Rochester, a flour city with a lot of mills
The first sounds of industry
After the American Revolution, Oliver Phelps offered a 100-acre tract at the Upper Genesee Falls to Ebezener (Indian) Allan, in return for rights for the Senecas'territory, if he would build and operate a mill. The sound of the Genesee running over the first wheel mill was a beginning for the first industry. Allan is thus recognized as Rochester's first white settler.
Origins of the Flour City
In 1803, three land speculators Nathaniel Rochester, William Fitzhugh and Charles Carroll saw the potential of the area for a willing and commercial center even though the mill Allan built was in disrepair. Rochester managed to get roads created that would benefit him as well as other landowners and that helped to support movements against the British in the War of 1812. In spite of the rugged terrain and heavy forests, a number of mills were constructed along the Genesee River and the population began to grow and after different trips to the capital, approval of a new county to include Rochesterville was granted in 1821.
Waterpower
Waterpower from the Genesee made the region a center for milling, and a mild and long growing season made the area ideal for wheat, however the river did not provide good transportation for crops to market. Farmers were first restricted to local markets but then they started to look beyond however as not every farmer had the capital to invest in shipping their produce, the Erie Canal was constructed. It was completed in 1825 and it ran 363 miles from the
Hudson River to Lake Erie. The impact of the canal went beyond farming, new enterprises developed throughout the area with improved transportation and it was during this time that the city became known as America's first boom town. With waterpower to grind the wheat into flour and an accessible transportation route to carry the produce to far-away markets, Rochester saw its heyday as the Flour City and milling center of the world.
From Flour to Flower
George Ellwamger, a prominent horticulturist and German immigrant passed through Rochester and was so impressed by the beauty of the area and the fertility of the soil that he decided to develop a nursery business with Patrick Barry, an Irish immigrant, which lead the way putting Rochester on the map as the Flower City. By the end of the 1800s, 4 000 acres in the villages and towns adjacent to the city were planted in fruit trees, flowers, and vegetables.
Written by Sarah Cozic
