Rochester, New York

Rochester, also known as both The Flour City and The Flower City, is a city in Monroe County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, Rochester had a population of 219,773. As of 2004, the population given by the U.S. Census Bureau was 212,481, making this the third largest city in New York State. Rochester is also the county seat for Monroe County.

The City of Rochester is at the center of a larger Metropolitan Area which encompasses and extends past Monroe County and includes Genesee County, Livingston County, Ontario County, Orleans County, and Wayne County. This larger conurbation, or Metropolitan Area, has a population of 1,037,831 people as of the 2000 Census. As of July 1, 2005, this population rose slightly to 1,039,028. [1] Principal suburbs of the city include Brighton, Chili, East Rochester, Fairport, Gates, Greece, Henrietta, Irondequoit, Penfield, Pittsford and Webster.

The current Mayor of Rochester is Robert Duffy.

Founding and early history

On November 8, 1803, a one-hundred acre (ca. 40 ha) tract of land in Western New York along the Genesee River was purchased by Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, Major Charles Carroll, and Colonel William Fitzhugh, all of Hagerstown, Maryland. The site was chosen because of three cataracts on the Genesee, offering great potential for water power. Beginning in 1811, and with a population of fifteen, the three founders surveyed the land and laid out streets and tracts. In 1817, the Brown brothers (of Brown's Race) and other landowners joined their lands with the Hundred Acre Tract to form the Village of Rochesterville.

By 1821, Rochesterville was named as the seat of Monroe County. By 1823, Rochesterville consisted of 1012 acres and 2,500 residents, and the Village of Rochesterville became known as Rochester. Also in 1823, the Erie Canal aqueduct over the Genesee River was completed, and the Erie Canal east to the Hudson River was opened. Later, after the advent of railroads, the presence of the canal in the center city became bothersome, and it was re-routed south of Rochester. By 1830, Rochester's population was 9,200, and in 1834, it was re-chartered as a city.

Rochester became known first as "The Young Lion of the West", and then as the "Flour City". By 1838, Rochester was the largest flour-producing city in the world, and by 1840, it was the 19th largest city in America, with a population of 20,191. With the population having doubled in only ten years, Rochester became known as America's first "boomtown."

The population reached 62,386 in 1870, 162,608 in 1900, and 295,750 in 1920.

Geography and climate

Barges on the Genesee River

Rochester is located at (43.165496, -77.611504). Rochester is east of Buffalo and west of Syracuse.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 96.1 km² (37.1 mi²). 92.8 km² (35.8 mi²) of it is land and 3.3 km² (1.3 mi²) of it (3.42%) is water.

Rochester's geography comes from the glaciers during the Cenozoic era. The retreating glaciers created the Genesee Valley and left rolling hills (drumlin fields) around it, including (from west to east) Mt. Hope, the rolling hills of Highland Park, Pinnacle Hill and Cobb's Hill. These glaciers also left behind Lake Ontario (one of the five fresh-water Great Lakes), the Genesee River with its waterfalls and gorges, Irondequoit, Sodus and Braddock's Bays, numerous local streams and ponds, the Ridge, and the nearby Finger Lakes.

Lake Ontario is sufficiently deep off-shore of Rochester that Rochester could have year-round access to a reservoir of cold water, which could be used for deep lake water cooling.

According to the City of Rochester, the city presently has 537 miles (864 km) of public streets, 585 miles (941 km) of water mains, 44 vehicular and 8 pedestrian bridges, 11 public libraries, 2 police stations (1 for the east side, 1 west (formerly 7)), and 16 fire stations. The principal source of the city's water is Hemlock Lake, which, with its watershed, is wholly owned by the city. Other water sources are Canadice Lake and Lake Ontario. The 30 year annual average snowfall is 95.0 inches (2.4 m). The mean July temperature is 71.3 ºF (21.8 ºC), and the mean February temperature is 23.6 ºF (−4.7 ºC).

Rochester has 4 distinct seasons, although its often cold and snowy winters may garner the most attention. Autumn features brilliant foliage colors, and summer sees high humidity but temperatures that rarely exceed 90 degrees.

Demographics

Rochester Population (1840-2004)Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, United States Census Bureau, accessed May 14, 2006
1840	20,191
1850	36,403
1860	48,204
1870	62,386
1880	89,366
1890	133,896
1900	162,608
1910	218,149
1920	295,750
1930	328,132
1940	324,975
1950	332,488
1960	318,611
1970	296,233
1980	241,741
1990	231,636
2000	219,773
2004	212,481 (est.)

