USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 3
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PREFATORY REMARKS.
grateful to Heaven and to a virtuous ancestry for privileges unequalled under the best forms of government which hu- man ingenuity has devised in other lands.
The origin and condition of a city which has so suddenly become prominent among the chief towns of the earth, are subjects calculated to awaken attention among minds inqui- ring about the effects of government and other causes on the destinies of the human race. The pioneers of the wilder- ness who are yet chiefly spared to enjoy the prosperity which they contributed in producing,* cannot look with apa- thy upon such investigations ; while the rising generation among us may naturally entertain curiosity for information concerning the causes and the men that combined in found- ing and establishing the city of their birth or residence. The ties of consanguinity, which attract towards Rochester the thoughts of thousands throughout New-England and other sections, may occasion some yearning in many else- where to learn particulars of a place with whose inhabitants their feelings are measurably identified. The political economist may find exemplified in the career of Rochester various doctrines of his favourite science ; while the reformer, struggling for civil and religious freedom in the Old World, may derive from the brief history of the city many proofs demonstrative of the salutary operation of the voluntary prin- ciple in government secular and ecclesiastical. Those who properly appreciate the New-England character, as exem- plified by the Pilgrim Champions of Human Rights and by their lineage from the first settlement down to the present period, may view with interest the LIVING MONUMENT OF INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISE which has sprung into existence through the transforming influence of Yankee colonists in the western wilderness. The causes which have contrib- uted to the present condition of things are likewise worthy of earnest reflection with those among us whose praise- worthy ambition seeks to perpetuate and extend the cheer- ing influences which have operated in rendering Rochester WHAT IT IS. Knowledge of THE PAST may encourage us for THE FUTURE-while impressing us with the conviction that our individual interests and the aggregate welfare of the
* Samuel I. Andrews, Francis Brown, Thomas Mumford, Isaac W. Stone, John Mastick, and Charles Harford, are, with Colonel Roches- ter, among the few exceptions to this remark respecting the prominent early settlers of Rochester.
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city may be best promoted by unswerving adherence to that plain system of industry and morality which under Heaven has contributed most largely to the prosperous condition of our population.
With these views, and with a desire to preserve for the historian some records of the settlement of the city, while persons are living to attest the truth or rectify error, we pro- ceed to collect such matters as may be deemed useful in elucidating the PROGRESS OF ROCHESTER DURING ITS FIRST QUARTER-CENTURY.
In expressing astonishment at the career of Roches- ter, De Witt Clinton* remarked, shortly before his death, that, when he passed the Genesee on a tour with other com- missioners for exploring the route of the Erie Canal, in 1810, there was not a house where Rochester now stands. In 1812 there were but two frame dwellings here, small and rude enough-one of which yet remains to remind us of the change since the period when the occupants of those shantees had to contend against wild beastst for the scanty crop of corn first raised on a tract now included in the heart of the city.
It was not till the year 1812 that the " Hundred-acre Tract" was planned as the nucleus of a settlement under the name of Rochester, after the senior proprietor.} This tract was a "mill-lot" bestowed by Phelps and Gorham on a semi-savage called Indian Allen, as a bonus for building mills to grind corn and saw boards for the few settlers in this region at the time. The mills decayed, as the business of the country was insufficient to support them ; and Allen sold the property to Sir William Pulteney, whose estate then included a large section of the " Genesee country." It is but thirty-six years since the tract was thus owned by a British baronet.§ The sale to Rochester, Fitzhugh, and Carroll took place in 1802, at the rate of $175 % per acre, or $1750 for the lot, with its " betterments."| 'Two other tracts adjoining the mill-lot, and laid out also in 1812.P to- gether with a tract laid out in 1816, ** were included with
* Vide page 245 and 416. + P. 250. # P. 251-2. § P. 150-5.
Il The new settlements furnish some additions, if not benefits, to the English language. To those unfamiliar with the new country, we may say that " betterments" is synonymous with improvements in the vo- cabulary of the backwoodsman.
