I’m probably going to take a lot of heat from people for the comparison I’m about to draw, but hear me out first. Then you can tell me that I’m being overly dramatic. Here it goes…
The photo above was taken last week in Xiazhangyang, China. This is the home of Luo Baogen and his wife. When the Chinese government offered them 260,000 yuan ($41,573 U.S.) to vacate their home so a new highway could be built, the elderly couple refused the offer…
This Wednesday night, SyFy Channel will air a new episode of Ghost Hunters featuring Rochester’s Rundel Library (and possibly the subway tunnel). Sally Snow, Assistant Director at Monroe County Library, says the show approached them initially about the abandoned Rochester subway. “As scary as the subway is, the library is where the real haunting action is,” Snow said. “All I can say is that they found stuff, for sure. I can’t say what until the show airs.”
The Ghost Hunters team spent two full nights investigating the tunnels and the Rundel building. Sally says she’s never experienced paranormal activity in the library first hand, but she has seen security camera footage of a door opening and closing by itself. “This is a door that usually requires a really good tug to get it open. It’s very strange.”
Now personally, I’m not saying I believe in this stuff, but here’s the story of one mysterious death which occurred on this very spot in 1902…
Last week we explored some of the caves in Rochester’s Genesee River gorge. While digging around for information about Lower Falls, I came across some great stuff on the nearby Driving Park Bridge. The bridge that you know today was built in 1989. But the previous bridge (shown above) had been there for nearly 100 years. That’s pretty remarkable when you consider its length of 717 feet, the icy Rochester weather, and the relentless spray from the Lower Falls below. Be sure to click on the image above for a much larger view. And check out the link at the end of this article to watch the explosive demolition of the old steel bridge in the 1980’s…
Just when I think I’ve done everything there is to do in Rochester, I discover another little hole in the wall. Literally. Check out these photos of what is unofficially known as “Rico Cave” near Lower Falls…
This little tree caught my attention yesterday on State Street downtown. First of all, it’s wearing a totally rad sweater. But also, this tree has been buttoned up for a good cause. I totally dig stuff like this…
I know I keep coming back to this over and over and over again. But I just can’t believe we intentionally reduced this once world-class rail station to rubble only so we could pay tens of millions 50 years later in an attempt to build a much smaller and less impressive imitation of what we once had.
I’m not going to say much more about it. I just wanted to share these recently found photos of Rochester’s half-demolished NY Central (Bragdon) Station. Like a decapitated, rotting corpse left to rot in public as a reminder of a brutal ‘auto’cracy. Most of the building was torn down in the 1960’s but one section stood like this for over a decade before it was finally removed altogether and replaced with the current Amtrak building in the mid to late 70’s. Oy, how painful…
The former Midtown Plaza site contained eight office buildings, an indoor shopping mall, Greyhound/Trailways bus station, and three levels of under-ground parking. Today, this nearly nine-acre, City-owned super-block is sloooowly being transformed…
About a month ago, someone set up a petition in opposition to a plan to demolish 660 West Main Street (formerly Westminster Presbyterian Church) and to prevent the building of a Dollar General in its place. The owner of the petition is using “Susan B. Anthony” as an alias. And this week “Susan B. Anthony” sent me a plea for help via email…
First, a little bit of history. The building shown above was one of Rochester’s earliest rail stations. Make sure you click to see all the great detail in the photo. It was located on Central Avenue between St. Paul & Clinton near the site of the current Amtrak Station. This view is looking west from Clinton Avenue, sometime between 1905-1914. In 1914 this station was replaced by the great Bragdon station in 1914, which was demolished in 1965…
The I-Square project which was widely celebrated when it was announced last year has gotten tangled up in “negotiations” over local tax deals. Mike & Wendy Nolan want to invest $13 million to build a 7-building project including a new street, sidewalks and outdoor stage / “town square” area. They say they need a 25 PILOT agreement in order to be able to afford to build and maintain the project they’ve proposed. The Town of Irondequoit have offered a 10 year PILOT. Both sides seem to have dug in their heals. Today the Nolan’s posted a video on YouTube to explain (in detail) their 25 Year PILOT proposal “so that any questions can be answered and any misconceptions cleared up.” Watch the video…
Perhaps my favorite site on the great big internet (besides this one of course) is TED.com . Originally begun in California, TED is a not-for-profit foundation whose sole mission is simply to “Spread Good Ideas to the World.” Much of its content is offered free online, and every 18-minute TED talk is billed as an “idea worth spreading.” A few years ago, Tony Karakashian, Gary Jacobs, and Amanda Doherty began TEDx Rochester , a local offshoot of TED…
Earlier this week a collection of photos of Rochester’s RKO Palace Theater was discovered thanks to the Rochester Theater Organ Society. Mixed in with those RKO Palace photos were a few interior shots of Rochester’s other lost movie palace… Loew’s Theater. So I thought it only fair to shine the spotlight on this one too. Loew’s Theater also happened to be on Clinton Avenue, just four or five blocks south of the RKO. Xerox Tower now occupies the spot. Take a look…
A few weeks after we discovered the RKO Palace Theater floor at the site of RGRTA’s future transit center, Russ Shaner, president of the Rochester Theater Organ Society contacted me. These were the guys who saved the old Wurlitzer pipe organ from the RKO Palace before the building was demolished. And as it turns out, one of their founding members, D.O. Schultz, captured a treasure trove of photographs and left them with the Organ Society before he moved to Florida years ago. Russ asked RochesterSubway.com for help, both archiving the photos, and sharing them with you, the public. Yesterday you saw part 1, and now, here is part 2 of this awesome collection…
A few weeks after we discovered the RKO Palace Theater floor at the site of RGRTA’s future transit center, Russ Shaner, president of the Rochester Theater Organ Society contacted me. These were the guys who saved the old Wurlitzer pipe organ from the RKO Palace before the building was demolished. And as it turns out, one of their founding members, D.O. Schultz, captured a treasure trove of photographs and left them with the Organ Society before he moved to Florida years ago. Russ asked RochesterSubway.com for help, both archiving the photos, and sharing them with you, the public. Below is part 1 of this awesome collection…
J. Frank O’Connor, known by his clients and friends as “Scrappy” O’Connor, was a merchant tailor. After a long weekend of partying, he would be murdered during a drunken battle in his office (shown above) on the second floor of Rochester’s Sibley Building. O’Connor’s body was found about 6:00 p.m., Monday, August 28, 1922. These are actual crime scene photos by Albert R. Stone…
In case you haven’t heard, plans for a transit center at University of Rochester’s College Town have been scrapped. The project is set to receive $20 Million in public loans but the D&C reported that plans for an enclosed transit center—which would have had 10 to 12 bus bays—no longer fits the developers’ needs.
