Out of the Loop: a Before and After Look at the Neighborhoods of the Inner Loop

Reposted with permission from Local History ROCs!

Part 1

The Inner Loop has been such of fixture of Rochester’s landscape over the past half-century, that it is probably difficult for many residents to remember what downtown looked like before it came along. Many other Rochesterians have never known a life without the loop. This series will take a look at the city before and after the circular roadway at its center took shape.

The original version of the Inner Loop was built in five sections between 1952 and 1965. This series will discuss each arc in turn and document some of the changes–and losses–that each arc’s surrounding neighborhood experienced.

The first arc of the loop ran from Central Avenue near the western bank of the Genesee River to Allen Street, then down Plymouth Ave North to Main Street West. Plymouth Avenue would remain the western boundary of the Inner Loop until the roadway was expanded to its current route in 1971.

The first arc of the loop ran from Central to Allen then down Plymouth Ave North to Main Street West. (Circa 1960 map by New York State Department of Public Works from the Collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History & Genealogy Division)

Demolition for the first .47 mile stretch of the Loop began in the spring of 1952, and from the outset it was a slow-going and costly process. Because of the age of the structures in the neighborhood, almost every building had to be dismantled brick by brick. It took two weeks just to tear down the very first house for the project at 141 Plymouth Ave North.

Crews begin their work on the first house to be demolished for the Inner Loop at 141 Plymouth Ave North.  Democrat & Chronicle. June 17, 1952.

Current site of 141 Plymouth. Google Maps, 2018.

The current site of the house lies at the southwest corner of Plymouth Ave North and Allen Street.  This was not the case when the home was torn down. As a result of Loop construction, part of Allen Street was actually rerouted half a block-length southward from its original location.

This 1935 map shows Allen Street running north of the Pullman Building (now Buckingham Commons):

On the 1935 map, the house at 141 Plymouth is visible beside the U.P. (United Presbyterian) Church. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

This current map shows Allen Street running south of the former Pullman building/Buckingham Commons, while the Inner Loop closely follows the original course of Allen Street:

The properties along this stretch of Plymouth Avenue North were renumbered. The 141 of 2018 is not the same location as the 141 of 1935. City of Rochester Map, 2018.

Over the course of 1952 and 1953, the rubble pile from the house at 141 Plymouth Ave was joined by the remains of several other residences along Plymouth, Allen Street, Central Ave, and State Street.

The first leg of the project also destroyed a few notable non-residential buildings.

The First United Presbyterian Church, which had stood at 131 Plymouth Avenue North since 1849, met the wrecking ball in the summer of 1952. The displaced congregation dedicated the site of their new church in Gates the following summer.

The First United Church, which stood at 131 Plymouth Avenue North between Church Street and Allen Street, is visible on the left side of this circa 1913  photograph.

Looking along the same stretch of Plymouth Avenue North from a  slightly different angle in the midst of Inner Loop construction, 1952-1953. From the Collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History and Genealogy Division.

The same stretch of Plymouth Ave, (which hasn’t been part of the Inner Loop since the early 1970s) as it appears today. Google Maps, 2018.

Another mainstay of the neighborhood that became a casualty of the Inner Loop, was the former Fire Department Headquarters building.

The edifice, built in 1906, occupied the entire southern block of Central Avenue from Mill Street to Front Street. The Fire Department moved out of the expansive structure in 1938, afterwhich it served a variety of functions before being repurposed as emergency apartments during the housing shortage of the post-WWII era.

The Central Ave headquarters circa 1924.

The loop section and parking lot that mark the approximate spot today. Google Maps, 2018.

Just down the block from the Fire Department Headquarters building, lay perhaps the most historic edifice that was razed for the first arc of the Loop–The Savoy Hotel.

The 125-room inn on the corner of State Street and Central Avenue was originally called the Waverly House when it was constructed in 1848, just 200 feet from the city’s first New York Central Railroad Station.

A circa 1860s advertisement for the Waverly House. From: The Collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History and Genealogy Division.

