Anderson Park
Fast Facts
Location: 97-99 North Union Street, Rochester, 14607
Coordinates: 43.159367, -77.594895
Area: approximately 1 acre
Streets and Waterways: North Union Street, University Avenue, Main Street, Inner Loop
Parking: On street
Date of Construction/Design: 1904
Landscape Architect(s)/Designers: Olmsted firm
Additional names: Riley Triangle
Amenities: Benches, near restaurants, Memorial Art Gallery, Strong Museum of Play
Beginnings
Named for the first president of the University of Rochester, Martin Brewer Anderson, this park was designed as a “resting place for adults” and was “used for free play by children.” The neighborhood was originally residential, near the first University of Rochester campus on University Avenue. In its early years, the park had the first community Christmas tree in 1913, and was also the site of neighborhood festivities such as “The Great Snake Show” of 1900 featuring local celebrity Rattlesnake Pete. Over time, the neighborhood became commercial.
Things to Know About or Notice
The German community raised funds for a sculpture of the German poet and playwright Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller placed in Anderson Park and dedicated in 1908. The steps leading up to the monument are still visible. The sculpture was moved in August 1964, to Franklin Square, now Schiller Park.
Changes
Construction for the Inner Loop reduced the area of Anderson Park by half and an increase in traffic on bordering three and four lane highways impacted negatively on pedestrian access and noise levels. Reconfiguration of the Inner Loop after 2016 has created more green space nearby and Anderson Park, half its original size, is now the terminus of an extended greenway.
Links
2009 City of Rochester Historic Parks Survey
1994 City of Rochester Small Parks and Squares Historic Preservation Report, Clark Patterson Mossein Associates, Charles Beveridge, Carl E. Palm
“Anderson Park Will Be Alight,” Democrat & Chronicle, December 5, 1913