As of the census of 2000, there were 219,773 people, 88,999 households, and 47,169 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,368.3/km² (6,132.9/mi²). There were 99,789 housing units at an average density of 1,075.3/km² (2,784.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 48.30% White, 38.55% African American, 0.47% Native American, 2.25% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 6.58% from other races, and 3.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.75% of the population. Rochester also has the largest deaf population per capita in the United States.

There were 88,999 households out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 25.1% were married couples living together, 23.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.0% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.1% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $27,123, and the median income for a family was $31,257. Males had a median income of $30,521, versus $25,139 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,588. About 23.4% of families and 25.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.5% of those under age 18 and 15.4% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Rochester is home to a number of international businesses, including Eastman Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, Sutherland Global Services, Rochester Midland Corporation, Paychex, and Gleason Corporation, all of which make Rochester their world headquarters. Xerox, while no longer headquartered in Rochester, has its principal offices and manufacturing facilities in the Rochester area. Because of the high prevalence of imaging and optical science among the industry and the universities, Rochester is known as the world capital of imaging. The Institute of Optics of the University of Rochester is ranked number one in the country, and the Rochester Institute of Technology has one of the best imaging science departments in the country. In 2005, the University of Rochester became the largest employer in the Rochester area, surpassing Kodak.

Rochester is also home to regional businesses such as Frontier Telephone of Rochester, Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., High Falls Brewing Company, Roberts Communications, Inc., The Sutherland Group, PAETEC Communications and major fashion label Hickey-Freeman. The Gannett newspaper company and Western Union were both founded in the Rochester area by Frank Gannett and Hiram Sibley respectively.

Currently Rochester is experiencing a loss of manufacturing and heavy industries and a sudden boom of highly advanced, technological industries as its economy diversifies.

Food

One food that Rochester is proud to call its own is the famous "white hot," made by the local Zweigle's company, which can be found at numerous area restaurants and hot dog stands. Another is the "garbage plate," first served at Nick Tahou Hots.

The area takes the most pride in the Wegmans Grocery store chain, which now has locations throughout the Northeast and Northern Virginia, and was most recently rated the #2 best company in America to work for by Forbes Magazine of whom employees overall, having fallen from #1 in 2005, however, to a much smaller company in San Francisco which employs 100-150 people. It is still number one of employers whom employ more than 10,000 people.

Other local franchises include: Bill Gray's (a summertime hamburger/hotdog joint that lays claim to having "The World's Greatest Cheeseburger"), and Abbott's Frozen Custard.

Rochester is also the farthest east point in the United States to use the term "pop" to refer to a soft drink (See maps here [2])

Major area shopping centers

*Eastview Mall (Victor, New York)
*The Mall at Greece Ridge Center (Greece, New York)
*Medley Centre (formerly known as Irondequoit Mall) (Irondequoit, New York)
*Rochester Public Market
*Village Gate Square
*The Marketplace (Henrietta, New York)
*Midtown Plaza
*Pittsford Plaza (Pittsford, New York)

Top 5 employers

As of 2005, the top employers in the city are:
*University of Rochester/Strong Healthâ€"17,075
*Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.â€"14,897
*Eastman Kodakâ€"14,100
*Xeroxâ€"8,450
*ViaHealthâ€"6,565

Companies

Rochester is known for and is home to Eastman Kodak Company [3]. It is also the home of industrial giant Bausch & Lomb, Inc. [4], and once was the home for Xerox Corporation's [5] corporate headquarters. Wegmans [6] grocery store chain also calls Rochester home. Payroll giant Paychex [7] is also headquartered in suburban Rochester.

Other major companies in the Rochester metro include:
*High Falls Brewing Co. (formerly known as the Genesee Brewing Co.): brewer of Honey Brown Lager, Amber Lager, Irish Amber and Genny Light
*Frontier, a Citizens Communications Company: telecommunications company
*Paetec: telecommunications company
*Constellation Brands: Largest producer of wine in the world
*Bird's Eye: Producer of frozen and packaged foods.