The posh hotel once hosted noted figures such as Buffalo Bill Cody, but infamously declined to provide a room for one of Rochester’s most celebrated citizens in 1872.

When Frederick Douglass learned that his South Avenue home had been destroyed by a fire that June, he boarded the first train back to Rochester from Washington DC, and, arriving late at night, sought shelter at the Waverly House before reuniting with his displaced family in the morning. The night clerk refused Douglass service, falsely claiming that the hotel was fully booked, and the famed abolitionist set off into the rainy night in search of his loved ones.

The hotel, which was renamed the Savoy in 1894, experienced a considerable decline in the 20th century, and not all city residents were saddened by the news that the Savoy would be demolished in 1952. Initially, just the northern section of the building was razed to make way for the Loop before the rest of the structure followed suit.

The Savoy, at the corner of State and Central, as depicted in an early 20th century  postcard.

The approximate site of the Savoy today. Google Maps, 2018.

In addition to losing some historic buildings to the first arc of the loop, the city also lost the entire section of Central Avenue west of St. Paul Street.

This 1935 map shows the section of Central between State Street and Front Street:

Both the Savoy Hotel and the Rochester Fire Department Headquarters are visible in this 1935 map. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

This current map shows the same section of the city, with the Inner Loop having replaced the route of Central Avenue:

NB: The section of Mill Street seen in the middle of the previous map is also absent from the current view. City of Rochester map, 2018.

The two photographs below, the first taken in the early 1950s and the latter, from 2018, also give a sense of the radical remapping of the first arc’s neighborhood.

The Downtown United Presbyterian Church (not be confused the United Presbyterian Church on Plymouth Avenue), seen in both photos, stands at the corner of Fitzhugh Street North and Allen Street. What is left of Central Avenue runs beside the railroad tracks. From: The Collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History and Genealogy Division.

The church remains the constant in the much changed post-Inner Loop picture. Google Maps, 2018

The changes would continue to come with the Loop’s second arc through Corn Hill…

PART 2

The Inner Loop dramatically altered the neighborhood surrounding Central Avenue, Allen Street, and Plymouth Avenue North. Longstanding businesses and local landmarks were erased from Rochester’s map, as were a substantial number of residences.  This trend would continue as loop construction made its journey southward in the early 1950s.

The Loop’s second arc, constructed between 1953 and 1955, continued along Plymouth Avenue south of Main Street, then curved along Troup Street in the Corn Hill neighborhood to the Genesee River.

The original second arc of the loop curved at Troup Street, towards the river, leaving the section of Plymouth Ave South below Troup intact. Democrat & Chronicle. September 10, 1954.

This Inner Loop section no longer exists today, as the Loop underwent a western expansion in the early 1970s. The following map details the area where the original second arc once ran:

Today, Plymouth Avenue South is a regular roadway and I-490 follows the path of a section of the original second arc of the Loop. Google Maps, 2018.

The initial plans for the second section of the Inner Loop required the demolition of over 30 buildings, most of which stood on the east side of Plymouth Avenue South between Spring Street and Troup Street. A number of structures on Spring, School Alley and South Fitzhugh Street also met their demise during this phase of construction.

The photograph below shows the swath of Plymouth Ave South that was demolished for the original course of the loop:

Looking south along Plymouth Avenue from Spring Street. All the buildings on the east side of Plymouth Ave between Spring Street and Troup Street have been torn down. Times-Union. April 11, 1955.

Several apartment buildings on Plymouth Avenue South, such as the Columbia (# 60-64), The Hilton (#110) and Casa Loma (#152), were emptied of tenants and razed, along with a few businesses on Spring Street, including Granger Radio Service (#62) and Levin Painting (#72).

A not so progressive ad for Granger Radio Service. Democrat & Chronicle. November 30, 1947.

Wolford’s Books and Fine Arts Shop, at 67 Spring Street, also met the wrecking ball even though it was housed in what was reported to be the oldest standing residence on the city’s West side.

Democrat & Chronicle. November 30, 1947.

