Celebrating Rochester’s 175th Anniversary

DOWNTOWN: THE WAY IT WAS

Open 24H, Sep 1st 2009 - Summer 2010,

Main St. between Plymouth Av. to Chestnut St.

Addmission Free

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.