Many companies not as well known are found here.
*LPA Systems: Business Intelligence consulting, and Geospatial Intelligence consulting
*Harter, Secrest and Emery: The #1 Law Firm in the United States to work for. (2006)
*Thomson West: creator of Law books
*Harris Beach: large law firm
*Nixon Peabody: large law firm
*Bluetie: IT firm
*Pactiv: creator of Hefty bags
*Heluva: creator of cheese brand
*LeDestri Foods: creates many brands of sauces, jams and jellies
*Zweigles: creator of hot dogs and sausages
*Don Alleson Athletic: creates professional league jerseys for many national teams
*Hickey-Freeman/Bobby Jones: creator of hand made suits and clothing
*Dixon Schwabl: public relations firm
*Jay Advertising: many national advertising accounts
*Roberts Communications: public relations firm
*Harris Interactive: the #1 online survey firm
*Pictometry: oblique aerial photography
*Home Properties: national real estate owner of apartment complexes
*Monro Muffler: national chain of stores providing automotive undercar repair and tire services
*People's Pottery: national chain of home stores.

Many large companies also have divisions housed in Rochester.
*Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Company) has beer bottled in Rochester at High Falls Brewery.
*ITT: Space Systems Division is headquartered in Rochester
*Delphi: research and development deapartment
*General Motors: hydrogen powered research and development
*Kraft: produces the nations Cool Whip and Lunchables in Rochester
*Harris RF: engineers radios and communications equipment
*Johnson and Johnson: orthoclinical diagnostics division
*Heidelberg: US division of the printer corporation
*Getinge-Castle: US division of stainless steel instruments.
*Coca-Cola: has a bottling plant here
*Frito-Lay, Staples, and FedEx also have large distribution facilities located in the Rochester area.

Education

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

Education is a primary industry in Rochester. The city and its suburbs are home to a number of colleges and universities, including the University of Rochester, the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, Rochester Institute of Technology, Saint John Fisher College, Roberts Wesleyan College, Nazareth College, Monroe Community College, and the Eastman School of Music. Together with Alfred University, SUNY Brockport, and SUNY Geneseo, each within an hour of Rochester, these institutions comprise the Rochester Area Colleges consortium.

These schools are known for many great reasons, such as RIT's NTID, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, having an outstanding program for the education of deaf people and a top ranked ASL, American Sign Language, program. MCC is known as one of the best community college systems in the nation, and has a very high ranked soccer team. MCC is home to The Mercer Gallery where students and artists from all over the country exhibit work on a regular basis, located on MCC's Brighton Campus.

The University of Rochester has some of the best undergraduate programs in the country when it comes to the arts, sciences, and engineering, and the med school has top flight research programs and one of the best primary care curriculums in the nation. The Business school is also at the top of its class in many categories.

The University of Rochester's Laboratory For Laser Energetics (LLE) is home to the highest energy laser in the world, the OMEGA laser. OMEGA is capable of emitting light at a power 100 times the electrical power output of the country in less than one billionth of a second. The LLE is currently constructing the OMEGA EP laser, which will be 50 times more powerful than OMEGA and will be the most powerful laser in the world, able to manifest power densities high enough to examine hawking radiation-like phenomena in the laboratory. The U of R's Laboratory for Laser Energetics is especially important now, because it serves at the US's main laser fusion program while the Department of Energy is building the National Ignition Facility. "The Laboratory for Laser Energetics has played a leading, national role in efforts to develop nuclear fusion as a reliable energy source and in the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship program," says University President Joel Seligman.

The University of Rochester is also home to its Eastman School of Music, which, according to U.S. News and World Report, is ranked the number one music school in America.

Culture and recreation

Rochester is home to a number of cultural institutions including Garth Fagan Dance [8], the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, the Memorial Art Gallery, the Rochester Museum & Science Center, the Strong - National Museum of Play, the A|V Room, the Strasenburgh Planetarium, and numerous arts organizations. Rochester's Geva Theatre Center is the city's largest professional theatre.

The pier at Ontario Beach Park offers stunning views of Lake Ontario and is a popular walk for Rochesterians

The city's Victorian era Mt. Hope Cemetery includes the final resting place of several famous Americans, including Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and George Baldwin Selden (inventor of the automobile). Rochester is also known for its extensive park system, including the Highland Botanical Park, Cobb's Hill Park, Durand-Eastman Park, Genesee Valley Park, Maplewood Park, Edgerton Park, Seneca Park and Ontario Beach Park.

