East Rochester, New York

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Village of East Rochester, in Monroe County, New York, is home to about 6,700 people.

It is located southeast of the City of Rochester.

1 History
2 Culture
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 External links

[edit] History

The Village of East Rochester actually started out as the Village of Despatch in 1897. Despatch was laid out as a planned community designed around the rail roads. Much of the original land which became the village came from Fairport businessman Walter Parce. This land was used to develop housing for employees of the earliest employers: The Merchants Despatch Corporation and the Aeolian Piano Corporation. The original buildings of the Aeolian Piano Corporation are still in use today as a shopping center and office complex called Piano Works Mall.

To better showcase the village's proximity to the city of Rochester, the village was incorporated as the Village of East Rochester in 1906.

The boundaries of the village were divided between the towns of Perinton, Pittsford, and Penfield. In 1982 the residents of the village voted to become a coterminous town and village.

Famous golf course architect Robert Trent Jones grew up in East Rochester.

[edit] Culture

East Rochester has been considered by the public as Rochester's "Little Italy," as over a half of the town's residents have Italian ancestry, and Italian can even be heard in offices and homes. It has also been home to some of the finest Italian restaurants in the Rochester area including The Northside, Perlo's and for many years, Giuseppe's. Surace's Pizza, located along Commercial Street, adds to this reputation and is a lunch time institution of the community.

Due to the success of its high school sports teams, (despite the small size of the village and school in relation to surrounding towns) East Rochester has been affectionately reffered to as "The Home of Champions." Its high school men's basketball, football and wrestling teams each won numerous sectional championships from the 1960's until the early 1990's. The majority of these football and wrestling squads found their success under the direction of local legend Don Quinn. In recent years, the school's women's sports teams have carried on this tradition as field hockey and lacrosse have enjoyed dominance on both the regional and state-wide level. Interestingly enough, it is Quinn's daughter who coaches these teams. The Bombers were also the first High School in the Rochester area to play its outdoor sports upon a FieldTurf artificial playing surface, with one being installed in 2001. Until the early 1990's, the Bomber football team played an annual game with their rivals from Fairport; the Red Raiders. The winner of this game took home the coveted Little Brown Jug and was played until the enrollment of Fairport High grew much too large to make such a contest feasible. The rivalry, however, is still somewhat understood between the two neighbors as it is often referred to in other capacities outside of athletics.

[edit] Geography

East Rochester is located at 43°6′44″N, 77°29′13″W (43.112413, -77.487)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 3.5 km² (1.4 mi²). None of the area is covered with water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 6,650 people, 2,774 households, and 1,625 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,901.9/km² (4,915.4/mi²). There were 2,916 housing units at an average density of 834.0/km² (2,155.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 95.92% White, 1.38% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.36% from other races, and 1.32% from two or more races. 2.38% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 2,774 households out of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.4% were married couples living together, 15.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.4% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the village the population was spread out with 24.1% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $39,221, and the median income for a family was $48,553. Males had a median income of $32,094 versus $26,953 for females. The per capita income for the village was $18,875. About 6.2% of families and 9.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.8% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.