Category: Buildings
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I love tiny places. Small buildings, itty-bitty cafes, pubs and bars, wee ickle shops and teensy pocket parks. Far from being claustrophobic, I find that these finite spaces encourage the fullest use of every inch, from efficiency of purpose to expressiveness of décor. And, in many cases, it forces one to keep in touch with…
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This entry is a bit of a departure; while usually I’m plumbing pretty deeply into the past and drawing up places long gone patronized by persons long dead, this time I’m dropping my line into the shallower end of history’s fishpond. Come with me back to a cozy and familiar café in the heart of…
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When I first began speaking with Lisa Kleman about our respective family histories and their mutual experience as immigrants in Rochester, I was struck by how similar the story of Kleman’s immigrant ancestor was to my own. Both Kleman and I are present-day representatives of the family lines of two determined German men, who came…
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An unsung but prevalent industry in Rochester’s history was, believe it or not, the mass production of pipe cleaners. Yes, those fuzzy pieces of wire that kindergarteners make crafts out of. The oft-repeated wisdom on Rochesterian pipe cleaners is that John Harry Stedman and business partner Charles Angel patented the fuzzy pipe cleaner, a patent…
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Content warning: this entry contains references to killing birds. If it helps, nobody manages it very effectively. It was the spring of the year 1900, and a strange new bird had been spotted flitting around the streets of Rochester. The unfamiliar avian was black and shiny, whistling a merry tune, and perching atop streetcar wires.…
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The first public timepiece in Rochester, NY was a sun-dial which stood in the yard between the Presbyterian church and the first court house, on the east side of Fitzhugh Street. A wooden upright in the shape of a Latin cross, it was affixed at a forty-five degree angle to a base made from an…
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Sign of the STEAMING tea-kettle. The word caught my eye. “Steaming”. Did the tea kettle actually steam? I had to know more. Why, you ask? If you’re a regular reader, I admonish you; you should know better than to ask me why I need to know more. That’s what this is all about. If this…
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There are views of Rochester NY that our ancestors took for granted. Peering from atop some long-lost building or since-dismantled bridge. The balcony of the Elwood building, the catwalk structures clinging to the sides of the Main Street Bridge, places where now only a talented drone-pilot could take a shot. Imagine yourself on an iron…
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Content Warning: This post regards manslaughter; historical sources are shared that get somewhat grisly in places. It’s Halloween, what can I say? Read at your own discretion. Our scene opens on the dusty urban corner of Market and Front Streets, in the 1870s. In a squat brick building, a small hotel and saloon is being…
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