Site Legacy

Ecological Legacy

Understanding the animal and plant communities that may have existed here 400 hundred years ago will help us understand what we have, what we lack, and where we can improve today. We are not attempting to recreate a long-lost ecosystem but to better understand where we were to inform how we can move forward.

Industrial Legacy

The site has been home to industrial activity since the early 1800’s, with factories and power plants once thriving here. These industries left behind numerous relics of a legacy era, creating a landscape rich in historical artifacts.

Group of visitors standing on the island looking at the waterfall (Year unknown).
Source: Rochester Public Library Local History Division
Looking at the backs of several mills and factories (1880).
Source: Tim O’Connell, Maps and Surveys Dept., City of Rochester
Coal gasification plant looking southwest toward Kodak Tower (1947).
Source: Rochester City Hall Photo Lab

Parks Legacy

"Some day persons will make it a point to stop off in Rochester to visit your parks."

–Frederick Law Olmsted
Source: Rochester Department of Parks 1911 Report

Frederick Law Olmsted is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the United States, and designed many urban parks including Central Park in New York City.

Rochester is one of only four cities with a park system planned by Olmsted.

Legacy Timeline
  • All
  • Industrial History
  • Site History
  • Parks History

  • 1600s The Seneca Nation of the Haudenosaunee People & the Genesee River

    Before European settlement, the Haudenosaunee people lived in longhouses along the riverbank and used the river as a vital transportation and trade route.

  • 1815 Brown’s Race

    Francis and Matthew Brown began excavating a race around the Falls.

  • 1825 Erie Canal Constructed

    It was the longest artificial waterway in North America at the time and transformed New York City into the country’s main seaport

  • 1834 “Flower City” / “Flower City”

    Rochester was the largest flour-producing city in the US. As the wheat-processing industry moved west, the city became home to an expanding nursery business.

  • 1857 Genesee Brewing

    Reisky & Spies Brewery, which later became Genesee Brewing, was established

  • 1857 Incinerator

    The original incinerator plant was built by the Decarie Incinerator Company of Minneapolis.

    The brick building and smoke stack that remain today were built in the 1940s.

  • 1861 Bausch & Lomb

    John Bausch & Henry Lomb launch Bausch & Lomb

  • 1888 Kodak Founded

    George Eastman received a patent for the camera’s shutter in 1888.

  • 1888 Comprehensive Park System in Rochester

    The High Falls area was included as part of the park system proposed by Olmsted

  • 1888 Highland Park

    One of the nation’s first municipal arboretums. John Dunbar planted the first lilacs at Highland Park in 1892.

  • 1888 Maplewood Park

    The annual Rose Festival at Rochester is hosted here

  • 1892 Hydroelectric Plant

    Edison Illuminating Company opened its steam and hydroelectric plant which used Brown’s Race for power

  • 1893 Seneca Park

    Recognizing the Indigenous heritage as well as the geologic development of the deeply cut stone in the river gorge, North Park was renamed Seneca, meaning “stone”

  • 1898 Genesee Valley Park

    Designed at the intersection of the Erie Canal and Genesee River

  • 1906 Xerox Founded

    Xerox started in Rochester, New York on April 18, 1906 as the Haloid Photographic Co.

  • 1911 Additional Open Spaces

    Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. recommends additional neighborhood parks, reservations, and parkways

  • 1918 Erie Canal Re-Routed

    The Erie canal is rerouted to allow widening as part of the Barge Canal’s construction.

  • 2012 Kodak Bankruptcy

    Kodak, the city’s largest employer, conducted massive layoffs prior to declaring bankruptcy.

  • 2018 Xerox Moves

    Xerox moves out of downtown Rochester office tower

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