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Rochester, New York

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Rochester, located in Monroe County, is a city in New York State south of Lake Ontario in the United States. The Rochester metropolitan area is the second largest economy in New York State, trailing only New York City. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City. It is the county seat for Monroe County.

Rochester is at the center of a larger Metropolitan Area which encompasses and extends past Monroe County and includes Genesee County, Livingston County, Ontario County, Orleans County and Wayne County. This area, which is part of the Western New York region, had a population of 1,037,831 people as of the 2000 Census. As of July 1, 2005, this population rose slightly to 1,039,028, making Rochester the third largest city in New York State with a little over 208,000 residents.

Rochester was ranked #6 among 379 U.S. Metro areas in the 25th edition of the Places Rated Almanac for Most Livable Cities. In 2007, Rochester was ranked the #1 city in the country by Expansion Management Magazine for best quality of life. Additionally, Expansion Management rated the region's public schools as 6th best nationwide among metros with 1 million people or more.

The current Mayor of Rochester is Robert Duffy, who was the city's Police Chief before being elected mayor.

Founding and early history

On November 8, 1803, a one-hundred acre (ca. 40 ha) tract of land in Western New York along the Genesee River was purchased by Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, Major Charles Carroll, and Colonel William Fitzhugh, all of Hagerstown, Maryland. The site was chosen because of three cataracts on the Genesee, offering great potential for water power. Beginning in 1811, and with a population of fifteen, the three founders surveyed the land and laid out streets and tracts. In 1817, the Brown brothers (of Brown's Race) and other landowners joined their lands with the Hundred Acre Tract to form the Village of Rochesterville.

By 1821, Rochesterville was the seat of Monroe County. In 1823, Rochesterville consisted of and 2,500 residents, and the Village of Rochesterville became known as Rochester. Also in 1823, the Erie Canal aqueduct over the Genesee River was completed, and the Erie Canal east to the Hudson River was opened. Later, after the advent of railroads, the presence of the canal in the center city became bothersome, and it was re-routed south of Rochester. By 1830, Rochester's population was 9,200 and in 1834, it was re-chartered as a city.

Rochester was first known as "The Young Lion of the West", and then as the "Flour City". By 1838, Rochester was the largest flour-producing city. Having doubled its population in only ten years, Rochester became known as America's first "boomtown."

In 1847, Frederick Douglass founded the abolitonist newspaper The North Star in Rochester. Douglass, a former slave and an antislavery speaker and writer, gained a circulation of over 4,000 readers in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean. The North Star served as an important forum for abolitionist views.

In the early 20th century, Rochester also became a center of the garment industry, particularly in men's fashions. It was the home of such well-known enterprises as Fashion Park and Hickey-Freeman. In addition, it was home to the pioneer automobile company Cunningham, produced by carriage maker James Cunningham and Sons.

The population reached 62,386 in 1870, 162,608 in 1900, and 295,750 in 1920. By 1950, population of the city had reached an all-time high of 332,488, and had declined to 219,773 by 2000.

Geography and climate

Rochester is located at (43.165496, -77.611504). The city is east of Buffalo, west of Syracuse and sits on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The Genesee River bisects the city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 37.1 square miles (96.1 km²), of which, 35.8 square miles (92.8 km²) of it is land and 1.3 square miles (3.3 km²) of it (3.42%) is water.

Rochester's geography comes from the ice sheets during the Pleistocene epoch. The retreating ice sheets reached a standstill at what is now the southern border of the city, melting at the same rate as they were advancing, depositing sediment along the southern edge of the ice mass. This created a line of hills, including (from west to east) Mt. Hope, the hills of Highland Park, Pinnacle Hill, and Cobb's Hill. Because the sediment of these hills was deposited into a proglacial lake they are stratified and classified as a "kame delta." A brief retreat and readvance of the ice sheet onto the delta piled unstratified (moraine) material there, creating a rare hybrid structure called a "kame moraine."

The ice sheets also left behind Lake Ontario (one of the five fresh-water Great Lakes), the Genesee River with its waterfalls and gorges, Irondequoit Bay, Sodus Bay, Braddock's Bay, Mendon Ponds, numerous local streams and ponds, the Ridge, and the nearby Finger Lakes.

