NYMONROE-L Archives
Archiver > NYMONROE > 1999-09 > 0937603584
From: <>
Subject: Re: State Hospital in Rochester
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 17:26:24 EDT
Margaret wrote:
> Very interesting. Does anyone know when this hospital opened and
> whether it would be possible for a woman to escape from this place and
> leap from the Clinton Street Bridge? Is this bridge within walking
> distance of the hospital?
Clinton Street is probably the street now called Clinton Avenue, which runs
parallet to South Avenue.
My recollection is that the Rochester State Hospital (as I think it was then
called) was on the corner of South Avenue and Elmwood Avenue, running along
Elmwood Avenue to the East, rather than on Mt. Hope Avenue.
In 1917, I believe that the Erie Canal still ran through Rochester, so the
bridge that this woman leaped from was probably the bridge over the canal.
After relocating the Erie Canal south of the city shortly after that date,
the canal bed was utilized for a subway. Then around 1960, after the demise
of the subway, the bed was utilized for what is now Interstate 490 (highway).
Also, can anyone describe this bridge?
Rundel library in Rochester, or the office of the Rochester City Archives
would probably have photographs of the bridge as it was then. Rundel would
also have microfilm of several daily newspapers that were publishing then,
such as the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, which is the lone remaining
daily newspaper.
The address for Rundel (Rochester Public) library is:
115 South Avenue
Rochester, NY 14604
Tel. 716-428-8370 (Local History and Genealogy)
The address for the successor to the Rochester State Hospital is:
Rochester Psychiatric Center
Health Information Management Service
1111 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, NY 14623-3005
> The woman in question was my grandmother's sister, and she died in July
> 1917.
> Does anyone have access to the local newspaper for this month and
> could find the story for me? Sorry, I don't know the exact date.
> Regards,
> Margaret
>
If she was a patient at the hospital, I would be that you could write to them
and get the information. Otherwise, the library might do a lookup for you,
but not knowing the exact date is a problem.
Good luck!
Robert Wambach
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