This is the second part of my presentation, “Lost in Highland Park”, commissioned by the Highland Park Conservancy. I presented this at their annual meeting on April 29th, 2026, and have been posting the contents piecemeal via this blog. You may click the following link to access Lost in Highland Park Pt. 1: The Foreman’s House.

As noted in the prior issue, these blog entries ought to have more precise, correct, and up-to-date information than that which was given in the talk; while for the most part it’s the same, I’ve corrected any errors I made, added some materials I’ve found since, and also included sources which weren’t able to be shared in the presentation format.

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Houses on Highland Ave.

In 1893, a triangular segment of the former land of David Stanley along Highland Avenue was purchased by the city, and part of this was used for new water supply infrastructure in Highland Park, such as a new gatekeepers’ dwelling [which I’ll touch upon in a future post]. In exchange for this, former water works department lands were given over to the parks commission, and made part of Highland Park.

These lands were along the slope to the south of the reservoir, and on this land a number of structures stood already. Two residential frame homes stood on the north side of Highland Avenue, and behind them a pair of barns. Or two sheds. Or a shed and a barn. Various plans disagree as to the nature of the outbuildings, but they all agree an ice house also stood at the very foot of the hill leading up the reservoir.

The ice house, of course, was used to store ice cut from the surface of the reservoir. This would be used in refectory beverage service and whatever other uses ice could be put to.

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Rerouting Highland Avenue

Between 1918 and 1926, Highland Avenue was rerouted slightly to the south.

Above, one can see on the 1918 Plat Map that Nos. 300 and 310 Highland Avenue were on Highland Avenue proper.

The 1926 plat map shows that Highland Avenue has been diverted southwards, making a dip at the foot of Meadowbrook Road which bypasses the two houses entirely.

A small driveway was constructed to allow access from the two houses to Highland Avenue, as shown in the 1935 plat map below:

Neither of the houses are there anymore, of course. But while they were, they housed some interesting people.

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No. 108/300 Highland Avenue

The further west of the two houses, this is the only one of the two I believe I’ve found a photo of:

One of the first residents of this house was the family of Martin O. Stone.

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Martin O. Stone

Martin O. Stone was born in the town of Greece on July 26th, 1848, then moved to Rochester proper and became associated with the Park Board. He was elected secretary of the board in 1895, and remained as such until retiring in 1913.

He was the great-grandson of pioneer Enos Stone, shown in the below woodcut illustration hunting a bear. In 1808, Enos Stone built a log cabin at what is now the northeast corner of St. Paul and East Main Street.

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Cornelius Sullivan

Cornelius Sullivan was an assistant foreman at Highland Park, about whom I was able to find very, very little. But he lived at No. 108/300 Highland Avenue for a period starting in 1915.

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Kenneth T. Power

Kenneth T. Power was a laborer in the parks; he was a resident at No. 108/300 Highland after Sullivan moved out in 1933.

It was during Power’s tenancy that Councilman Charles Stanton drew fire against the practice of granting houses to certain city employees.

While it was argued that those men who inhabited the houses were on call twenty-four hours and as such deserved the convenient housing, one inhabitant of a Durand-Eastman Park house was the widow of a deceased employee, and two others including Mr. Power were former laborers who no longer worked for the Parks. It was decided to bring actions of eviction against them.

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John W. Guinan

In 1937, No. 300 Highland Avenue would become home to the Guinan family, with John William Guinan, Jr. and his wife, Margaret A. Hughes, as well as their son, George Robert Guinan. Guinan’s father, John William Guinan, Sr., would move in the following year. The senior Guinan’s wife, Catherine E. Farrell, had died in 1912.

Though the directory does not outright say so, John W. Guinan, Jr. appears to have been a worker at Highland Park, based on this account of an accident that names Guinan as “a park worker” and places him on a Park Department wagon on the Pinetum Road in Highland Park.

This 1939 article identifies a thirteen-year-old, George Guinan, as living at No. 300 Highland Avenue. This would be George R. Guinan, son of John W. Guinan, Jr.

George R. Guinan, despite his short stature, would attempt to enlist in the armed forces during World War II, but his efforts were initially stymied by minimum height requirements. Later on, however, the minimum height was lowered, and Guinan was finally able to serve in the Navy, serving about the USS Hornet.

The below article confuses things a little. No. 19 Eckhardt Place was not the home of John W. Guinan, but of a John J. Guinan, who seems to be a different person.

So there’s the pieces of the puzzle, which I think I’ve set in a sensible order, but I may be wrong.

The directories give out at this point, so I’m left with newspapers and maps to figure out the fate of the house.

John W. Guinan, Sr. would die April 3rd, 1947, and buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Sometime between 1947 and 1950, the Guinans would move out of the house and both it and its neighbor to the east would be demolished.

Let’s go now to the easternmost of the two houses, former No. 110 Highland Avenue, later No. 310 Highland Avenue.

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No. 110/310 Highland Avenue

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Thomas Gaffney

Prior to the residency of parks department employees, this would be the home of Thomas Gaffney, an employee of the Mount Hope Cemetery.

Thomas was the brother of Patrick Gaffney, who was a Mt. Hope gravedigger starting in 1866, and ten years later became superintendent of interment there until his 1908 death. Both brothers were immigrants from Ireland.

Sadly, Patrick Gaffney’s son, William Gaffney, would die in a tragic train accident a couple years before Patrick’s own death.

[Part of article excised for content.]

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Robert J. Dukelow

No. 110 Highland Avenue would become the home of Robert J. Dukelow, foreman of the Highland Park Greenhouses, and his father James Dukelow, a laborer.

The below photo is the best photo of Dukelow I could find, during a 1923 spring inspection with John Dunbar, at that time assistant superintendent of parks; Patrick Slavin, at that time foreman; William S. Riley, superintendent of parks; and Thomas P. Maloy, the city forester–a position that was abolished in 1938 after Maloy’s retirement.

Dukelow had a pet dog with three legs, whose name I was unfortunately unable to uncover:

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Claude E. Leake

As of 1925, No. 310 Highland Avenue would become the home of another park foreman, Claude E. Leake.

Leake and another park employee, Edward Le Crois, was driving a parks department truck through Seneca Park on February 18th, 1927 when the vehicle skidded on the path, sliding down a hill and striking a tree. Both men received fractured skulls, which proved fatal to Leake, but from which Le Crois seems to have recovered.

Leake would die at age 30 from injuries received in the crash.

His funeral would be held at No. 310 [formerly 110] Highland Avenue on February 22nd, 1927; over 400 would attend.

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The Domiciles Demolished

I’ve been unable to uncover any specific documentation on the actual demolition of the houses, but the action must have taken place between 1947 and 1950, when the houses were shown papered over on the 1950 Sanborn Map.

Now, where the houses and their outbuildings used to stand, one can’t tell the difference from the surrounding bushes and shrubs on the grassy hillside. The site was likely piled over with a great amount of soil, and flowering bushes planted over it.

The next edition will touch upon the gatekeepers’ dwelling-house by the reservoir. Until then, adieu.

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