According to the City of Rochester, the city has 537 miles (864 km) of public streets, 585 miles (941 km) of water mains, 44 vehicular and eight pedestrian bridges, 11 public libraries, two police stations (one for the east side, one for the west), and 16 fire stations. The principal source of the city's water is Hemlock Lake, which, with its watershed, is wholly owned by the city. Other water sources are Canadice Lake and Lake Ontario. The 30-year annual average snowfall is 95.0 inches (2.4 m). The mean July temperature is 71.3 °F (21.8 °C), and the mean February temperature is 23.6 °F (−4.7 °C).

Rochester lies in the Humid continental climate zone, and has four distinct seasons, although its often cold and snowy winters may garner the most attention. Autumn features brilliant foliage colors, and summer sees warm comfortable temperatures that usually stay in the low to mid 80s. Precipitation is plentiful year round.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 219,773 people, 88,999 households, and 47,169 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,132.9 people per square mile (2,368.3/km²). There were 99,789 housing units at an average density of 2,784.7/sq mi (1,075.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.30% White, 38.55% African American, 0.47% Native American, 2.25% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 6.58% from other races, and 3.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.75% of the population. Ancestries include: German (10.9%), Italian (10.0%), Irish (9.6%), English (5.8%), and Polish (2.7%)

Rochester has the largest deaf population per capita in the United States. Rochester is home to world-renowned programs for the deaf, at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (part of the Rochester Institute of Technology) and at the University of Rochester.

There were 88,999 households out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 25.1% were married couples living together, 23.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.0% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.19.

The city population was spread out with 28.1% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.

The median income for a city household was $27,123, and the median family income was $31,257. Males had a median income of $30,521, versus $25,139 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,588. About 23.4% of families and 25.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.5% of those under age 18 and 15.4% of those age 65 or over.

Rochester Population
1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2004
20,191 36,403 48,204 62,386 89,366 133,896 162,608 218,149 295,750 328,132 324,975 332,488 318,611 296,233 241,741 231,636 219,773 212,481

Economy

The Rochester area is home to a number of international businesses, including Fortune 1000 companies Eastman Kodak, Constellation Brands, and Paychex, as well as several national and regional companies. Because of the high prevalence of imaging and optical science among the industry and the universities, Rochester is known as the world capital of imaging. The Institute of Optics of the University of Rochester is ranked number one in the country, and the Rochester Institute of Technology has one of the best imaging science departments in the country. In 2005, the University of Rochester became the largest employer in the Rochester area, surpassing Kodak.

The Gannett newspaper company and Western Union were both founded in the Rochester area by Frank Gannett and Hiram Sibley respectively.

Food and beverage

One food product that Rochester is proud to call its own is the famous "white hot," made by the local Zweigle's company, which can be found at numerous area restaurants and hot dog stands. The white hot is essentially a German weisswurst.

Another local specialty is the "garbage plate," first served at Nick Tahou Hots. Fitting with its impact on the world of hot dogs and burgers, Rochester was home to French's Mustard, whose eponymous address is 1 Mustard Street.

Rochester is also home to Wet Planet Beverages, producer of Jolt Cola and other premium beverage products. High Falls Brewing Company, maker of the Genesee brands of beers and JW Dundee's brand (Honey Brown) also calls Rochester home. Arbor Mist wines are also produced in nearby Canandaigua, NY by owner Constellation Brands.

National frozen food manufacturer Birds Eye is headquartered in suburban Rochester. Heluva Good Cheeses and Seneca Foods are headquartered in nearby Wayne County. The Ragú brand of pasta sauce was originally produced in Rochester, and the Francesco Rinaldi brand of pasta sauce is currently manufactured in Rochester.

Other local franchises include: Bill Gray's (a hamburger/hotdog joint that lays claim to having "The World's Greatest Cheeseburger"), Country Sweet (known for their chicken wings and unique BBQ sauce), Boss Sauce, which was born from the famous restaurant Eddie's Chicken Coop(is known as a "tantalizing sweet, spicy-hot gourmet after-sauce), Tom Wahl's, Dibella's, Great Northern Pizza Kitchen, Zebb's, Don's Original, and Abbott's Frozen Custard. Dinosaur Bar-b-que, which originated in Syracuse, also operates their second ever franchise downtown in an old Lehigh Valley Railroad station on the Genesee River.

