Before its annexation by the City of Rochester in 1904, the intersection of East Avenue and Winton Road [at that time known as North and South Avenues] was the center village of Brighton, the heartbeat of its folksy commercial and social life. With its close proximity to the old course of the Erie Canal, this area was prime real estate for hotel and boarding businesses. One such hotel, which came to be known most famously as the East Avenue Hotel, stood directly on the northeast corner of East Avenue and Winton Road, where now stands a Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Burgers restaurant.

This successful hotel was erected upon ground that once held a simple schoolhouse, wherein the Brighton Church was first organized:

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Leonard S. Case

The proprietor of the hotel as of the 1872 Map of Brighton was Leonard S. Case:

It would have been in 1880–roughly eight years after the date of the above map–that the original gable roof of the hotel was replaced with a mansard roof and dormer windows.

The two-tiered porch of the East Avenue Hotel can be seen in the below 1890 photograph of canal work; the view faces north on what is now Winton Road, with the East Avenue intersection in the background. To the left, the building with a bell tower is a fire station, housing Actives No. 1; to the right, the bridge carrying South Avenue [Winton Road] over the canal.

The building with the mansard roof and two porches marked in red below is the East Avenue Hotel:

I have marked the approximate location from which the photograph was taken in green on the 1902 map below:

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Sheehan-Darby Era

Leonard S. Case would sell the hotel to Brighton hoteliers Michael and Mary Sheehan, whose family was well-known in Brighton for the keeping of inns; their son, Daniel F. Sheehan, was proprietor of the popular old “Chateau” on Winton Road and Monroe Avenue.

After their proprietorship, Michael and Mary Sheehan would pass the East Avenue Hotel along to a daughter, Elizabeth M. Sheehan, and her husband John James Darby. After Elizabeth’s death in 1937, J. J. Darby operated the small hotel until 1941.

Most appearances of the hotel in the papers were due to fire, naturally; the hotelier’s worst enemy. Already a massive risk due to the heating technologies in that day of age, you also had the added treat of guests doing asinine things with fire, sight-unseen. I’m sure canal-boat men were extra conscientious about extinguishing their pipes and cigars before passing out for a drunken night’s sleep at the flophouse…

One can see between the 1910 and 1918 plats that a brick extension has been built to the north of the hotel, along the east side of Winton Road.

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Patrick S. Crough

In 1941, John J. Darby sold the hotel to Patrick S. Crough; Crough would operate the inn through the 1940s. His daughter, Evangeline, would in 1996 write to the Democrat & Chronicle seeking a good photograph of the East Avenue Hotel.

A human interest piece about birthdays, below, gives us a glimpse into the family of Patrick S. Crough, including an infant photo of Evangeline “Vangie” Crough, who would later request photos of the East Avenue Hotel. Unfortunately, Patrick does not himself appear in a photo.

Judging by the address of No. 181 East Avenue given in the above article, the Crough family would have lived at the time in the Davenport Apartments, a building which is no longer extant, formerly at the corner of East Avenue and Broadway [formerly William Street.] The corner is now a corner of the Channel 10 building, No. 191 East Avenue.

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1955 Raid

On January 21st, 1955, a room in the East Avenue Hotel was raided by the police under suspicion of being headquarters to a “Lucky Roll-Off” numbers game.

This event had the silver lining of providing an excellent, clear photo of the hotel, albeit late in its life:

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East Avenue Sterling Diner

As one can see from the above 1950 map, the old hotel has gained a new and unusual neighbor. No. 1860 East Avenue, formerly a frame house belonging to Brighton pioneer Henry John Perrin and his progeny, was torn down sometime before 1944 to make way for this delightfully retro modular Sterling Streamliner diner, the Sterling Diner:

Located roughly where the ass-end of Wendy’s now sits, this charming Sterling Streamliner was of the sort produced by the J.B. Judkins Company of Merrimac, Massachusetts.

Eventually, this location would become one of Abe Becker’s Big Boy franchises.

The Sterling Diner would close, auction off its assets, and be torn down in 1972:

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1965: Final Check-out

Come 1965, the contents of the East Avenue Hotel were auctioned out piecemeal in preparation for the razing of the structure, evidently for replacement with a Humble Oil Company gas station.

In recognition of the hotel’s long history, the Brighton-Pittsford Post published an article going into great detail about its history, from which I drew some facts and confirmed others. The only fact I was unable to confirm was the mention of the J. E. Campbell Hotel on an 1852 map, which I presume refers to Brown’s 1852 Map of Monroe County; however, the scale of the map in that area seems to preclude that level of detail, and I don’t see the name J. E. Campbell anywhere. Either I’m looking at the wrong map, or former Brighton historian Margaret MacNab is wrong which seems fairly unlikely.

Anyways, now that I’ve explained my ignorance and failure, let’s get to the article:

Turns out I’ve not been the only one looking out for photos of this long-gone establishment. In 1996–which I guess is nearly 30 years ago itself, goodness!–Evangeline Crough Magliocco, daughter of former proprietor Patrick S. Crough, wrote to Carol Ritter as part of her quest to find a photo of the old East Avenue Hotel:

As you may have noticed, Carol Ritter in her inerrant wisdom identified the northeast corner of Winton and East as being the “northwest” corner while presumably having access to a map. It’s this sort of accuracy I’ve come to rely on from the D&C and its editorialists.

Despite this call for photos, I was unable to find any published follow-up. Presumably any response was sent directly to Magliocco, but I’d also like to see the nice photos!

And that leaves us at the present day, looking at yet another Wendy’s burger restaurant. Between this location and the previous Wendy’s lot we’ve examined, it seems innocent-looking burger franchises cap off quite a lot of history! From this day forward, I won’t be able to see a fast food joint without thinking, hey, maybe a century of noteworthy events is buried under that drive-thru! And if I find out that’s the case, I’ll make sure to pass it on to you, my constant and few readers.

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