Back in May, we noted National Nurses Week with a piece on Ida Jane Anderson, New York State’s first registered nurse. John Zicari, a reader from York, Maine, wrote to tell me that he’d been doing some genealogical research on his family from Rochester, and shared a family photo of his great aunt, Katherine Fitzgerald Osborn. She was a nurse at what John had been told was Rochester’s Park Avenue Hospital. There’s no date on the photo but, John says, “She died in 1925 so it is pretty early picture of the facility.”
I love genealogy and especially old photos. But I had to confess: I’d never heard a hospital on Park Ave. Cafes? Yes. Art galleries? Yes. A hospital? No.
But as my grandfather used to say, you learn something new every day…
Here’s a fun little history mystery that I could use your help with. Jeannine Klee, owner of Parkleigh on Park Avenue recently acquired this Venetian glass chandelier from a friend who claims it once hung inside the original B. Forman Co. department store in downtown Rochester. The fixture, now on display above the candy counter at Parkleigh, is quite beautiful. But, could it really be from B. Forman Co.?
Many transit loving Rochesterians, put off by the RTS “hub and spoke” system, have long clamored for the convenience of crosstown routes. The new Route 52 answered those calls by connecting the Park Ave neighborhood with the University of Rochester Medical Center (via Goodman and Elmwood) without having to stop and transfer downtown. The new route had many of us excited .
But after less than a year of service, RGRTA said Route 52 drew too few customers to keep it going. And a little over a week ago, RGRTA announced that it would pull the plug…
I’ve given myself a photo assignment for 2013. Pick 13 subjects, and take 13 snapshots of each. Simple. We started last month with 13 mailboxes. This month I turned my lens on what I thought were some of Rochester’s most intriguing storefronts. These images were taken on the city’s east side, from Monroe Ave up to East Ridge Road…
Well, dear readers, I must admit that this is not exactly what I had planned when I left you the last time. That said, please bear with me while we look at something a little bit different.
John Baker, Steve Gullace, Chris Gullace have proposed to construct a new gym and a 48 unit apartment building at 759 Park Ave . The gym would be for the Talmudic Institute next door, while the apartments would be for rent. This has, not surprisingly, drawn a raft of criticism from the residents of the Park Ave neighborhood…
When I first moved to Rochester’s Swillburg neighborhood thirteen years ago, my favorite place to eat was Highland Park Diner. I remember this Rochester Landmarks poster, by Richard Margolis, hung over one of the booths there. I used to stare and study those landmarks all the while shoveling Aunt Bee’s Homestyle Meatloaf into my face. Ah, my first taste of Rochester. Today I own that poster, and I’ve now been to all but one of the 38 landmarks on it. It’s a great feeling!
Now you can get your hands on a copy of this Landmark poster from the RochesterSubway.com Gift Shop, and start checking them off your list too. Can you name all 38 landmarks? No peeking! The answers are after the jump…
Now you can admire your hometown of Rochester, NY and the diversity of its many communities without ever putting on a pair of pants.* Introducing two awesome new posters depicting the neighborhoods of Rochester…
The following Subway story was submitted to us by Mr. B from Rochester…
“When I was 7 or 8, I would go to the YMCA on Monroe Avenue or the library next door after school. The Subway used to pass under the Monroe Avenue overpass heading downtown. It must have been in mid june in 1955 or 1956. We were looking out the window at the library and the Trolley was parked or stopped under the overpass…
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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.
![Katherine Fitzgerald Osborn, a nurse at Rochester's Park Avenue Hospital. [PHOTO COURTESY OF: John Zicari]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-park-ave-hospital-01.jpg)
![This chandelier at Parkleigh once hung inside B. Forman Co. in downtown Rochester, NY. [PHOTO: RochesterSubway.com]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/parkleigh-chandelier-b-forman-company-01.jpg)
![John Baker, Steve Gullace, Chris Gullace have proposed to construct a new gym and a 48 unit apartment building here at 759 Park Ave. [IMAGE: Bing Maps]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/filling-in-park-avenue-02.jpg)
![Rochester Landmarks Poster [IMAGE: Richard Margolis]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-landmarks-poster-richard-margolis.jpg)
![Rochester Neighborhoods Map [BY: RochesterSubway.com]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-neighborhoods-map.jpg)
![\"RochesterSubway.com\"](\"https://rochestersubway.com/images/pixel_white.gif\"){kind=tracking}
