USA > New York > Monroe County > Landmarks of Monroe County, New York : containing followed by brief historical sketches of the towns of the county with biography and family history > Part 18
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free from sectarianism, its original character as a Baptist institution has largely departed from it and is now true only in the sense that a majority of the board of trustees belong to that denomination; it is governed entirely by the principles of common morality and the re- quirements necessary to the highest education, of which it is a noble exponent.
Wholly distinct from the university is the Rochester theological sem- inary, which, like the former, was founded in 1850, the New York Bap- tist Union for Ministerial Education being its originator and its spon- sor. Its original faculty consisted of Dr. T. J. Conant, professor of Hebrew, and Dr. J. S. Maginnis, professor of theology, both from Madi- son university. Three years later Dr. E. G. Robinson came and from 1868 to 1872 was the president of the seminary, being succeeded in that office by Dr. A. H. Strong, the present incumbent, besides whom there are seven professors in the English department and four in the German. The property of the seminary, which is valued at $773,000, includes the three buildings which it occupies-Rockefeller hall, on the corner of East avenue and Alexander street, containing a library of nearly twenty-eight thousand volumes; Trevor hall, which is the dor- mitory, and the German Students' Home, used exclusively by the stu- dents of that nationality.
The Wagner Memorial Lutheran college is an institution of late growth, having been chartered only ten years ago, mainly for the edu- cation of students for the ministry, between fifty and sixty of whom are in attendance; the president of the board of trustees is Rev. Dr. John Nicum, and the faculty consists of Rev. August Redderoth, pro- fessor of Greek ; Rev. G. A. Genzmer, of Latin; G. Doolittle, of mathe- matics, Carl Betz, of the natural sciences, and C. Wenzel, as tutor; the college is located on Oregon street, in the old Satterlee school- house.
In one of the pleasantest parts of the city stand the buildings of the Rochester Athenæum and Mechanics' Institute, commonly called by its original title of the Mechanics' Institute, which is now in the tenth year of its existence and which during that period has been of the greatest benefit in giving free instruction in drawing to thousands of pupils, while of late years it has increased the scope of its usefulness so as to
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give tuition in the arts directly connected with domestic science and housekeeping. It is the owner of all the land and houses on the west side of Washington street from the Erie canal to Spring street, and extending to the alley in the rear, with the exception of the apartment house on the corner. Of its four houses, one is occupied by the classes in cooking, dressmaking and home nursing, the other three being rented for private residences ; back of these houses is a fireproof brick building, three stories high, which was lately erected for the use of the classes in drawing, painting and modeling in clay, as well as for the offices of the principal, his assistants and the secretaries. It was on the Ist of October, 1885, that the Institute was organised, with Henry Lomb, the founder of the enterprise, as its president; the classes were taught at first in the Free Academy building, then they were removed to a business block on Exchange street and last December they were transferred to their present abode, where they will remain until the dream of the trustees is realised and a spacious edifice, with its various sections connected by galleries, shall cover the whole front of the square, when the present building will be turned into shops for manual training.
In 1891 the Institute absorbed the shadow of the old Athenaeum and took its name, for the purpose of obtaining its charter, which was so liberal as to be highly advantageous. The first instructor of the school was Prof E. C. Colby, who still remains as the principal of the institu- tion, with Prof. Eben Rose, who came here in the second year, as the vice-principal, and a large corps of additional instructors, Miss Sarah A. Nichols being at the head of the domestic science department, with four other teachers. Of the present board of trustees the president is E. R. Andrews, the vice-presidents are Mrs. H. S. Greenleaf and L. P. Ross, the secretaries are Charles B. Rebasz, recording ; William F. Peck, corresponding, and John A. Stewart, financial; the treasurer is John F. Brayer. While the night classes are practically free, a moderate fee is charged for instruction in the daytime, when the attendance is about four-sevenths as great as in the evening. During the year just closed 1296 were instructed in all departments, of which 715 were in the industrial (or drawing and painting), 581 in that of domestic science.
