In celebration of Rochester’s one-hundred
and seventy-fifth anniversary a series of historic photographs have been placed
in the windows of many of Main Street’s buildings that today stand where the
original enterprises once served their patrons.
The images were greatly enlarged,
reproduced and posted by Ken Sato. These early photographs were found in Rochester’s
Downtown, a book written
by Donovan Shilling that effectively records those bygone days. For decades
Rochesterians found Main Street a magnet for shopping, dining and trading. This
was especially true of the two-mile long expanse of shops and stores that
reached from the intersection of West Main and Broad Streets to the
intersection of East Main Street and Goodman Street.
By taking a walk by those “windows into
the past” and examining the exceptional images one may well recapture a sense
of that vibrant spirit of enterprise that made Rochester great. By also reading
the captions below the large photographs one can learn much about the location,
architecture, and nature of the many noteworthy buildings that once graced our
downtown making it a most attractive place for business, entertainment and
shopping.
The photo image project is a joint
venture with the City of Rochester and a number of local sponsors in whose
building windows the photos were displayed. Leading the project was Attorney
Gerard D. DiMarco in collaboration with Ken Sato and Donovan A. Shilling.
