Listen to narration by a local historian
Change and continuity: The history of Rochester’s South Wedge neighborhood has been defined by both, often simultaneously.
It is at once a community deeply proud of the visible roots to its past — Ellwanger and Barry nursery, Frederick Douglass and Victorian-era “painted ladies”— and one possessing a modern identity shaped by a proven malleability for adaptation and capacity for reinvention.
Formed with South Avenue as its main thoroughfare, and benefiting from its proximity to downtown, the University of Rochester and Highland Park, community boosters describe a thriving-yet-affordable climate bearing a “distinctive Brooklyn vibe.”
Affectionately called “the Wedge” for its shape on the map, the area is home to a diversity of residents, trendy retail spaces and a grass-roots ethos of actively engaged citizenship. In short, the Wedge combines atmosphere and attitude, making it a unique, charming slice of the city.
Indeed, as former City Historian Blake McKelvey put it decades ago: “It would require the intimate and sensitive recollections of an observing old resident properly to re-create the South Avenue area in the spirit of Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town,’ and it is therefore with considerable modesty that a local historian tackles the job.”
There is undoubtedly something difficult for the outsider to trace in the animating character of the Wedge, a nevertheless dynamic energy that contributes to its vibrancy.
This photograph, printed in the Democrat and Chronicle in May 1931, shows the South Wedge during one of its many transitions. Taken from the corner of South Avenue and Sanford Street, the image captures a two-story building owned by a Mrs. C.J. Kelder shortly before its demolition. The location, a dry goods shop, was considered a traffic hazard because it jutted out close to the curb on a sharp turn from Caroline Street. The city of Rochester paid $13,000 to purchase the property and raze the structure.
The history of the South Avenue neighborhood began more than a century earlier, in the 1820s, when it comprised little more than a series of houses occupied by families tied to the Erie Canal trade, mostly in lumber and boatyards. Originally part of Brighton, the city of Rochester annexed the area in 1834 to provide a buffer region for future growth.
The famous partnership between George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry transformed the South Avenue (then called Grand Street) settlement in the 1840s. The two opened, and quickly expanded upon, a nursery that recast the landscape of the neighborhood, not only greening it but providing an important industry and basis for tourism.
When Frederick Douglass moved to South Avenue later in the 19th century, the neighborhood was beginning to flourish. By the 1860s, it had the first street railway in the city, a plank road, bricked school and church buildings, and the Forest Saloon — a precursor to the modern entertainment district of the Wedge. The Hope hospital (named after Mt. Hope) opened in 1873.
As the 20th century dawned, McKelvey notes, “the district south of the canal became increasingly strong and the area became a vital part of urban Rochester.” It remained a bustling community when Mrs. Kelder’s building was torn down in 1931.
But this vitality waned after World War II. The South Wedge fell on hard times as many residents departed for the suburbs. In the 1950s and 1960s, many longstanding businesses including a greengrocer, a movie theater, a shoe repair shop and a variety shop shuttered their storefronts.
The area reached its nadir in the early 1970s when more than 200 homes sat vacant; according to Democrat and Chronicle records, nearly 25 percent of all housing units in the northern section of the Wedge were uninhabited during its bleakest period.
The deterioration of homes and commercial buildings, the high rate of absentee landlords, flagging household incomes and a general depopulation brought an increase in crime to the Wedge. Contemporary newspapers reported “rampant” prostitution on South Avenue.
Faced with decline, but also affordable property and the potential for growth, holdover South Wedge residents refused to surrender their neighborhood to decay. A number of concerned citizens founded the volunteer South Wedge Planning Committee in 1973 and took matters into their own hands. Working with community outreach groups, private investors and various government agencies, the members of SWPC triggered a renaissance in the Wedge.
The patient efforts of localized participatory democracy slowly bore fruit as the 20th century drew to a close. Placing an emphasis on neighborhood beautification and safety, on building parks or gardens over blighted areas and coordinating with law enforcement and residential watch groups, a diverse array of people orchestrated an incredible community resurgence.
Businesses and residences have returned in droves. And despite occasional relapses of crimes or opposition to “gentrification,” the 21st-century Wedge — still led by the SWPC — is enjoying a boom.
The reinvigorated South Wedge, in other words, has returned to where it was a century ago: “a vital part of urban Rochester.” Change and continuity.