The peak-roofed frame house at 67 Spring Street was built between 1821 and 1823 by blacksmith, Caleb Bicknell. Bicknell built his primary residence, a brick structure, at 63 Spring Street directly beside the frame house. The lot containing both of Bicknell’s homes had previously housed Rochesterville’s cemetery, but upon the property’s purchase by Bicknell in 1821, the bodies were disinterred and moved to the site of the old Rochester General Hospital (now the site of the Anthony Square Apartments).

This circa 1950 photograph shows the brick house at 63 Spring on the left and the frame house at 67 Spring on the right. From the Collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History and Genealogy Division.

The site of the Bicknell properties at 63-67 Spring Street was in the path of the original second loop section, but is now marked by the parking lot in front of the Monroe County Jail , as these maps show:

The area in question circa 1935. 63-67 Spring Street stand between Plymouth Ave South (formerly Sophia St) and School Alley. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

The same area in 2018. The church at bottom left remains the only constant. Spring Street ends at Plymouth Ave South and the section of School Alley pictured above no longer exists. Google Maps, 2018.

One of the more colorful structures that was demolished for the loop’s second arc was the Plymouth Spiritualist Church, which had stood at the northeast corner of Plymouth Ave South and Troup Street since 1856.

The Spiritualist movement took root in Rochester in the late 1840s thanks to the influence of the Fox Sisters, who claimed the ability to speak to the dead. Their latter-day co-religionists moved into the Plymouth Ave church in 1906. They honored the memory of the three sisters with a 25-foot tall obelisk on the property at the suggestion of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame).  The church, which went on to become a something of a safe haven for area non-conformists in the first half of the twentieth century, was demolished in 1954. The Fox Sisters monument, meanwhile, was relocated to the southeast corner of Plymouth and Troup, where it remains today.

Plymouth Spiritualist Church, with its signature spire at the northeast corner of Plymouth Avenue South and Troup St. From the Collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History & Genealogy Division.

Signs for I-490 and the Inner Loop mark the northeast corner of Plymouth and Troup today.  Google Maps, 2018.

The southeast corner of Plymouth and Troup was home to a lavish residence once owned by Civil War-era Congressman, Alfred Ely. Though the handsome estate escaped demolition during this phase of loop construction in the early 1950s, it was nevertheless torn down in 1958 to make room for a new loop-adjacent motel. As the wreckers were in the process of razing the house, however, they made a curious discovery. Inside of Alfred Ely’s circa 1849 residence, stood another house.

Alfred Ely’s residence as it appeared in the late 19th century.

Thomas Pease, one of the first men to own a line of canal boats in Rochester, had built a modest home on the site in the 1820s. Ely bought the former Pease property in 1849, and, seeking something more substantial, built a new shell around the original residence and constructed additional wings, leaving Pease’ house completely hidden from view.

Ely’s doublewide home was replaced with the Mohawk Motor Hotel in 1959, which billed itself as being within walking distance to downtown, the Community War Memorial and several business centers. By the 1970s, however, the motel’s clientele had shifted from traveling businessmen to locals seeking both very short-term and extended stays. The edifice was repurposed as the Plymouth Park West office building in 1977.

An artist’s sketch of the Mohawk Manor Hotel with the relocated Spiritualist obelisk in full view. Democrat and Chronicle. July 26, 1958.

The same structure, now the Plymouth Park West office building, today. The Spiritualist obelisk is just out of view amidst the trees. Google Maps, 2018.

Just down the block from the Ely homestead, lay the former residence of another local man of note, Lewis Henry Morgan. Morgan, an influential anthropologist, social theorist and lawyer, made his home at 124 South Fitzhugh Street a hub of intellectual activity in the 19th century. Not only did the house host the meetings of various elite clubs, but it was also the site where city leaders first outlined their demands for co-education at the University of Rochester.

In 1938, the significant structure at the southeast corner of Fitzhugh Street and Troup Street was honoured with a historic marker from the New York State Education Department at the prompting of the Rochester Historical Society. The building’s last tenant, Harry Potter (no relation), vacated the premises in 1953 and the edifice was torn down to make way for the Troup-Howell Bridge.

