Horses once roved Rochester’s streets en masse. Long before the motorcar came around, horses were the last word in transportation. Versatile, omnipresent, and much-beloved, with these amiable beasts of burden came a number of artifacts for their care and keeping.

Street side, in front of shops and houses, were the site of a number of these equestrian adaptations: horse blocks, also known as carriage blocks or mounting blocks, for helping riders onto horseback or passengers into high-riding carriages; hitching rings and posts for the tying of horses; and watering troughs where the weary equine could enjoy a draught of cool water.

As common as these were, the automobile age would see them disappear rapidly. Increasingly obsolete, these large curbside obstacles of stone, wood, or cast iron would become more of a hazard than anything. Cars would slam into these things almost as a matter of course. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, many of the items would be removed, hauled away to the dump or taken for the scrap metal drives of World War II.

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Hitching Posts

Obviously, when you got to your destination you’d have to tie up your horse to something secure. Ideally, the hitching post was a solid post of wood sunken into the ground, or a block of stone or concrete. Into this post or block would be set a strong ring of iron, onto which a horse’s stays could be securely tied.

In many less rural areas, these were seen as a public service, provided as an alternative to trees or fenceposts which could be damaged by being hitched onto.

The standard cast concrete hitching post of Rochester’s city center can be seen in any number of historical photos, such as this 1909 Albert R. Stone negative depicting Exchange Street at the corner of Court Street; in it are a number of hitching posts, as well as a couple mounting blocks and a line of trolley poles, fellow defunct artifacts of Rochester’s transportation history.

As of the 1910s the tide started turning against horses, and the hitching posts they relied on were viewed as hazards or obstructions to the more ubiquitous motorcar. They began to be removed almost as a matter of course, leading to the inevitable lament in the newspaper:

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Post Depopulation

A growing and modernizing Rochester found the quaint old equestrian trappings of yesteryear to be a clear and present danger to automobile traffic. Public Works Commissioner Harold W. Baker determined it was time for them to go.

Still, despite this campaign of removal, a handful of posts managed to live into the mid-20th century and beyond.

Top-right was one of apparently two twin hitching posts out front of the historical home of George Eastman’s physician, Edward W. Mulligan, No. 788 Avenue. Presumably, one hitching post was outside the East Avenue entrance and the other, at the Merriman Street access.

The bottom-left hitching post and mounting block belonged in front of No. 546 East Avenue, which was the mansion house at the northwest corner of East Avenue and Strathallan Park. This was historically the George H. Thompson home.

Remarkably, the hitching posts and block at No. 546 East Avenue would last until the demolition of the house in 1960:

This corner would go on to become a scene of development drama. Purchased by accountant Oscar S. Block in 1954, a development was planned in the form of offices, but the plan did not come to fruition. Block then planned apartments, and tore down the historic Thompson mansion in 1960, leaving an empty lot. Construction bids were far too high for Block, who pulled out and sold it off.

Over the next ten years, corner would become an overgrown nuisance, and even the scene of a sexual assault in 1968. It would not be until 1975 when it was purchased by Charles Brennick, who built 550 East Avenue, a large high-end apartment building that nobody moved into.

550 East Avenue would be revamped and pivoted to service as a luxury hotel by developers William Sullivan and Edward Plange.

Last but not least, the lower-right hitching post:

These posts stood in front of the former Harrison A. Lyon house at No. 1441 East Avenue, now the Rochester Academy of Medicine. However, they seem to have been removed since.

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Horse Blocks

Often alongside or combined with hitching posts, these were blocks of stone or platforms of wood that helped the rider onto his or her horse, or the passenger of the horse-drawn buggy to alight into the vehicle. Somewhat often, these blocks were old millstones turned on their side, their holes filled in with rubble or concrete.

As convenient as these may have proven for their users, these stones also proved an undeniable hazard. Not being in any way standardized, the blocks were placed at the whim of their owners, often encroaching on the roadway. They would trip pedestrians–particularly the inebriated ones–and would inevitably add injury to any fall in their vicinity. Carriage wheels could catch them and throw an axle, or a caroming team of frightened horses might direct their vehicular charge into the unyielding block of stone. Later on, cars were smashing into these things left and right, both while parking and driving.

The blocks were an opportunity for personalization; one could mark their home with a distinguished engraving or plaque. Below, this mounting block at No. 448 Jay Street has “448” carved into it:

Below, on what is today Winton Road looking north, you can see the horse block of Thomas C. Wilson of Brighton, a nurseryman of renown. The stone is engraved with the words “T. C. WILSON”.

Though it is somewhat macabre, the above image also contains a train at the Winton Road level crossing, the very cause of and site of Wilson’s death. In 1911, Thomas C. Wilson would be struck by the westbound Empire State Express while crossing the tracks that bordered his land.

Horse blocks, particularly wooden ones, were targets of Halloween pranksters. Mischievous groups of youths would move the blocks, or even destroy them. In one case, a wooden horse block was added to a Hallow’s Eve bonfire, along with numerous other stolen wood items.

Apparently, the eve of July 4th would see quite the same form of revelry, with horse blocks taken captive, smashed, or burned.

