USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York, from the earliest historic times to the beginning of 1907 > Part 18
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president ; Frederick S. Rogers, treasurer, and Andrew Ludolph, secretary.
In December, 189;, a number of young men formed a club under the name of the Friars, which has retained its popularity to the present time. Sidney S. B. Roby was the first president and Nor- man W. Mumford the secretary ; those positions are now held by James G. Palmer and Joseph Cur- tis; the present membership is sixty-seven; the quarters have always been in Wilder's Arcade. In those same rooms in December, 1906, about ninety graduates of the largest university in the state of New York formed themselves into a Cornell club. "to promote the interests and extend the infla- ence of Cornell university;" the officers chosen were George A. Benton, president; J. 11. Agate, secretary; Ralph H. Gorsline, treasurer; the mem- bership is not confined to this immediate locality ; the quarters are to be in the East Side Savings bank building.
Of patriotie hereditary societies, such as those of Mayflower Descendants, of Sons and Dangliters of the American Revolution and the Revolution witn- out the American, there are a large number of chapters and branches, with many organizations that it would be difficult to classify.
LITERARY CLUBS.
Of the literary clubs the oldest is one whose strength is attested by its longevity, for it is still unimpaired after the lapse of more than half century, its first regular session, after à prelim- inary meeting in the previous July at the house of the late Lewis Il. Morgan, having been held in November. 1854. No name was selected and none has been officially adopted since then save the vague and comprehensive title of "the club." but it has always been known as the Pundit. Each member entertains in turn and each reads, on the different evenings, which are usually two weeks apart during the winter and spring, a carefully prepared paper of a literary, historical or scientific nature on some subject selected entirely by him- self. In so long a term there have, of course, been a large number of members, too numerous, il fact, to be given here, and it seems sufficient to note those who constitute the present membership: Henry Selden Bacon, Rob Roy Converse, Henry G. Danforth, Charles W. Dodge. William S. Ely,
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Genesee Valley Club.
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Sammel A. Lattimore, Albert H. Mixer, William C. Morey. Joseph O'Connor, Jantes Breck Per- kins, Rush Rhees, Enoch V. Stoddard, Augustus H. Strong, John H. Strong.
Formed upon similar lines and conducted in the same way, the Fortnightly club hell its first meeting on the 23d of february, 1854. Its ses- sions are held on alternate Tuesday evenings, from the close of October to the middle of April, an original paper being read at each. Its consti- tuency at the present time holds the names of Joseph T. Alling. Henry F. Burton, George A. Carnahan, Algernon S. Crapsey, Charles A, Dewey, Porter Farley, Edward J. Hanna. William E. Hoyt, Max Landsberg, Robert Mathews, Nelson Millard, Daniel B. Murphy, William F. Peck, Rush Rhees, John W. Whithweek.
A club of the same character with the forego- ing and composed of somewhat younger men than either of them, is the Humdrum, which was formed a few years ago and still flourishes. with every indication of perpetuity. The Kent elnh was organized in 1872 by several of the younger mem- bers of the bar, and for some years the papers read were wholly on professional anbjects, but latterly they have been more general in their nature.
In addition to these there are a great number of clubs with a literary or semi-literary flavor that have sprung into being and passed away, besides many still existent that are only loosely held to- gether or are devoted to some particular calling or occupation. Women's literary clubs are compara- tively new here, but there are now several which are conducted with ability of a high order, such as the Wednesday Morning, the Round-about and the Women's Ethical.
SECRET BROTHERHOODS.
Freemasonry gained a foothold in the village soon after its settlement. Wells lodge being estab- lished early in 1817, Hamilton R. A. chapter being organized two years later, and Monroe command- ery (then called encampment ) of Knights Temp- lars being formed in 1827. In consequence of the Anti-Masonic excitement of 1829 all three of there bodies surrendered their charters in that year and voted to discontinue their meetings. In less than two decades the ill feeling had passed away, so thal the Masonic order thronghout the state felt
justified in resuming its functions and in 1846 the three organizations above named were revived, or, rather. Valley lodge came into being as the im- mediate snecessor of Wells lodge, while the others resmined their former titles. Next in order came the following with the year of organization so far as it can be learned: Yonnondio lodge. 1850; Genesee Falls lodge, 1861 : Rochester lodge, Tonic chapter, Cyrene commandery. Rochester council of Princess of Jerusalem, Rochester chapter of Rose Croix, Rochester lodge of Perfection and Rochester consistory, all in 1862; Germania lodge, 1872; Doric conneil; Germania lodge of Perfection, 1823; Damasens Temple. Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, 1825; Frank R. Lawrence lodge, 1889; Corinthian Temple lodge, 1893: C. T .. Stowell conclave and the Veiled Prophets of the Enchant- ed Realın ; all of these are now in existence and all meet on stated evenings in the Masonic Temple.