A painting of the Morgan residence by Corn Hill artist, Ralph Avery. Democrat & Chronicle. September 27, 1953.

A patch of grass along South Fitzhugh Street  and the western approach to the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Bridge mark the site of Morgan’s home today. Google Maps, 2018. 

The bridge, which carried the Inner Loop over the Genesee River to Howell Street, was opened permanently in June 1955.

The west side of the Troup-Howell Bridge as it approaches the bend at Plymouth Avenue South. The Campbell-Whittlesey House, at 123 South Fitzhugh Street, is visible on the left. Democrat & Chronicle. September 25, 1955.

The Troup-Howell Bridge was replaced with the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Bridge in 2007. The Campbell-Whittlesey House still stands on the left. Google Maps, 2018.

The west side of the Inner Loop complete, developers and demolition crews moved next to the city’s east side…

PART 3

The previous two parts, detailing the Central-Plymouth Avenue and Corn Hill neighborhoods, highlighted some of the historic structures that were demolished in the name of the Inner Loop.

The Loop’s third section, which ran from the eastern edge of the Troup-Howell bridge along Howell Street to the corner of Union and George Streets, did not result in the razing of many iconic Rochester buildings, but it nevertheless destroyed a staggering number of residences, and drastically changed the face of the fourth ward neighborhood.

This ca. 1955 aerial photo depicts the route of the third arc of the Inner Loop from the Troup-Howell bridge along Howell Street. The route crosses South, Clinton, and Monroe Avenues before connecting with Union Street. From the collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History and Genealogy Division.

The area in question today, after the filling in of the Inner Loop. City of Rochester Maps, 2018. 

Built between 1956 and August 1958, the Inner Loop’s first eastside segment proved its most expensive and complicated section to date. The half-mile arc’s construction leveled over 160 structures in its wake and featured four bridges as well as a complex interchange.

Destruction for the arc began in the fall of 1955. By the time the razing was completed the following summer, swaths of family homes and apartment buildings had been eaten up in the process, forcing countless citizens to move out of the neighborhood, and leaving a desolate rubble-strewn scene behind.

Howell Street in shambles. From the collection of the Rochester Public Library Local History and Genealogy Division.

Democrat and Chronicle writer, Arch Merrill, went so far to say in 1956: “where loop demolition is underway at the eastern end of the new bridge, it looks like Coventry after the blitz.”

The last house demolished for the third arc of the Inner Loop. Democrat & Chronicle, August 4, 1956.

In addition to countless residences, a number of commercial buildings also met the wrecking ball, including a couple of longstanding businesses.

Rabe’s Complete Auto Service, located at 100 Manhattan Street, was originally a harness manufacturing company when it was founded in 1893. The following century, the firm made the transition from horse wares to automobiles.

Rabe’s Auto Service (100 Manhattan Street) in the 1920s. From the collection of the Albert R. Stone Negative Collection.

The location of Rabe’s Auto Service on Manhattan Street, north of Monroe Ave. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

Aerial photo of the same area in 2012, prior to the loop being filled in. The Rabe’s site has been replaced with part of Strong Museum’s parking lot. City of Rochester map, 2012.

Another longtime firm to lose its headquarters was Carhart’s Photo Service and Camera Shop, located at 294 South Avenue. Founded in 1914, the family business was once the largest photo developer in Western New York .

Advertisement in Democrat & Chronicle. December 13, 1953.

Carhart’s photo Service stood at 294 South Ave on the block between Howell and Marshall. NB: South Ave is labeled St. Paul on this map. The “South” pictured is South Street, now St Mary’s Place. “(Green)” is Clinton Ave. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

The same area post-Loop construction. Clinton Avenue (albeit a bridge) remains the only constant. City of Rochester Map, 2012.

Notably, one major institution in the area remained in tact amidst the destruction and construction of the Inner Loop: the Fanny Farmer factory at 7 Griffith Street.

