Rochester

How Rochester began

Rochester is a small village on the West Branch of the Black River in southwestern Lorain County. It takes its name from Rochester, New York, whose proprietors Tillotson and Deming owned lands here and whose land agent Benjamin Perkins is called 'the father of the township.' Rochester Township was, in the 1879 county history's words, 'the latest settled of any of the townships' in the county: squatters named Dodge built the first cabin about 1827, Stephen Babcock arrived in 1831, the township was formed in March 1835, and the first post office opened in 1837. Around the railroad 'station' grew a hotel (1853), a Methodist church (1859), a mill, a cheese factory and, during the Civil War, a walnut gun-stock works; the Big Four depot burned in October 1900. The village's population peaked at 237 in 1880 and has fallen to 159 in 2020. See the township file (T67776-LOR) for the full pioneer narrative.

Settled c. 1827 (Dodge squatters); 1831-32 (Stephen Babcock, Elijah T. Banning, Luther Blair and others), by township formed by the Lorain County commissioners in March 1835; pioneers included Stephen Babcock, Elijah T. Banning, Luther Blair, Nehemiah Tinker and Benjamin Perkins (land agent).

Where the name comes from

The village derives its name from Rochester, New York, the native home of a land agent (Wikipedia, citing Overman's Ohio Town Names). The 1879 county history supports the link: Hiram Woodworth in 1831 chose lands in the township 'then owned by Messrs. Tillotson and Deming, of Rochester, New York,' and Benjamin Perkins, agent for much of the township's land, is called 'the father of the township.'

Before the town

No Native American village, trail or site specific to Rochester is documented. The 1879 county history's Rochester chapter tells of squatters, pioneers, churches and mills and does not mention Native people; its Brighton chapter, on the next township north, records Seneca and Wyandot camps. The township lies in the Western Reserve.

Timeline

1. c. 1827 — A squatter family named Dodge, with wife Emeline and son Newell, builds a cabin on lot nine of tract three, the first white household in the township; a child born to them dies, the mother follows, and the survivors leave.
2. 1831-04 — Stephen Babcock of Blandford, Massachusetts selects a farm about half a mile west of Rochester center and has Elijah T. Banning, living in Huntington Township, cut timber on thirty acres; the Babcock family moves into the new house in early spring 1832.
3. 1832-06-24 — Amy Banning, daughter of Elijah T. and Patience Banning, is born, the first child of a permanent settler; Luther Blair arrives on December 31 with his wife and eleven children and builds the first log house near the center.
4. 1833 — Rev. John Ferris begins Methodist meetings in Nehemiah Tinker's log house in the fall, and the winter school of 1833-34, taught by Miss Abigail Tinker to some twenty children, is the first in the township.
5. 1835-04-06 — The county commissioners unite lots from tracts three, four, five and six of range nineteen into Rochester Township in March; at the first election on April 6, John Conant, Joseph Hadley and Nehemiah Tinker are elected trustees.
6. 1837 — The township's first post office opens on condition that the government pay nothing for carrying the mail; Hiram Woodworth is postmaster, and John Clark carries the mail free. The same year Benjamin S. Perkins builds the first saw and grist mill, at the center (it later burns).
7. 1842 — The Congregational society (formed 1838) completes the township's first meetinghouse at the center, a frame church costing $2,500.
8. c. 1848 — George G. Ogden opens the first store and hotel at the center; Rufus Norton builds a hotel at the station in 1853.
9. 1859 — The two Methodist societies join and build a church at the station, costing $2,500.
10. 1864 — Daniel Franklin's 1844 flour and saw mill is moved to the station, where D. Lowrie & Son buy it in 1874 for $10,000; Conant & Shepard, at the station too, make walnut gun stocks for the U.S. government until the war ends.
11. 1871-05 — A 'juvenile hurricane' from the northwest unroofs buildings and uproots forest trees across part of Rochester Township.
12. 1880 — Village population peaks at 237.
13. 1900-10-28 — The Rochester depot of the Big Four (C.C.C.& St.L.) railroad catches fire about 5:30 on a Sunday evening; the replacement station was built in 1900 or 1901 and now serves as a museum.
14. 1960 — Population recorded at 226, the highest twentieth-century figure.
15. 2020 — Population falls to 159, a 12.6 percent decline from 2010, the largest such drop in the village's recent history.

Stories

A family alone in the clearing

The first white household in Rochester Township was a squatter family named Dodge, who put up a small log cabin on lot nine of tract three, on what was later the Minus farm. They were the sort of people, the 1879 county historian wrote, 'known in all new countries as squatters.' A child was born to them, and soon died; the mother followed. Her husband and his son Newell made a rude coffin themselves and buried her on the brow of a hill near the river, with no hearse, no plume and no minister to say the service. 'All was dreary, all was desolate,' the historian wrote. The rest of the family soon left, and the township stayed empty of permanent settlers until Stephen Babcock arrived from Massachusetts in 1831.

A post office the government would not pay for

When the first post office was authorized for Rochester Township in 1837, the Post Office Department agreed only on the condition that it be at no expense in carrying the mails. Hiram Woodworth, the postmaster, kept the office at his house in the township's southeast corner, and John Clark volunteered to carry the mail for nothing, which he did as long as the office stayed there. The office moved to the center when Martin L. Blair became postmaster, and later to the station, where George Garrison had it in 1878.

Walnut for the army

The township's bottomlands along the West Branch of the Black River were heavily timbered when settled, with black walnut 'found in abundance.' The most extensive manufacturing establishment Rochester Township ever had was run by Conant & Shepard at the station, where they made walnut gun stocks for the United States government during the Civil War. In the historian's phrase, 'the close of the war and of this establishment was simultaneous.' The settlement then turned to butter and cheese: L. Beckley's cheese factory of 1870 and the Thomas & Noble factory of 1873 used the milk of 450 and 425 cows in 1878.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · archive.org · west2k.com · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

Lake Erie, drawn through two separate offshore intakes serving the Lake Road filtration plant The water here

• Rural Lorain Co. Water A52% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells
• Wellington Village47% of residentsCharlemont Creek, via Wellington Upground Reservoir
• Pheasant Run Association1% of residentsLake Erie

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

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