Here is a neat view I came across while rummaging around in the Local History Department at the Rochester Public Library. The image is of State Street with downtown Rochester in the background, taken from one of the top floors of Kodak tower…
Posts Tagged ‘old photos’...

View of Downtown Rochester from Kodak Tower
Tuesday, November 17th, 2015Tags: downtown Rochester, Granite Building, history of Rochester, Hotel Seneca, Kodak Tower, Lincoln Alliance Building, old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Rochester, Rochester Chamber of Commerce, Rochester NY, Sibley Building, Sibley's, Sibley's Department Store, State Street
Posted in Architecture, Rochester History, Rochester Images | 10 Comments »

2015 Swimsuit Edition
Thursday, June 25th, 2015School’s out, Sea Breeze is open, and summer is officially in full swing. But before you head out to the beaches this weekend, take note of the latest trends in swimwear. You don’t want to be caught looking silly wearing last year’s style.
For 2015, that vintage look is back, and we’ve dug up some real classics – from Rochester’s old natatoriums to the shores of Lake Ontario…
Tags: Charlotte Beach, Durand Beach, Durand Eastman Beach, Lake Ontario, natatorium, old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Ontario Beach, Ontario Beach Park, Rochester, Rochester NY, South Avenue Natatorium, swimsuits, vintage bathing suits, vintage clothing, vintage fashion, vintage swimsuits, vintage swimwear
Posted in Art + Culture, Rochester History, Rochester Images | No Comments »

Powers Building, Main & State Streets, 1968
Friday, February 28th, 2014
Check out this great photo of the Powers Building from 1968. Notice the workmen up on the ledge of the Mansard roof. Down at street level a shiny new, streamlined façade as been awkwardly forced on top of this 1869 building…
Tags: Crossroads Building, downtown Rochester, Elwood Building, First National Bank, Four Corners, Fun Foto Friday, Main Street, Main Street Four Corners, Monroe County Savings Bank, old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Powers Building, Powers Hotel, Rochester, Rochester NY, State Street
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 8 Comments »

Historic Rochester in 3D Stereoscope
Monday, November 25th, 2013
From the 1850’s to the 1930’s stereograms were considered cutting edge home entertainment technology. Two photos taken at the same time from slightly different angles would be view together using a special set of lenses called a stereoscope. The result would be an ever so subtle (yet mind-tingling) simulated 3D view…
Tags: Academy Building, Athenaeum Library, Chapin's monument, CJ Hayden monument, High Falls, Lake Avenue, Lower Falls, Monroe County Court House, Mount Hope Cemetery, old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Pitkin monument, Pitkin vault, Powers Building, Rochester, Rochester City Hall, Rochester Free Academy, Rochester NY, Sibley Building, Sibley's, Sibley's Department Store, Sibly Lindsay & Curr Co., stereogram, stereoscope, stereoscopic views, vintage views, West Main Street
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images | 5 Comments »

Sand Sculpting at Charlotte Beach, 1922
Friday, June 28th, 2013
How’s this for a summertime Fun Foto Friday? This is Robert Pernell. He’s a sand artist. Or was. This photo was printed in the Rochester Herald on August 6, 1922. Robert used to entertain the crowds at Charlotte Beach with his larger-than-life creations…
Tags: Atlantic City, Charlotte, Charlotte Beach, Fun Foto Friday, history of Rochester, old photos, old photos of Rochester, Ontario Beach, Ontario Beach Park, Robert Pernell, Rochester, Rochester history, rochester images, Rochester NY, sand art, sand sculpture, World Championship of Sand Sculpting
Posted in Art + Culture, Rochester History, Rochester Images | 2 Comments »

Meet the Babcocks: A Typical American War Worker’s Family
Sunday, January 27th, 2013
Yesterday, the archival photo blog, Shorpy , shared a great photo of the Babcock family from Rochester NY. The image is one of a collection of 38 photographs
by Ralph Amdursky for the U.S. Office of War Information. The series shows how the Babcocks, a “typical American war worker’s family,” lived in 1943 during the height of WWII…
Tags: Babcock, Babcock family, history of Rochester, Library of Congress, old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Rochester history, Shorpy.com, U.S. Office of War Information, World War II, WWII
Posted in Art + Culture, Rochester History, Rochester Images | 12 Comments »

Proof, Santa Is Real
Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
It’s December 24, 1914, and two fashionably dressed little girls have Santa Claus cornered at the entrance to a downtown Rochester department store. And they are absolutely spellbound. Be sure to click on this image for a closer look. If this is not the definition of the holidays I don’t know what is. I like to imagine what the girls were saying at this moment; “Hey shouldn’t you be at the North Pole making our toys?! … Can we swing from your beard? … You know, you don’t look nearly as fat in real life, Santa.”
Yes, I am forever grateful to you, Mr. Photographer, for capturing this moment in time. A moment which would have otherwise been lost somewhere in the ether, has been wrapped up and handed to us with a great big bow. Yes, Virginia, Santa is real. Oh, and if you’re wondering where exactly this conversation with Santa took place…
Tags: downtown Rochester, Duffy-McInnerney Department Store, Duffy-Powers Department Store, Fitzhugh Street, Main Street, old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Rochester NY, Santa
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images | 6 Comments »

