What to See in Rochester - Top Sights and Attractions

Nature preserve in Rochester, New York. The High Falls are one of three voluminous waterfalls on the Genesee River, that flow through the city of Rochester in New York. The High Falls are located about 2 miles upstream from the lower falls and act as their source. The High Falls area was the site of much of Rochester's early industrial development, where industry was powered by falling water. Brown's Race diverts water from above the falls and was used to feed various flour mills and industries; today the water is used to produce hydroelectric power.

The High Falls may be viewed from the Pont De Rennes bridge, a pedestrian bridge that spans the Genesee River a few hundred feet from the base of the falls.

The High Falls was the site of the final jump of "The Yankee Leaper" Sam Patch who died after jumping off of the High Falls in 1829.

An abstract representation of the High Falls is used on the logo of Rochester New York FC as a symbol of the city.^[4]

Reservoir in New York State. Cobbs Hill Reservoir is a reservoir located in Cobbs Hill Park in Rochester, New York, United States. The reservoir is used to supply drinking water to the city of Rochester. The source of the water is Hemlock Lake, which lies 30 miles due south of and 400 feet higher elevation than Rochester.

Construction was completed in 1908. The smaller Lake Riley north of it was part of the old Erie Canal system. I-490 now runs on the old canal bed here.

The land comprising modern-day Cobbs Hill Park belonged to Gideon Cobb, an earlier settler of Rochester. The land was acquired by the city through various land purchases, and donations. The largest donation was the remaining 15 acres crowning the hilltop of Cobbs Hill.

The granite gatehouse atop the hill was designed by architect J. Foster Warner in Greek Revival style. The structure featured a wide portico with an ornate drinking fountain.

With its surrounding iron fencing and Parisian lamp posts, the 12.8 acre reservoir further added to the landscape of Cobbs Hill. Animated by a fountain, the reservoir reportedly has the sitting capacity to fill every bath tub in Rochester, NY, twice daily, for two months.

An overlook was developed in consultation with the agency of Frederick Law Olmsted— the firm responsible for creating the Rochester Parks system in the late 1880s. Olmsted executives urged the city to maintain this bluff to provide citizens with unobtrusive skyline views.

A refectory, with cafeteria and observation deck, once stood on the site now occupied by a radio tower. Funded by The New Deal in 1933, the refectory hosted thousands of people a year through the mid-twentieth century. A beacon mounted to the observatory helped guide planes to the Greater Rochester International Airport.

Cobbs Hill Park remains a Rochester feature into the twenty-first century, and is used by joggers running the reservoir trail, sled riders gliding down the hill, sports enthusiasts playing on the athletic fields, or people partaking in the views or nature walks.^[5]

Arena in Rochester, New York. The Main Street Armory is a multi-purpose arena located at 900 East Main Street in Rochester, New York. The Armory was built in 1905 by the United States Army and used for the training and processing of soldiers. Its main arena also hosted several non-military events, including high school basketball, circuses, and auto shows prior to the mid-1950s. In 1990, the New York National Guard left the facility, leaving it vacant and allowing it to fall into disrepair. It was purchased and renovated in the mid-2000s with the intention of refurbishing the Armory's main arena to hold events once again. The building opened for this purpose on February 3, 2007.

It was the home of the Rochester Centrals of the American Basketball League from 1925 to 1931, the Rochester Iroquois lacrosse team, the Rochester Raiders of the Continental Indoor Football League in 2007, and Next Era Wrestling from 2007-2008 until it moved across the street to the Rochester Auditorium Center.^[6]

Museum in Rochester, New York. The Strong National Museum of Play is part of The Strong in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1969 and based initially on the personal collection of Rochester native Margaret Woodbury Strong, the Museum opened to the public in 1982, after several years of planning, cataloguing, and exhibition development for the Museum's new building in downtown Rochester. For at least fifteen years after its opened, the mission of the Museum was to interpret the social and cultural history of average Americans between 1830 and 1940, under the direction of H.J. Swinney and William T. Alderson. Mrs. Strong's collections of dolls and toys, American and European decorative arts, prints, paintings, Japanese crafts, and advertising ephemera provided a firm foundation for this mission, and were supplemented with collections purchased and donated to more fully support the Museum's early mission. The Museum received considerable local and national publicity and support and substantial financial support from the National Endowment for the Humanities' Exhibitions and Public Programs division.

