Flashback or Fast Forward--Rochester's Highland Park

Last summer, my husband and I took our four children to Rochester’s Highland Bowl, or should I say the John Dunbar Memorial Pavilion, ca. 1937, for the Monroe County Parks’ program "Free Movies in the Parks." On one particular evening, the title was Back to the Future, originally released in 1985 when I was a sophomore in college. Fast forward 25 years and here I am procuring my own version of Back to the Future by taking my kids to the same spot where I first heard, saw, and fell in love with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel during the then popular “Opera under the Stars” series, probably around 1972.

We sat on the lawn in the beautifully landscaped park, enjoying the harmonious relationship of the amphitheater, a product of human hands, with the sloping hillside, carved from glaciers, a natural acoustic partner for the "Bowl." The ampitheater or the "Bowl" as it is now widely referred to, was originally dedicated in 1937 to the late John Dunbar who is credited with the early establishment of the world class Lilac collection in Highland Park.

Many of our friends and neighbors who reside in the City of Rochester also attend these firefly-lit summer events. On this night, the crowd was surprisingly small for a gorgeous August evening. The potential crowd, I surmised, whittled down by the competing outdoor movie series screened on the same night in the nearby Towns of Brighton and Pittsford. My observation made me pause and consider the impact that sprawl and decentralization has had, and will continue to have, upon the oeuvre of childhood, and adult experiences alike which, only a generation ago could be shared with someone from 3 doors to more than 30 miles away. The collective memory and the vocabulary that comes from common experience, can be crucial as a launching point for discourse and understanding.

In the early days of the Bowl, the Rochester Philharmonic and other symphonic programs performed frequently during the spring and summer performance season. Today, a smattering of events are on the program annually, including Shakespeare in the Park, concerts, the movie series I attend with my family, and other community activities.

My suggestion: do your best to attend an event in the Highland Bowl, and if you have children, bring them. Look around and enjoy the legacy of Ellwanger, Barry, Olmsted, and Dunbar, while Frederick Douglass and Goethe look on. The first 20 acres of Highland Park was gifted by George Ellwanger & Patrick Barry in 1887. Their gift served as a catalyst for the establishment of the City’s Department of Parks, the hiring of internationally recognized landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the establishment of an Olmsted designed park system in Rochester--one of four in the nation--and the cultivation of a world class botanical collection that draws millions annually. We are fortunate to be the recipients of decades of vision, philanthropy, and planning. The Highland Bowl site’s naturally occurring landscape was appropriately retained and maximized by people like Ellwanger, Barry, Olmsted, and Dunbar. It is an incomparable venue and should be part of every greater Rochesterian’s vocabulary.

Today, Thursday, August 18^th is the last program of the summer for the “Free Movies in the Parks” series at the Highland Park Bowl. Adults can enjoy The King’s Speech, a quintessentially English film amongst a uniquely American cultural landscape.

Posted by Maranne McDade Clay, Grants Administrator

The Fastest Mile in America

The Driving Park Race Track at the southwest corner of Maplewood was in existence from 1874-1899. It was bounded by the Driving Park Avenue in the south, Birr Street on the north, the railroad tracks to the west and Dewey Avenue on the east. Perhaps you knew that the name Driving Park Avenue comes from the name of the race track that was once there. But, did you know why the track was called “the fastest mile in America,” with excursion trains from New York City and ferry boats from Canada bringing tens of thousands of spectators? Or that the Vanderbilts raced their horses there? Or that a woman cyclist raced against a mare there and the cyclist won? Learn about all this and more, and see hitherto unpublished, recently digitized photographs (many made available for the first time by private collectors) that capture the life and times of the race track and its people.

Landmark Society volunteer Nicholas Zumbulyadis will present this illustrated lecture on Thursday, October 16, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the Penfield Recreation Center, 1985 Baird Road.

Our dedicated volunteer, Nick Zumbulyadis, asked me to post the above information about his upcoming lecture. It brings up a topic that is of endless interest to those of us who are interested in history and, especially, the history of places: how places got their names! There are so many interesting place names around us, from streets like Driving Park Avenue to entire neighborhoods, villages, and towns. What better way to show that you're a true Western New Yorker than to correctly pronounce Chili or know the origins of Swillburg!

So readers, let's hear from you: what are your favorite place names, in Western New York or elsewhere? Are there any local place names that make you really scratch your head? (If so, I'll ask Cynthia Howk, our architectural research coordinator and resident encyclopedia of Rochester-area history, if she has an answer for you!) And be sure to check out Nick's lecture, which is certain to be fascinating.

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Advocacy Coordinator, and Nick Zumbulyadis, Landmark Society Volunteer