Taking advantage of the temporary eclipse of Freemasonry the independent order of Odd Fel- lows (the first lodge of which in this country had been organized in Baltimore in 1819) established itself in Rochester in 1841, the first lodge formed here heing the Genesee, which was instituted on the 2d of June, followed by the Teoronto six months later. From that time the order increased rapidly, so that now there are in the county three distriet grand committees, whose membership is composed exclusively of past grands; two cantons of Patriarchs Militant, five encampments and twenty-seven subordinate lodges, most of them in the city but several in different towns. Besides these there are thirteen lodges of Daughters of Re- bekah, Monroe Rebekah lodge, organized over thirty years ago, being the oldest one of that branch in the United States.
These are the principal seeret hrotherhoods, but there are many others, such as the Knights of l'ythias (why not of Damon also?) the Ancient Orders of Hibernians and of United Workmen, the Foresters, the Red Men, the Elks, the Maccabees, the Empire Order of Mutual Aid, but to find them all one would have to consult the city directory, and even then some might elude the search.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Of the strictly public buildings, besides that of the United States government, the most conspicn-
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
ous is the county edifice commonly called the couri-house; the others devoted to county purposes are described elsewhere. Those used by the amnici- pality are the city hall, the new building on Cen- tral avenue for fire department headquarters (where the Brackett House formerly stood), the pdice headquarters on Exchange street, the old building on Front street given up to the overseer of the poor and miscellaneous matters, the munici- pal building (formerly the Free Academy, where number 1 school stood in olden times). the pub- lie market, the total enst of which up to the first of this year has been $Iss,00; the health bureau, which is old number 1t school-house remodeled, on the corner of Chestut and James streets ; the pub- lie bath house, on South avenne, and the fire-proof building on the same lot for the storage of ballut machines.
HOTELS.
Not only travelers but many permanent resi- dents find accommomation in the nunnerons hotels. Of these the principal are the Powers, a lofty fire- proof structure of seven flours, on which revent im- provements have been made to the extent of $200,- 000.00, so that in its interior appointments it is one of the most beautiful hotels in the United Sintes : the Whitcomb, the Osburn and the Eg- gleston, besides several others of a lower grade. In addition to these, plans have been drawn and accepted for a million dollar batel nine stories in height, to be called. appropriately for this re- gion, the Seneca, which is to be erected on Clin- ton avenue South by a corporation in the course of this wear and which has already been leased for a term of twenty-one years: it is intended to have it eclipse in magnificence anything of the kind in the country. To offset that on the east side, though not to compete with it in grandeur, another, one story higher, to be called the Rochester, is being put up on Main street West, at the corner of Plymouth avenue. Apartment honses have of late years come into vogue and are rapidly increasing in number, to meet the growing demand for some comfortable solution of the vexations problem of domestic service; the principal ones are the Jenk- inson, the Columbia. the Wentworth, the Win- throp, the Centropolis, the Westminster, the Corn- wall and the Oxford. There are five theaters the Iveeuro. Cook's, the Baker, the National aud
the Corinthian-besides which the Bijon might come under that head, as a place of amusement, though no dramatic performances are given there.
PARK STATISTICS.
The parks of Rochester have been described else- where. The amount paid for the purchase of land thus far, by the city. not counting what has been paid by individuals for land that they have given for the purpose, is $ 103.245.01 : the total acreage. including the lakeside gift, is 1335. The disburse- ments during last year werr $79.248.5; for main- tenance, $20,229.91 for betterments, $99,428,51 in all. There are twenty-two members of the board of park erotnissioners, one for each ward : the pres- ident is A. B. Lamberton, the vice-presidents W. 6. Barry and H. F. Atwood, the treasurer John E. Durand. the secretary Martin O. Stone, the super- intendent of parks, Calvin C, Laney.
HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS.
There are seven hospitals, all described else- where, the City. St. Mary's, Homeopathie, the Hahnemann. the Infants' Summer, at Ontaria beach, and the State hospital, formerly the in- sane asylum : a German hospital will probably he erected during this year. There are five orphan asylums, three of them under Catholic control. one under Jewish.
