There’s an Elmwood Avenue (or Street or Road) in just about every city in the United States, a reminder of the glorious elms that once graced thoroughfares throughout the country. Beautiful with spreading canopies, their popularity meant that they were overplanted, making them susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease when it ravaged the country. In the 1950s, the City of Rochester’s forestry department began felling these trees, ultimately removing some 15,000 from the cityscape. Today, only the name of the street remains as a reminder of these majestic trees.
It’s fitting to think about trees, because when we visited the Elmwood Street Bridge I couldn’t help but think about parks. As I mentioned in my previous blog, Ursula and I had parked at Genesee Valley Park on the west side of the river, crossed over the University of Rochester Pedestrian Bridge, and then walked between the river and the campus until we reached the Elmwood Avenue Bridge.
There was plenty of foliage along the way, though there’s nothing particularly sylvan about the Elmwood Street Bridge. Indeed, walking up to it the first thing I noticed was a large concrete blockhouse that looked like something left over from German defenses at Normandy.
It turned out to be the waste disposal site for the University of Rochester, a necessary part of the infrastructure of a massive campus, but not something that the university is likely to plaster on the glossy brochures meant to entice incoming students.
Nor was the underside of the bridge much more aesthetically appealing, nothing like the graceful arches of the Veterans Memorial Bridge or the long views of the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Bridge.
However, continuing under the bridge we entered into the pastoral beauty of Genesee Valley Park. Originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as part of his vision for a network of parks in Rochester, including Maplewood and Seneca Parks, it’s a place we’ve visited many times for the annual McQuaid Invitational cross-country race. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to this end, but what immediately struck our attention was a spot where the path bisected a tree that had been severed in two. I didn’t know it, but this white oak has now become a minor celebrity in Rochester, known affectionately as the “Tree of Life.” Its own life ended on July 4th, 2010 when it was struck by lightning. At the time it was estimated to be more than 150 years old and thus predated Olmsted’s design of the park itself. Justin Murphy, who has done some incredible reporting on the city’s educational history, has a new project chronicling the city’s trees, and he notes that in his survey this tree was more widely cited by people as a favorite than just about any other one in Rochester.
We turned back to the bridge as light began to fade, and crossed rather quickly, though the views were lovely.
The bridge itself, as a historical marker informed us, was built in 1935.
The current bridge was built slightly to the south of the old bridge, which itself had been modified and raised during the course of its life.
Continuing on we briefly looked around on the west side of the bridge before returning to our car. Much of the riverbank has become overgrown, so there are actually fairly few clear views of the river. I think some selective clearing of brush would make it more interesting and probably restore it closer to its original look.
A historical marker explained Olmsted’s philosophy of park design, which often prioritized bucolic views over active recreation. It’s something I had studied in my architectural history class at Oberlin College with my favorite professor Geoffrey Blodgett, who wrote about how Olmsted used park design as conservative reform to tame what he and other genteel elites thought of as the savage natures of the millions of people who were flooding into cities at the end of the 19th century. That philosophy often prompted battles over land use; where the people wanted ball fields, Olmsted planned grazing sheep and “Keep off the lawn” signs. At Genesee Valley Park, at the very end of his career, Olmsted seemed to compromise by shunting the active recreation to the west side of the river.
Fittingly enough, we had parked next to a set of ball fields, so we cut across a kids’ baseball diamond and completed our trip, two more bridges traversed and appreciated.
Bridges of the Genesee River 
Did you know that in the early days of Rochester aviation GVPark was used for takeoffs and landings of the small planes prior to Monroe County airport was established. I see you sent me two posts. I think the second was the U of R pedestrian bridge. I love that one. But the post disappeared before I had a chance to read it. Could you send it again please. I also am fascinated with the “lightning” tree and what they have done with it. I want to see it with kids climbing on it. But in all the times I’ve driven by, no one! Thanks for keeping me posted.
Doris 585-730-7227
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No, I didn’t know that Genesee Valley Park was used for planes during the early days of aviation. That’s really interesting! Thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed the blog. Here’s the link to the one about the University of Rochester pedestrian bridge: https://bridgesofthegeneseeriver.wordpress.com/2022/09/05/university-of-rochester-pedestrian-bridge/
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