The city also has 13 full-time recreation centers, 19 swimming programs, 3 artificial ice rinks, 66 softball/baseball fields, 47 tennis courts, 5 football fields, 7 soccer fields, and 43 outdoor basketball courts. Echoing its famous history as the Flower City, Rochester still has a yearly Lilac Festival for ten days in May, when nearly 400 named varieties of lilacs bloom, and 100,000 visitors arrive from as far away as Europe and Japan.

Suburban Mumford is home to the Genesee Country Village and Museum, a combination of: a model village, where numerous examples of local architecture are preserved; sporting art and carriage museums; a nature center; and model gardens.Further south of Rochester is the scenic Letchworth State Park, the so-called "Grand Canyon of the East", with its spectacular canyon and waterfalls. Also to the south and southeast is the glacially-formed Finger Lakes Region, with its numerous lakes and waterfalls.

Rochester has developed a number of festivals that celebrate the many aspects of Rochester life, and most of which occur between late spring and all throughout summer. These include the Rochester International Jazz Festival, now (2006) in its fifth year; the Corn Hill Festival (arts, crafts, and food in this historic Third Ward neighborhood); the High Falls Film Festival (held at the George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre and the Little Theatre downtown); the Image Out/Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (also held at the Little Theatre); the Clothesline Art Festival (artists from the region display their works on the grounds of the Memorial Art Gallery); the Park Avenue Merchants Festival; the Lilac Festival at Highland Park (world famous for its lilac bushes); the Rose Festival at Historic Maplewood Park; the Rochester Music Festival; and the Cold Rush Winter Celebration (celebrating the wide variety of winter sports in the Rochester area). There is something for everyone in these festivals.

Vernacular

In the Greater Rochester Area, a soft drinks can be referred to as pop or soda, while hotdogs can be called "red hots" or "white hots" to distinguish the common hotdog from its local variant. A banquet facility is known as a "party-house".

The nearby town of Chili is not pronounced like the food, but with long "i"s: "CHY-lye". The neighborhood of Charlotte is not pronounced like the North Carolina city but rather with the accent on the second syllable (shar-LOT). The suburb of Riga is pronounced "RYE-ga" rather than the "REE-ga" pronunciation of the Eastern European city.

A "Rochester accent" is often described as including the pronunciation of the city itself as "Rhaaaaach'str". It has also been described as "nasally", most easily recognized by the vocalization of the short "a" sound: "and" is delivered as something closer to "eee-yand". The younger generations have, for the most part, a weaker accent.

Media

Rochester has one daily newspaper, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. There are three free weekly publications as well: City, which is an alternative news weekly; Rochester Insider, a weekly extension of the Democrat and Chronicle geared towards the under 35 crowd; and Rochester ConXion, another weekly extension of the Democrat and Chronicle geared toward the Latin American population. Other publications include the Rochester Business Journal, covering the local business community, and the monthly Empty Closet, New York's oldest gay and lesbian community newspaper.

Rochester has 6 Broadcast television stations:
*NBC: WHEC 10
*CBS: WROC 8
*ABC: WHAM 13
*UPN: WBGT 40 & 26 (Cable 18)
*PBS: WXXI 21 (Cable 11)
*FOX: WUHF 31 (Cable 7)

Rochester's cable television provider is Time Warner Cable, which provides the market's WB cable-only affiliate (WRWB "WB16") and RNews, a 24-hour local news channel.

Points of interest

* University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music ([9]) and Eastman Theatre ([10])
* Ellwanger Garden
* University and Park Avenue Artistic Districts
* George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film
* Genesee Country Village and Museum, about 20 miles away
* Highland Botanical Park
* Maplewood Park Rose Garden
* Midtown Plaza, the nation's first downtown shopping mall
* Port of Rochester, Charlotte, New York
* Liberty Pole
* Cobbs Hill Park and Reservoir
* Mount Hope Cemetery, the nation's first Victorian cemetery.
* Little Theatre, one of the oldest art-house movie theaters in the country
* Seneca Park Zoo, one of the top three family attractions in the area. (SenecaParkZoo.org)
* Strong - National Museum of Play, nation's second-largest children's museum housing the National Toy Hall of Fame
* University of Rochester ([11])
* University of Rochester Arboretum
* Times Square Building, noted for its "Wings of Victory" statue.
* Blue Cross Arena and the War Memorial
* High Falls and the High Falls Entertainment District
* Hamlin Beach
* Ontario Beach Park

Sports

Rochester was named the #1 Minor League Sports market in the country by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal in July, 2005.

Professional sports