This article was scraped from Rochester Subway. This is a blog about Rochester history and urbanism has not been published since 2017. The current owners are now publishing link spam which made me want to preserve this history.. The original article was published December 07, 2012 and can be found here.
![Birdseye view of Fitzhugh Street, Rochester, NY. c.1904. [PHOTO: Detroit Publishing Co. via Library of Congress]](https://senseofplace.dev/content/images/photos/rochester-federal-building-fitzhugh-street-1904-small.jpg)
Here's a fun birdseye view of Fitzhugh Street in downtown Rochester. This photo was probably taken from the roof of the Powers Hotel or the Powers Building on Main Street sometime between 1900 and 1910. The large building in the lower right is what we know to be City Hall, at the time the U.S. Federal Building and post office. To its left and across the street is (or was) the First Methodist Episcopal Church. And across the street and to the left of it was the First Baptist Church...
You might also recognize the church in the middle ground directly behind the Federal Building. That was a brand new brick Presbyterian Church
![external link](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/icon_link.gif)
. It's still there today. Directly behind its steeple you can see Saint Patrick's Cathedral which was sold to Kodak in the 1930's and replaced with Kodak's new world headquarters. State Street / Lake Ave can be seen all the way to the right.
![There's Buckingham Commons all the way to the left of the photograph. Looks like it was Dugan & Hudson Co. - a shoe factory.](https://senseofplace.dev/content/images/photos/rochester-federal-building-fitzhugh-street-1904-crop.jpg)
And there's Buckingham Commons
![external link](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/icon_link.gif)
all the way to the left of the photograph. Looks like it was Dugan & Hudson Co. - a shoe factory.
Make sure you click on the photo and zoom in on all the amazing detail. There are lots of little federal style houses and other interesting buildings tucked into all the nooks and crannies where you'll find only parking lots today.
Also noteworthy are a few business signs hidden within... Martin Bros. Piano Co., ACME Oil Burning Engines and Boilers, Rochester Electric Motor Co., and Graves Elevator Company .