In the public schools of the city 23,069 different pupils were regis- 23
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tered during the past year, an increase over the enrollment of the previous year of nearly two thousand, but the attendance decreased, as is usual, during the spring months, so that on the Ist of June there were only 17,928 in actual attendance. The reduction is accounted for, partly by the closing of the night schools at that time and partly by the fact that the law provides that all children between the ages of eight and twelve shall attend during eight months of the school period, those be- tween twelve and fourteen for at least eighty days, and those between fourteen and sixteen when not engaged in useful employment or service. For all these pupils there were employed during the year six hundred and fifty-four teachers, twenty-seven of whom were in the Free Acad- emy. There are thirty six school-houses and thirteen annexes, some of the principal buildings being creditable specimens of the architecture of Rochester and one of them, number twenty-six, so large as to accom- modate 1362 scholars. The board of education, which has entire con- trol of the public school system of this city, consists of twenty commis- sioners, one being elected from each ward; the first president of the board was Levi A. Ward ; the present is John E. Durand .. The first superintendent of schools was Isaac F. Mack, since whom the office has been filled by Samuel L. Selden, B. R. McAlpine, Washington Gibbons, Daniel Holbrook, R. D. Jones, John Atwater, I. S. Hobbie, P. H. Curtis, S. W. Starkweather, C. N. Simmons, S. A. Ellis, A. L. Mabbett and Milton Noyes, the present incumbent. A large part of the ground floor of the Free Academy is taken up by the Central library, nominally intended for the use of those in the public schools, but really used by a great many other people, for it is free, and last year over eight thousand persons drew books, principally novels, from its shelves; it contains over twenty-two thousand volumes; Mrs. Katherine J. Dowling has been the librarian for several years.
The great library of Rochester is the Reynolds library, the nucleus of which is the books of the old Athenaeum that were sold, after the ex- tinction of that institution in 1877, to M. F. Reynolds and George S. Riley, the latter of whom soon transferred his interest to the former, who, a little later, turned over the property to an association, in- corporated, by an act passed in 1884, under the title of the Reynolds Library. The persons named in the act as incorporators, and therefore
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trustees, were M. B. Anderson, M. F. Reynolds, G. E. Mumford, W. C. Rowley, Hiram Sibley, Don Alonzo Watson, Donald McNaughton, D. T. Hunt, Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Theodore Bacon, E. M. Moore, Josiah Anstice, George Ellwanger, Max Landsberg, S. A. Lattimore, W. C. Morey, Howard Osgood, F. A. Whittlesey, G. H. Perkins and Samuel Sloan ; of these the first seven have been taken away, the eighth has removed from the city and the others constitute the present board, with the addition of Cyrus F. Paine, David J. Hill and William F. Peck, who have been elected by the other members of the board, as the body is self-perpetuating. Dr. E. M. Moore is the president of the board, George Ellwanger and Theodore Bacon are the vice-presidents, and Josiah Anstice is the secretary and treasurer; A. S. Collins is the librarian. By the will of Mr. Reynolds his valuable real estate, consist- ing of the Arcade and his residence on Spring street, of the combined worth of more than half a million dollars, was bequeathed to the Library. At this present writing, extensive alterations are making in the house, with a view to the removal of the books to that place by the close of the summer, from the Arcade, where the library has been al- ways situated. When that is done, the Reynolds library will be in an ideal location, conducive to the increase of its usefulness. What that is, may be judged from the number of its books, which has grown from about twelve thousand, which were left over from the old Athenaeum, to 31,115 catalogued volumes on the first of June, of which 16,857 were in the reference department, 14,258 in the circulating ; the number of its readers during the past year was nearly forty thousand. Particular attention is paid to the reference department, and in this it is the in- tention of the library committee, consisting of Prof. Morey, Mr. Whittlesey and Dr. Landsberg, to purchase all books that are necessary for the use of students in the university extension course and for those engaged in pursuing any other line of study. The library, which is supported en- tirely by the revenues derived from the rental of its real estate, is, and will be as long as it exists, absolutely free for all.
As the outgrowth of the Rochester Microscopical society, which had existed for two years before that under the presidency of S. A. Latti- more, the Rochester Academy of Science was organised in 1881, the Rev. Myron Adams being the first president. At present the officers
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are Prof. H. L. Fairchild, president ; J. M. Davison and J. Eugene Whitney, vice presidents; A. L. Baker, recording secretary ; C. W. Dodge, corresponding; F. W. Warner, treasurer. Although the asso- ciation has no permanent quarters of its own, it is in a flourishing con- dition and has distributed its published proceedings over the world.
