19th Ward (Rochester, New York)

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Long before the City of Rochester was split into dozens of districts, the vibrant neighborhood now known as the 19th Ward housed nothing more than farmland and wilderness. The closest thing to a town center could be found at the present day Brooks Landing, where Plymouth and Brooks Avenues and Genesee Street intersect. The area was known as Castle Town, for Isaac Castle, a Genesee Street tavern operator. The juncture at Brooks Landing was a convenient spot for travelers and traders to cross the Genesee River.

Eventually, Castle Town became known as the Rapids because of a section of the Genesee that picked up speed as it rounded the bend near the University of Rochester campus. By 1818, the Rapids was a center of commerce, as traders unloaded their goods and sent them on to Canada. Investors commissioned the Genesee Valley Canal in 1838. The 117-mile waterway was meant to connect Rochester and Olean, but slow construction and bankruptcy kept it incomplete until the 1850s. The canal never took off, and the Rapids faded as a hotbed of economic activity while Nathaniel Rochester’s settlement — just a bit further north — found more success.

Development of the area began again between 1865 and 1875. Housing tracts on the west side of Pioneer Street and on Brooks Avenue were built, along with churches, and the neighborhood became one of the City’s first streetcar suburbs. Grand, two-and-a-half story homes were built by company executives while workers built more modest residences. The 19th Ward was annexed by the city in the early 1900s from the town of Gates.

The neighborhood underwent a transition after World War II. The housing stock was aging and the infrastructure was becoming run down. A number of homes were converted into apartments. African-Americans who moved to Rochester to find better opportunities settled in the neighborhood, whose population went from primarily Italian and Irish to African-American during the 1950s and 1960s.

Brooks Landing is now the site of a Staybridge Suites hotel, Boulder Coffee Co. and new office building. The University of Rochester is leasing part of the new office building. A pedestrian bridge connects the University to the Brooks Landing area, and Riverview Apartments, built last year, provides student housing.

One of the city’s largest neighborhoods, both in population and in geography, the 19th Ward is home to 22,000 people. The neighborhood is predominantly residential; however, Thurston Road, Chili Avenue and Genesee Street each have commercial centers. Some additional small businesses can be found along Brooks Avenue and Arnett Boulevard. The 19th Ward Community Association, is one of the oldest neighborhood associations in the country.