In the 1990s, the Museum's Board of Trustees and Director changed the Museum's mission to collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of play. Since then it has refined and increased its collections (hundreds of thousands of items), and expanded twice, in 1997 and 2006.

The Museum is now one of five Play Partners of The Strong, which is also home to the National Toy Hall of Fame, the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, and the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, and produces the American Journal of Play.^[7]

Stadium in Rochester, New York. Frontier Field is a baseball stadium located at One Morrie Silver Way in downtown Rochester, New York. It has been the home of the Rochester Red Wings of the International League since 1997. The park opened in 1996, replacing Silver Stadium in northern Rochester, which had been home to professional baseball in Rochester since 1929. Although the stadium was built for baseball, Frontier Field has had several tenants in numerous sports, including the Rochester Raging Rhinos of the United Soccer Leagues from 1996 to 2005, and the Rochester Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse from 2001 to 2002. The ballpark seats 10,840 spectators for baseball.

Rochester-based telecommunications company Frontier Telephone of Rochester has held the naming rights to the ballpark since its opening in 1996. Frontier Field hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game on July 12, 2000.^[10]

Building in Rochester, New York. Rochester City Hall is a historic government building in Rochester in Monroe County, New York. Also known as the Federal Building and Old Post Office, the building was originally built for use by the federal government. It is a four-story, Richardsonian Romanesque style structure with an inner court and tower. It was built between 1885 and 1889 of heavy brown sandstone with a metal skeleton. It was expanded in 1893 and in 1907. The building was designed in part by architect Harvey Ellis under the Office of the Supervising Architect Mifflin E. Bell. The building has served as the City Hall since the 1970s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Federal offices in Rochester, the Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building, and the United States Court House are located across the street at 100 State Street.^[12]

Theatre in Rochester, New York. The Little Theatre in Rochester, New York, commonly known as "The Little" is a movie theatre located on historic East Avenue in downtown Rochester, New York and a modest non-profit multiplex specializing in art film, including independent and foreign productions outside the United States.

Founded in 1929, The Little is one of the oldest active movie theaters built specifically to show films in the US, serving as an alternative venue for cinema of higher artistic caliber than what was popular at the time. To remain in business, The Little has created a unique theater experience for its patrons strikingly different from that of standard commercial cinemas. The Little typically shows films that never make it to the large theater chains, either due to lack of publicity, popularity, exposure, or content that is too risky and/or inappropriate for larger audiences (such as NC-17 rated films). Foreign films, independent films, some documentary films and art films are its common fare.

The Little is unique in the area in treating anime films as artistic cinema, and titles by the likes of Hayao Miyazaki always find their way to The Little's screens. Critics at The Little provide a synopsis of any film they intend to show, both on their website and posted around their ticket booths on the street.

The Little also offers live musical performances from local musicians, a rotating art gallery of local artists, and a cafe. Additionally, The Little serves as a performance venue during the Rochester International Jazz Festival each June. The Little is also the home of the Little Theatre Film Society, a group of theater aficionados in the Rochester area. The Little survives largely due to the hard work and dedication of the society's members. The theater is currently operated with the participation of the WXXI Public Broadcasting Council, a non-profit community organization which owns and operates the region's principal public radio and television stations.

The Little has become part of Rochester's extensive theater culture. Rochester has a rich history in cinema, being the home of the Eastman Kodak company and the George Eastman Museum. Kodak film was historically used in a majority of motion pictures (and still is today), creating close ties to the movie industry in Rochester society. The Little Theatre Film Society holds film festivals throughout the year, many of them hosted at The Little. The theatre is well known by any serious cinema patron in Rochester for providing an alternative to standard Hollywood commercial fare. The Little has also avoided the negative reputation for snobbishness that is sometimes associated with art house cinema, cultivating the image of a venue for anyone who is simply seeking an alternative or a community that celebrates cinema.

The word "Theatre" is often used instead of the word "Theater" to distinguish between art house cinemas and the more common variety. Theatre is an older form of the word, though both words share the same literal meaning. The Little uses the older form both to make this distinction and due to the age of the theater itself.^[13]

Museum in Rochester, New York. Susan B. Anthony House, in Rochester, New York, was the home of Susan B. Anthony for forty years, while she was a national figure in the women's rights movement.

She was arrested in the front parlor after voting in the 1872 Presidential Election. She resided here until her death.

