My Rochester Birthday with Frederick and Susan!

Rochester, NY
6.6 mi (10.6 km)

More 2022 Adventures

Hist’ry birthday to me, everyone!

I’ve returned to Rochester, New York by Amtrak, made up a birthday hat, and in the few hours before my plane departs, I’m going to celebrate my 29th year by exploring some local history on foot! After all, Rochester is pretty historic! For starters, Frederick Douglass called this city home from 1847 until 1872. Here, he published his newspapers, North Star and the fittingly titled Frederick Douglass’ Paper! A statue of the famed abolitionist stood right outside my hotel, pointing the way for my stroll!

In fact, right here at the corner of Corinthian and State Streets is where Mr. Douglass delivered his most famous speech on July 5th, 1852! This used to be the Corinthian Hall, a place that attracted speakers from all over the country! Before it was demolished in 1928, this was where Mr. Douglass gave his What to a Slave is the Fourth of July, and in many ways gets credit as the birthplace of the modern ideas of gender and race equality!

Just down the street, I took in the Powers Building, the tallest, and pettiest, in Rochester! What made this Nationally Registered building so petty? Well, it was the architect, Daniel Powers, who was determined to keep his building the tallest in the city, so when other buildings started to get close in height, he’d have additional floors added to maintain his title! This remarkable, fireproof building was the first in upstate New York to have a passenger elevator, gas lighting, and marble floors! In 1875, the Powers Building even housed the nation’s largest private art gallery on its 5th floor!

Just down the street was the super unusual Times Square Building, which stole the crown right out from under Mr. Powers! This former bank building caught my attention with its 42-foot “Wings of Progress,” one of the last designs of famed Art Deco architect, Ralph Walker. Its construction infamously began on October 29, 1929, the same day that the stock market crashed and launched the Great Depression!

From there, I was off down Main Street, formerly the middle of the Genesee Valley Canal! Started in 1840, it was supposed to extend the Erie Canal into western Pennsylvania. Instead, the whole project was canceled in 1878 because they couldn’t make the canal deep enough for big ships, and railroads were out-competing canals everywhere as the fastest means of transportation!

And then I reached my destination, the home of Susan B. Anthony! The game-changing suffragist lived here in this home from 1865 until 1906, converting a conventional tenant residence into the headquarters of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1892!

Already super active for years in the fields of women’s rights and abolition, it was from her home in Rochester that Ms. Anthony first tested the voting rights of all US citizens under the new Fourteenth Amendment! After getting arrested for voting, she used the opportunity to ask every citizen and townsperson in Monroe County why it was a crime for citizens to vote! Ultimately, the Supreme Court did agree that women were citizens, but said that states had final say in the details of whether women could vote.

That took me to my goal destination for the morning: Susan B. Anthony Square! Part of the greater Madison Square – West Main Historic District, this park on the National Register thanks to being designed by Frederick Law Olmsted! In fact, Rochester is one of only four cities in the US whose park systems were designed by Mr. Olmsted!

At the park’s center sat a fine sculpture called “Let’s Have Tea” by Pepsy Kettavong and featuring Ms. Anthony and Mr. Douglass together, whether celebrating a lifetime of accomplishments or planning out the next one! This seemed like an excellent spot to pause, reflect, and share in the tea! Only, there was no tea for me here. That was waiting at the 1872 Cafe, where I had my breakfast and scurried back to the hotel to get ready for my flight!

I’d planned to get home early and visit some neat stuff by LAX to round out my birthday festivities, but a humongous thunderstorm hit Charlotte, where I was trying to get a connection! That pushed my flight time back six hours until it just didn’t exist anymore! It’s taken me 11 years of adventuring to experience a canceled flight, and it happened on my birthday! But there was a birthday miracle, and it was that I got in touch with American Airlines over the phone and did not have to wait in the 8-hour line to rebook! So, I spent the night in a nearby hotel and tried again the next morning under sunny skies. Sometimes, living in LA, you forget how wild the weather can be! It wasn’t the birthday I’d planned, but I sure was glad to make it home safely, all things considered! And dang it, I intend to travel for my next birthday too!

Stay safe out there, folks!