Old Rochester!

Almost every year, I have a wall calendar hanging in my kitchen with Labrador Retrievers on it.  Well, not for 2014!

I was in Wegmans today and passed the display with 2014 wall calendars.  There was one I have never seen before. . . Vintage Rochester!  It caught my eye. . . especially one picture.  It was the old train station in Rochester circa 1906.

In the mid-1970's my mother-in-law would ride the Amtrak from her home north of NYC to Rochester to visit.  That same train station was still there, although it certainly had decayed over the years.  To be honest, it was just plain creepy.  The shell of the building was there but most of the windows were broken and you never could go in there without seeing a half dozen rats roaming around.  I think it had been years since a cleaning person had been there.  Seriously.  John and Michael were less than 3 during the years I would drive down there to pick up Gramma.  I explained to them before we left home that they were not allowed to use the rest room at the train station so go before we leave home.  I always wanted to make sure we got there before the train arrived and sometimes (most of the time) it was late.

I remember once we were sitting there waiting for Gramma's train to arrive and an elderly lady sitting next to us must have read the expression on my face. . . I'm told my facial expressions speak louder than words.  Really?  So this lady said to me, "You wouldn't believe it now, but this used to be a grand place and people would come here for dinner."  It took me a second to absorb her words.  "You are right!"  I said to her.  "I can't believe that!!!"  She began telling me of days gone by when it was a "destination."

I don't remember exactly when they tore the place down and built another building.  A plain, rectangular, much smaller, one story building.  Over the years that building has seen better days and now there are plans to tear that one down and build another one.  The new one, at least as plans go now, will be a replica of the old building from the early 1900's.