Today, December 11, in Rochester History: A Strange Sidewalk Accident
Tuesday, December 11th, 2012 Tuesday, December 11th, 2012Tags: accident, China, James Kenny, John Hornby, old photos, old photos of Rochester, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester NY, Saint Paul Street, sidewalk accident, sidewalks, South Avenue, this date in Rochester history, Woonsocket RI
Posted in Rochester History, Transit + Infrastructure | 6 Comments »

B. Forman Co.
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
For the past few days we’ve been doing some holiday window shopping at the old Sibley’s and McCurdy’s department stores. “But, WAIT! What about B. Forman’s?…” you say? Well, I searched around a bit, and though I wasn’t able to find many photos of window displays from B. Forman Co., fear not… I’ve got something you might like. Newspaper ads from December 18 – December 25, 1929! Don’t say I never gave you anything…
Tags: ad, B. Foreman Co. Department Store, Christmas, Clinton Ave, Clinton Avenue, Democrat & Chronicle, Democrat and Chronicle, downtown Rochester, holidays, McCurdy & Co., old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester NY, Sibly Lindsay & Curr Co.
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images | 6 Comments »

Window Shopping at McCurdy & Co.
Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
Do you remember window shopping at the big downtown department stores? Freezing cold holiday shoppers all pressed up against the plate glass like moths to a porch light. Dreams of sugar plums and reindeer and presents under the tree were fueled by these sparkling menageries of the latest and greatest stuff. The displays themselves were an art form; and drawing people in off the street was the ultimate goal. In all but our largest metros, scenes like these have been lost as retailers gradually moved to suburban malls. Yesterday we went window shopping at the old Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Co. department store. Today let’s browse a series of pictures (also from the Rochester Public Library) documenting some of the windows at McCurdy & Co. department store in downtown Rochester more than 70 years ago…
Tags: Christmas, downtown Rochester, Elm Street, Empire Theater, holiday windows, holidays, John Cooke McCurdy, Main Street, May Department Stores, McCurdy & Co., McCurdy & Co. Department Store, McCurdy and Robinson, old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Rochester history, Rochester NY, window shopping
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images | 3 Comments »

Window Shopping at Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Co.
Saturday, December 1st, 2012
Do you remember window shopping at the big downtown department stores? Freezing cold holiday shoppers all pressed up against the plate glass like moths to a porch light. Dreams of sugar plums and reindeer and presents under the tree were fueled by these sparkling menageries of the latest and greatest stuff. The displays themselves were an art form; and pulling people in off the street was the ultimate goal. In all but our largest metros, scenes like these have been lost as retailers gradually moved to suburban malls. This series of pictures from the Rochester Public Library documents some of the windows at Sibley, Lindsay and Curr Co. department store in downtown Rochester more than 70 years ago…
Tags: Alexander M. Lindsay, Christmas, downtown Rochester, Empire Theater, holiday windows, holidays, John Curr, Main Street, May Department Stores, old photos, old photos of Rochester, old photos of Rochester NY, Osburn House, Rochester history, Rochester NY, Rufus Sibley, Sibley Building, Sibley's, Sibley's Department Store, Sibly Lindsay & Curr Co., window shopping
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images | 13 Comments »

The Life and (Explosive) Death of Rochester’s Driving Park Bridge
Monday, November 19th, 2012
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…
Tags: Avenue E, bridge, demolition, Driving Park Bridge, Genesee River, Genesee River Gorge, infrastructure, Lefferts L. Buck, Lower Falls, Niagara Falls Bridge, old photos, old photos of Rochester, Rochester, Rochester NY, Williamsburg Bridge
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images, Transit + Infrastructure | 13 Comments »

Left for Dead: Rochester’s Union Depot
Friday, November 9th, 2012
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…
Tags: Amtrak Station, architecture, Bragdon Station, Central Avenue, Claude Bragdon, demolition, downtown Rochester, history of Rochester, Joseph Avenue, New York Central Railroad, North Clinton Avenue, NY Central Station, old photos, railroad, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester NY, Union Station
Posted in Rochester History, Train/Railroad Stuff, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 13 Comments »

State Takes Rochester Rail Station Project From City
Friday, October 26th, 2012
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…
Tags: downtown Rochester, New York Central Railroad, NYSDOT, old photos, old photos of Rochester, railroad station, Rochester, Rochester Amtrak Station, Rochester NY, rochester photos
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images, Rochester News, Train/Railroad Stuff, Transit + Infrastructure | 11 Comments »

Loew’s Theater: Rochester’s Other Lost Movie Palace
Thursday, October 11th, 2012
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…
Tags: downtown Rochester, Loew's Theater, old photos, old photos of Rochester, RKO Palace Theater, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester NY, South Clinton Avenue, Washington Square, Xerox Tower
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images | 26 Comments »

Never Before Seen Photos of RKO Palace Theater
Sunday, October 7th, 2012
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…
Tags: Clinton Avenue, demolition, downtown Rochester, Mortimer Street, old photos, old photos of Rochester NY, RKO Palace Theater, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester Theater Organ Society, Russ Shaner, Saint Paul Street
Posted in Rochester History, Rochester Images | 16 Comments »
