Rochester, New York

City: Rochester

County: Monroe

State: New York

Lat/Long: 43.1500, -77.6000

Rochester, New York is a city and port of entry and the county seat of Monroe County. Situated on the Genesee River and Lake Ontario, seventy miles north northeast of Buffalo, Rochester and its surrounding area began attracting Euro-American settlers after the American Revolution. Settlers found the first permanent settlement in 1811, and Colonel Nathaniel Rochester founded the Rochester in 1812. It was incorporated as a village in 1817. Rochester enjoyed a boom period after the opening of the Erie Canal, and received incorporation as a city in 1834. Frederick Douglass made Rochester his home, and it was a hotbed of abolitionist activity prior to the Civil War.

Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 1023; Courtlandt Canby, The Encyclopedia of Historic Places (New York: Facts on File, 1984), 2:782; William F. Peck, History of Rochester and Monroe County New York (New York: Pioneer, 1908), 35.