Ţ Page 251.
Page 251.
3*
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the primitive allotment in the boundaries assigned to Ro- chester by the law which created it a village in 1817. As a fact singularly illustrative of the vast changes which the country has undergone, it may be mentioned that "the Hun- dred-acre Tract" which Phelps and Gorham bestowed on Allen for building the rude and frail mills, was part of a tract twelve by twenty-four miles in extent which they had pre- viously obtained from the Indians for the purposes of a " mill- yard." Some of the land on the east side of the Genesee in Rochester (the Hundred-acre Tract being on the west side) was sold by Phelps and Gorham in 1790 for eighteen pence an acre.
The events of the last war with Great Britain, which pro- duced much distress throughout this frontier region,* impeded the progress of Rochester to such a degree that the popula- tion at the commencement of 1816 amounted to only 331.
The formation of religious institutions was commenced about this time, when the first clergyman was " settled" in Rochester. The communicants of this first church were but sixteen in number, and these were scattered about the country-some of them residing on the Ridge Road in the towns of Brighton and Greece.t The first permanent reli- gious edifices were erected about 1822-the three previously erected having been temporary buildings of wood. The few years which have passed since then have been wonderfully eventful in our ecclesiastical affairs. There are now not less than twenty-two religious societies, whose structures embellish the appearance of the city, while their spirituality extends a hallowed influence over its social relations. Sem- inaries and societies of value in literature and science, § and Sabbath-schools|| effecting much good with little means, in- dicate that there are here actively in operation such causes as have rendered New-England celebrated in the annals of education-illustrious in the empire of mind.
The population of the city, numbering 17,160 at the close of 1836, may be safely set down at about 20,000 in May, 1838. In 1814, when Commodore Yeo, of the British squadron on Lake Ontario, made hostile demonstrations at the mouth of the Genesee River, Rochester could furnish but thirty-three arms-bearing men to unite with the few militia of the surrounding country in resisting the threatened attack. P
* P. 253. + P. 277. Į P. 290.
§ P. 318-21 ; 310-14. || P. 291. T P. 255-7.
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And it is worthy of note, that among all our present thou- sands, there are probably not ten persons of manly age who were born within the city limits. It is therefore remarkable enough that such homogeneousness should be manifested among the population-a fact that can be explained best by reference to the Yankee lineage of the majority.
The business of Rochester may be estimated by a few facts. This city is interested to a larger extent than any other in the carrying-trade of the Erie Canal *- the great thoroughfare between the seaboard and the inland waters. About one half of the whole amount of stock in all the transportation lines on that waterway is owned or controlled by our citizens. Rochester is to the Canal what Buffalo is to the Lakes. Our staple product is remarkable for its quantity as well as quality. The celebrity of the Genesee wheat is increased by the skill with which it is here pre- pared for market. Rochester is already not merely the best, but the largest flour-manufactory in the world.t
In various departments of manufactures, such as edge- tools, carpeting, fire-engines, firearms, cloths, leather, paper, pianos, &c., considerable energy is manifested ; and for the hundred other branches of business to which the citizens are applying themselves with creditable assiduity and skill, we may here only refer to the statements furnished else- where in this volume (p. 371-6), with the remark that even that list does not include various minor branches of industry measurably connected with the establishments therein men- tioned.
The style of the structures, public and private, is indica- tive of the good sense and correct taste of the citizens. It may readily be inferred, that among a people so prosperous in business of such varied and important character, the comforts of good dwellings and tastefully-arranged premises are largely appreciated and enjoyed. A degree of architec- tural taste and solid construction has been strikingly evinced in most of the large dwellings erected within a few years past. The smaller buildings, which men of moderate means are encouraged to erect through the facilities of obtaining suitable materials, are generally neat and comfortable. In- stead of wooden buildings, such as might be expected in a newly-settled " wooden country"-buildings cheaply erect- ed, and serving well enough perhaps for a generation-the
* P. 332 and *355.
+ P. 360, &c.