At a social gathering held on December 17, 1887, it was decided to form the Rochester Historical society, which was fully developed dur- ing the winter and incorporated in the following November. Dr. E. M. Moore was, at its first regular meeting, chosen president ; Dr. A. H. Strong vice-president, Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker corresponding secre- tary, William F. Peck recording secretary, Gilman H. Perkins treasurer and H. K. Phinney librarian. The two secretaries still retain their offices ; John H. Rochester is now the president, Frank W. Elwood the vice-president, Charles H. Wiltsie the treasurer and Miss Jane E. Roch- ester the librarian. The object of the society is to rescue from ob- livion all facts relating to the early history of this region and to pre- serve the record of events that are in any way connected with this locality, for which purpose it has accumulated already a well equipped library. Monthly meetings have been held during the years of its ex- istence, from November to June, at which valuable papers have been read by members of the society. Its quarters have been for several years in the Rochester savings bank building, but in the course of the summer it will move into its new abode on the third floor of the Rey- nolds library on Spring street.
The following is a list of the churches of Rochester, with their pres- ent pastors :
Presbyterian .- First church, Nelson Millard, D. D .; Brick, W. R. Taylor, D. D .; Third, Richard D. Harlan ; Central, H. H. Stebbins, D. D .; St. Peter's, -; Calvary, Charles A. Evans ; Memorial, Charles P. Coit, D. D .; United, J. P. Sankey, D. D .; North, Peter Lindsay ; Reformed (Covenanter), - -; Second Reformed, Cornelius M. Steffens ; Westminster, C. B. Gardner, D. D .; Emmanuel, J. S. Root; Mt. Hor, J. M. McElhinney ; Grace, T. E. Sherman.
Episcopal .- St. Luke's, Henry Anstice, D. D .; St. Paul's, -; Trinity, W. C. Hubbard ; Christ, W. D'Orville Doty, D. D .; Epiphany, Amos Skeele; St. James's, J. H. Dennis ; St. Andrew's, A. S. Crap-
- Sain B Williams
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sey ; St. Mark's, E. P. Hart; St. John's, -; Ascension, G. T. Le Boutillier ; All Saints', Henry Rollings; Christ church mission, J. H. Perkins. Rev. Louis C. Washburn is the archdeacon of the eastern portion of the diocese of Western New York.
Methodist .- First, M. R. Webster, D. D .; Zion (African), W. A. Ely, D. D .; Asbury, A. W. Hayes; German, John Lange; North avenue, G. W. Peck, LL. D .; Frank street, F. S. Parkhurst ; Cornhill, M. E. Hedding ; Monroe avenue, Ward Platt ; Hedding, Ray Allen ; Epworth, James Gosnell ; Spencer-Ripley, T. J. Bissell, D. D .; Glenwood, F. S. Rowland ; Free, B. Winget.
Roman Catholic .- Bernard J. McQuaid, D. D., is the bishop of the diocese. St. Patrick's cathedral, J. P. Kiernan, rector ; Hippolyte De Regge, chancellor ; J. G. Van Ness, C. O'Loughlin, Thomas Hickey ; St. Mary's, John P. Stewart, Andrew Smeltz, Owen Farron; St. Joseph's, Mathias Kuborn ; Sts. Peter and Paul's, F. H. Sinclair, J. B. Boppel ; Our Lady of Victory, Alphonse Notabaert ; Immaculate Con- ception, James F. O'Hare, William Gleeson ; St. Bridget's, T. A. Hend- rick; St. Boniface's. Frederic Rauber; Holy Family, Dietrich Lau- renzis; Holy Redeemer, F. C. Oberholzer, Joseph Miller; St. Michael's, Fridolin Pascalar, Hubert Regenbogen; Holy Apostles', Timothy Murphy ; St. Francis Xavier's, M. J. Hargather ; Corpus Christi, J. J. Leary; St. Stanislaus's, Theophilus Szadzinski; Holy Rosary, J. P. Kiernan.
Baptist .- First, J. W. A. Stewart, D. D .; Second, F. L. Anderson, D. D .; First German, O. Koenig; Park avenue, H. C. Peepels; Lake avenue, C. A. Barbour; Plymouth avenue, Frederick Redfern; Bron- son avenue, J. R. Lynch; Second German, -; North, -; Alexander street, J. W. Millard ; Meigs street, John Bentzien ; Lyell avenue, -; Wilder street, Claude Kelly; Colored mission, G. W. Thrasher.
Unitarian .- William C. Gannett.
Evangelical .- Trinity, Emil Henckell ; St. Paul's, W. Baur; Salem, J. F. W. Helmkamp; Christus, Frederick Wiedner; Association, P. E. Bahn.
Lutheran .- Zion, Ernst Hartmann ; Reformation, W. J. Miller ; St. John's, John Nicum, D. D .; Concordia, C. N. Conrad; St. Matthew's,
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John Mühlhauser; Grace, W. E. Murray; Trinity, G. A. Genzmer ; Peace, Otto Posselt.
