FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ROCHESTER C _HAMBER oF CoMMERCE STATE OF NEW YORK FOR THE YEAR ENDING JANUARY 9TH, 189J. ROCHESTER, 1N. V. : Union and Advertiser Press. 1893. This page is blanl<. r ; .. ·. HENRY C. BREWSTER, PRESIDENT OF THE ROCHESTER CHAMHF.R OF COMMERCF.. This page is blanl<. ROCHESTER CHAMRER OF COMMERCE. INTRODUCTORY. THIS publication, undertaken by direction r>f the Board of Trustees of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce, embraces a sufficient number of copies of the Fifth Annual Report of that body for general distribution. Its preparation has been in charge of the Committee on Statistics and Publication, under the immediate supervision of the Chairman of such Committee and the Secretary of the Chamber. It is handsomely and profusely illustrated, and contains list of membership, yearly report of officers, and descriptive sketches of prominent features of the city, together with compilations ot local facts and figures concerning points of interest and resort, busin ess ad vantages, location, growth, population, and manufactures. The superb illustrations have all been produced at the Rochester UNION AND ADVERTISER establishment, and many of the half-tone pictures are gems of art. Acknowledgment is due to Mr. Wm. C. Barry, for the article on Nurseries, while descriptions of vari ous other industries are from the pens of competent and trustworthy authorities. GEoRGE Moss, W. F. BAL)<AM, Secretary. Clwirman. A RAILROAD CENTRE. H E accompanying diagram very clearly exhibits Rochester as one of the most important railroad centres in the country. Counting the lines of T railway, as they enter and depart from the city, th ere are sixteen separate and distinct routes, as witness : aDCBESTEB N Y. c. & H. R. R. R. · l4 tracks.) ..---..--- 200,000 Inhabitants. OIA<;RAM ILL UST RATING ROCHESTER A S A RAILROA D CENTRE. In addition to th e railroads shown above, the Northern Central (Pennsyl­ vania System) trains enter Rochester over the New York Central tracks from Canandaigua, forming a continuous and comfortable line, with Pullman sleepers, direct to Harrisburg, Baltimore, Washington, and the South. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western comes in over the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. Adding the hst named tw o to the other sixteen, we have eighteen railroad lines converging at and diverging from the Flower City. THE NEW KEELER & KIMBALL BU ILDING. (From drawing- by Nolan, No/tm & Stern, Architects.) ANNUAL REPORT. 9 ROCHESTER, "THE FLOWER CITY." HRONED upon the banks of the Genesee River, and fanned by salubrious breezes from L1ke Ontario Rochester enjoys undisputed T distinction as the most beautiful as well as most healthful city in the Empire Stat ~. Its growth and greatness are thus largely due to natural advan­ tages of location. Surrounded by the !-(arden of the Comtnonwealth ; the far­ famed and fertile Genesee Valley tributary to its mills and markets ; fifty thousand of its working population employed in its manu- factories; a dozen or more railroads entering and departing from it; the Erie Canal and lake navigation adding immensely to facilitie.> ONTARIO BEACH. of transportation and m')des of inter-communication between it and the rest of the world ; with a population of zoo,ooo souls in the city proper and a suburban population -including twelve of the richest counties in Western 10 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE New York-of upwards of half a million more, who do the bulk of their trading here, Rochester is, indeed, the focu~ of the industrial and commercial activities of a large and progressive section of the State. Here vessel and car meet at the minimum of expense, and here, naturally, are located some of the largest flouring mills and manufacturing establishments. Let us glance at a few of the metropolitan advantages of Rochester : It IS the fourth city in population of the State of New York. It 1s midway between those two greatest of natural attractions-Niagara Falls and the Thousand I slands. It is only twenty minutes' distant from the most charming of summer resorts-Ontario Beach. THE GLEN HOUSE LANDING, ROCHESTER. It is in direct communication by river navigation with Lake Ontario, four miles North of the City. Its Corporate Limits embrace zs,ooo acres. Its Public Parks contain 47 5 acres. ANNUAL REPORT. I I Its Streets extend over 240 miles. It has 70 miles of Electric Street Car Lines. Number of Houses within the corporate limits, 4o,ooo. The City is abundantly lighted by Gas and Electricity. Waterworks Capacity per day, zo,ooo,ooo Gallons. Suburban Population, soo,ooo. Population of City, zoo,ooo.. Increase m ten years, Ioo,ooo. Assessed Valuation, $Ioo,ooo,ooo. Number of Public Schools, 35· Number ot Parochial Schools, r6. The University of Rochester and its Seminaries of Learning have a National Reputation for Excellence. r-· I LIFE