From Flour City to The World Image Centre
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by: johnmas99
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Word Count: 393
One would think that a city like Chicago or Pittsburgh would have been the first American boomtown, but in reality the title is held by none other than Rochester NY.Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, from whom Rochester NY gets its name, Major Charles Carroll, and Colonel William Fitzhugh, Jr. purchased this tract in 1803 because the Genesee River had the potential to generate a great deal of water power. This water power would eventually prove to be vital to the flour producing industry. After surveying began in 1811, streets and roads were laid out, and in 1817 other area landowners joined their holdings with the Hundred Acre Tract to form the Village of Rochesterville. Rochesterville was the seat of Monroe County, New York by 1821 and was rechartered as a city under the shortened name of Rochester in 1834.
The Erie Canal Aqueduct, at the site of the modern day Broad Street Bridge in downtown Rochester NY, was built in 1823 to direct the waters of the newly constructed Erie Canal over the Genesee River. The Erie Canal now connected Rochester to all points east and west. Originally dubbed The Young Lion of the West, Rochester ny became known as the Flour City, reflecting its status by 1838 as the largest flour producing city in the United States. Also doubling in population by 1838, Rochester earned distinction as the first American boomtown. As the wheat producing industry moved further west during the nineteenth century, Rochester NY soon was referred to as the Flower City in reference to the numerous nurseries that grew up around the city.The post Civil War years brought renewed industrial growth to the region. Giants such as the Eastman Kodak Company and Bausch and Lomb were founded during this time.The Gannett newspaper conglomerate and Western Union also had their start in Rochester NY. The prominence of imaging and optical science among local universities and companies in response to a regional decline in manufacturing has given Rochester its modern nickname as The Worlds Image Centre.
Rochester NY is poised to take on any economic challenge, given its rich history of entrepreneurship and adaption to change. The region has much to offer. You will not be disappointed. References Rochester events . Rochester news . Rochester . Rochester . House of guitars rochester .
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