Jewish -Berith Kodesh, Max Landsberg, D. D .; Beth Israel, Abra- ham Rosin.
Universalist. - First, Asa Saxe, D. D .; Second, D. M. Kirkpatrick.
Congregational .- Plymouth, Myron Adams, D. D .; South, H. C. Riggs, D. D.
Second Advent -G. W. Wright.
Christian .- F. P. Arthur.
In addition to the foregoing there are the church of the Strangers, of which N. H. Barbour is the pastor ; one or two Christadelphian syna- gogues, two citadels of the Salvation Army and a large number of mis- sions of all kinds ; there are two societies of Friends, but neither has a meeting- house.
Club life has become of late years so prominent a feature of Ameri- can society that a sketch of any city would be incomplete without some mention of those social organisations. Several have existed here that have passed out of being, but others have sprung up that are far larger than their predecessors, on a much more expensive scale and with every prospect of permanence. The Genesee Valley club was organised January 2, 1885, was incorporated two weeks later and on the 25th of March opened its club house. This was situated on South Washington street, and it answered its purposes fairly well for nearly four years, but the building, which had been a private residence, was not adapted to modern club life and the organisation built on the corner of East avenue and Gibbs street, opening its new house on February 22, 1889. - This was the first structure erected in Rochester for the distinct and exclu- sive purposes of a club-house (though the Phoenix club had put up a building fifteen years before, of which it occupied all but the ground floor), and it fulfills admirably all of its requirements, having the mod- ern equipments, with ladies' rooms and a large assembly room for club balls and private entertainments, many of which, literary and artistic, have been given there. Its present membership is three hundred and forty-one, one hundred of those being non resident. The first presi- dent was H. F. Atkinson; the present is Gilman H. Perkins, the other officers being James S. Watson, vice-president ; Haywood Hawks, sec- retary, and Erickson Perkins, treasurer.
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After the manner of these institutions in most of the large cities at the present time, the Country club was started on New Year's day of this year as an adjunct to the Genesee Valley. its membership being limited to one hundred and confined to that of the latter club. The Parsons farm, comprising eighty acres, on the Pittsford road, two miles east of Brighton, has been leased for five years, the grounds have been laid out for golf, lawn tennis, bicycle riding and other sports, stables have been built for thirty horses, the old homestead has been turned into a club-house with all conveniences, and everything tends to make the place an agreeable summer resort for its new lessees, who opened the house on May 30 Hiram W. Sibley is the president, James S. Watson and Erickson Perkins are the vice presidents; George Wilder is the secretary and Gilman N. Perkins the treasurer.
The Rochester club is the oldest now extant here, having been formed in 1860, long before it had become the custom for clubs, except those in the metropolis, to possess separate houses of their own. Its members came in time to perceive the desirability of this, after rooms in the Ellwanger & Barry block, and afterward in the Rochester savings bank building, had been occupied by them for many years, and in 1888 they purchased a fine residence on East avenue, between Gibbs and Scio street, which they fitted up with suitable appointments and moved in during that year. The membership is about two hundred and sixty, including thirty seven non residents. The first president was James Terry, the present is William Pitkin, the vice-president H. F. Atwood, the secretary Frederick L. Churchill and the treasurer Charles A. Bruff.
Both in numbers and in wealth the Jews of this city have long been strong enough to maintain a club of their own, and as such the Phoenix was formed in 1872, giving place ten years later to the Eureka, which has a splendid building on North Clinton street, near Andrews, costing $100,000, the finest club-house in the state outside of New York city, with a frontage of eighty-two feet, a depth of one hundred and seventy- six. The first president was J. W. Rosenthal; the officers now are Marcus Straus, president ; Joseph Michaels, vice-president ; Maurice D. Strauss, secretary, and Herman C. Cohn, treasurer.
By far the largest club in the city is the Rochester Whist club, or-
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ganised in September, 1882, whose name, originally appropriate, is not indicative of its character, which is social and general, like that of the foregoing three. Its limit of membership is five hundred and it has now come within five or six of that number. It is, distinctively, the down town club of the city, and, though it does not own its house, it has a long lease, with an option that will probably end in the purchase, of the old Dr. Dean residence, on North Fitzhugh street, near Church. John E. Morey was the first president; Horace C. Brewster fills that office at present, with J. M. Ingersoll as vice-president, William H. Samson as secretary. Frank N. Beach as treasurer. In addition to these four there are many others of a similar nature but not influential in affecting public life, and there are, also, of course, still more associations of a specific character, for athletic exercise, for hunting, fishing, aquatic sport and the like.
