Rochester is fortunate to enjoy a wealth of historic resources. The greatest concentration is found in the city center, and at the two 19th century industrial villages, Gonic and East Rochester.

Seen to the right is the 1901 Hartigan Block on North Main Street, the mid-century Gonic mill, and prominent cupola (c. 1880) in East Rochester.

The city enjoyed considerable prosperity at the end of the 19th century, and consequently, most of the commercial buildings in the city center were replaced between 1890 and 1910. Those replacement continue to define the character of downtown Rochester.

In 1981, the regional commission hired a professional architectural historian, Roger Brevort, to document approximately 182 structures in the downtown. The City’s Matt Wyatt recently tied this data to a Google Map so  that one can take a self-guided tour, or alternately, explore the city center via a Virtual Historic Map. Obviously, there has been a few changes since 1981. There have been building losses due to fire and demolition. 

The 1981 survey was a precursor to a more ambitious undertaking, namely Mr. Brevort’s nomination of an area in the city center encompassing approximately 100 buildings to the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination is noteworthy for the quality of the historical research and its detailed description of architectural features. It provides an exacting snapshot of Rochester in the early 1980’s.

The City retained the services of The Preservation Company to assess the changes in the downtown since the 1980’s, and to update the 1981 survey. It is anticipated that the latter will be completed in 2023.

One class of historic resource that has been overlooked are the 19th century family graveyards. There a quite likely a number of these that are out of sight and undocumented as forests have grown up around them. It is a resource that is well worth exploring.