Eleven steam railronds entering the city find their accommodations in six sintions, those of the New York Central. the Erie, the Lehigh Valley, the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg, the Buffalo, Rochester & . Pittsburg and the Pennsylvania.
Of the nine bridges for pedestrians and ve- hieles now traversing the river the most impos- ing is the one at the northern extremity of the city, on the site of the old Carthage bridge: its arch, spanning at a single leap the stream two hundred and twelve feet below, has a chord of four hundred and twenty-eight fect, the third longest in the world, and its three approach spans, two on the west and one on the cast, make the total length of the bridge seven hundred and seventeen feet ; it is of iron construction, it cost $123,000, and it was opened to the public December 1st, 1890; Proceeding southward the next is at Vincent place,
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MAPLEWOOD PARK.
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
the longest in the city, being nine hundred and of the early advent of cold weather. Leaving out twenty-five feet. huilt of iron in 1872-13, costing of the reckoning the electric trolley lines of the Eastern Rapid, which runs to Canandaigua, tie- neva and other places in Ontario county, the Roch- ester & Syracuse, which is now completed as far as Lyons, and the Erie road, the electrification of which has just been completed from here to Avon, 170 miles of trolley lines are operated in Roch- ester, including those to Charlotte, the Sea Breeze and Sodas bay; the passenger traffic on these lines hus increased vastly of late, so that. whereas five years ago they carried an average of about seventy- seven thousand persons each day, for the year end- ing June 30th, 1906, they transported 54.395,185, a daily average of very nearly 150,000, an in- ercase of almost one humilred per cent. $150,000; the next at Platt street, steel truss on stone piers, built in 1892, cost $156,000; the oth- ers, in their order, that at Central aveune, of wrought iron, built in 1883, cost $48,000; that at Andrews street, built in 1893, on sione piers, cost 825,000; that at Main street, of ent stone, built in 185%, cost $60,000; that at Court street. stone arch, finished in 1893, cost $150,000; that at ('larissa street, of riveted deck iron, built on stone piers in 1892, cost $50,000, extended over the Erie railway tracks to correspond with the main por- tion in 1897, and that at Ehnwood avenue, the southern boundary line of the city, built in 1888, cost $32,000. Besides these there is the aque- duct, the wwond one at that spot, wider than the old one, with a wide footpath on the north side, THE BANKS. completed in 1838 at a cost of $600,000; the ma- The money of the people of Rochester is han- elled by six discount banks, which on the Ist of January, 1907, showed a combined capital, sur- plus and undivided profits of $1,919.343 (the de- posits not given, as being too fluctuating) ; four savings banks, with deposits and surplus amount- ing to $51,122.291.52. and five trust companies, with deposits of $18,565,092.25. These institu- tions are fully described in the appropriate chap- ter. terial, which is of gray limestone, mostly from the lockport quarries, is so durable in its nature as almost to defy the tooth of time, and the structure, after the lapse of nearly seventy yenra, gives no sign of decay; in preparing the foundations for the abutments and piers thirty thousand eubic yards of rock were blasted out of the bed of the river to allow free passage for the water during the spring floods, but it will be necessary to make still further excavations before perfeet safety can be assured. The New York Central, the Erie and METEOROLOGICAL. the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg cross the river on their own bridges, none of which has any footpath or driveway on it. There are twenty-six bridges carrying streets over the Erie canal, ten carrying streets over railroads, twenty-five carrying railroads over streets, and five miscellaneous, over the ferder, the races, etc., making seventy-five in all, of which the city maintains twenty-one, the state nineteen, the various railroads thirty-five.
STREETS, SEWERS, TROLLEY LINES.
The city is about six miles square, giving an area of thirty-six square miles. There are 333.5 miles of streets, of which 14? are improved, 171.5 unimproved : 245.74 miles of sewers, 315 miles of water pipes, every one of these figures should Iw. materially enlarged by the time this volume gets into the hands of its readers, ns contracts for more than half a million dollars' worth of street work were let last year and held back on account
The weather is always an entertaining subject of conversation, and the following statistics. brought down to the beginning of this year, will be interesting: During the past thirty-five years the mean annual temperature has been 47.3, the mean maximmin 55.4, the menn minimun 39.2. the highest 99, the lowest 14 below zero; the mean annual rainfall was 31.4 inches, the average annual snowfall 86 inches, the average annual number of clear days was 83, partly cloudy 121, cloudy 158.
THE CITY GOVERNMENT.
