USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Rochester and Monroe County: A history and guide > Part 16
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The work of the Jesuit missionaries was undone by other hands. In 1687 Jacques Rene de Brisay, Marquis de Denon- ville, Governor of New France, (Canada) undertook a military penetration of the Genesee country with a force of about 3,000 Frenchmen and Indian confederates. The
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Senecas were warned by the Governor of New York and by friendly Indians. The French landed on a sandy ridge near the present town of Sea Breeze. After repelling the first Indian attack, they advanced south and destroyed several Indian villages. But the Seneca warriors were continually at their heels, and in the end the French were forced to re- treat to the shore of Lake Ontario and return to Canada. The Indians never forgot this punitive expedition, any more than they forgot the invasions of Champlain. It turned them permanently against the French and thereby con- tributed to the final English victory in the struggle for the western empire.
The Senecas endeavored to remain neutral as long as pos- sible, refusing to countenance permanent settlement by either French or English. In the early Colonial wars, when the French had the upper hand, they leaned toward the French; but in 1759, after the English had won a string of decisive victories, they became allies of the English, binding themselves by treaty with Sir William Johnson in 1764.
Respecting the obligations undertaken in this treaty, the Senecas remained faithful to the British cause in the Revolu- tion. During the early years of the war the "vale of the Senecas" served as a retreat for bands of Indians and Tories who sallied forth in devastating sorties and raids upon the rebelling colonists. In 1779 the United Colonies sent the Clinton-Sullivan expedition into the Indian territory, which so thoroughly destroyed villages and fields that the Seneca Nation never recovered from the blow. The Indians re- treated to Fort Niagara where, in the severe winter that followed, with little clothing and less food, hundreds died from disease and starvation.
In the treaty of peace signed in 1783, the British made no mention of their Indian allies but left them to the tender
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mercies of the new Nation. George Washington became, in a sense, the father of the now subjected Indian race. He treated them so leniently and wisely that in his theology the Indian places near the gate of the red man's heaven a superb residence for George Washington, where they be- lieve he exists in solitary splendor, the sole white man in the land fashioned by the Great Spirit for all good and brave Indians.
The remnants of the once mighty tribes, who in the course of years filtered back to their homeland, sold their holdings or deeded them away. Phelps of Phelps & Gorham, while negotiating a treaty, asked the Senecas to give him a lot on which he could erect a mill to grind corn for the Indians. They agreed, whereupon Phelps selected a section compris- ing 200,000 acres although one acre could have sufficed. As their lands were occupied by the whites, the Indians were restricted to reservations; the last one near Monroe County was the Canawaugus Reservation south of the present village of Scottsville.
To-day most of the Senecas are concentrated on three reservations: the Allegany, where the Cornplanter branch lives; the Tonawanda, between Rochester and Buffalo; and the Cattaraugas, south of Buffalo. But all of the Senecas are not on the reservations. Many distinguished descendants of Indian blood live in the towns and cities of western New York and elsewhere. In the closing months of 1935 an or- ganization of people of Indian blood was formed in Roch- ester, in which the sponsors hope to gather together all the descendants of the "Men of Men" who once dwelt in the valley of the Genesee.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT
After numerous petitions to the legislature covering a period of five years, the county of Monroe, comprising 14 towns taken from the counties of Ontario and Genesee, be-
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came a political subdivision of the state on February 23, 1821. Rochester was designated as the county seat and im- mediately plans were made for the erection of a courthouse. On March 7, 1821, James Seymour was appointed sheriff of the newly created county by Governor De Witt Clinton. At that time it was stipulated that all prisoners of record were to be confined in the Ontario County jail at Canandai- gua until suitable facilities for the care of prisoners were erected in Rochester.
The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held on May 2, 1821, at which time the site of the courthouse was selected, the land donated by Rochester, Carroll, and Fitz- hugh. In 1821 Col. Nathaniel Rochester was elected to the Assembly of New York, and the representation of Monroe County was recognized as an ordained function of the state government.
The government of Monroe County followed the general trend of other New York State counties until the enactment of the Buckley Law, which became effective May 16, 1935. Under this law optional forms of county government were provided. In a referendum on November 5, 1935, the voters of Monroe County chose the county manager form, which became effective January 1, 1936.