The image above was printed in the Rochester Herald on October 10, 1908. This was Main Street looking east from the Four Corners on a busy day in October. The sidewalks are thronged with pedestrians. Several traffic police are standing at various spots in the intersection. A cluster of westbound trolleys, one labeled “Plymouth” and the other “Saratoga”, have stopped in their tracks. A few people are waiting to board, and others are crossing the street in front of the stopped cars. Several wagons, some covered, are traveling along the street. But then the trolley tracks were ripped up…
At one of the Greentopia films a few weeks ago my ears caught the sweet sounds of Cammy Enaharo and I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling since. Cammy, 20, is from Rochester… so I admit I may be a little biased. But give her music a listen and I think you’ll agree, this girl is going places…
RochesterSubway.com has been nominated for Best Local Blog of 2012. If you’d like to cast your vote, simply fill out City Newspaper’s Final Ballot before October 3 (5pm) and select “RochesterSubway.com” for question #66.
Many people have been asking why Tom Selleck of the classic TV drama Magnum P.I. has been campaigning for RochesterSubway. Tom held a press conference at Letchworth State Park this weekend to answer these questions…
Often times while I’m doing research for a story, I’ll stumble upon something new and get completely sidetracked. Today I was digging for information on the Academy Building when I found the image above. It’s a shot of the Rochester Savings Bank building located at the corner of West Main and Fitzhugh. The Academy Building is to the immediate left of the bank. But forget the buildings for now. Do you see that strange little man standing in the lower left corner of the photo? That was actually a drinking fountain named Cogswell…
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![A car stops beside a house in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling, Zhejiang province, November 22, 2012. [PHOTO: REUTERS/China Daily]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/china-highway-built-around-house-1.jpg)
![Rico Cave in the Genesee River gorge near Lower Falls. [Flickr PHOTO: bobbybeans]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-rico-cave-bobbybeans-1.jpg)
![Rochester's NY Central (Bragdon) Station half demolished, c.1970? [PHOTO VIA: John R. Stewart]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-bragdon-station-demolition-1.jpg)
![New York Central Railroad Station c.1905-1914 [PHOTO: Detroit Publishing via Library of Congress]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-ny-central-railroad-station.jpg)
![Loew's Rochester Theatre, Rochester. On the marquee: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, Maria Dressler in “Anna Christie” and on stage Barto and Mann, Harry Girard’s Ensemble, and A. Robbins. Photo by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann. April 26, 1930. [PHOTO: George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann. Via Brad Smith's Flickr Stream]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/loews-theater-rochester-01.jpg)
![Rochester's RKO Palace Theater during demolition. 1965. [PHOTO: D.O. Schultz / Rochester Theater Organ Society]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/RKO-Palace-013-AuditoriumNorthWall.jpg)
![Rochester's RKO Palace Theater during WWII. Main entrance on Clinton Ave. 1942. [PHOTO: D.O. Schultz / Rochester Theater Organ Society]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/RKO-Palace-001-ClintonAveEntrance1942.jpg)
![This was the Sibley Building office, and murder scene, of J. Frank O'Connor, a tailor merchant. A sewing machine and its table have been knocked over and lie in front of the radiator. The cutting table is at the right. A lower table, on the left, holds a bolt of fabric, a pressing board for sleeves, and an electric iron. A chair and a box of material sit in front of the lower table. [PHOTO: Albert R. Stone Collection]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/sibley-murder-scene-3.jpg)
![University of Rochester president Joel Seligman showing off plans for College Town. Original plans included an enclosed public transit center. The latest plans include twice as much parking as originally called for and no transit center. [PHOTO: Democrat & Chronicle]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/joel-seligman-college-town.jpg)
![Main Street Rochester. c.1908 [PHOTO: Albert R. Stone Collection]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-main-street-then-and-now-1.jpg)
![Cammy Enaharo, 20, Rochester [PHOTO: Facebook.com/CammyEnaharoMusic]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/cammy-enaharo-1.jpg)
![This was the corner of Main and Fitzhugh Streets (1884). Can you find Cogswell? [PHOTO: Rochester Public Library]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-savings-bank-cogswell.jpg)
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