This story was cobbled from a wide variety of online sources with support from affiliate members of the UMNA Local History Nerds. Originally printed in the December, 2024 UMNA e-newsletter.
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The Rochester & Eastern Rapid Railway (R&ERR), an electric interurban line running between Rochester and Geneva, was initiated in 1901 with construction along Monroe Avenue starting in 1902 - nearly 125 years ago. The incorporators of the R&ERR were from Detroit, Michigan while the stockholders included several well known residents of our-fair-city.
In addition to ferrying riders back and forth to Geneva and points between, the line offered quick and convenient transportation to customers, business owners and employees heading to and from the City’s commercial district downtown. As a result, residential & commercial development all along the rail line in the City blossomed.
In the Upper Monroe neighborhood the pace & volume of new construction was enormous during this period! Thanks in no small part to the R&ERR, by the mid 1920s just about every lot in Upper Monroe featured a single family home or small apartment building with larger more commercial structures massing along Monroe Avenue.
The photo above shows where Monroe Avenue crosses over the old Erie Canal (what would become the Rochester subway bed and eventually Rt. 490). A good guess would put the timing of this photo some 10 years or so after the R&ERR commenced operation.
As you can see, railway cars were stacked one right after the other suggesting ridership was quite high. In addition, you can also see how early automobiles competed for space with the R&ERR creating an early traffic jam on Monroe Avenue.
While we’re at it, If you look very closely at the photo above, you can see the C. Richter Garage sign on a building at the left side of the photo. Auto repair was a thing even in the early days of automobile ownership. By 1927 Charles Richter had expanded his auto repair operation to include the illegal distribution of beer during prohibition. Apparently, he was nowhere to be found when the Feds came-a-knockin’. If you close your eyes you can probably imagine the scene: agents in shirtsleeves, suspenders and fedoras hammering away at barrels with axes while beer flows into nearby sewers! But that’s another story for another day.
The R&ERR was a single track line from beginning to end. As a result, it had many long sidings so that cars coming from one direction could allow passage to cars coming from the other direction. Note what looks like siding tracks on the left side of the photo.
The photo below was taken at the intersection of Highland Avenue with the camera pointed down Monroe Avenue towards what is now the “Twelve Corners” intersection in Brighton. Yes, this section of Monroe Avenue is a DIRT/MUD road in the early days of the twentieth century.
The massive brick home on this corner was built at the dawn of the 19th century by Gideon Cobb, an extremely important figure associated with Upper Monroe, Brighton and the “Lost City of Tryon” (iykyk).
By the time the R&ERR was completed and this photo was taken Gideon’s son, William, his wife, Edna, and their family were in residence. William dies in 1904 leaving the house to Edna. Edna (daughter of Nancy & Leonard Buckland, by the way) is best known as a key donor of land for the Cobbs Hill Reservoir and Cobbs Hill Park. She passes in 1928 leaving the home to her adult children who, ultimately, are unable to keep it up. Sadly, the house was abandoned by the family and eventually demolished in the mid 20th century. What a loss!! A row of 1980s era suburban-style townhouses facing Highland Avenue now stand in its place. Home Acres, Rochester’s first suburban neighborhood, would soon sprout up to the right in this photo. There are a number of truly great stories here, but, yet again, I digress. We’ll revisit this site another day,,,
At the time the R&ERR was constructed the city of Rochester had a population of 175,000 (and growing!), Canandaigua 7,300, and the city of Geneva 11,500. It is estimated that the total contributing population to the rail line was just under 20,000 riders.
To operate, the Rochester & Eastern Rapid Railway purchased 16 modern passenger coaches, 12 of which were 52 feet long and 4 of which were 45 feet long. They also purchased 2 52-foot express cars, 1 36-foot construction and repair car, all of which were equipped with telephone, electric lights, and other related equipment. The cars were fitted with Westinghouse air brakes. The entire railway was operated by overhead trolley-style electric lines. Nothing but the best for the R&ERR!
The R&ERR continued to operate as an independent rail line until it was purchased by the New York State Railways on March 22, 1909. In 1913 the line was equipped along its entire length with automatic block signals made by the General Railway Signal Co. (based in Rochester). The electrical current for the operation of the signals as well as the propulsion was obtained from the 60,000 volt Niagara Falls transmission line which passed through a sub-station in the city of Rochester. So, apparently, we owe a debt of gratitude to Niagara Falls for propelling the growth of our neighborhood as well as the railway!
The R&ERR shut down after less than 30 years in service. The line was replaced by widely available and affordable automobiles and buses; both of which offered more flexible modes of transportation. Eventually the Rochester subway line would be installed where the former Erie Canal once flowed. After, that is, the canal was rerouted, widened and rechristened as “The Barge Canal”; a process that began in 1910.
The fire took place on January 8, 1901. 28 orphans were lost in the fire; 12 were injured and 67 survived unharmed. The fire devastated the facility leading the board to identify and develop a new site on Pinnacle Hill in Upper Monroe. There is no doubt the R&ERR played an important role in making the Pinnacle Hill location viable for such a purpose. Another story worthy of some review.
The railway went out Monroe Avenue from the Exchange Station in downtown Rochester southeast through the villages of Pittsford, Victor, Canandaigua, and Seneca Castle about 43 miles to the city of Geneva before returning home to Rochester. (In those days the Village of Brighton was still located well north of Monroe Avenue near the corner of East Avenue and South Winton Road. The City annexed the area a few years later. At that point Brighton Town Hall relocated to Monroe Avenue where is today. The Brighton Town Hall complex on Elmwood Avenue was built decades later.)
William McKinley was the president of the United States in 1901 until his assassination at the hands of (an acquaintance of former Rochesterian, Emma Goldman) in Buffalo. McKinley takes two bullets from Czolgosz’s gun on September 6. He survives the shots but eventually succumbs to gangrene a week later on September 14th.