The Rochester area is the birthplace of the Wegmans Grocery store chain, which now has locations throughout the Northeast and Northern Virginia. In 2005, Wegmans was rated the #1 best company in America to work for by Fortune Magazine; it has been ranked the best grocery store in America by Consumer Reports and Food Network.

Major area shopping centers

Tallest Structures

As of February, 2008 the top ten tallest buildings in the city are:

  • Xerox Tower - 443 ft
  • Bausch & Lomb Place - 401 ft
  • Chase Tower - 392 ft
  • Kodak Tower - 360 ft
  • First Federal Plaza 309 ft
  • One HSBC Plaza - 284 ft
  • Hyatt Regency Hotel - 271 ft
  • Times Square Building - 260 ft
  • Midtown Tower - 251 ft (Set for Demolition)
  • St. Michael's Church - 246 ft

Top private employers

As of 2006, the top private employers in Greater Rochester are:

Companies

Several companies have their corporate headquarters in the Greater Rochester area.

The city once was the corporate HQ to Gannett, French's, Western Union, Champion and Xerox

Many large companies also have a significant presence in Rochester.

Cityscape

Principal suburbs

Principal suburbs of the city include Brighton, Chili, East Rochester, Fairport, Gates, Greece, Henrietta, Irondequoit, Penfield, Pittsford, Spencerport, Victor, and Webster.

Neighborhoods

Rochester has a number of well known neighborhoods, as well as popular communities in the inner ring suburbs, Brighton, Irondequoit and Greece. Dewey, Barnard, Browncroft, Mt. Read, Edgerton, Lyell, Otis, Dutchtown, 19th Ward, Southwest, Corn Hill, Cascade District, High Falls District, Grove Place, East End, South Wedge, Marketview Heights, Swillburg, Upper Monroe, Park Avenue, Beechwood, 14621 Community, German Village, University-Atlantic, Charlotte and Cobbs hill are all primary neighborhoods.

Park Avenue

The area around Park Avenue in southeast Rochester is considered to be the Greenwich Village of Rochester. It is a very popular area, especially for students and young people. Lining the streets are cafes, shops, pubs and restaurants. In a broader view, the total area surrounding University Avenue is one of the most culture and art-rich sections of the city. Located here are the Village Gate, The Memorial Art Gallery, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, The Rochester Public Market, ArtWalk, the George Eastman House and numerous high-end residential streets such as Granger Drive and Oxford Street.

East End

The East End is a residential neighborhood in Downtown Rochester. It is also considered the main Nightlife district in the city. The Eastman Theater and the Eastman School of Music are located in the East End, along with the Little Theatre, an independent film theatre and many clubs, bars and high-end restaurants.

Corn Hill

The Corn Hill Neighborhood near Downtown is one of the nation's best preserved Victorian neighborhoods and is a city center for art. It has and is currently undergoing renovation and construction for residential buildings along the Genesee River, and the Corn Hill Art Festival is one of the city's most popular gatherings for art display.

Charlotte

Charlotte is a lakefront community in Rochester bordering Lake Ontario. It is considered one of the nicest, safest sections of the city and is home to Charlotte Beach, a frequented spot by the lake.

Colleges and Universities

Education is one of Rochester's primary economic areas. The city and its suburbs are home to a number of colleges and universities:

Together with Alfred University, SUNY Alfred, Empire State College, Finger Lakes Community College, SUNY Geneseo, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges, each within an hour of Rochester, these institutions comprise the Rochester Area Colleges consortium.

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester (U of R), consistently ranked among the top 35 universities in the nation and deemed "one of the new Ivies, has some of the best undergraduate programs in the country when it comes to the arts, sciences, and engineering, and the medical school has top ranked research programs and one of the best primary care curricula in the nation. The business school is also at the top of its class in many categories.

