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Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood
rochester, monroe county
threat: disinvestment, demolition
Although officially the “Madison
Square/West Main Street Historic District,” the six-block area
located about one mile from downtown Rochester, is better known
as the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood. Here, at 17 Madison Street,
the renowned suffrage leader made her home between 1866 and 1906.
The neighborhood is centered on what is now Susan B. Anthony Square
but was laid out in 1839 as “Mechanic’s Square.” This
public green space is surrounded by modest wood frame and brick
homes built between c. 1830 and 1926. The north edge is Canal Street,
the former route of the Erie Canal. The neighborhood’s southern
boundary is a three-block long section of West Main Street, the
former Buffalo Road and now NYS Route 33. And at the eastern edge
are nine brick and concrete industrial buildings.
This 101- building historic district—always a working class neighborhood—is
considered to be Rochester’s most fragile. Despite the presence of the
Susan B. Anthony House museum (a National Historic Landmark), the neighborhood
is in decline. Previously executed housing rehabilitation and public investment
projects are jeopardized by the area’s loss of residents and growing social
problems. Innovative financial incentives, most especially a [state neighborhood
preservation act], are called for, and could be used as a new investment tool
with existing housing and social service programs. The Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood
could become a model of preservation without displacement by retaining an identity
true to the times and the legacy of its famous former resident.
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