As these maps demonstrate, the Fanny Farmer candy studio, was one of the only structures in the vicinity of the Inner Loop interchange to survive. It closed, however, in 1967.

Prior to Loop construction. The Fanny Farmer factory is the pink rectangular building on the south side of Griffith Street. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

The same area following the development of the Inner Loop interchange. Fanny Farmer Factory in pink. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, ca 1950s.

Almost every other building along Howell Street, Marshall Street, Griffith Street, South Street and Byron Street detailed in the 1935 map was razed.

The Loop interchange also severed Marshall and Griffith Streets. Both roads once ran from South Avenue to Monroe Avenue, but as a result of loop construction, they were both stopped just east of Clinton Avenue.

Marshall and Griffith Streets run from South Avenue to Monroe Avenue in this ca 1935 map. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

Marshall Street and Griffith Streets today. City of Rochester Map, 2018. 

Undoubtedly, the thoroughfare that underwent the greatest change during this phase of loop construction, was Howell Street.

The barren path along Howell Street stretching from South Avenue to Monroe Avenue. Democrat & Chronicle. May 26, 1957.

Like Marshall and Griffith Streets, Howell Street also once ran from South Avenue all the way to Monroe Avenue, but as the loop took its route, it was all but obliterated.

The original route of Howell Street can be seen in this 1935 map. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

The same section in 2012, prior to the loop getting filled in. A few buildings just below the Inner Loop near its intersection with Monroe are the only edifices remaining from the original Howell Street. City of Rochester maps, 2012.

The neighborhood surrounding the eastern end of the new half-mile arc, running from Monroe Ave to the intersection of Union Street and George Street (which no longer exists), did not experience as dramatic a transformation as its western reach, but still witnessed considerable destruction.

Small sections of Manhattan Street and Savannah Street were lobbed off, while most of the buildings lining the west side of Union Street up to George Street were toppled.

This City of Rochester Plat Map from 1935 and Sanborn Fire Insurance map from the late 1950s below depict how the area appeared before and just immediately after the arc’s construction.

Manhattan, Savannah and Union Street pre-Loop. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

The eastern section of the Inner Loop’s third arc cut through portions of Manhattan Street, Savannah Street and Union Street, but left many area buildings intact. Sanborn Fire Insurance map.

This area looks much different today, as the majority of the homes and businesses that still stood after the loop’s construction were later razed and eventually replaced with the Strong Museum property. More recently, of course, this section of the loop was filled in, which will bring further transformations to the surrounding neighborhood in the years to come.

Strong Museum and its parking lot now occupy the site where several residences once stood. Only a stub of Savannah Street remains while Howell Street has been revived and expanded. Google Maps, 2018. 

The next part will look at the dramatic changes the Loop wrought in the neighborhood between Front Street to Scio Street…

PART 4

As we saw in parts 1, 2 and 3, the construction of the first three sections of the Inner Loop required a massive amount of property demolition and resulted in the remapping of Rochester’s center city. The route’s fourth segment, completed in 1962, proved even more destructive than its forbears.

The .9 mile arc more or less ran along the original route of Cumberland Street, beginning at Front Street on the City’s west side and ending at North Street on the east.

“A” marks the fourth leg of the loop. From: Democrat & Chronicle, August 20, 1958.

As the route cut through a densely populated, mixed-use area, it necessitated a considerable amount of property razing. More than 250 residential and commercial buildings were toppled to make way for the new loop segment.

In the spring of 1957, four blocks worth of businesses near the New York Central Railroad Station met the wrecking ball.

Not everyone was sad to see the aging structures go.

A pro-loop editorial published in the Democrat & Chronicle that November referred to the razed edifices as “architectural monstrosities and crumbling flea bags.”

The Post Office is at the center of this circa 1960 aerial photograph depicting the dramatic demolition done in the name of the Inner Loop. The New York Central Railroad Station is at top right.  From: Democrat & Chronicle, July 26, 1960.

