Category: Streets
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Updated September 19th, 2026 Every now and then, I come across names of streets which have long ceased to be. Sometimes those streets literally stopped existing; other times, they were devoured by larger, more traffic-heavy streets; sometimes, they were simply renamed. So it was when I was stumbled upon several entries in 1830s Rochester city…
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A small thing with which we are familiar, the “traffic island” was once a novelty. As automobile traffic became more and more prevalent, streets and intersections became increasingly hostile environments for pedestrians. Similar to the situation around the Traffic Towers, Rochester’s traffic specialists would have their eye on advancements in traffic management tried in other,…
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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…
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The crazy thing about time is that it can hide an entire building. A big old brick building on the corner, dwelling place of many and site of shops frequented by many more, can be utterly obscured by history’s shroud. How? All it takes is absence: no camera pointed that direction, no images kept in…
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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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Updated September 18th, 2026. Since last time we did the northeast corner of East Main Street and Culver, why not do the even more historic northwest corner, just across Culver Road. This started out as the very old and rustic farmstead of the Schanck family, a prominent pioneer family whose Brighton home was early gobbled…
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On the northeast corner of East Main and Culver, there is now a McDonald’s. Yes, classy, I know; that’s not the thrust of this article, though. What’s really in question, as per most Gonechester articles, is what came before, and how it came to be, in the end, a McDonald’s. At the outset of its…
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If you’re a Rochesterian, there is one crucial aspect without which no picture of daily life is fully rendered; a familiar and frustrating piece of the Rochester experience that can’t be left aside. I’m speaking, naturally, of snow and its removal, which you may have gleaned from the title. Rochester has long been gifted with…
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Last time we went into the history of one corner of East Main Street and Elm with the entry Before Midtown; let us now cross over Elm Street to another history-rich lot of land. Vaguely triangular in shape, this expensive lot of commercial real estate was once the site of Rochester’s most prominent homes. For…