Broad Street
Posted on November 27, 2008
I love local history. I work in an old company in an old building with a lot of history in an old City. Recently they sent out some information about the different stages the area the building is in has gone through along with pictures from the Rochester Public Library and the Rochester City Hall Photo Lab of the area. Since it’s public information I thought I should share it.
In this view from 1855, the new aqueduct runs past the ruins of the first one. In 1845 Josiah Bissell built a house using much of the sandstone from the first aqueduct, cleaning up the river for the city in the bargain.
Josiah Bissell’s house, built from the red sandstone blocks of the ruined first aqueduct. See it today at 660 East Ave. at the corner of and Upton Park. It has since been expanded and is now the Rochester Methodist Home.
Rochester in the late 1880s, looking straight toward the future Aqueduct campus site. The Erie Canal and new aqueduct flow beyond the pedestrian lift bridges where Exchange St. now crosses Broad St. Old City Hall is at far left, looking much the same as it does today.
The Butts Building, newly built in 1895 with the familiar wedge shape. Six stories tall, two windows wide on the west side; six windows wide over the river. The new aqueduct and canal flow past at the first floor.
The same view in 1971. The Aqueduct Bldg. sports a new front entrance facing Broad St. at the second floor street level. Bldgs. 2 to 4 are complete. Bldg. 1 gained a seventh floor in 1951.
1897 photo of the busy aqueduct crossing the Genesee River. At left is the Kimball Tobacco Company, with the original location of the Mercury statue just visible above the smokestack. At right is the six-story Butts Building, shown here as the home of the Utz & Dunn shoe factory.
Sometime around moving day, circa 1901. Bldg. 1 with the names of Utz & Dunn and other former tenants scrubbed off. Names of the Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co., Burke & White Bookbinders and E.R. Andrews Printing Co. will soon be painted on.
The Aqueduct Building in 1906. Note that Bldg. 1 has no seventh floor yet. Bldg. 2 will soon replace the four low buildings next door. McCauley-Fien Milling Co. has the white sign further downriver. At far right, four-story buildings line the Main Street bridge, hanging over the river. The original Democrat & Chronicle building is next to them on the riverbank.
In 1917, two years prior to the transition from canal to Broad St., Bldg. 1 is still six stories tall, but Bldg. 2 has arrived with seven floors. Today’s Bldgs. 3 and 4 don’t yet exist. Cluett, Peabody & Co., makers of Arrow shirts and collars, occupies the old Kimball Tobacco Company.
1925 photo: Looking east, construction of the subway in front of the Aqueduct Building. The Broad St. bridge temporarily serves as a parking lot. Note the long pedestrian ramp exiting the subway between the street and “our” sidewalk. Also, note the man walking down the stairs into the subway at the corner of Broad and Exchange streets.
The same view in 1927. Note the completed pedestrian ramp and subway stairs from the earlier photo. In the distance, Broad St. ended at South Ave. and the Osburn House hotel. The Rundel Library didn’t start construction until 1933. Standing on the future site of the LCP parking lot, the large “Bee Hive Building,” or RG&E power station No. 25, dwarfs the Herald Bldg. (B5) next to it.
Present-day view of the river and aqueduct buildings, looking towards the Main St. bridge. Aqueduct Park graces downtown Rochester and the statue of Mercury once again stands tall on the Rochester skyline.
You can’t fix stupid (Headlines)
Posted on November 18, 2008
Some hilarious headlines my friend Emily sent me.
Alton attorney accidentally sues himself
County to spend $250,000 to advertise lack of funds
Volunteers search for old civil war planes
Army Vehicle disappears
Caskets found as workers demolish mausoleum
I wouldn’t do it again, she’s been a pain this week
Ten Commandments - Supreme court says some ok, others not
Utah Poison control center reminds everyone not to take poison
Please, if you’ve seen this man
Federal agents raid gun shop, find weapons
Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after age 25
One armed man applauds the kindness of strangers
Online Identities
Posted on November 15, 2008
Some people use online identities to protect their real identities. To me this is sort of silly. I host a blog so I’m obviously fairly open about just about everything and have nothing to hide. I’ve used many different identities over the years but most have been variations on a theme to let my friends find me easily. I’ve gravitated towards using variations of my real name for services and social networks and variations on my old PlanetSide character for video games.
I’ve compiled the list below in an effort to document the many different identities I’ve had over the years.
Disclaimer: The identities only changed when I found other users with my same name so there is obviously more people out there than me using these names. As such search results are mediocre at best.
rand1094 - the oldest one I can remember (although there were older) created october of 1994 and still used today on AIM
xeroed
xer0ed
ravenger
randroam
randya
ravennger
randyaa
randiesel
dieselrand
xeroin
xeromax
xeroprime
xero mills
xero daniels
xero crown
kratos gwar
infinity vo
infinity
infinity daniels
infinity collins
infinity tullamore
infinity ballantine
PS if you do decide to search for any of them let me know if you find anything interesting.
Don’t Be That Guy
Posted on November 4, 2008
Vote.
If you live in a state like I do (New York) where the decision is likely already made it can be very disheartening to waste your time voting. New York has voted Democrat for the past few decades (Kerry beat bush by over 18% in 2004).
The fact of the matter is, you really don’t know if your vote is going to count for much or not. It could come down to a few hundred votes. If that happens do you really want to be the guy sitting there thinking
“man I wish I voted”
Remember, your vote can’t count unless you give it.
Some Entertainment to ease the pain regardless of which side you sit on:
