From Flour City to The World Image Centre
Posted 08/23/09
One would think that a city like Chicago or Pittsburgh would have been the first American boomtown, but in reality the title is held by none other than Rochester NY.Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, from whom Rochester NY gets its name, Major Charles Carroll, and Colonel William Fitzhugh, Jr. purchased this tract in 1803 because the Genesee River had the potential to generate a great deal of water power. The flour mills from which the city would earn its first nickname were eventually to take full advantage of this water power. After surveying began in 1811, streets and roads were laid out, and in 1817 other area landowners joined their holdings with the Hundred Acre Tract to form the Village of Rochesterville. Rochesterville, its name shortened to Rochester by 1823, soon became the seat of Monroe County, New York and was rechartered as a city in 1834.By 1823, the Erie Canal had made its way westward, and an aqueduct was constructed over the Genesee River at the site of the present day Broad Street Bridge in downtown Rochester, NY. Rochester was now connected to all points east and west by the Erie Canal. Having grown to the largest flour producing city in the United States by 1838, Rochester NY became known as the Flour City. Also doubling in population by 1838, Rochester earned distinction as the first American boomtown. The Flour City eventually became known as the Flower City as the westward moving flour producing industry was replaced by numerous nurseries that had grown up around the city.The post Civil War years brought renewed industrial growth to the region. Giants such as the Eastman Kodak Company and Bausch and Lomb were founded during this time.The Gannett newspaper conglomerate and Western Union also had their start in Rochester NY. The prominence of imaging and optical science among local universities and companies in response to a regional decline in manufacturing has given Rochester its modern nickname as The Worlds Image Centre.
Rochester NY is poised to take on any economic challenge, given its rich history of entrepreneurship and adaption to change. The region has much to offer. Rochester NY will not disappoint.