MONROE COUNTY, NY

ILLUSTRATED BOOKLET

The early days of Monroe County and its various towns and townships, including Rochester, are recalled through a mixture of colorful tales and factual data in this NEW 35 Page Booklet, reprinted primarily from two hard-to-find books: the 1841 edition of Historical Collections of the State of New York by John Warner Barber and Henry Howe, and New York, a Guide to the Empire State, a WPA project.
The spiral-bound booklet, sold exclusively on eBay, is one-sided on 60# paper, with the print enlarged for easier reading. A clear vinyl sheet has been added to protect the front cover.
The communities mentioned include: Brockport, Brighton, Blossomsville, Chili, Churchville, Clarkson, Davis' Corners, Gates, Greece, Henrietta, Hartwell's Corners, Irondequoit, Mendon, Ogden, Perrinton, Pittsford, Penfield, Port Genesee, Parma, Riga, Rochester, Sweden, Webster, and Wheatland.
Among the many and diverse topics in the booklet are: Comments from early Travelers; Early Land Prices; Where Names Came from; Churches in Rochester; Sacrifice Rites of the Seneca Indians; the Remarkable and Amusing Defense of Rochester in 1814; the University of Rochester; Flour, flowers, and other Industries; and an extensive section on Rochester with sixty "Points of Interest." A 1940 Rochester street map is also included.
The booklet has no index, but some of the names and sir names mentioned are: Phelps, King, Granger, Greaves, Hanford, Smith, Felt, Col. Nathaniel Rochester, Hamlet Scrantom, Abelard Reynolds, Major Charles Carroll, Col. William Fitzhugh, Ebenezer Allen, Pulteney, Brown, Ely, Stone, Scott, Russel Noble, Frances E. Willard of WCTU fame, George B. Selden "father of the automobile," John T. Trowbridge (author of boys' books), Mary Jane Holmes (novelist), the Fox sisters (spiritualists), Frederick Douglass (runaway slave), George Taylor, David Kendall, John Jacob Bausch, Henry Lomb, William Gleason, George Eastman, Casper Pfaudler, Frank Ritter, Libanus and George Todd, J. Harry Stedman (inventer of the streetcar transfer), Dr. Edward Mott Moore, and Daniel W. Powers.
ILLUSTRATIONS depict Buffalo Street in Rochester, Genesee Falls, and a Collegiate Building at Brockport.
The Howe/Barber history covers the development of this area until about 1841, while excerpts from the WPA book, give a nostalgic glimpse from a 1940 vantage point, including interesting historical notes, especially as they relate to sightseeing possibilities. There's also a small map of the area from a 1948 booklet printed by the New York Telephone Company.