Rochester ny for dummies
purchased this tract in 1803 because the Genesee River had the potential to generate a great deal of water power. The flour mills from which the city would earn its first nickname were eventually to take full advantage of this water power. After surveying began in 1811, streets and roads were laid out, and in 1817 other area landowners joined their holdings with the Hundred Acre Tract to form the Village of Rochesterville. Rochesterville, its name shortened to Rochester by 1823, soon became the seat of Monroe County, New York and was rechartered as a city in 1834. The Erie Canal Aqueduct, at the site of the modern day Broad Street Bridge in downtown Rochester NY, was built in 1823 to direct the waters of the newly constructed Erie Canal over the Genesee River.