Among the bygone buildings in the train station neighborhood was the Railroad YMCA at 9 Hyde Park Street, a short road that once stood on the west side of the central Post Office (visible in the photo above).

The original Railroad YMCA branch was founded in the early 1900s to cater to transient railroad workers, offering them room, board, and entertainment. But by the time the branch moved into the Hyde Park structure in 1932, train crews had begun to bypass Rochester, and the institution’s import started to fade.

In 1955, the location ceased functioning as the headquarters for railroad men and was converted into a boarding house. Two longtime railroad worker residents refused to relocate, and remained tenants of the timeworn hostelry until its demolition in the fall of 1957.

The last location of the Railroad YMCA at 9 Hyde Park Street. From: Democrat & Chronicle, March 24, 1957.

Demolition of the YMCA as seen from the rear of the building. From: Democrat & Chronicle October 25, 1957.

The current site of the Railroad YMCA near Joseph Avenue in the vicinity of the New York Trailways station. Google Maps, 2018.

Not far from the Railroad YMCA stood another longtime neighborhood institution, The Hotel Gilliard.

The Hotel Gilliard, later the Saeger Hotel, stood at 218 Clinton Avenue North. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

The establishment at the northeast corner of Clinton Ave North and Cumberland Street was founded in 1886 by Valentine Gilliard, a German immigrant who had previously worked in a number of local saloons. His three story hostelry boasted 20 rooms in addition to the tavern on its main floor.

Hotel Gilliard circa 1916. From: The Albert R. Stone Negative Collection, Rochester Museum & Science Center, Rochester, N.Y.

Valentine Gilliard ran the family business until he took ill in 1893, and, in a bout of apparent insanity brought on by his physical suffering, tragically shot himself on the roof of the hotel.

The Gilliards later sold the inn, but it retained the family name through the Prohibition era, during which the hotel endured several raids by dry agents. The hotel continued operations till the State claimed it in 1957.

The Hotel Gilliard appears on the right side of the street on the far side of the intersection pictured in this circa 1890 photograph.

The site today. Google Maps, 2019.

Following the decimation of the railroad station neighborhood, a host of businesses and residences on St. Paul Street and Water Street met their fate.

Some did not go gently into the good night, however.

The Joseph A. Schantz Furniture Company had maintained two sizeable edifices at the intersection of St. Paul Street and Central Avenue since 1911. An eponymously named commercial building stood on the east side of St. Paul Street, while the company’s six-story furniture warehouse, stood on the west side.

The Schantz company owned two buildings that faced each other on St. Paul Street at Central Avenue. Note the original location of the Frederick Douglass monument between the Schantz structures. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

The former came down fairly handily.

The Schantz Building stands on the left side of this photograph from October 1958. From the Collection of the Rochester Public Library’s Local History & Genealogy Division.

The same site from a slightly different angle in 1960, sans Schantz Building. From the Collection of the Rochester Public Library’s Local History & Genealogy Division.

The warehouse was more stubborn.

Neither cranes nor steel balls proved able to destroy the edifice. Construction workers were eventually reduced to using torches to slash the building’s reinforcing rods, before cranes could be brought in to rip out the rubbled pieces.

The Schantz warehouse building lies behind the Douglass monument in this circa 1941 photograph.

The approximate site of the Schantz warehouse today lies at the corner of St. Paul and the rerouted Cumberland Street. Google Maps, 2019

In addition to the hundreds of buildings it consumed in its wake, the loop’s fourth section was also responsible for gutting one of the city’s oldest parks.

Franklin Square (now known as Schiller Park) located between Cumberland and Andrews Streets, was opened to the public in 1826.

Franklin Square circa 1833. NB: Cumberland Street was formerly called Bowery Street. City of Rochester Map, 1833.

In addition to providing 19th century downtown residents with a pastoral setting in which to unwind, the small park hosted amateur baseball club games in the 1850s and 1860s and later served as the site of numerous political demonstrations.

The following century, Franklin Square became home to the city’s Spanish-American War Memorial, a bronze eagle designed by noted sculptor, Carl Paul Jennewein.