The University of Rochester's Laboratory For Laser Energetics (LLE) is home to the second highest energy laser in the world, the OMEGA laser. OMEGA is capable of emitting light at a power 100 times the electrical power output of the country in less than one billionth of a second. The LLE is currently constructing the OMEGA EP laser, which will be 50 times more powerful than OMEGA and will be the most powerful laser in the world, able to manifest power densities high enough to examine hawking radiation-like phenomena in the laboratory. The U of R's Laboratory for Laser Energetics is especially important now, because it serves at the US's main laser fusion program while the Department of Energy is building the National Ignition Facility. "The Laboratory for Laser Energetics has played a leading, national role in efforts to develop nuclear fusion as a reliable energy source and in the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship program," says University President Joel Seligman.

The University of Rochester is also home to its Eastman School of Music, which, according to U.S. News and World Report, is ranked the number one music school in America.

Rochester Institute of Technology

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) was founded in 1829 and is now the tenth largest private University in the country in terms of full-time students and is known for its science, computer, engineering, and art programs. RIT is also home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, with an outstanding program for the education of deaf people and a top ranked American Sign Language program. RIT has recently leased 60 acres of the campus to Wilmorite Properties, a real estate company based in Rochester, to build a enterprise called Park Point at RIT. It will be open to not just RIT, but the Rochester community as well. The project is currently in development and is scheduled to be complete by August 2008.

Monroe Community College

Monroe Community College (MCC) is known as one of the best community college systems in the nation, and has very highly ranked soccer and basketball teams. MCC is home to The Mercer Gallery where students and artists from all over the country exhibit work on a regular basis, located on MCC's Brighton Campus.

Roberts Wesleyan College

Roberts Wesleyan was ranked as the 3rd Best Value Private College in the U.S. by the Princeton Review in 2007—the only school in New York State to be ranked in the top 10. It is also Rochester's only college affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

Culture and recreation

Rochester is home to a number of cultural institutions including the world renowned Garth Fagan Dance, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (a full philharmonic orchestra is unusual for a city the size of Rochester), the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, the Rochester Museum & Science Center, the Strong - National Museum of Play, the A|V Room, the Strasenburgh Planetarium, and numerous arts organizations. Rochester's Geva Theatre Center (the name is a combination of "Genesee" and "Valley," for the surrounding geographic area) is the city's largest professional theatre.

Nightlife

Rochester has a number of districts containing popular bars and nightspots, but the primary area is the frequented East End District in the southeast section of downtown. Several restaurants, bistros, and nightclubs are also located in the St. Paul Quarter, Monroe Avenue (and Upper Monroe), as well as Park Avenue. An up and coming district in Rochester is the Southwedge Neighborhood. This neighborhood boasts a wine bar, a British style pub with dozens of European beers on tap, an Irish pub, and several other restaurants and bars.

Park lands

The city's Victorian era Mt. Hope Cemetery includes the final resting place of several famous Americans, including Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and George Baldwin Selden (inventor of the automobile), as is its Riverside Cemetery. Rochester is also known for its extensive park system, including the Highland Park, Cobb's Hill Park, Durand-Eastman Park, Genesee Valley Park, Maplewood Park, Edgerton Park, Seneca Park and Ontario Beach Park.

The city also has 13 full-time recreation centers, 19 swimming programs, 3 artificial ice rinks, 66 softball/baseball fields, 47 tennis courts, 5 football fields, 7 soccer fields, and 43 outdoor basketball courts. Echoing its famous history as the Flower City, Rochester has a yearly Lilac Festival for ten days in May, when nearly 400 named varieties of lilacs bloom, and 100,000 visitors arrive from as far away as Europe and Japan.

Mumford, a hamlet in the town of Wheatland, is home to the Genesee Country Village and Museum, a combination of: a model village, where numerous examples of local architecture are preserved; sporting art and carriage museums; a nature center; and model gardens.

To Rochester's south is the scenic Letchworth State Park, the so-called "Grand Canyon of the East", with its spectacular canyon and waterfalls. Also to the south and southeast is the glacially-formed Finger Lakes Region, with its numerous lakes and waterfalls.