One word should be said regarding the literary clubs of Rochester. Of these the oldest is the Pundit, as it is frequently called, though the organisation has never adopted any title other than that of "the club ;" it was formed in 1854, and since then it has held meetings at the houses of the various members every alternate week during the winter and spring, at which original papers have been read, followed by discussion. Inspired by the success of this informal association, the Fortnightly club sprang into being in February, 1881, infused with the same prin- ciples of management and animated by the same motives of literary improvement and cultivation ; many of the papers thus produced in both bodies have been of a high order and several of them have been preserved in permanent form by publication. In each club the num- ber of members has ranged from twelve to sixteen, but, as both are essentially private in their character, their constituency is not given here. The same reservation exists with regard to other men's clubs and to those composed exclusively of women, notably the Wednesday Morning club, the Ignorance club, the Roundabout club, the Women's Ethical society and many others, whose number is past finding out.
An attempt was made in 1865 to establish a Board of Trade in this city, but the merchants of Rochester were apathetic; the concern was started, languished for a few months and then expired. Nothing further of that nature was done till 1887, when the Chamber of Commerce
G.MWoodworth.
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was organised, being incorporated July 2, 1888. Its first president was H. H. Warner, who has been followed by William S. Kimball, Lewis P. Ross, Eugene T. Curtis, Max Brickner, Henry C. Brewster, Ira L. Otis and Charles P. Ford, the present incumbent ; the vice- presidents are James G. Cutler, A. J. Katz and F. W. Warner ; the treasurer is Benjamin E. Chase and the secretary is George Moss, who has filled that position for several years, having succeeded J. Y. McClintock, the original officer. The corporation has a membership of about two hundred, with annual dues of twenty dollars ; its location has been hitherto in the Rochester savings bank building, but it has recently moved to its new quarters on the corner of Main and St. Paul streets. During its short life thus far the Chamber of Commerce has been of the greatest benefit to Rochester in stimulating business activity, in promoting all enterprises that tended to the public good and dissem - inating knowledge with regard to the advantages which this city offers for the location of manufactories.
Few places in the country, perhaps none, weathered the financial gale of 1893 as well as Rochester, and our comparative immunity from disaster was owing largely to the conservative action of our monetary institutions. Before the storm broke, the discount banks began to hoard their resources and during the last half of the year refused to lend except to regular customers, to whom they advanced only the smallest possible amount and for the shortest possible time. This policy was supplemented by the action of our savings banks, which refused to follow the lead of those in New York city in requiring thirty days' notice before the withdrawal of deposits, but, on the contrary, every dollar was paid immediately on demand, which, by the way, was not done in any other large city in the state. This combination of pru- dence and liberality prevented anything like a local panic in Rochester. This is a list of the banks now in the city, with the officers of each and the capital and surplus as shown by the latest official reports :
Traders'-Simon L. Brewster, president; Henry C. Brewster, vice- president and manager ; cashier, Charles H. Palmer ; $980,623.05.
Flour City-C. C. Woodworth, president ; William Augustus Waters, cashier ; $666,639.52.
24
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LANDMARKS OF MONROE COUNTY.
Union-Gilman H. Perkins, vice-president; Gilman N. Perkins, cashier ; $402,822.76.
Monroe-Hiram W. Sibley, president; W. G. Mitchell, cashier ; $323,207.90.
Commercial-Charles H. Babcock, president ; Thomas J. Swanton, assistant cashier ; $300,000.
Merchants'-R. K. Dryer, president ; W. J. Ashley, vice-president and manager ; Percy R McPhail, cashier ; $298, 171.84.
German-American-Frederick Cook, president ; Frederic P. Allen, cashier ; $424,386 26.
Central-Benjamin E Chase, president; George Wilder, cashier ; $228,778.52.
Alliance-George W. Thayer, president; Albert O. Fenn, cashier ; $171,912.60.
Powers-D. W. Powers, president; J. Craig Powers, cashier ; $161,- I35.24.
Rochester Trust & Safe Deposit company-J. Moreau Smith, presi- dent ; Haywood Hawks, cashier ; $470,828.18.
Security Trust company-Edward Harris, president ; William L. Mercer, cashier ; $350,039.81.
Rochester savings bank-James Brackett, president; Thomas H. Husband, cashier, surplus $1,507,024.62.
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