All things rochester news
One would think that a city like Chicago or Pittsburgh would have been the first American boomtown, but in reality the title is held by none other than Rochester NY. 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. The flour mills from which the city would earn its first nickname were eventually to take full advantage of this water power. 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.