Festivals

Rochester has developed a number of festivals that celebrate the many aspects of Rochester life, and most of which occur between late spring and all throughout summer. These include the Rochester International Jazz Festival, established in 2002; the Corn Hill Festival (arts, crafts, and food in this historic Third Ward neighborhood); the Rochester-High Falls International Film Festival (held at the George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre and the Little Theatre downtown); the Image Out/Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (also held at the Little Theatre); the Clothesline Art Festival (artists from the region display their works on the grounds of the Memorial Art Gallery); the Park Avenue Merchants Festival; the Lilac Festival at Highland Park (world famous for its lilac bushes); St. Patrick's Day parade (March); the Rose Festival at Historic Maplewood Park; the Irish festival (September); two annual Greek festivals - one on East Avenue (in June) and one on South Avenue (in September); the Puerto Rican Festival(August); the Rochester Music Festival; and the Cold Rush Winter Celebration (celebrating the wide variety of winter sports in the Rochester area).

During the summer, and especially on the 4th of July, downtown after dark is lit up with fireworks and a laser show at the High Falls venue.

Vernacular

In the Greater Rochester Area, a soft drink can be referred to as "pop" or "soda", while hotdogs can be called "red hots" or "white hots" to distinguish the common (red) hotdog from its local white hotdog variant which includes veal and powdered milk in its ingredients. A banquet facility is known as a "party-house".

The nearby town of Chili is not pronounced like the food, but with long "i"s: "CHY-lye". The neighborhood of Charlotte is not pronounced like the North Carolina city but rather with the accent on the second syllable: "shar-LOT". The suburbs of Riga and Lima, are pronounced "RYE-ga" rather than the "REE-ga" pronunciation of the Eastern European city and "LIE-ma" rather than "LEE-ma," pronunciation of the city in Peru. The suburb of Bergen is pronounced "BER-jin" rather than "BER-gen" like the county in New Jersey.

Accent

A "Rochester accent" can be described as a form of Inland Northern American English, like a "Chicago accent" or a "Detroit accent". It has also been described as "nasally", most easily recognized by the vocalization of the short "a" (æ) sound: "and" is delivered as something closer to "i-uhnd" ([ˈɪənd]).

It is often described as including the pronunciation of the city itself as "Rach'str" ([ˈɹatʃ.stɚ]) or describing something as "faen-teas-tic."

Media

Rochester has one daily newspaper, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and many free publications such as "City" newspaper and the "Freetime" entertainment magazine.

Rochester has seven broadcast television stations:

Rochester also has several radio stations, both AM and FM including (but not limited to): WXXI (Public Radio) WCMF (Rock and Roll) WDKX (Urban Contemporary Radio) WHAM (News and Talk Radio)

Rochester's cable television provider is Time Warner Cable, which provides R News, a 24-hour local news channel.

Points of interest

Sports

Rochester was named the #1 Minor League Sports market in the country by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal in July 2005; and the number 10 "best golf city" in America by Golf Magazine in 2007.

Professional sports

Rochester has seven professional sports teams:
Club Sport Founded League Venue
Rochester Red Wings Baseball 1899 International League Frontier Field
Rochester Americans Ice hockey 1956 AHL Blue Cross Arena
Rochester Knighthawks Indoor lacrosse 1995 NLL Blue Cross Arena
Rochester Raging Rhinos Soccer 1996 USL First Division PAETEC Park
Rochester Rattlers Field lacrosse 2001 MLL PAETEC Park
Rochester Razorsharks Basketball 2005 PBL Blue Cross Arena
Rochester Raiders Indoor football 2006 CIFL Main Street Armory

Among cities in North America with at least seven current professional teams, Rochester is the only one whose teams all have cumulative winning regular season records.

The Rochester Red Wings baseball club, the AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, play in the International League. The Rochester Americans ice hockey team, the AHL affiliate for the NHL Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, are commonly known as the "Amerks". The Rochester Raging Rhinos soccer club play in the USL First Division, which is the second-highest level American soccer league.

There are two professional lacrosse teams in Rochester. The Rochester Knighthawks club plays box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League during the winter and spring. In the summer, the Rochester Rattlers club plays field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse organization.

