Published: November 07, 2009 02:48 am      

CANAL DISCOVERY: Rochester’s subway through the years

The City of Rochester was faced with an interesting dilemma after New York state opened the Erie Barge Canal in 1918. During this enlargement in Rochester, the Erie Canal was actually moved from its location of more than 90 years in the center of the business district, to a location further south outside of the city center. The original canal route in Rochester featured one of the most amazing architectural structures found on the entire 363-mile path of the Erie Canal, the Rochester Aqueduct. This series of stone arches and overhead trough actually carried boats over the rapids of the Genesee River as it traversed the city. Engineering being in its infancy in the early 1820s, the original Erie Canal “engineers” did not have a viable plan to cross the river at grade so raising the canal over the river presented the best alternative.

Fast-forward to 1918 and we see the Barge Canal moving the Erie Canal at Rochester away from the rapids with an at-grade crossing that was controlled with guard gates to provide a constant water level for canal travel. This is much the same system that is still employed for canal travel through Rochester today. Moving the canal presented city fathers with an interesting question: what to do with the old Erie Canal through downtown Rochester. The answer they found may surprise some who did not realize a center-city subway was a part of the post-Clinton’s Ditch era in Rochester.

Rochester was booming in the early 1920s, and its City Council wanted to accommodate that growth with a new public transportation system. Rochester still needed a way to move people about in its central business district. Planning for the subway began right after the canal left downtown, at a time when automobiles were still in their infancy. To make a path for the subway in the old canal bed, Rochesterians had to blast through Penfield dolostone rock down about 5 feet to accommodate the subway cars. A path for the subway over the Genesee River was created on the lower level of the old canal aqueduct.

The Rochester subway, complete with its 24 stops, opened for business in 1927. Besides reaching many city factories, the subway provided connection for five railroads and many city buses. The term “subway” did not just refer to a below-grade tunnel as it does today. Of the more than 8 miles of subway track, only a little more than 1 mile ran underground. Today, the Rochester subway would be called light rail transit.

The Rochester subway experienced its glory days as a result of tire and gas shortages caused by rationing throughout World War II. Passenger service in the 1940s peaked at 5.1 million riders per year. However, with a post-war boom and a “Chevrolet in every driveway,” ridership on the Rochester subway rapidly declined right after the war, and at 1:35 a.m. July 1, 1956, the Rochester subway reached the end of the line and closed for good.

Absent now for more than 50 years, the subway today is just a memory in the minds of a few individuals. Most of the original subway right-of-way became part of the city’s inner loop highway, as automobiles replaced public transportation, not only in Rochester, but across the nation. However, Rochester’s historians are still interested in reviving a portion of this once-booming transit corridor. Some offer that about one-quarter mile of old subway bed that runs between the Genesee River and Main Street has the most potential for an alternate use. Proponents offer a host of solutions, including underground retail stores, art galleries and a museum.

Strange as it may sound, and borrowing from the expression, “everything old is new again,” one idea for a possible new use is to re-water a portion of the subway path that was once the Erie Canal including the old aqueduct. Supporters of this plan, led by Erie Canal historian Thomas Grasso, point to the canal system in a revitalized San Antonio as a model for possible center-city redevelopment. Just like DeWitt Clinton’s detractors, many folks shout about the large price tag that would accompany this drastic change to the Rochester landscape. But Grasso believes that just like its original counterpart, the re-watered Erie Canal would be a tremendous economic engine for growth. What’s more, he offers that Rochester would be able to take advantage of federal and state funds available for water-related development in New York state. Depending on whether one views the glass as half empty or half full, some see the old subway route as “a giant hole waiting to be filled with dirt,” and others see “an impressive asset in a city that needs to revitalize its downtown.”

Doug Farley is director of the Erie Canal Discovery Center. Contact him at 434-7433. The Erie Canal Discovery Center is open every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.