The regal eagle standing atop a reflecting pool at the northern end of Franklin Square. Note the Post Office and St. Luke’s Church in the background.   From: Democrat & Chronicle, July 6, 1941.

In 1960, less than twenty years after the bronze eagle landed in Franklin Square, the northern half of the historic park was lobbed off to make way for the loop, and the Spanish-American eagle took flight.

The site today. Google Maps, 2018.

Franklin Square was decimated.

The original layout of Franklin Square seen in the late 1940s. From: Democrat & Chronicle, January 4, 1948.

The stub of the square that remains post-loop, now called Schiller Park. Google Maps, 2018.

The eagle fortunately found a new perch beside the Community War Memorial (now Blue Cross Arena).

From: Democrat & Chronicle, August 18, 1960.

The eagle in its current home beside the Blue Cross Arena. From: Morry.

After almost three years worth of demolition carried out in its name, construction on the loop’s fourth arc finally began in March 1960.

Despite the extensive destruction that the new route had wrought, many maintained that the Inner Loop offered a path to progress. As one Democrat & Chronicle writer opined in March 1961: “We look at the loop now—the finished part of it—and we use it with the realization that Rochester would be literally choking to death on traffic without it. Every day the genius of this loop concept becomes more apparent.”

The next part will detail the changes brought about by the loop’s fifth and final segment.

PART 5

The last section of the Inner Loop, completed in 1965, is perhaps the most intriguing to current Rochester residents, as, for the most part, it no longer exists.

The final loop arc originally ran from Scio Street to the intersection of Union Street and George Street.

The original path of the Inner Loop’s last arc. From: Democrat & Chronicle, September 30, 1965.

Today, it concludes its course just past Main Street thanks to the Inner Loop East Transformation Project, which filled in two thirds of a mile of the sunken roadway and replaced it with an at-grade Union Street in 2017.

City of Rochester Map, 2019.

The filled-in loop section has already begun to transform the landscape of the East End neighborhood. The area’s metamorphosis will continue as Union Street’s built environment develops.

Construction on the Union Street section of the loop at its intersection with East Avenue. From: Democrat and Chronicle, March 20, 1964.

The same section, filled in. From: Googlemaps, 2019.

The intersection of Union Street and East Avenue facing north circa 1962. The diagonal street below East Avenue is the original route of Court Street. From: Democrat & Chronicle, November 21, 1962.

Union Street at East Avenue in 2012, with the adjacent sunken loop. From: Google Maps, 2012.

The same stretch in 2019 boasts a tree-lined median, designated bike lanes, pedestrian paths, and budding buildings. From: Morry, 2019.

Though the majority of the loop’s final section has been reincarnated, what remains of the last arc offers further reminders of all that was lost as a result of the circular thoroughfare.

Anderson Park— named for the University of Rochester’s first president, Martin Brewer Anderson—originally comprised a somewhat sizeable triangular piece of land bordered by University Avenue, East Main Street and North Union Street.

Anderson Park, bordered by Main Street on the northwest side, Union Street on the east side, and University Avenue on the south side. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1910.

Opened in 1905, the pastoral greenspace for a time housed a skating rink, and, in 1913, hosted a colossal Christmas tree adorned with hundreds of colored incandescent lights.

Hundreds gathered for a Christmas celebration at Anderson Park in December 1913. From: Albert R. Stone Negative Collection, Rochester Museum & Science Center, Rochester, N.Y.

The park was also the first home of the Schiller monument.

The Schiller monument at the southwest corner of Anderson Park in 1938.

Donated by Rochester’s German community in 1908, the statue of the 18th century poet and philosopher later became something of a mecca to the city’s teenaged lovebirds. Scores of Cupid-struck couples in the 1950s deemed the monument’s pedestal as the place to pledge their love to one other via inscriptions of their initials, often emblazoned with red lipstick.

The monument and its lipstick traces met their match the following decade, as plans for the Inner Loop designated the southern tier of Anderson Park as the juncture where the circular roadway would make its final curve towards Union Street.

