Category: Events
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The old and venerable Blossom Hotel stood on the north side of Main Street, near the corner of St. Paul Street. A respite for travelers along road or canal, the Blossom Hotel enjoyed a high profile reputation. Wamsley Brothers was comprised of Joseph, Thomas, and Edward Wamsley, milliners and silk merchants. The Wamsleys moved their…
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This is a repost of the original 2025 post: [https://gonechester.com/2025/01/06/twelfth-night-bonfires/] Starting in the early 1930s, there was a revival in the celebration of Twelfth Night–or the twelfth day after Christmas–on January 6th by building a massive bonfire of old Christmas trees, wreaths, and laurels. An old custom, its renewal was inspired by local artist George…
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The familiar present-day greenspace of Parcel 5 on East Main Street, between Cortland Street and Andrew Langston Way, was a commercial and recreational hotspot since the 1840s. While in living memory this space held McCurdy’s–and, notably, the Midtown Plaza of which McCurdy’s comprised a large part–that was but the most recent of the decades of…
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Death is deep. Deeper, even, than the grave. Long after their lives have ended, the remains and memories of the dead are still in the care of the living–and often left to specific individuals. An immense amount of trust is placed in the hands of the grave-keepers and cemetery sextons; they are tasked with maintaining…
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Once upon a time, Brighton was home to a settlement of Dutch immigrants, poetically called the “Dutch Settlement”. A transplanted slice of old Holland, the settlement was noted for its Dutch cultural flavor; neat little houses stood shoulder-to-shoulder surrounded by gardens full of vegetables all in rows. The Dutch, gifted in gardening and horticulture, tended…
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Way back in March, the Pittsford Community Library asked if I would like to put together a presentation about the history of the Pittsford Community Library, and its various sites throughout time. This was to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the present-day library building, built and opened twenty years ago in 2005. Of course, I…
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August 14th, 1947, was a hot day. The masonry was baking like it was back in the kiln, and down on the street the temperature was merciless. The heat kept building, and building, all throughout the day. And then, just a few minutes after six o’clock in the evening, it collapsed. In the blind attic…
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Is there a Green Street in Rochester? Once upon a time, there was! The name never made it past the 19th century, but the thoroughfare technically still exists: over the decades, it morphed into South Clinton Avenue south of Howell Street. But to start, it was a simple street laid out between Jackson Street [Capron…
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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…