Still, despite the inconveniences, the horse block represented a physical connection with a disappearing world. Many were loath to have theirs removed, and it was only with great reluctance that the blocks were surrendered during the great horsey-stuff purge of 1931-1938.

Despite this, a handful of horse blocks carried on, even to the present day. Usually, they were associated with an historic house, but sometimes chance just stayed fate’s hand.

According to the below, by 1960 there were surviving blocks at No. 485 East Avenue, No. 8 Sibley Place, Nos. 551 and 625 Mt. Hope Avenue, No. 1308 Park Avenue, No. 197 Culver Road, No. 260 Meigs Street, No. 22 Gardiner Park, No. 2 Rowley Street, No. 96 Chili Avenue, and No. 30 Lake View Park.

Of the blocks listed above, only one seems to have made it to the present day: the one standing before No. 8 Sibley Place:

One of the survivors mentioned in the above 1960 article, the stone in front of No. 197 Culver Road, made it all the way to 1999, when it disappeared under uncertain circumstances:

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Watering Troughs

Most important of all for the well-being of a working horse was hydration, and the watering trough was the go-to solution. The trough could come in many forms, from the crude to the refined: a dug-out log; a box of planks pitched at the seams; a rectangular basin of cast concrete or cut out stone; or a tastefully-designed cast iron trough.

One might even repurpose cast-off granite pieces cut from the columns of a Court House under demolition, as Rochester did in 1894:

One or more of the circular granite blocks from the four pillars of the Second Court House, pictured below, was cut into a watering trough; one of these was placed at the corner of present-day Gregory Street and South Avenue.

In 1910, however, the large trough was removed from the corner of Grand [Gregory] and South Avenue, leaving a small parklet:

However, oddly, a 1920 article describes an escaped patient of the Rochester State Hospital taking a bath in the watering trough at South Avenue and Gregory Street. Was the trough replaced? Did a new trough take its place?

Whether it was the same old trough or a new one is hard to tell from this 1928 picture, but it is round–which makes a good case for it being the original, court house pillar trough.

A prominent, fancy watering trough with a lamp on top was installed at the confluence of Caledonia Street–which became Clarissa Street in 1928–and South Plymouth Avenue.

This large stone basin was bonked by some large truck in the late 1910s and left in a tilted condition:

In the below photo, a horse drinks from one of the remaining troughs on Meigs Street, between the canal bridge to the north and South Clinton Avenue to the south.

Below, another watering trough in Lowell Street, near St. Paul Street.

Sometimes these troughs would be struck by cars, such as this time Frances Pastorillo struck the trough in front of No. 57 Brown Street, a “restaurant” owned by Charles Styles. Styles had just earlier that year been found guilty of running a speakeasy in that location, and agents had confiscated large amounts of illegal alcohol.

Below, James Forest of No. 3 McConnell Place [a defunct street behind the playhouse at Meigs and South Clinton] is double-fisting ice cream cones and literally cooling his heels in a watering trough located at the corner of Meigs Street and South Clinton Avenue.

The same watering trough at South Clinton Avenue is enjoyed by Maxine Voisey and Loraine Smith below:

There were twenty fountains in the city as of 1935.

By 1940, only 18 troughs remained in the city.

Below, three-year-old Ronald Crist of No. 370 Tremont Street took a skinny dip in the Adams and Reynolds Street watering trough:

There was also a watering trough at Reynolds Street and Bartlett Street, which kids also availed themselves of when they wanted an impromptu dip:

In 1947, two more water troughs would be taken away; one at the corner of East Main and Barnum Streets, and another at North and Alphonse Streets.

The next few years would be a veritable massacre of the old watering troughs, as between March of 1948 and the end of 1951, the number would drop from fifteen to four–a full nine terminated troughs.

The trough at North Water and Andrews Street was removed in 1950:

It was suggested by one former elder of Rochester, Amelia Marthage [1868-1956] that the name of Water Street descended from that watering trough:

Also removed in 1950, the trough at West Main and Favor Streets, as well as Hudson Avenue at Kelly Street and, later on, the one at the corner of Anderson Avenue and Delaware Street.

The watering trough at Avenue D and North Clinton Avenue was removed first thing in 1952, leaving only Reynolds and Adams, and two without a water supply, at South and Reservoir and Kent Street near Platt Street.

In the below article, Jim Hardy, who lived at and ran a print shop at No. 87 Reynolds Street expresses concern for the horses in the event the watering trough “just a few feet from his door” should be removed.

In 1958, the watering trough at Reynolds and Adams was at last torn out and taken to the scrap pile, leaving only the semi-functional trough at South and Reservoir Avenues. “Semi” functional in that it still held water, but it was not hooked up to a refreshing water source. This did not keep kids from getting all up in the stagnant water, however. Far from it.

To finish off, because I have been verified as insane by medical science, I have made and embedded a map which I hope will work, showing the locations of all horse watering troughs I have been able to independently verify the existences and locations of, placed as close to their location in history as I was able to discern from newspaper publications and historical photographs. I will be updating this constantly as I find new information, so if you find one I missed, let me know.

Enjoy!

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