The house was purchased for use as a memorial in 1945, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965. It has been documented in the Historic American Buildings Survey.

The Susan B. Anthony House is located at 17 Madison Street in Rochester. Access to the house is through the Susan B. Anthony Museum entrance at 19 Madison Street.

Today the Susan B. Anthony House is a learning center and museum open to the public for tours and programs from 11-5 Tuesday through Sunday, except major holidays. Its full name is the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House. The Visitor Center and Museum Shop are located in the historic house next door, 19 Madison Street, which was owned by Hannah Anthony Mosher, sister of Susan and Mary Anthony. The mission of the Susan B. Anthony House is to keep Susan B. Anthony's vision alive and relevant.

The house hosts an annual celebration of Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. In 2011, the New York Times reported that the museum at the house had sold a large quantity of "a $250 handbag made of fake alligator that was inspired by one of Anthony’s own club bags, similar to a doctor’s bag," noting that for Anthony, "a bag was not a fashion statement but a symbol of independence at a time when women were not allowed to enter into a contract or even open a bank account."

Papers and memorabilia about the suffrage movement were donated to the house at the request of Carrie Chapman Catt, Susan B. Anthony's successor as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. They are held by the River Campus Libraries of the University of Rochester.

The House's president wrote to "decline" President Donald Trump's August 2020 pardon to Anthony, on the principle that to accept a pardon would wrongly "validate" the trial proceedings in the same manner that paying the $100 fine would have.

A fire early on the morning of September 26, 2021 damaged the back porch and a doorway and caused smoke damage inside. Surveillance video showed someone acting suspiciously at the time of the fire.^[14]

Music venue in Rochester, New York. Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre is the largest performance venue at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, located in downtown Rochester, New York.

The theatre was established by industrialist George Eastman and opened on September 4, 1922, as a center for music, dance, and silent film, with orchestral and organ accompaniment.

The theatre is the primary hall for the Eastman School's larger ensembles, including its orchestras, wind ensembles, jazz ensembles, and chorale. It originally contained 3,352 seats, but was substantially revised in 2009 to become a 2,260-seat concert hall with state-of-the-art acoustics optimized for symphonic, popular and chamber music performances.

The theatre is the principal performance venue for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Eastman Opera Theatre presents fully staged operatic productions each spring.

A $5 million renovation of the theater building was completed in October 2004. Eastman Kodak Company, founded by George Eastman, donated $10 million for a subsequent renovation that was completed in October 2009; the building's concert hall was named "Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre", in recognition of the donation.

Maxfield Parrish's painting "Interlude" originally hung in the Eastman Theatre. The original was moved to the Memorial Art Gallery in 1997 to stabilize its temperature and humidity, and a full-size color reproduction hung in its place.^[20]

Planetarium in Rochester, New York. The Strasenburgh Planetarium is a public planetarium located at 663 East Avenue in the city of Rochester, New York. It is named after its benefactors, Edwin and Clara Strasenburgh. It is a department of the Rochester Museum and Science Center. The Planetarium was dedicated on September 14, 1968. The 65-foot-diameter Star Theater originally seated 240 people. The original seats were replaced in 1985; as currently configured, the theater seats 225. The Star Theater houses the first Zeiss Mark VI planetarium projector; it is still in daily operation. The planetarium received world-wide attention by being the first to be computer automated. It was known for both its technical and programming innovations.^[22]

Lighthouse in Rochester, New York. The Charlotte–Genesee Lighthouse is an 1822 stone octagonal lighthouse in the Charlotte neighborhood in northern Rochester, New York, United States. The 40 ft tower is located on Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Genesee River. It originally had 10 whale oil Argand lamps, which were replaced with a Fresnel lens in 1853.

On February 28, 1881, the lighthouse was turned off. After nearby piers changed the mouth of the river, it was far from the water. The light was then moved to a pier in 1884.

In 1965, Charlotte High School students started a letter writing campaign to save the lighthouse from impending destruction. It was declared surplus in 1981 by the government. It is now owned by Monroe County and managed as a museum by the Charlotte Genesee Lightouse Historical Society, a nonprofit volunteer organization.

It is part of the Seaway Trail, a National Scenic Byway. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a City of Rochester Landmark. It is open to the public.