The newest local professional sports teams are the Rochester Razorsharks (of the Premier Basketball League) and the Rochester Raiders (Continental Indoor Football League).

Rochester is also home to the Empire State Roar, a semi-pro team in the league known as the Women's Professional Football League, and the Rochester Rhinos women's team of the W-League, an advanced amateur tier of the United Soccer Leagues.

Professional golf regularly comes to Rochester. The PGA Championship and the US Open have been held at Oak Hill Country Club several times (along with the 1995 Ryder Cup. The Xerox Classic Tournament on the Nationwide Tour comes here every August. The Wegmans LPGA tournament is held yearly in June at Locust Hill Country Club.

While Rochester currently has no teams at the top level of any of the major American sports, the city does host training camp for the NFL's Buffalo Bills each summer (since 2000) at St. John Fisher College in the suburban town of Pittsford. The absence of a major pro sports team in the area has not always been the case. From 1920–1925, Rochester was home to the Rochester Jeffersons, a charter member of the National Football League. From 1948–1957, the Rochester Royals played in the National Basketball Association, winning the NBA championship in 1951. In soccer, the Rochester Lancers played from 1970–1980 in the top-level North American Soccer League.

Since 1877, twenty-nine different teams in eight professional sports have represented Rochester, according to The Rochester Sports Project by local sports historian Douglas Brei. In the spring of 2006, Brei revealed that Rochester's professional sports teams were collectively approaching the 25,000-games played milestone. That historic game was played on June 16, 2006 when the hometown Red Wings hosted the Indianapolis Indians at Frontier Field. He also reports that only six active franchises in the history of North American professional sports have played in the same city and same league continuously and uninterrupted since the 1800s: The Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Rochester Red Wings.

The city has two independent pro-wrestling leagues: Next Era Wrestling and NWA Upstate which operate in and around the city. Rochester is unofficially known as the Wrestling Capital of Upstate New York.

Rochester is considered within the home territory of the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres are further tied to Rochester through their owner, Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano.

College sports

Almost all area college sports are played at the NCAA Division III level. An exception is the RIT men's ice hockey team, which moved up to the Division I level in 2005. Hobart College, an hour away from Rochester in Geneva, has a Division I men's lacrosse team.

Among junior colleges, MCC is dominant in NJCAA Division II sports.

Club Sports

Rochester is home to two men's rugby teams, the Rochester Aardvarks and the Rochester Colonials: Both teams have long and storied histories, with the Rochester Aardvarks recently celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2006, and the Colonials celebrating 25 years of the sport in 2005. The Aardvarks also possess the distinction of being one of the few rugby teams in the country to own its own pitch: Aardvark Park in Henrietta, New York. The Aardvarks and the Colonials alike both have successfully hosted local and state-wide tournaments, and most recently, the Colonials played host to the 2007 USA Rugby National Collegiate All-Star Championships, a nation-wide event. Both teams continue to thrive upon local college and university players who wish to extend their playing careers.

Transportation

Maritime transport

There is marine freight service at the Port of Rochester on Lake Ontario, which is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence Seaway.

A short-lived, high-speed passenger/vehicle ferry Spirit of Ontario I, which was nicknamed The Breeze, linked Rochester to Toronto, Ontario across Lake Ontario. It operated between June 17, 2004, and December 12, 2005, and cost the city $42.5 million. It was sold to Forde Reederei Seetouristik Gmbh & Co., a German company, for $30 million.

Air transport

Rochester is served by the Greater Rochester International Airport. Daily scheduled air service is provided by Air Canada / Air Georgian, AirTran Airways, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, United, and US Airways.

Mass transit

Amtrak (passenger) and freight lines provide rail service to Rochester. Rochester has intercity and transcontinental bus service via Greyhound and Trailways.

Local bus service in Rochester and its immediate (Monroe County) suburbs is provided by the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) via its Regional Transit Service (RTS) subsidiary. RTS also provides suburban service outside of the immediate Rochester area and also runs several smaller transportation systems in outlying counties, such as WATS (Wayne Area Transportation System).

