Rochester ny from the beginning
purchased this tract in 1803 because the Genesee River had the potential to generate a great deal of water power. The flour mills from which the city would earn its first nickname were eventually to take full advantage of this water power. This One Hundred Acre Tract was surveyed beginning in 1811, streets and roads were laid out, and in 1817 the original founders joined their holdings with that of other area landholders to form the Village of Rochesterville. Rochesterville was the seat of Monroe County, New York by 1821 and was rechartered as a city under the shortened name of Rochester in 1834. The Erie Canal Aqueduct, at the site of the modern day Broad Street Bridge in downtown Rochester NY, was built in 1823 to direct the waters of the newly constructed Erie Canal over the Genesee River.