Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/381

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ROCHESTER 365 and cost $335,000. The court house is of brick, with limestone trimmings, three stories high. The new free academy is 136 ft. long, 80 ft. wide, and four stories high, huilt of brick, with sandstone trimmings, and cost $125,000. Water for extinguishing fires is pumped from the river by machinery on the Holly system. Works designed to bring pure water from Hemlock lake, 28 m. S. by E. of the city, will probably be completed about the close of 1875. The cost for both systems has been $3,200,000. A street railroad runs through the principal avenues. There are 59 religious societies, all but two of which have edifices of their own, viz. : 5 Baptist, 1 Christadel- phian, 1 Congregational, 7 Episcopal, 5 Ger- man Evangelical, 2 Friends', 2 Jewish, 2 Lu- theran, 9 Methodist, 10 Presbyterian, 1 Re- formed church in America, 11 Roman Catho- lic, 1 Second Advent, 1 Unitarian, and 1 Uni- versalist. The finest church edifice is St. Pat- rick's cathedral (built in 1864-'9), which is in Gothic style, of red sandstone trimmed with gray limestone, 170 ft. long, 112 ft. wide in the transept, and 76 ft. high ; it cost $150,- 000. The city hospital, sustained by the con- tributions of Protestants, has property to the value of $105,000, including a fine building; it can accommodate 120 patients, and has an average of 60. St. Mary's hospital (Roman Catholic) has property valued at $200,000, in- cluding a large building of gray sandstone ; it accommodates 300 patients, and has an average of 200. Other charitable institutions are : a Catholic orphan asylum, with property valued at $30,000 ; Protestant orphan asylum, $157,- 000 ; industrial school, $34,000 ; home for the friendless, $50,000 ; church home (Episcopal), $40,000 ; and house for idle and truant chil- dren, $40,000. The county jail, the county psnitentiary, a state arsenal, and the western house of refuge are all within the city limits. The last named, opened in 1849, has real estate to the value of $500,000, including a farm of 42 acres. It was opened in 1850, and on Dec. 31, 1874, had 386 inmates, all boys; at that date it had received in all 4,083 boys, and had cost the state $986,492. A department for girls has recently been authorized, and will be constructed at once. There are 20 public schools (including the free academy), employ- ing 183 teachers and having in 1875 11,275 pupils, and two public libraries, containing 20,000 and 7,000 volumes respectively. The university of Rochester was established in 1850 by the Baptists, and in 1875 had nine professors, 1GO students, and about 600 grad- uates. It discarded the dormitory system from the beginning, and claims no control over the students out of recitation hours. Several de- nominations are represented in the faculty and board of trustees. It has both a classical and a scientific course. It is situated in the east- ern part of the city, where it has 23J acres of ground, beautifully laid out, and occupies a massive building of dark red sandstone (com- pleted in 1861), which is 150 ft. long, 80 ft. in extreme width, and three stories high. The library contains 11,500 volumes; and the geo- logical cabinets, collected by Prof. Henry A. Ward, are said to be the finest in the coun- try. For the library and cabinets a fire-proof building, 140 by 80 ft. and two stories high, is now (1875) nearly completed ; its cost will be about $100,000, and on its completion the li- brary is to be free to the public for consulta- tion. The university holds property to the amount of $377,000, and has productive funds aggregating about $200,000. The Rochester theological seminary, founded in 1850 by the Baptists, in 1875 had 7 professors, 80 students, and upward of 300 graduates. Its library num- bers more than 10,000 volumes, including 4,000 which constituted the library of Neander, the German church historian. The seminary occu- pies a fine building, erected in 1869 at a cost of $42,000, which is four stories high and is of brick trimmed with limestone. Another build- ing has recently been added for lecture rooms and a gymnasium. It has property worth $100,000, and productive funds to the amount of $260,000. The city is divided into 16 wards, and is governed by a mayor and a common council consisting of two aldermen from each ward. The board of education consists of one commissioner from each ward, chosen by the people for three years. There are a paid fire department, a fire telegraph, and a police force of 80 men. The assessed valuation of property in 1875 was $61,351,700 ($905,000 of this be- ing personal), which is about three fourths of the true value. The rate of general city tax on assessed valuation is V33 per cent. The city debt in March, 1875, was nearly $5,000,- 000, and the city owns property, exclusive of water works, valued at $2,000,000. The ex- ports at the port of Genesee during the year ending June 30, 1875, were valued at $784,- 979; the imports at $331,609; entrances, 714 ; clearances, 705. The manufactures of Roches- ter are extensive and varied, including nearly all that are mentioned in the article on Mon- roe county. The largest industries are those of clothing, boots and shoes, beer, flour, agricul- tural implements, furniture, cooperage, steam engines and boilers, locomotive building and repairing, edge tools, garden and flower seeds, and trees. The regular publications include 4 daily newspapers (1 German), 1 tri-week- ly, 2 semi-weekly, 7 weekly (2 German), and 3 monthly periodicals. There are five banks of discount and circulation, with an aggregate capital of $850,000, four savings banks, and a trust company. The first permanent settle- ment on the site of Rochester was made in 1810. In 1812 a village was laid out by Na- thaniel Rochester and two associates from Maryland. It was incorporated as a village in 1817, and as a city in 1834. It owes its rapid growth to the immense water power furnished by the river, the facilities for trans- portation, and the remarkable fertility of the