A much anticipated documentary on the prohibition era will air Sunday night on WXXI. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick tell the story of “the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” which outlawed alcohol and tossed everything we thought we knew about America upside down.
The following is an excerpt from a 1992 edition of Rochester History magazine, edited by Ruth Rosenberg-Naparsteck, City Historian…
A RocSubway reader (who has asked to remain anonymous) submitted the above photo a little over an hour ago. All we know is that the picture was taken at a gas station on Main Street near downtown Rochester. The victim has not been identified. At this time the FBI has stepped in and taken the scene over from RPD.
Yesterday, this photo (left) went viral after it was posted to Reconnect Rochester’s web site. It was taken at a Greentopia event in the High Falls neighborhood on Wednesday. The object in the sky has yet to be identified.
Have you seen this photo? It was posted yesterday on Reconnect Rochester’s site. The organizers of the Greentopia Festival turned Commercial Street (in High Falls) into “green” space and hosted a lunch picnic for workers in the neighborhood. As if that weren’t strange enough… Then I looked a little closer at the photo. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT IN THE SKY?!?
I took the liberty of digitally enhancing the area of the photo that caught my eye. Tell me this isn’t the least bit curious…
One of the deadliest accidents* in our area’s history took place exactly 100 years ago today. 29 people were killed and 62 injured when a Lehigh Valley Railroad train derailed about 20 miles east of Rochester. According to investigators at the time, it was a defective rail on a 400 foot bridge in Manchester, NY that shattered into seventeen pieces and sent at least 3 of the cars into Canandaigua Outlet. Newspaper reports described the scene as a “twisted and splintered mass of wreckage.”
“And the sign said, The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls.” If Simon & Garfunkel are right, these photos could be considered divine. They were taken over the past 2 years by local photographer Lizz Comstock and shared with us today via RocSubway’s Facebook page.
It was abandoned by Rochester Transit Corporation over 55 years ago, but as debris piles up and messages are written on top of other messages, the walls of Rochester’s subway tunnel seem to echo with indelible voices. And these photos are wonderful illustrations of the life that can still be found beneath our streets.
Recently I received an email from a local woman asking for help identifying an old bell with some strange letters. She states quite simply, “I have an old bell with these letters RC&BRR. Can you give me any information on this?” Right away I recognized those letters…
Check this out. This photo is for real – absolutely no Photoshop involved here. You’re looking at the Kodak building to the right, and smack dab in the middle of the big bad City of Rochester… grazing deer. I’ve heard of Urban Greening before but come on.
The Great ROC Digital Makeover Contest has come to a close. Scott Wolf’s photo of the Academy Building on Fitzhugh Street collected the most thumbs-up from our Facebook fans. That means Scott will receive a free print of Rochester’s Old City Hall and the Academy Building will get spruced up with a little Photoshop magic. Stay locked in to RochesterSubway.com for the unveiling in a few weeks.
And thanks to all of you who participated by posting your pics to Facebook.com/RocSubway. All is not lost if you didn’t win. I just might get bored one day and give your photo a digital makeover anyway.
Given Rochester’s status as the “Image City” and our surplus of neglected real estate, I figured photos of Rochester would be raining down on the RocSubway Facebook page by now.
Here’s an opportunity to see what your city, town, or neighborhood could look like if given a little time and attention. And all you have to do is post a snapshot and get your Facebook pals to “like” it. RocSubway and Photoshop will do the rest.
Now Accepting Your Photo
Submissions (via Facebook)
Former Mayor Robert Duffy once described Rochester as a gem that just needs to be dusted off. That may be over simplifying things just a bit, but I tend to agree. Look around this city and it’s easy to find great beauty in our natural landscape and our built environment – in the new, the old… and the rusted.
Have you ever caught yourself staring at an abandoned building or a grand old house that has seen better days? Is there a park or a public space that could use a few trees, flowers or a fountain? Maybe you squint your eyes to try and see what once was, or what could be? Whatever it is, take a snapshot.
Then head over to our Facebook page and post your pic on our wall. If your photo gets the most “Likes” by midnight May 31, 2011 we’ll give it a Photoshop makeover and you’ll win a FREE 16″x10″ print of this Rochester City Hall vintage postcard. Pretty cool.
If you didn’t already know I have severe OCD, this post is surely going to tip my hand. But here goes.
I LOVE Kodak. I own 3 Kodak cameras (one on me at all times) and countless “Kodak moments” hanging on my walls. In fact the very first thing my children saw after the nurses wiped the goop out of their eyes was—you guessed it—a Kodak camera. But there’s one itty bitty thing that bugs me about Kodak… their 19 story office tower. It looks like it was blown up and patched back together with superglue (which by the way was invented by a Kodak chemist).
I pass by Kodak tower everyday on my to and from work; and everyday I cringe a little bit. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s a gorgeous building with great bones. I just think it needs the 1970’s dusted off. And by George, with a little Photoshop magic I’m going give it my best shot. First a bit of history…
Greetings from Rochester! Lately you may have noticed lots of old images stuck to the sides of the buildings downtown. The images are actually larger reproductions of old postcards—some a century old—and they pay homage to the gorgeous buildings that once lined Rochester’s streets. For the past two years I’ve been collecting a lot of these same vintage postcards. I like to say “vintage” instead of “old” because most of them are new to me – plus I can’t imagine these incredible images ever getting old in the other sense of the word.
