Rochester Through Time

By Mary Hasek Grenier and Emily C. Morry

Rochester is a waterborne city. The beauty and potential power of the Genesee River's Upper and Lower Falls drew co-founders Nathaniel Rochester, William Fitzhugh and Charles Carroll to this Seneca-inhabited region in the early 1800s. The two falls spurred local industrial development, while the addition of the Erie Canal in 1825 connected the nascent village to cities across the country and expanded its market, making Rochester one of America's first boom towns. Established as a city in 1834, Rochester has since reinvented itself on a number of occasions, earning a series of reputations ranging from the "Flour City" to the "World Image Center."