North Marketview Heights (Rochester, New York) | neighbourhood

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Marketview Heights is a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood in northeast Rochester. Its name derives from the Public Market, which has long been the center of the neighborhood. Originally located downtown, the Public Market was moved next to the rail line to reduce congestion and because it was convenient for receiving shipments of produce from outside of the community. Now over a century old, is today still a bustling marketplace, where you can buy straight from the farmer, and enjoy a growing number of vendors and permanent cafes that have sprung up in the Market's warehouse buildings.

The neighborhood’s earliest residents were laborers who followed the new trolley lines to rent simply constructed wooden homes for their families. Contractors most commonly built the area, not architects. Between Railroad and North Union streets, construction boomed from the late 1870s until World War I. Extension of the trolley lines north along Webster and Parsells avenues and Goodman Street spurred much of the city's residential and commercial of development. The majority of this housing stock was built in the 1920s and still stands today.

The neighborhood traditionally attracted a blue collar, working class populace, dominated by a large German community. Nowadays, the community has changed and is predominantly African-American and Hispanic. The neighborhood has been deemed a part of the “Crescent of Poverty.” Marketview Heights is a relatively new moniker for the neighborhood, having been adopted in the 1970s. What now comprises the Marketview Heights neighborhood was known simply as the 18th Ward, inclusive of some of the 16th Ward. The neighborhood is often divided into North and South Marketview Heights.

The neighborhood has recently seen signs of rejuvenation, benefitting from enhancements at the Rochester Public Market and plans to upgrade 160 properties along six streets under the City's Focused Investment Strategy (FIS). An old factory on Railroad Street has recently been converted to the a blend of lofts and retail space known as Station 55. A former elementary school on First Street has been into the Susan B. Anthony Apartments. The turreted Main Street Armory, built in 1905 for the National Guard, now hosts sporting events and music concerts.

The north end of Alexander Street terminates in a sub-section bounded by East Main, North Union Street, and Champeney Terrace that is widely regarded for its architectural character and concentration of young homeowners interested in urban living.