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PREFATORY REMARKS.
congregations have generally preferred to erect massive edi- fices, chiefly of stone-distinguished for size and beauty as well as solidity. The engravings in this volume may super- sede the necessity of farther remarks touching the principal religious structures-nine of which are here delineated,* and the sizes of those and of all the others (for it will be recol- lected there are upward of twenty religious societies) being given in accompanying tabular statements.t
The public edifices and most of the manufactories and stores are erected of stone or brick. The law has for some years forbidden the construction of wooden buildings within certain limits ; and care is used to render fireproof some of the most valuable structures.
Connected with this subject, we may briefly notice a few facts respecting building materials. It may be considered among the greatest advantages of Rochester, that it pos- sesses within itself illimitable supplies of stone and sand -- that our water-power facilitates the dressing of stone by saw- ing ; that brick and lime are obtainable to any extent in the suburbs ; that our sawmills cut eight or ten millions of feet of lumber annually-besides which considerable quantities of Allegany pine are floated to us down the Genesee, and Canadian lumber is brought to some extent across Ontario to our market-that we have hydraulic machinery even for cutting lath and mortising doors and sash, with factories for making all the tools requisite for performing the labour upon the materials necessary for erecting the substantial edifices of the city. Surely no place can be better located with ref- erence to such important advantages.
The immense facilities for trade and intercourse furnished to Rochester by canals and railroads,t and the benefits flowing from the navigation of the Genesee River and Lake Ontario,§ may be estimated by any one who is capable of comprehending the range of improvement now in progress, as well as that already completed. Within three years, if not in two, chains of railroads will be completed so as to unite Rochester in that way with the Atlantic and with a vast territory in the west. The enlargement of the Erie Canal and the construction of the Genesee Valley Canal,! to be completed in three or four years, will form a new era in our prosperous history-giving invaluable impulses to all
* Between pages 276 and 289. + Page 290, &c
# Page *338, &c. § P. * 353, &c.
Il P. * 338 and *341.
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PREFATORY REMARKS.
branches of our business. The works of the general gov- ernment for improving our intercourse by steamboats with Ontario have rendered the Port of Rochester an excellent harbour for the largest vessels of the lakes, and will soon be completed at an additional cost of about $160,000. The great aqueduct, with its appendages, for the enlarged Erie Canal across the Genesee, will also be completed in a couple of years, at an expense to the state of nearly half a million of dollars. The works on all the important improvements now connected with the city will incidentally prove of great value in various ways.
We have not yet spoken of the natural advantages which have most essentially contributed to the sudden and deep- rooted prosperity of Rochester. The WATER-POWER OF THE GENESEE may be considered illimitable for all practical pur- poses, when we view the facilities for employing it to the greatest advantage. It may be used at various points along the banks on both sides of the river, for a space of two miles, between the north and south lines of the city. Within that distance, the aggregate amount of the different falls and rapids of the Genesee is about 260 feet, or a hundred feet more than the perpendicular height of Niagara Falls.
Superadded to all these concurring sources of prosperity -not least though last-we may refer to the RICII WHEAT- GROWING REGION OF THE GENESEE, lavishing its bounties prodigally upon its principal city. The proverbial fertility and other natural advantages of this section are exemplified elsewhere in this volume .* Suffice it here to say, that sun never shone upon a land richer in all the elements of agri- cultural wealth and general prosperity.
It may be that, in the opinions here expressed, we are un- duly influenced by the partialities that cluster around home and social connexions. It may be that the feelings with which we have watched the progress of Rochester, from a com- paratively early state to its present palmy condition, have presented its advantages in a position which obscures the view of opposing qualities. We would not claim any ex- emption from the impulses which urge men usually to regard with favouring eye the scenes and society by which they are immediately surrounded. Let those who witness our assertions examine the data by which they are sustained in this volume : we ask no faith where we present not facts.
* Page 37, &c.