Under this form of county government, the board of supervisors is the policy-determining body and is vested with all the powers of the county. The county manager is appointed by the board of supervisors as the administrative head of the county government; he has supervision over all its departments except as the law otherwise provides, and devotes his full time to his duties. He is accountable to the board of supervisors for collection of taxes and other reve- nues of the county; for the custody and accounting of all public funds; for the care of the poor and other charitable,
1
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correctional, and public welfare activities; and for any or all matters of property and business in connection with the administration of school districts and other governmental units within the county, which shall be delegated to him with the approval of the board of supervisors. In general, he handles the entire administrative details of the county government according to the law and under the direction of the board of supervisors.
COUNTY BUILDINGS
Nearly all of the county buildings are in the city. The court house is described as one of the points of interest in Rochester. The jail, 180 Exchange St .; the penitentiary, corner Highland and South Aves., condemned by state authorities and to be replaced by a modern building; and the morgue, 70 Clarissa St., are (fortunately) not of gen- eral interest. The old county home buildings, 1400 and 1460 South Ave., are occupied (1937) by the Division of Old Age Assistance of the State Department of Social Welfare and The National Youth Administration.
The Iola Tuberculosis Sanatorium, East Henrietta Rd., represents a total investment of nearly $2,500,000. The name Iola is taken from the Indian for "never discouraged."
When the first patient was treated on October 1, 1910, the institution consisted of a barn and a tent. In 1911 the ad- ministration building and three of the brick pavilions were built; in 1915 the infirmary; in 1927 the children's home and nurses' home. The later buildings are Georgian Colonial in style.
Demands on the institution have for many years taxed its capacity of 400. In 1929 the county free tuberculosis dis- pensary was transferred to the sanatorium; an average of 8,000 examinations are made yearly. When the sanatorium
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was opened, the death rate in Monroe County from tuber- culosis was 160 per 100,000; the rate for 1936 was 38.9 per 100,000.
The new Monroe County Home and Hospital, occupying 57 acres bounded by the Barge Canal, Henrietta Road, and Westfall Road, was opened on October 24, 1933. The main building, of salmon colored tapestry brick with white trim, is designed in the Italian Lombardy style. Because of its monumental appearance it is called ironically the Monroe County Castle. The hospital wing is six and the home wing four stories high. The architect was Sigmund Firestone, Rochester, with Dr. S. S. Goldwater of New York City as consultant architect.
The building is practically soundproof. The hospital con- tains no private rooms except in the contagious disease wards. Most of the inmates of the home live in dormitories with solarium attached, and have the use of recreation rooms and a large assembly room. The grounds are land- scaped with trees and shrubs.
MONROE COUNTY TRAVELING LIBRARY
The Monroe County Traveling Library was established in 1923 through the efforts of Fred W. Hill, a Monroe County district superintendent of schools, who has been called the father of the traveling library in New York State. It is maintained from appropriations granted by the county board of supervisors and is housed in a large covered truck.
The interior of this truck is lined with bookshelves and equipped as a complete little library into which people may go and make their choice for reading. The library has per-
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MONROE COUNTY TRAVELING LIBRARY EF ERVICE
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Monroe County Traveling Library
manent quarters for housing all its books and doing neces- sary detail work in a county building at 1460 South Avenue. The truck makes regular trips each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, covering all the main highways through the rural sections of the county, stopping at post offices, schools, and houses, where groups of people come to draw and return books. During 1935 approximately 72,000 books were lent by this library.
The trained librarians in charge procure important new books for adults and children as soon as they are published; make available the desired classic, standard, and recent publications; and furnish authoritative books on the many phases of rural life and work, giving to the residents facili- ties for obtaining good literature equal to those enjoyed in the towns and cities.
The library is administered by a board of trustees repre- senting the various sections of the county, with Mr. Hill, a
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member of the board, in charge of the active supervision of the library.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES
Besides the city of Rochester, Monroe County contains 19 townships, descriptions of which follow in alphabetical order. Towns on tour itineraries are not described in the following summaries.
