East Rochester's Local History Room Protects a Young Shop-Town Memory

East Rochester grew quickly, so it had to save its own memory almost while it was making it. The town-village was originally called Despatch, a name tied to the railroad and the Merchants Despatch Transportation Company, often remembered as the Carshops.

Walter Parce, a Fairport native, helped set the place in motion. From 1893 to 1896, he bought options on farmland that later became Despatch, held the land until he could attract the company, and then used the Vanderbilt Improvement Company to help sell and develop lots carved from those farms.

That origin gives East Rochester a shop-town feel: compact, planned, industrial, and young compared with many Monroe County places. The Local History Room grew from that same need to remember quickly. In the late 1950s, historian Lucille Saunders began collecting local history after material had been gathered for the village’s 50th anniversary. By October 1962, a Local History Room had been established in the Fryatt Memorial Building.

The archive is part of the story, not an afterthought. The department points to more than 5,000 pieces of memorabilia, old newspapers, yearbooks, files, village histories, vital records, and a large photo database. That is a lot of saved memory for a small place.

East Rochester’s story has railroads, carshops, farmland turned into lots, and a community habit of keeping photographs, objects, and paper before they disappear. The place feels small on the map, but its history room shows why a young industrial town would be careful with its own origin story.