Excerpts taken from the pen from Rob Goodling: A reader of this site asked, “Why is our neighborhood called Corn Hill?” and “What is the origin of this name?” According to Cynthia Howk, Architectural Research Coordinator at the Landmark Society, there is no “one” definitive answer to this intriguing “name” question. However, three possibilities have been suggested in the past: A1 Bed Bug Exterminator Rochester
The early Native American inhabitants may have had corn-growing crops in this area, elevated over the Genesee River, possibly giving rise to the term “Corn Hill.” To those who traveled north along the river, the “hill of corn” would appear on the left bank of Genesee. Mrs. Howk dismisses this explanation as unlikely because Native Americans do not live in the majority of the area today, Monroe County.
Corn Hill may be where our early Rochester pioneers settled this vastly undeveloped region. They built homes there and maintained their agricultural plots, which could have included fields of corn along these higher banks. After the completion of the Erie Canal, travelers on the Canal and the Genesee River could have seen “hills of corn” as they traveled through these rivers.
The first actual use of the word was likely to be the only phrase, “CORNHILL,” on an early “Third Ward” city land tract. Cornhill was a popular area in London, England, at this time. Moreover, since Rochester, New York was a new tiny, just-developing city, The name could have been utilized to bring an air of glamour or status to this area. There was a historical value in the name given to the land area that would later be recognized as the city’s “Ruffled Shirt Ward” or “Silk Stocking District.” This English influence may be the reason for the name we have today.
It was a cool autumn day on October 2nd, 1979, when flatbed trucks carrying an unusual object were seen moving across the city of Rochester. Onlookers were shocked and asked, “What is this thing? Could it be a space capsule?” It was one of the gazebo tops that stood in front of St. Joseph’s Church on Franklin Street for the previous one hundred years. The historic dome was relocated to its new home in Plymouth Circle Park in Corn Hill.
The Rochester Parks department acquired Plymouth Circle Park (previously Caledonia Square and later Lunsford Park) in the late 1880s. Before that, people living in Glasgow and Edinburgh Streets had maintained colorful flower beds, which stood out in the park. There was discussion and plans to build an edifice or bandstand on the site, an idea that all city officials did not embrace.
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