1. BRIGHTON
Originally the town of Brighton was known as Boyle, afterwards as Smallwood. Its present name was taken from the English watering place in Sussex.
One of the towns which has given most of its territory to the fast-growing city of Rochester, Brighton had in 1930 a population of 9,003, in 1937 an estimated population of 10,000. It lies along the complete southern boundary of Rochester from the Genesee eastward to Pittsford township with a spur extending north several miles along Rochester's eastern border, covering in all an area of 14.3 square miles. It has no incorporated villages. Its residents occupy either farms or home sites convenient to business activities in Rochester.
Brighton Town Hall is at 1795 Monroe Avenue. The town has 4 fire companies, a new high school, and 5 district schools. The initial tax rate is $10.10 per thousand dollars assessment. The school tax ranges from $4 to $8 per thou- sand. Brighton takes its water supply from the Rochester and Lake Ontario Water Company and its gas and elec- tricity from the Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation.
The scene of church activities before Rochester had a church, Brighton still has one Roman Catholic and two Protestant churches. Without industries or factories, its business life is confined to small stores, groceries, and mar-
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kets. The one chemical firm furnishes supplies to high school chemistry and other science departments.
Brighton contains many sites of historic interest. The half of Ellison Park within its boundaries includes the site of the "city" of Tryon, founded in 1797 and abandoned in 1818, in commemoration of which a marker has been placed at the entrance to the park.
At the corner of Landing Road and Blossom Road, an- other marker records that the meadows north of this point form the site of Indian Landing where began the Ohio Trail from Canada to the Mississippi Valley.
At 1496 Clover Road stands the Babcock home, built in 1829. Sections of this huge house show clearly periodic additions begun by the first owner and continued down to the present. A secret chamber, accessible only through a trapdoor in the pantry floor, has been identified as a place of concealment for fugitive slaves on their long flight to freedom in Canada. A one-time owner, Isaac Moore, and his wife, Amy, nee Bloss, were abolitionists associated with Frederick Douglass.
The barn which stands in the rear of this house is re- membered as the first structure reared in Monroe County without the usual gratuity of liquor to those who helped in its raising.
2. CHILI (chī'-lī)
Chili lies southwest of Rochester along the banks of the Genesee. Extending westward from the river, it forms, so far as its other three boundaries are concerned, a perfect square enclosing the settlements of Chili, North Chili (see Tour 2), Chili Center, Buckbees Corners, and Clifton. It has no incorporated villages. The origin of the name is not established, though the Republic of Chile in South America, has been suggested.
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The general surface of Chili is made up of gravel knolls. A strong soil of clay loam mixed with sand produces the chief agricultural products of the region-cereal crops. Although the township was not formed until 1822, when Chili was set off from Riga, a settlement reported made in 1792 gives Chili one of the earliest beginnings in Monroe County.
CLIFTON
Clifton, the oldest settlement, was once the most im- portant. Gristmills, sawmills, distilleries, and a plaster mill for ground rock gave employment to many people. The invasion of railroads to the north drew activity away from Clifton and left it a tiny settlement at the end of the road dreaming of its past.
3. CLARKSON
The slant of Clarkson's eastern boundary destroys the symmetry of its rectangular outline. It lies west of Roch- ester, with two tiers of townships intervening. Ridge Road passes through it close to the southern boundary.
Clarkson was named for Gen. Matthew Clarkson, a large landowner in pioneer days. The three settlements of the township (there are no incorporated villages) are Clarkson (see Tour I), Garland, and Redmond Corners, named in order of their size.
A gentle northward slope toward the lake affords good drainage for the sandy loam soil, which produces large quantities of various fruits and truck garden products.
4. GATES
Gates, lying in the very center of Monroe County, is the southwestern gateway of Rochester. Neither of the town- ship's two settlements, Gates Center and Coldwater is an incorporated village.
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Gates was formed as a town in 1802 under the name of Northampton, but changed its name to Gates in 1812 in honor of Gen. Horatio Gates, to whom General Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga in 1777.