The municipal government comprises the fol- lowing chief officers, with many deputies, assist- anis and clerks: James G. Cutler, mayor : Sam- uel B. Williams, comptroller; Lyman M. Otis, treasurer ; Frederick T. Elwood, commissioner of public works: George A. Gilman, commissioner of public safety; Joseph A. Crane, commissioner
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of charities; William W. Webb, corporation coun- ler's statement for 1906. The total indebted- sel; Edwin A. Fisher, city engineer; J. Herbert ness, less the sinking fund on the 1st of January, 190%, was $11,450,185.21. That was an increase of 8530,168.10 over the previous year, but it does not involve an augmentation in the rate of taxa- tion, for the valuation of real estate in the city is now $119,476.240. of franchises $8,298,675, a total valuation of $121,775,415, being 88,095,715 in excess of that of last year. The city is still $1,327,356.29 within the deht limit allowed by law. The tax levy for 1907 is $2,694,220. Grant, special assistant engineer; Beekman C. Little, superintendent of water works; Charles F. Pond, Joseph C. Wilson, Charles H. Judson and Thomas J. Neville, assessors; John M. Murphy and Delbert C. Hebbard, judges of the municipal court : John H. Chadsey, judge of the police court : A. M. Spiehler, S. P. Burrill, George J. Oaks and Oswald J. Bryan, civil service commissioners; Henry B. Hathaway, V. Moreau Smith and Charles W. Weis, Mt. Hope cemetery commis- sinners, with John W. Keller as superintendent ; George M. Forbes, William Bausch, Helen B. Montgomery, Isaac Adler and James P. B. Duffy, commissioners of publie instruction, with Clarence F. Carroll as superintendent of schools. The names of the members of the common council will be found in the civil list.
THE CITY'S FINANCES,
Now, what does it cost to run a city like this? A little over three million dollars a year, or, to be exact, 83,057,369.14, according to the comptrol-
In the foregoing survey there has been pre- sented a statement of only the leading and more obvious factors in the life of Rochester at the pres- ent day. Of those more subtle and intangible ele- ments that go to make up its real character no adequate description can be given. Those of us who have lived our lives here, who have been born and nurtured here and have entered upon the gray side of their earthly existence, feel well as- sured that there is no pleasanter, no better city on the whole earth.
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MAIN STREET, LOOKING EAST.
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CHAPTER XI
FIRE AND ITS EXTINGUISHMENT.
Precautions of Early Days-Fire Buckets Gen- rally Used-The First Fire Company-The Fire Wardena-Certificates of Membership- The Volunteer System The Old Fire Engines and their Companies-Characteristics of the Latter-The Protectires. the Alerts and the Actives-Firemen's Benevolent Association- The Monument-The Paid Fire Department -- The Fire Alarm Telegraph-The Fire Marshal -Notable Fires-The First Fatality-Chicken Row-The Rochester House Fire and the Blos- som House-The Conflagration of 1858-The Lantern Works Fire and the Orphan Asylum- The Conflagration of 1904.
In the first five years of the settlement there was no organized provision for the extinguishment of such fires as might break out, cach householdler being expected to take care of his own property with the assistance of his neighbors. It is prob- able that fire buckets were more or less used even then, but as there was no communal authority there was of course no power to enforce their own- ership. But when the village was incorporated, in 1817, steps were at once taken to prevent what might be a destructive conflagration, At the first meeting of the freelwilders, held on the 5th of May at the school-house, five fire wardens were chosen, agreenhly with the charter, who were Ros- well Hart, Willis Kempshall, John G. Bond, Ab- ner Wakelee and Francis Brown. Their duty was not merely to see to the suppression of fires after they had once broken out by forming the line of
citizens who were expected to rush to the scene, but to guard against their occurrence by enforc- ing the ordinances relating thereto, which, as we have seen in a previous eliapter, were quite strin- gent and elaborate. At the next meeting, held a month later, the trustees were authorized to raise by taxation the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the corporation for stationery, of procuring fire hooks and ladders and taking "such other pre- cautionary measures to guard against the destrue- tive ravages of fire in said village as shall be ex- pedient. regard being had to the situation of the village and the circumstances of the inhabitants at this time." All these provisions were soon seen to be wholly inadequate, and on the 19th of Oe- tober of that year the first fire company was or- ganized, the names of the members occurring in this order: Everard Peck. William P. Sherman, Josiah Bissell, Albert Backns, Roswell Hart, Jehiel Bornard, Isaac Colvin. Hastings R. Bender, Eb- enezer Watts, Moses Chupin, Daniel Mack, Wil- ham Cobh, Horace Bates, Roswell Babbitt, Gideon Coltb. Daniel Warren, Jedediah Safford, William Brewster, Reuben Darrow, Tra West, Caleb I. Clarke, Davis C. West, Charles J. Hill. The last on the roll survived all his comrades, dying July 191h, 1883.
