential for horrific infection, for lingering illness–for untimely death.

The unfortunate John S. Vanderslice stumbled upon this potential quite accidentally. He was working at opening oysters for the wholesale seafood market of a Mr. Louis Young at No. 114 West Main Street. A large and painful blister had formed on the palm of his hand from the repetitive work, which in time burst open, filling with the fluids of shellfish and setting in motion the fateful infection which would eventually claim his life.

Some of the descriptions to follow are not for the squeamish. I’m squeaming just clipping them.

John Vanderslice died in 1920, leaving his wife Lillian. They had no children.

Judging by the above, one would assume Vanderslice’s widow Lillian remarried to John Patrick Ryan, whose name is also inscribed on the headstone. However, records seem to indicate that Lillian did not remarry, keeping the Vanderslice surname and his former home at No. 106 Cortland until her death in 1963.

So, in short, I have no idea how John P. Ryan fits into the picture, nor why he’s inscribed on their headstone.

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Bennett & Reese’s “Vanderslice”

Not long after John Vanderslice’s death, Thomas S. Reese took on proprietorship of the Vanderslice restaurant with a new partner, John S. Bennett. [It seems almost as if he put out an ad looking for another “John S.” to take over for the dead one.]

Bennett and Reese would carry on the oyster house under the Vanderslice name until Reese’s own death in 1925.

After Reese’s death, John S. Bennett ran the oyster house under his own name as Bennett’s Oyster House.

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Bennett’s Oyster House

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Wegmans Acquisiton

In the late 1920s, Wegmans purchased the West Main building and undertook a massive renovation.

In 1934, Wegmans market purchased the Bennett oyster house, making it into a seafood restaurant with Bennett’s name still upon it.

Legendary gourmand “Diamond” Jim Brady, famed for his insatiable appetite, was purportedly among the guests who dined at Bennett’s Oyster House during its day.

With that, the famed Vanderslice family of oyster houses became no more than a seafood department of a growing grocery store chain. Once synonymous with the finest seafoods in Rochester, the Vanderslice name slipped into historical obscurity. There are none living in our present-day city who have ever enjoyed the shellfish offerings of the two vaunted Vanderslices of yesteryear.

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