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Past commentaries on the condition of the city may fur- nish some criteria for testing our present estimates. In some statistical statements published in 1836, ere yet a cloud ap- peared to betoken the difficulties which many were unwilling to believe inseparable from the then bloated condition of pe- cuniary affairs -- while the speculating spirit was traversing the land with railroad speed-we ventured some predictions, accompanied by a few of the facts from which they were deduced, which will now serve to show whether we then overrated the stability and prosperity of Rochester. Be- tween the date of those predictions and the present time, pecuniary convulsions have shaken the land with tre- mendous violence-subjecting such newly-founded cities as Rochester to ordeals particularly severe. And how have our predictions compared with the results now witnessed ? Let that which we asserted two years ago be compared with the present state of things in various cities, and those who are conversant with Rochester may then determine whether our calculations have not withstood the ordeal of ex- perience as well as the city has encountered the storm which has swept across the land.
At the conclusion of some statistical statements published in June, 1836, we remarked :-
" With all the rage for speculation westward ; with all the new vil- lages and cities that have been laid out through the ' Far West' during the last twenty years, where, in what place, through all that broad and fer- tile region, can there be shown any town which has surpassed Rochester in the permanent increase of population, business, and wealth ? Cast your eye in all quarters, and where can you behold population more enlightened, stable, and persevering ; business more sound, better con- ducted, or more prosperous ; civil, religious, and social institutions more firmly established ; wealth more certainly rewarding well-directed en- terprise-wealth, consisting not merely in vacant lots of immense ima- ginary value, but in that species of property which must always be val- uable from its constant applicability to the pursuits and comforts of an enterprising community engaged chiefly in productive labour ?
" Twenty years ago there were but 331 people where the City of Rochester now stands. The population had swollen to 1500 in 1820. Five years afterward, 1825, the census showed a total of 4274. The United States census in 1830 gave Rochester a population of 10,863, and the state census early in 1835 showed an increase to between four- teen and fifteen thousand ! Since that time, the great influx of emi- grants, occasioned by the solid improvement of the city in trade and manufactures, without any feverish excitement about real estate, caused a larger proportionate increase of valuable population than occurred in any other equal space for the previous seven years [and Rochester may now boast a population of about twenty thousand in 1838-it exceeded seventeen thousand at the close of 1836].
.
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1121812
" In the extension of the manufacturing, milling, and forwarding busi- ness, more has been done within the last two years than in the previous six years ; and from the impetus given by the immensely valuable inter- nal improvements, in progress or authorized by the state, as well as those projected by individual enterprise, it cannot be doubted that the prosper- ity of the city will, for the next five years, increase in a ratio surpassing the most rapid strides which Rochester has made from its foundation to the present day.
" This prediction is the more confidently made, from the facts
" That the additions to the population are chiefly mechanics and arti- sans characterized by the ingenuity, perseverance, and moral worth which constitute the true riches of New-England ;
" That the hydraulic privileges, with the facilities of trade by lake, canal, and railroad, and the proverbial fertility of the Genesee Valley, offer to such a population strong inducements and inexhaustible means for developing our great resources ;
" That the prosperity of the city has been occasioned chiefly by the toil and enterprise of hardworking artisans and practical business men ; instead of being bloated into notoriety by the forced or fraudulent exer- tions of speculating capitalists ;
" And last but not least, from the fact, the important fact, that, not- withstanding the great efforts which have been used to direct attention farther west, Rochester has quietly pursued its prosperous course almost wholly uninfluenced by the mad spirit of speculation which must, as cer- tainly as effect follows cause, react ruinously and speedily upon some of the paper cities that have been rendered most notorious in this way.
" The lesson on this subject which Rochester experienced some seven years ago," we remarked in June, 1836, " was a moderate lesson com- pared with that which certain other cities and towns are shortly to un- dergo. The temporary reverse which our citizens then felt has warned them, amid all their subsequent prosperity, against extravagant and gambling speculations ; and now the credit of the city abroad is like its prosperity at home-unshaken by those unreal operations in real estate which are proving, and will long prove, a curse to those places whose blustering career for some time past has contrasted strongly with the steady, and solid, and noiseless growth of Rochester.
