[6] The city was one of the United States' first boomtowns, initially due to the fertile Genesee River valley which gave rise to numerous flour mills, and then as a manufacturing center, which spurred further rapid population growth.

[9] Rochester is the birthplace and/or home of many notable companies including Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, Wegmans, Constellation Brands, Gannett, Paychex, and Western Union, and the region became a global center for science, technology, and research and development.

[10] The city experienced significant population decline due to deindustrialization in the late 20th century, although less severely than its Rust Belt peers.

[47] Following the war, the city began engaging in urban renewal projects to revitalize downtown, including the construction of Midtown Plaza and freeways like the Inner Loop, and the demolition of the Front Street neighborhood.

Discontent exploded in the three-day 1964 Rochester race riot, which resulted in five deaths, 350 injuries, nearly a thousand arrests, and 204 stores looted or damaged.

With the Reverend Franklin Florence, they established FIGHT (Freedom, Integration, God, Honor, Today), which successfully brought pressure to bear on Eastman Kodak to help open up employment and city governance.

[1] Rochester borders the towns of Irondequoit to the north and northeast, Brighton to the southeast and south, Chili to the southwest, Gates to the west, and Greece to the northwest.

A brief retreat and readvance of the ice sheet onto the delta deposited unstratified material there, creating a rare hybrid structure called "kame moraine".

Among these are the 14621 Community, 19th Ward, Beechwood, Browncroft, Charlotte, Cobbs Hill, Corn Hill, downtown Rochester, Dutchtown, Edgerton, EMMA (East Main, Mustard & Atlantic Avenue), High Falls, Highland Park, Homestead Heights, JOSANA (Jay-Orchard Street Area), Lincoln Park, Lyell-Otis, Maplewood, Marketview Heights, Mayor's Heights, Monroe Village, NOTA (Neighborhood of the Arts), North Winton Village, Northland-Lyceum, Park Avenue, Plymouth-Exchange, South Wedge, Susan B. Anthony, Swillburg, Upper Falls, Upper Monroe, and Upper Mount Hope.

Homes in the originally upper-class neighborhood typically have gumwood trim, leaded glass, fireplaces, hardwood floors, and open porches.

[77] The Marketview Heights neighborhood is northeast of downtown Rochester, running east from Union Street just north of Atlantic Ave.[92] It is best known as the location of the Public Market, which first opened in 1905 and offers a variety of groceries and other goods from farms and shops from surrounding areas, primarily on the weekends.

The area fell on hard times after World War II, when residents moved to the suburbs and several homes and businesses were abandoned.

[117] Although losing population since 1950, over the course of the past 70 years Rochester has become a major center for immigration, particularly for arrivals from Eastern and Southeastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean.

[121] Rochester's Bhutanese and Nepalese communities are among the largest (top 3) in the United States, concentrated primarily in Jones Square and Edgerton with growth fueled by recently arrived migrants and refugees.

Like many Rust Belt cities, Rochester was traditionally a manufacturing center, home to companies such as Bausch & Lomb, Kodak, and Xerox.

Xerox and Kodak each laid off thousands of workers in the 1990s and 2000s, causing the University of Rochester to become the city's top employer in 2005, a title it holds today.

In recent years, a high technology industry has grown in Rochester, fostered in part by collaborations between private startup enterprises and the local higher learning institutions.

Established after an 1898 gathering, it features the largest collection of lilac varieties in North America, a parade, and dozens of musical acts and food vendors.

It takes place in late June at dozens of clubs, concert halls and free outdoor stages throughout Downtown Rochester, regularly drawing over 200,000 visitors.

[152] The Genesee Brewing Company is headquartered in Rochester, where it holds an annual December tradition of assembling a tower of beer kegs in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Mount Hope became a popular picnicking destination during the late nineteenth century, and the city began to develop public parks.

The city is covered by New York's 25th congressional district currently represented by Democrat Joe Morelle of Irondequoit, Monroe County, in Congress.

[185] In the 1980s, the court heard cases involving the prosecution of the "Topfree Seven," women who intentionally bared their chests once a year in order to protest the criminalization of female nudity.

Judge Herman J. Walz ruled that the women could not be prosecuted under New York's public nudity statute because their act of going topless in order to protest the law was imbued with First Amendment protections.

The University of Rochester is the only large research institution primarily within the city limits, although Monroe Community College and SUNY Brockport operate campuses downtown.

[211] FedEx founder Fred Smith has stated in several articles that Xerox's development of the copier, and its need to quickly get parts to customers, was one of the economic issues that led him to pioneer the overnight delivery business in 1971.

[216] The renovations include a large canopy extending over both main entrances, solar panels, a rainwater collection system, and modern communication and security enhancements.

Several proposals have been made to completely fill the remaining tunnel, redevelop the underground space, or convert the bridge to a pedestrian crossing.

In 2023, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the board could not enforce disciplinary actions on any officers in the department, as it would violate the contract between the city and police union.

[238] On November 12, 2021, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren declared a state of emergency due to a rising violent crime rate in the city, which produced the highest number of homicides of any year on record.