Rochester from the experts
Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, from whom Rochester NY gets its name, Major Charles Carroll, and Colonel William Fitzhugh, Jr. purchased this tract in 1803 because the Genesee River had the potential to generate a great deal of water power. This water power would eventually prove to be vital to the flour producing industry. This One Hundred Acre Tract was surveyed beginning in 1811, streets and roads were laid out, and in 1817 the original founders joined their holdings with that of other area landholders to form the Village of Rochesterville. Rochesterville was the seat of Monroe County, New York by 1821 and was rechartered as a city under the shortened name of Rochester in 1834.