For this company an engine was procured in the following year, for the trustees were instructed at the meeting of May 13th, 1818, to procure "a good engine" out of the tax levy, which was then raised to the extravagant sum of one thousand dol- lars. It must have been a poor affair, however, for the water had to be poured into it from buck-
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ets, as it had no suction hose. It somehow or other the machine got along without repairs for two years, when nine dollars and a quarter was soteil for that purpose, the trustees also appro- printing one hundred and twenty dollars "tu pur- chase and repair fire utensils, such as huckets. hooks, ladders, etc., and to build a shelter for the ladders." The next year the engine which had Leen honed in a structure Inilt for it on Court- House square, was removed to its new habitation on Aqueduct street, and all the inhabitants were called on to vote as to whether there should or should not be an expenditure of eight dollars for the first rope for the fire hooks. The ladders must have been at the beginning dragged hy hund to the scene of their usefulness, for it was not till 1821 that the first truck was purchased at an expense of fifty dollars: one year later four hun- dred and -eventy dollars was paid for a new en- gine with another hundred for a house to put it in on Bugle alley, back of the Arcade.
The 5th of May. 1826, marked the real begin- ning of the volunteer fire department, for before that time the firemen had simply arted under the direction of the tire wardens, but on that day the trupres delivered certificates of membership in twa engine companies and one hook and ladder compriny to a number of the most prominent men in the village, several of whom afterward rose tu fill the highest positions, such as mayor of the city, justice of the Supreme court and member of Congress. At the same time the president of the board appointed Vincent Mathews and William Brewster as the committee on the fire department and Sammel Works was elected chief engineer. The last named must have been a person not only of great extensive ability but of singular modera- finn as compared with the purchasing agents of mune rerent tones, for, whereas the trustees in 1827 authorized him in purchase a new engine at a wet net exeruling twelve hundred dollars. he reported three months later that he had obtained me for seven hundred and sixteen, besides ox- printding two hundred and sixtyen for three hun- dred feet of house, A new volunteer company. number 3. was formed in October, in the second ward, then known as Frankfort. and the little original machine was given to it, the new one being assigned to company number 2. known as "Torrent." for then and always afterward till the
volunteer department went out of existence each company had its own engine, the two bearing both the nunther and the name in common, a dual exist- Pure of the animate and the inanimate. The first inspection was held in that month, all the engines and the truck being ordered to appear in "Mum- ford meadow," and then the trustees located the rumpanies by honsing number I near the First Presbyterian church, number 2 near the black- smith shap opposite Blossom's tavern (where the Granite building now stands) and "Red Rover." number 3, near the corner of State nud Platt streets. In 18:30 an assistant chief was appointed. William H. Ward, who succeeded Mr. Works us chief engineer two years later. "Cataract," nom- her 4, and "Rough and Ready," number 5, both came into being in 1831, and "Protection," num- ber 6, in 1833. the last-named having in connec- tion with "Pioneer" book and ladder. number 1~ afterward known as "Empire"-a real house of its own on Fitzhugh street, where the north end of the large dry goods store now stands.
When Rochester beenme a city, in 1834, no great change took jdaer in our department. The common council elected two fire warders for each ward, John Hayword and Abelard Reynolds for the first, John Jones and Willis Kempshall for the second : Erasmus D. Smith and Thomas IF. Rochester for the third, Nehemiah Osborn and Obadiah M. Bush for the fourth, Marshall Bur- ton and William Colby for the fifth ; William H. Ward was re-elected chief engineer*, with Thro- dore Chapin and Kilian H. Van Rensselaer as his assistants. Fifteen hundred dollars was put into the tax levy for the support of the department and a second look and ladder company was formed for the east side of the river. The next year a hose company sprang up, probably attached to engine company nmuber 1. for it bore the same name, the "Aetna." In 1838 two bucket com- panies were organized. also an engine, truek and hoar company. a nondescript affair, not named. In the same year "Storm," mum- ber 1. blew in: from its birth to its end it was true to its name: disbanded within a vwir of its fondation, it was put together again and in January. 1843, was located on Plymouth aenne, in "Cornhill": reorganized ten years later
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