Anderson Park, much like Franklin Square (discussed in Part 4), was more than halved.

The somewhat sizeable Anderson Park in 1935. City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

The truncated tuft of greenery that constitutes the current Anderson Park. City of Rochester map, 2019.

And, in something of a game of monument musical chairs, after Franklin Square’s Spanish American War eagle was relocated to the Community War Memorial, the Schiller monument was removed from Anderson Park, and placed in Franklin Square (now known as Schiller Park).

Schiller on the move in the spring of 1964. From: Democrat & Chronicle, April 21, 1964.

The monument at home in its eponymous park.

In addition to gutting yet another downtown park, the loop’s final segment was also responsible for swallowing a host of homes and apartment buildings, often erasing entire street sections in the process.

The mixed-use neighborhood between North Street and Union Street found itself radically altered following the Loop’s arrival.

Seen in 1935, the area between North Street and Scio Street, boasts a series of densely plotted residences and a selection of commercial structures:

City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

City of Rochester map, 2019.

The post-loop picture is much starker. The buildings lining both sides of Delevan Street, the south side of Lyndhurst Street, and the west side of Scio Street are gone as are sections of Gibbs Street and the entirety of Barber’s Lane.

The next block over also witnessed a considerable transformation:

City of Rochester Plat Map, 1935.

City of Rochester map, 2019.

The most striking difference between these pre- and post-loop pictures, apart from the substantial loss of buildings, is the elimination of an entire street, Joslyn Place.

Some of the street’s denizens did not face its demise without a fight.

Mrs. George R. Woods had been living in an apartment at 72 Joslyn Place with her teenage son and dog when she received the news that her building would be demolished in 1962. In January of that year, her landlord stopped collecting rent, and two months later, the building’s utilities were removed.

By this time, all of the apartments at 72 Joslyn Place had been vacated. All except the one occupied by Mrs. Woods. She and her son kept themselves warm in the frigid flat by donning their wooliest clothing. The pair lit candles in lieu of electric lights, and, when in need of water, they availed themselves of the nearest fire hydrant.

When the landlord or state agents stopped by, Woods came armed with an array of excuses, reinforcing that all her belongings were packed and that she was only waiting for a moving truck.

A sheaf of paper notes remained permanently affixed to her door. One warned: “Leave my things alone until I get moved tomorrow afternoon or I will turn my dog loose. I need my things. Can’t buy more.” Another missive, directed to her postman, informed: “Don’t believe I’ve moved away. I’m still here. Mrs. Woods.”

Woods’ standoff continued even after all the other structures on the street had been demolished and her building became the target of routine rock-throwing by neighborhood children. She eventually retreated in the middle of May 1962, when two movers struck a deal with her and transported her affairs to a new abode on Maple Street.

While Woods’ experience presents an extreme example, her frustration over losing her home was nevertheless mirrored by thousands of Rochesterians whose lives were uprooted as result of the Inner Loop.

A home being leveled for the loop in 1962. From: Democrat & Chronicle, May 11, 1962.

In “progress.”

Demolished. All in fifteen minutes’ time.

The extensive damage and displacement that the Inner Loop caused was deemed by its proponents as the price of progress.

The new time-saving thoroughfare thrilled many in Rochester’s business community.

Chamber of Commerce president Byron Johnson exclaimed at the Inner Loop’s official opening on October 20, 1965, “Without businessmen willing to support it, this Inner Loop might have become a useless noose around a deserted central area.”

Seemingly sharing Johnson’s flair for the dramatic, Rochester District Engineer Bernard F. Perry proclaimed that the loop opening was, “One of the most important days in the history of Rochester and Monroe County,” adding, “We are extremely proud of this achievement, the result of long planning, intricate design and elaborate construction.”

That this long-planned, intricately designed, and elaborately constructed achievement was perhaps flawed in its inception remains a matter of debate, but convincing evidence is offered by the thriving thoroughfare that has risen above the former route of the sunken loop.

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