Jason: A radical tour of Rochester

Bleu Cease, the man behind The Obediah Dogberry Society, has been running a series of New History Tours this summer. Unfortunately, they’ve all been on the same night as Critical Mass. Until this weekend, that is. RocBike.com’s own Jack Bradigan Spula led a tour titled “Not So Smugtown After All: Political Protest and Direct Action in Rochester History.” The tour was this afternoon, and the weather was gorgeous as 40+ cyclists assembled at the Rochester Contemporary art gallery on East Ave for the ride.

Pre-ride preparations

Our first stop was just up East Ave from our gathering place — the Cutler Building between Stillson and Chestnut. The current building wasn’t the interesting bit. The site used to be the location of the home of William Clough Bloss, one of Rochester’s abolitionist leaders.

Site of William Clough Bloss’s home

Next it was down Main Street to Clinton Avenue.

Main Street on a sunny Sunday

We arrived at the corner of Main and Clinton. At this spot, in May 1971, more than 1,000 protesters sat in the street and stopped traffic to protest the Vietnam War. It’s worth noting that Main Street was a much more vibrant place in 1971 — big department stores, lots of professionals working downtown. The sidewalks would have been full of people, not like the downtown we know today.

Jack talks about the 1971 protest

We moved back in time from the Vietnam era to the urban rebellions of the 1960s. Rochester had an enormous urban rebellion in 1964 that started in the area around Joseph Street and led to three days of action in the streets. Many of Rochester’s most influential progressive social organizations came from this struggle, including FIGHT, Action for a Better Community, and eventually MetroJustice.

Nassau Street, site of the 1964 urban rebellion

While we were on Nassau Street, we had a chance to hear a first-person account of the rebellion from Margaret, who witnessed it as a teenager when she and her date drove through the chaotic streets on their way home from a movie, losing all the glass in their car windows.

From Nassau Street, we headed back downtown to the Talman Building on Main Street, site of Frederick Douglass’s office and home of his newspaper, The North Star. Frederick Douglass spent many of his most active years in Rochester, yet we still don’t have a museum honoring him. Some folks are working on fixing that. Let’s hope they succeed.

The Talman Building

From the Talman Building, we rode to City Hall at Church and Fitzhugh.

City Hall, the former Federal Building

This is City Hall now, but it used to be the Federal Building. It was the site of the Flower City Conspiracy — on September 6, 1970, a group of anti-war dissidents invaded the offices of the Selective Service, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney. Eight people were convicted, but more than eight were involved in the protest. As luck would have it, one of them was on the tour.

Don talks about the Flower City Conspiracy

We rode through the beautiful Corn Hill neighborhood on our way to the next tour stop:

Corn Hill

Corn Hill

The AME Zion Church was a station on the Underground Railroad and the home of Rochester’s first African-American congregation. The original building is gone, and a new church stands on the site.

Site of the former AME Zion Church

Clarissa Street used to be the center of African-American life in Rochester, as well as the home of Rochester’s famed Pythodd Jazz Club. It’s still a beautiful area.

Clarissa Street

Next, it was along the Genesee River to the South Wedge neighborhood and the only extant home owned by Frederick Douglass.

271 Hamilton Street, once owned by Frederick Douglass, whose daughter lived in the house

The current resident came out to see who all these people on bikes were. She graciously told us several family stories about her own experience in the house, which was only recently discovered to have been owned by Douglass.

We left and headed across 490 via the Clinton Ave pedestrian overpass, arriving in Washington Square Park. The park was the site of a 20,000-person rally in 1946 on the eve of a general strike across the city that saw upwards of 30,000 people walk off the job. They were protesting the city’s firing of more than 200 city workers who were trying to form a union. The workers were rehired and their union was recognized.

At Washington Square Park

• Please visit the galleryfor more pictures from the tour.
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