As of 2014, the lighthouse is active, and listed in the United States Coast Guard Light List as light number 2333.^[23]

Unitarian universalist church in Rochester, New York. The First Unitarian Church of Rochester is located at 220 Winton Road South in Rochester, New York, U.S. The congregation is one of the largest in its denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association. The non-creedal church conducts programs in the areas of spirituality, social concerns, music, and arts. This church is one of two Unitarian Universalist congregations in Monroe County, the other being First Universalist Church of Rochester.

The church was organized in 1829. Associated with social reform movements from its earliest days, it began attracting a group of reform activists from Quaker backgrounds in the 1840s, one of whom, Susan B. Anthony, became a national leader of the women's suffrage movement. After the first women's rights convention was held at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, a follow-up convention, the Rochester Women's Rights Convention, was organized two weeks later at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester. Abigail Bush was elected to preside at this convention even though the idea of a woman chairing a public meeting was considered too daring even for some of the leaders of the emerging women's movement who were present.

Concern with social issues has been a recurring theme in the church's history. In the late 1800s the church provided evening classes and other activities for children in the church's low-income neighborhood. At the turn of the century, church members played leading roles in the campaign to open the University of Rochester to women and in the local, state, and national campaigns for women's suffrage. In the 1930s the church provided office space for Planned Parenthood when other accommodations were difficult to find. In 1988 the church began providing classroom support to Rochester city schools. In 2006 the church initiated a program to improve the quality of life in a small township in Honduras. In 2009 it established a talk line to offer non-judgmental support to women who have had abortions.

First Unitarian's building was designed by Louis Kahn and completed in 1962. It was described as one of "the most significant works of religious architecture of this century" in 1982 by Paul Goldberger, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning architectural critic.^[25]

Music school in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman.

It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M.) degrees, Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees, Master of Music (M.M.) degrees, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees, and Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degrees in many musical fields. The school also awards a "Performer's Certificate" or "Artist's Diploma". In 2015, there were more than 900 students enrolled in the collegiate division of the Eastman School (approximately 500 undergraduate and 400 graduate students). Students came from almost every state of the United States, with approximately 25% foreign students. Each year approximately 2000 students apply (1000 undergraduates and 1000 graduates). The acceptance rate was 13% in 2011 and about 1,000 students (ranging in age from 16 years to over 80 years of age) are enrolled in the Eastman School’s Community Music School.^[30]

United methodist church in Rochester, New York. Asbury First United Methodist Church is located on East Avenue in Rochester, New York, United States. It traces its heritage to several Rochester congregations dating back to the 1820s. In its current form, it is the result of a 1934 merger of First Church and Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church. With a congregation of 2,300 people, it is the largest United Methodist church in the Rochester area.

Asbury First presents an annual concert series featuring regional musicians and national touring groups. The Asbury First Dining and Caring Center serves meals to the homeless; the Asbury First Storehouse provides donated clothing, kitchenware, and bedding. The church also supports a Grocery Bag Ministry, Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network, School 41 tutoring and outreach, and projects in India, Nicaragua, and Kenya.

Located in the East Avenue Historic District, the church property features several historic buildings, including the 1953 Gothic Sanctuary, and 1050 East Ave. also called the Wilson Soule House, a stone edifice that is one of Rochester's finest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque style.^[31]

Bascule bridge in Monroe County, New York. The Colonel Patrick O'Rorke Memorial Bridge is a bascule bridge in New York, United States, that connects the Rochester neighborhood of Charlotte to the town of Irondequoit. The bridge, located about 6 miles north of downtown Rochester, is named for Civil War Colonel Patrick O'Rorke, who grew up in Rochester and led the New York 140th Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was killed in action assisting the defense of Little Round Top. The bridge carries Pattonwood Drive over the CSX Transportation-owned Charlotte Running Track and the Genesee River near its mouth at Lake Ontario. The movable part of the bridge is 243 feet long, while the western approach is 148 feet and the eastern approach is 530 feet.

The O'Rorke Bridge replaced the Stutson Street Bridge, a smaller bascule bridge located about 250 feet (76 m) downstream. The current bridge carries four 11-foot (3 m) wide car lanes, as well as having two bike lanes and wide sidewalks, where the old bridge was only two lanes. The bridge was dedicated on October 2, 2004. It was maintained by Monroe County until November 26, 2007, when ownership of the structure was transferred to the state of New York as part of a highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government. It is now maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation as New York State Route 943F, an unsigned reference route.^[33]