" The vast water-power yet unemployed-water-power which may be used at various points on both sides of the river for two miles through the city ; the rich agricultural region around Rochester; the facilities for trade and travel by canal, lake, river, and railroad, as well as those anticipated from the great public improvements commenced or contemplated ; the opportunities presented for prosecuting the woollen, cotton, paper, and iron manufacture to a greater extent-but little, com- paratively speaking, having yet been done in those branches of busi- ness-the favourable openings for commencing the manufacture of glass and sundry other articles ; the benefits that must result to our large forwarding and boatbuilding interests from the enlargement of the Erie Canal, and from the construction of the Genesee Canal ; the advantages that may be expected from railroads to connect east and west with the Tonnewanta Railroad, giving to Rochester all the benefits of railroad (as well as canal and lake) communication with the West and with the East ; and last but not least, the enlightened and enterprising charac- ter of the people by whom so much has been already accomplished in
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rendering Rochester what it is-each and all of these considerations proclaim in terms which cannot be mistaken, what Rochester must and will be, as its yet unimproved and immense resources are gradually made available through the energy of the population.
"It is a fact well worthy of remark, that Monroe county, in which Rochester is situate, holds about the same relative rank among the counties that Rochester does among the cities of the state. It is but about thirteen years since Monroe was made a county, with a population of 23,000 ; while by the census of 1835 it showed a population of fifty- eight thousand-and now exceeds SIXTY THOUSAND. So that, so far as population is concerned, Monroe is fourth only in the rank of coun- ties, as Rochester is among the cities-while the business of both, in many respects, places them in the third class of cities and counties in this 'Empire State.' These facts are highly important, showing as they do that the city, large as is its increase, is sustained in its progress by the improvement of the surrounding country.
" On a calm retrospect of the past-in the bright anticipations of the future-what citizen of Rochester can find any cause for envying the growth or prosperity of any other city either 'Down East' or in the 'Far West ?' "
The comparative tranquillity and continued prosperity of Rochester during the revolutions which have distracted business so essentially elsewhere during the past year, abundantly verify the predictions hazarded as above in the summer of 1836. The statements which have thus with- stood the ordeal of a trying crisis are in their general tenour equally applicable to the present condition of the city.
The character of the people of Rochester cannot be ade- quately estimated without considering the various moral, re- ligious, and political enterprises* wherein their spirit and energy have been displayed. Additional to their toil in ad- vancing their private fortunes and constructing their dwell- ings, see what has been done by them, not merely in church- building, but in contributions of personal service and pecu- niary assistance to the great schemes of reformation which are now quietly revolutionizing the world .* The demands for local purposest in the city which has suddenly sprung up through their industry have not prevented them from be- stowing adequate attention on the general advancement of the state in legislation and physical improvement.}
But it is our purpose to furnish particulars rather than generalities. And with these prefatory remarks, we refer those who have any curiosity in the matter to the various papers of this volume calculated to elucidate the positions we have already assumed.
* P. 290-317. + P. 379-80. P. 175-6, &c., 317, &c.
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rendering Rochester what it is-each and all of these considerations proclaim in terms which cannot be mistaken, what Rochester must and will be, as its yet unimproved and immense resources are gradually made available through the energy of the population.
" It is a fact well worthy of remark, that Monroe county, in which Rochester is situate, holds about the same relative rank among the counties that Rochester does among the cities of the state. It is but about thirteen years since Monroe was made a county, with a population of 23,000 ; while by the census of 1835 it showed a population of fifty- eight thousand-and now exceeds SIXTY THOUSAND. So that, so far as population is concerned, Monroe is fourth only in the rank of coun- ties, as Rochester is among the cities-while the business of both, in many respects, places them in the third class of cities and counties in this 'Empire State.' These facts are highly important, showing as they do that the city, large as is its increase, is sustained in its progress by the improvement of the surrounding country.
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