A thriving suburban district in recent years has grown up in the section of the township which borders Rochester, increasing the population to a total (1936) of 3,634. The remainder of Gates is a fertile agricultural section with a rich soil of sandy loam and clay and favored with moist and temperate breezes from nearby Lake Ontario. The town- ship's interest in agriculture has resulted in the formation of one of the largest Granges in Monroe County. The only industry in Gates other than agriculture are the stone quarries of the Dolomite Company.
5. GREECE
A wide frontage on Lake Ontario and the encroachments of Rochester's growth have given Greece an irregular north and east boundary line. Within its borders are contained the four settlements of Barnard, Greece, North Greece, and Manitou, none incorporated villages. Barnard, the largest, has a population (1936) of 1,000. The New York State Railway runs a bus line westward along Ridge Road through the township to Hilton, and the Ontario Branch of the New York Central runs east and west through the center of the township.
Greece was named as an expression of sympathy with the Greeks in their revolution of 1821, the year when the town of Greece was formed.
From Ridge Road, which crosses the southern part of Greece, the land has a slight northerly slope, draining into the lake; but its general level surface and the sand and clay soil provide evidence that the area was once part of the lake bed.
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Greece is a strictly agricultural township, containing no industrial plants. An active Grange with its headquarters in the village of Greece, serves the interests of the farmers.
The Ridgemont Golf Club, 2717 Ridge Road West, has an 18-hole golf course open to non-members (greens fee, $2). The clubhouse was built a century ago.
The parish house of the Mother of Sorrows Church at the corner of Latta Road and Mount Read Boulevard was originally a church. Built in 1829 by Irish laborers who worked on the Erie Canal, it was the first rural Roman Catholic church in Western New York. The Indians who frequently attended its services gave it the friendly name of "The Little Church in the Woods." In the graveyard near- by are the graves of the town's earliest settlers, the oldest gravestone bearing the date 1803.
6. HAMLIN
Hamlin Township occupies the northwest corner of Monroe County, its entire length fronting on Lake Ontario. It includes the settlements of Hamlin, Hamlin Center, Troutberg, Walker, Morton, and Kendall Mills. The two latter trespass slightly into the neighboring county of Orleans, but they pay their taxes in Hamlin. There are no incorporated villages.
Organized on October 11, 1852, under the name of Union, the town adopted its present name on February 22, 1861, in honor of Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of the United States during President Lincoln's first administration, 1861-65.
Hamlin contains extensive orchard lands, and large crops of wheat are produced on its clay and heavy loam soil. A deep-lying stratum of salt extends under a large area in the northern section, deposited by the receding prehistoric sea. Wells forming the rural water supply are, therefore, neces-
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sarily too shallow to be dependable in seasons of unusual drought.
7. HENRIETTA
Henrietta (4,500 pop.) lies along the east bank of the Genesee River and is separated from the southern tip of Rochester only by the narrow township of Brighton. With- in its diamond-shaped boundaries are enclosed the settle- ments of Henrietta and West Henrietta, neither of which is incorporated. The level landscape, typical of the greater part of Monroe County, is slightly broken by small hills.
The township was named for the Countess of Bath, daughter of Sir William Pulteney, an Englishman who with two associates purchased from Robert Morris a large part of the original Phelps-Gorham Purchase.
8. IRONDEQUOIT (I-ron'-de-quoit)
The township of Irondequoit (18,004 pop.) contains within its irregular outline a greater variety of scenery than does any other of the towns of Monroe County. Its exten- sive lake frontage is broken by Durand-Eastman Park, which belongs to the city of Rochester. Irondequoit Bay gives the town its eastern boundary and its name, an Indian word variously translated as "where the waters gasp and die," "opening into the lake," and "a bay." Fringing the bay on its western shore are the small resorts of New- port, Bay View, Glen Haven, Point Pleasant, and Birds and Worms. Along the lake front are Sea Breeze, Rock Beach, White City, and Summerville. The Irondequoit town line extends west to St. Paul Street, Rochester, follow- ing within a stone's throw the eastern bank of the Genesee to the lake.
The gullies and ridges along Irondequoit Bay are of inter- est to geologists because they show unusually clear evi- dences of their glacial origin. The only natural resource of
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Irondequoit is a rich soil, and farming is its principal in- dustry. The township obtains its water supply from Lake Ontario.
