Category: Disasters
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Every young city lived in fear of fire. Old wood houses were a veritable tinderbox, and there was no dearth of combustion sources; this was an age of wood- and coal-fired ovens, of gas lamps, of railroads putting off sparks, of incautious industry tossing smoldering, chemical garbage into the dumps. These were times when oily…
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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…
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Back in the early days of Rochester, the number one enemy was fire. Constant vigilance, careful preparation, and good communication are the watch-words for fire prevention and many of these practices were honed in the hectic tinderboxes that was the 19th century city. Downtown, mills factories and forges stood shoulder-to-shoulder with apartments, houses and saloons;…
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For ninety-two years there stood in the heart of downtown a four-storey brick-and-stone structure with a carved stone front. The idea of a custom carved stone front to your business impresses me: it tells me either you expect your business to last so long as to make it a worthwhile long-term investment, or your business…
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Even the gaps have history. Meandering among the crumbling stone and brick edifices of Rochester’s old industrial heart, it can be easy to forget that what we see is but a tiny sampling of the rambling mills and smoke-puffing factories that once crammed these riverside lots with bustling productivity. For every stone façade still standing,…
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Few sights are more familiar to the Rochesterian than the Liberty Pole. A central spot of celebration and of protest, people have loved and hated this iconic structure since it was erected in 1965. However, this famous Liberty Pole was not the first liberty pole to stand on this spot. Apparently it’s the third, albeit…
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While I was researching another topic, I came across these photos of a diver in old-school diving gear working in the Genesee river. There were only two photos in the collection, but my curiosity was piqued! I wanted to know more! So I did a bit of a deep dive on this guy–pun intended! Haha!…