Rochester, (1) capital of Monroe county, New York, is on both sides of the Genesee River, 7 miles above its entrance into Lake Ontario, and on the Erie and Genesee Valley canals, by rail 67 miles ENE. of Buffalo and 360 NW. of New York.
The river has here three perpendicular falls of 96, 26, and 83 feet, and affords immense water-power. The city is well built, and laid out with almost unbroken regularity. Among the principal buildings are the city hall, of blue limestone, and the court-house; a state industrial school (formerly a 'house of refuge'), with accommodation for 500 boys and 200 girls; numerous churches, including a Roman Catholic cathedral; the Free Academy, and the university (founded 1850, and under Baptist control), and a Baptist theological seminary (whose library of 21,000 vols. includes that of Neander). There are also over thirty graded public and many private schools, libraries, asylums, hospitals, &c. But the most noteworthy structure in the city is the handsome stone aqueduct of seven arches (850 feet long) by which the Erie Canal crosses the river. The principal industries are flour-milling, which has always been extensively carried on here, and the manufacture of ready-made clothing and boots and shoes, rubber goods, furniture, carriages, agricultural implements and machinery, steam-engines, glass, cigars, tobacco, perfumery, &c.; and there are besides numerous foundries, iron-bridge works, cotton-mills, breweries, and fruit-canning establishments. In the neighbourhood there are great nurseries, and in the city large seed-packing establishments. Rochester is a port of entry, and has a considerable trade both by lake and rail. It was settled in 1810, incorporated in 1834, and in 1890 was, in order of population, the twenty-second city of the United States. Pop. (1840) 20,191; (1860) 48,204; (1880) 89,366; (1890) 133,896.—(2) Capital of Olmsted county, Minnesota, at the Zumbro River (crossed by three iron bridges), 347 miles by rail NW. of Chicago. It has flour-mills, foundries, and manufactories of furniture, farming implements, &c. Pop. (1891) 5321.—(3) A town of New Hampshire, 22 miles by rail NW. of Portsmouth, with manufactories of flannel, blankets, shoes, &c. Pop. 7113.—(4) A borough of Pennsylvania, on the north bank of the Ohio, at the mouth of the Beaver River, 25 miles by rail NW. of Pittsburgh, with manufactories of coffins, carriages, tumblers, &c. Pop. 3635.