From 1927 to 1957, Rochester had a light rail underground transit system called the Rochester Subway. It was the smallest city in the world to have one. There are proposals to put in a new system, possibly using some of the old tunnels. One proposal includes converting the old Broad St. Bridge tunnel into an underground pedestrian walkway, which would also include a Rochester Transportation Museum, and a rumored "tram" system.

The former subway tunnels have become something of a controversy. Many of the city's homeless use the abandoned tunnels for shelter, and a few areas near the tunnel entrances have gained the reputation as being dangerous. One proposal put before the City Council has asked the city to fill the tunnels in with dirt. This proposal has generated controversy, as the cost of filling in the tunnels would be comparable to that of restoring the Rochester Subway.

The Genesee River bridge (Broad Street) that it used retains the lower track level.

Major Highways and Roads that serve the Greater Rochester Area

There are three exits off the New York State Thruway (Interstate 90) that serve Rochester. Rochester has an extensive freeway (expressway) system which connects all parts of the city and the city with the Thruway. During the Thruway's construction, a disagreement between the governor of New York and mayor of Rochester resulted in a purposeful bypass of downtown Rochester, leaving the city struggling for growth in the decades following.

Rochester's expressway system, conceived in the 1950s, was designed as two concentric circles with feeder expressways from the west, south and east. The system allows for quick travel within the metropolitan area and a lack of the traffic gridlock typically found in cities of comparable size; in part this is because the system was designed to accommodate an anticipated year-2000 metro population of 5 million, whereas the actual present-day population is just under one million.

The Outer Loop circles just outside the city limits while the Inner Loop circles around the immediate downtown area within the city proper. From the west are Lake Ontario State Parkway, NY-531 and I-490; Interstate 390 feeds from the south; and NY-104, NY-441, and I-490 approach from the east.

Four Interstate Highways run through the Greater Rochester area:

Interstate 90 (New York State Thruway)

  • I-90 runs from Seattle to Boston. I-90 connects to I-390 and I-490 to serve the Greater Rochester Area.

Interstate 390

Interstate 490 (Western/Eastern Expressway)

Interstate 590

  • I-590 runs south-north through Rochester's eastern suburbs. Its southern end is at I-390, while the northern end is at I-490; the highway continues north to the shore of Lake Ontario as NY-590.

  • In decreasing usage is the term "Can of Worms", referring to the previously dangerous at-grade intersection of Interstate 490 and expressway NY-590 on the eastern edge of the Rochester city limits, bordering the suburb of Brighton. In the 1980s, a multimillion dollar project created a system of overpasses and ramps that reduced the danger but resulted in the loss of certain exits.

New York State Route Expressways:

New York State Route 104 (Irondequoit-Wayne County Expressway, West Ridge Road)

  • NY 104 - Just east of the NY 590 interchange, NY 104 becomes the Irondequoit-Wayne County Expressway and crosses the Irondequoit Bay Bridge. On the other side of the Bay Bridge, in the town of Webster, NY 104 has exits before returning to an at-grade highway at Basket Road.

New York State Route 390

  • NY 390 is an extension of Interstate 390 from the I-390/I-490 interchange in Gates. The northern terminus is at the Lake Ontario State Parkway in Greece, less than a mile from the Lake Ontario shoreline.

New York State Route 531 (Spencerport Expressway)

  • NY 531 serves as a connector between the northwestern suburbs of Rochester and Interstate 490.

New York State Route 590

  • NY 590 is a limited-access extension of Interstate 590 at runs from an interchange between Interstate 490 and I-590 on the Brighton/Rochester border. The northern terminus is at Culver Road in Irondequoit, near Sea Breeze (the western shore of Irondequoit Bay at Lake Ontario).

New York State Parkways:

Lake Ontario State Parkway

  • Lake Ontario State Parkway travels from Lakeside Beach State Park in Carlton, Orleans County. The eastern end is at Lake Avenue in the city of Rochester in Monroe County.

Notable citizens

See List of people from Rochester, New York

Sister cities

Rochester has ten sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International. They are all dedicated by a branched concrete walkway over the Genesee River, dubbed the Sister Cities Bridge (known as the Frank and Janet Lamb Bridge since October 2006):

References

External links



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