As early as 1687 this territory was claimed by the French, who built a strong fort at the mouth of the bay, of which no trace remains.
9. MENDON
The township of Mendon occupies the southeast corner of Monroe County and includes Mendon, Mendon Center, and the incorporated village of Honeoye Falls. A gentle rise of low hills capped with upland farms and woodlands forms the pleasant landscape. The township is said to have been named by settlers who came from Mendon, Massa- chusetts.
MENDON CENTER
Mendon Center was once a small Quaker settlement. Gruadually the colony dwindled away, the little Friends' meeting house long ago disappeared, and the only trace of the Quaker origin of the present settlement is its cemetery, a short distance out on the Quaker Hill Road. This cemetery is typical of Quaker taste-a placid square of green sheltered on all sides by tall trees, in which prim headstones, small and of almost uniform size, stand in orderly rows. Not a single stone bears an epitaph, and only here and there is one marked by some faint ornamentation.
10. OGDEN
The township of Ogden lies west of Rochester, separated from that city by one tier of townships. Being enclosed by surveyed lines and not by natural boundaries, its four straight lines form an almost perfect square. In the early years of its existence its outlines were subjected to many changes. A descendant of one of the first settlers states that the four children of his pioneer ancestor, though born in
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the same house, were born each in a different town-New- fane, Fairfield, Parma, and Ogden.
Ogden contains the incorporated village of Spencerport and the settlements of Adams Basin, Ogden, and Ogden Center. The township lies in a rich fruit and farming country with semi-wooded sections. Numerous small streams carry the drainage to the north and east.
Ogden was named for William Ogden, one of the first proprietors of the town of Parma, from which Ogden was formed in 1817. The land originally belonged to that por- tion of the Phelps-Gorham Purchase known as the Mill Yard Tract. (See below.)
SPENCERPORT
Spencerport (1,249 pop.) is a pleasant village situated at the junction of State 31 and 259, one mile south of Ridge Road. In 1832, when the village was incorporated, it was a thriving canal town; but since the middle of the nineteenth century the railroads have taken much of the canal's traffic, and Spencerport has lost her importance as a canal port, though the canal still flows through the edge of the town, its slow current carrying with it an air of drowsy serenity. At intervals New York Central trains puff through the village, bringing a momentary stir to the little town. Its sole industries are two factories manufacturing ice cream and vinegar. Five churches, or one to each 250 inhabitants, keep Spencerport in the straight and narrow way, and the Spencerport Star informs the world of village doings.
Spencerport was built upon the Mill Yard Tract, prob- ably the largest mill yard the world has ever seen. Inno- cently the friendly Indians promised to Phelps and Gorham a gift of land sufficient for a sawmill yard. The yard turned out to be a tract of land twelve miles wide and twenty- eight miles long.
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The village has an old library, founded in 1815 at Ogden Center under the name of the Farmers' Library Company. In the 1870's, still retaining its original name, it was moved to Spencerport. At one time in its Spencerport history the library was destroyed by fire and only those books which were out on loan at the time were saved; but through all the vicissitudes of years, removal, and fire, the original library organization has persisted. One of its most cherished possessions is an autographed copy of the autobiography of John T. Trowbridge, presented to the library by the author in grateful remembrance of the days when as a boy he borrowed its books.
John T. Trowbridge was born in 1827 in a log house built by his father about a mile southeast of the village. A few months later the Trowbridge family moved to a nearby house where they lived until John was in his early twenties. He was the author of more than fifty books, including Cudjo's Cave and Neighbor Jackwood, the latter having had the largest sale among American books before the publica- tion of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Trowbridge died February 12, 1916, at the age of 89. The house where he once lived still stands on the north side of the road, a two-story farmhouse painted white with green blinds. Back of the house is the old apple orchard planted by his father. In his autobiog- raphy, Trowbridge refers to the swamp across the road, a place of enchantment in his childhood, and to the happy days when, in summer, he went swimming in the canal, or, in winter, skated on its ice. The canal, in those years the chief source of livelihood for Spencerport, brought a harvest of nickels and dimes to the pockets of John Trow- bridge and his playmates, its passenger boats providing a market for apples and nuts.
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