SAVING SERVICE AT CHARLOTTE SHOOTING A LINE. Number of Churches, Too . Banking Capital of Rochester, abundant. Bank Clearings, per annu·m, $roo,ooo,ooo. Number of Railroads diverging from Rochester, 16. Number of Manufacturing Establishments [r8g3], z,6oo. Number of Manufacturing Establishments [ r88o l, I, roo. Employes in Factories and Workshops, so,ooo. 12 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Capital in Manufacturing and Wholesale T;ade, $so,ooo,ooo. Value of Manufactured Products, $3oo,ooo,ooo per annum. Waterpower used in Manufacturing, 6,ooo Horse Power. Waterpower undeveloped, 3o,ooo Horse Power Rochester is nearer the Coal Fields of Pennsylvania than IS any other large Northern City and hence has cheapest fuel. Monroe County, of which Rochester is the Capital, ts the second in Agricultural Importance in the United States. · Rochester is the fourth City in the United States in the manufacture of Boots and Shoes. It · is the third City in the United States in the manufacture of Clothing. It is the leading City in the United States in the Seed and Nursery Trades. Its Mortality rate is lower than that of any other City in the State. Rochester has the finest Art Gallery in the United States. The area of Rochester is sufficient to admit of a Garden with every Horne. Its Streets and Drives are lined with magnificent Trees. IN GENESEE VALLEY PARK. The cost of living in Rochester is 25 per cent. under that of New England or other Eastern Cities. The Rochester Chamber of Commerce has at its disposal so acres of land to be given free to new manufacturing enterprises that will permanently locate thereon. Address the Secretary of the Chamber. ANNUAL REPORT. IJ ROCHESTER'S SURROUNDINGS. EW cities are so favorably situated as Rochester, and it is a maxim of commerce that the growth of great trade and manufacturing centers must F follow, but cannot precede, the development of the tributary country from which they derive their support. Thus every large American city has been made what it is through the natural advantages of its geographical position, superadded PAVILION PROMENADE. ONTARIO BEACH. to the fertility of its circumjacent territory, and supplemented by the su pport given them through the progress of the great agricultural and productive regions penetrated by the railway lines, whose traffi c comes to them to be exchanged for their manufactured goods, farm produce or the tonnage received from the commercial pathways of the high seas. Indeed, the conjunction of land and CHAMBER OF COMME RCE water lines-to be great! y extended for the benefit of Rochester wh en the projected ship railway from Toronto to Georgian Bay shall have been completed -stretching over vast spaces, reaching for the varied products of different and distant lands, and people of diverse wants and pursuits, seems to be essential to the development of commercial cities of the first class. Geographical positions, affording commanding natural advantages, must be joined to equally important artificial conditions, created and fostered through the intelligence and enterprise of man, in order to secure those ele­ ments of permanent growth which have creattd the imperial cities that have wielded the scepter of commer­ cial supremacy over large a r ea ~ and through long periods of time. Roch­ ester is prosperous because of its fortunate geographical position, its proxim ity to a rich agricultural region, and also because of its nearness to the Pennsylvania coal field s, of which it is the natural northern distributing point. It is here that vast systems of exchanges between near as well as distant and highly productive regions must necessarily occur, involving a great concentration of population, wealth, enterprise, and the innumer able attributes of civilized life. Completion of the ship railway to CORNER OF MAIN AND CLINTON STREETS. Georgian Bay, will shorten the round trip to and from the upper lakes <lo me soo miles, and will make Rochesttr the distributing point for coal as well as an entrepot for wheat, the most prominent in America. Such a consummation would restore the carrying trade of Lake Ontario, now and tor some years past, at a low ebb. ANNUAL REPO RT. IS A SHIP RAILWAY. HE practicability of a ship railway from Toronto to Georgian Bay is not doubted by the best engineers. The Honorable David Blain, of Toronto T is even now in London arranging for a loan to prosecute the undertaking. Wide-awade business men are quick to see that this particular route would be of inestimable value to the business interests of Rochester as well as of Toronto. It would shorten the distance from this city to the great lakes about soo miles on the round trip. This would be a great saving of time and money in· the handling of such an immense tonnage as would be offered for carriage. It would make Rochester one of the most important lake ports in the country, and that would BA RTHOLOMAY P AVILION, ONTARIO BEACH.