Bull's Head: Reports of Its Death Have Been Somewhat Exaggerated

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 June 02, 2013 and can be found here.

   Rumors have been swirling around the internet that the famous Bull's Head that marks the historic Bull's Head section of Rochester has been lost in a recent demolition on West Main Street. It is true this landmark has recently lost several important neighbors, but for now, the Bull in Bull's Head is still with us...

   The City was carrying out a plan to demolish two adjacent, and structurally unsound buildings at 900 and 904 West Main Street. As those demolitions were completed, the building at 906-910 (Critic's Restaurant) was determined to be unstable. It too had to be removed. [     Map it on Google

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   In the old days these types of buildings were often constructed side by side, literally sharing walls. You can see the interior wall coverings from the demolished building still hanging on the exterior wall of the remaining Bull's Head Hardware Store. This practice saved time, money, and energy... unfortunately, when one building goes down, it puts its neighbor in jeopardy.

   Thankfully, the demolition did not seem to impact the Bull directly. That's him, hiding behind the fire escape. The Bull's Head Hardware store and building to the right is no longer there.

   I personally know very little about future plans for this row. But I'm told community meetings for the revitalization of the Bull's Head / B.E.S.T. neighborhood have been ongoing since at least 2007. Those plans may lay the groundwork for up to 40,000 square feet of new mixed-use, residential/commercial space all along Brown St., West Main, and West Ave. These demolitions are part of that plan.

Joan Roby-Davison, Empire State Housing Alliance coordinator, says she expects to hear this week whether the project will be awarded a NYS Brownfield Opportunity Area grant which would help move things along.

Here are some historic views of Bull's Head... and an indication of how far we've let things slide.

   This was Bull's Head in 1895.

   Another view of the neighborhood from 1950.

   The Bull's Head Tavern, 1827-1908, seems to be the source for the name (photo via John Curran).

See also:

Neighborhood Focus: Bull's Head

(Daily Record, 9/8/2009)
    Rochester Neighborhoods Map