Well, I finally did it. It was a monumental task but now you can flip thru my entire collection of vintage Rochester postcard images right from your computer. All 178 views – scanned, uploaded, and labeled for your viewing pleasure…
On February 26, 1904 a fire leveled 1¾ acres of the Main Street shopping district. The fire started in the Rochester Dry Goods Company and the flames quickly spread west to Saint Paul Street and north across Division Street via a footbridge. Faulty electrical wires in an elevator shaft were to blame. More photos after the jump…
Here’s a fun fact you can impress your friends with on this glorious Friday in Rochester… Today is the 150th anniversary of perhaps the most famous tour stops in Rochester’s history. On February 18, 1861 good ole’ Abe Lincoln popped in to say ‘Hey dudes!’.
Lots of news has been brewing lately over the future of Rochester’s beat-up, 32-year-old Amtrak station on Central Avenue. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter recently announced that a $1.5 million federal stimulus grant has been awarded to New York state to plan for a new multi-modal station on the site. A $2.5 million appropriation to pay for the station design is expected to pass Congress next month. And Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo has just made it abundantly clear that New York will take whatever federal money is left on the table by newly elected GOP governors in Ohio and Wisconsin.
So for now, let’s just assume that something very interesting is in the works for our pitiful excuse for a train station. This is the perfect time to take a step back in time—to be inspired by Rochester’s grand old stations…
Shawn Wilkinson, a friend and member of Reconnect Rochester, recently tipped me off to this documentary; Struggle in Smugtown. “Smugtown” is the not-so-flattering nickname given to Rochester by newspaper writer G. Curtis Gerling and also the title of his book Smugtown, USA. The “Struggle” refers to that of the working man and woman. I think you’ll find this to be a fascinating look into the social and economic history of our little town.
I’ve never shared this with anyone before… but I have a disorder. I’m an excessive wallpaper changer. I’m in therapy (and doing a little self-medicating) but still, I have a hard time keeping one background graphic on my computer desktop for more than a day or two (at most). Maybe I have ADHD? Or maybe I just need a life. I CAN’T HELP IT! I just get bored staring at the same image for too long. I tear through so many wallpapers I’ve had to start making my own…
Service on the Rochester Industrial and Rapid Transit Railway (the “subway”) ended. According to several accounts, the public came out in force to bid farewell to the Rochester subway and an extra car had to be added to handle the crowds. Fifty members of the Metropolitan New York Railway Association held a chartered fantrip, and people crowded platforms and overhead bridges all along the subway route to get their last pictures…
In light of some of recent civic developments in our town over the past few months (high speed rail, transit centers, new theaters, etc.) I thought it appropriate to pull this old film out of the archives to take a look at the history of Rochester through the eyes of some good old-fashioned propaganda. Rochester: A City of Quality is the title of a film made in 1963 by Rochester Gas and Electric. The film presents Rochester in the most glowing light possible through a narrative that is clearly a product of Cold War industrialism. In one section the narrator declares “Rochester has made peace with the automobile”. And in another, “Change is necessary to keep competitive in industry as well as cities. If you don’t change, change will change you.”
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After the Erie Canal was rerouted south of downtown Rochester, the Rochester
Industrial & Rapid Transit Railway (the “subway”) was built in
its place as a link between the five different railroads and interurban trolley
lines that served the Rochester area. As the industrial landscape of Rochester
changed, and highways replaced the railroads, the Rochester subway gradually
became a relic of a bygone era. In 1956 the subway was abandoned and much of
its route was converted into Interstate 490 — built to connect Rochester
with the New York State Thruway (I-90). Read more about the history of the Rochester Subway.
RochesterSubway.com exists to help spark
public dialogue around how we can better connect the neighborhoods of Rochester
NY, surrounding communities, and their cultural offerings. Rochester’s
future is written in her past. Let's rediscover it.
![The Doud Saloon on Front Street in the late 1800s. [PHOTO: Local History Division, Rochester Public Library.]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/doud-saloon-rochester.jpg)
will air Sunday night on WXXI. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick tell the story of “the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” which outlawed alcohol and tossed everything we thought we knew about America upside down.![Are you kidding me with this?? [PHOTO: Anonymous]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-vanishing-ufo-abduction.jpg)
![UFO sighting over High Falls/Greentopia Festival. [PHOTO: VJ Ortiz]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-greentopia-ufo-sighting.jpg)
![Scene of terrible disaster on Lehigh Valley Railroad near Rochester N.Y. on August 25, 1911. [PHOTO: A. Newman, Copyright 1911]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/lehigh-valley-railroad-wreck-1.jpg)
![Rochester subway tunnel. [PHOTO: Lizz Comstock]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/lizz-comstock-subway-01.jpg)
![These notices were posted in anticipation of the end of passenger service in the Subway on June 30, 1956. [Image from Railroad.net]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/wp-content/uploads/RSB_notice19571.gif)
![The Academy Building will get a virtual facelift thanks to Scott Wolf, winner of The Great ROC Digital Makeover Contest! [Photo: Scott Wolf]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/the-great-roc-digital-makeover.jpg)
![On February 18, 1861, Abraham Lincoln addressed over 8,000 Rochesterians from his train's observation platform. He was traveling thru to Washington D.C. for his inauguration. [Cartoon from 'Mr. Lincoln and New York' © 2002-2011 The Lincoln Institute.]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/abraham-lincoln-train.jpg)
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