The Third Ward, including Clarissa Street, was a mixed-class, largely self-sufficient neighborhood with more Black entrepreneurship than anywhere else in Rochester. Elders also speak about the good will and neighborly connections they had with nearby Italian, Polish, and Irish residents. Many of the non-Black business owners also hired African American youth who lived in the community.
What would Rochester be like today if Black and Brown shop and restaurant owners, doctors and dentists, publishers and educators were more visible and accessible to youth on a daily basis?
Every red box on this map marks a Black-owned business that once stood on Clarissa Street. You can match the addresses with the name(s) and eras of the businesses in the list.
The City Directory of Negro Business and Progress, 1939-1940, lists the Black-owned businesses in Rochester as of 1940 and acknowledges the efforts of Black entrepreneurs in the community. It was written by Howard W. Coles (1903-1996), journalist, advocate and trailblazer in multiple arenas.
How many local Black-owned businesses can you list today?
“Adaptation of Griffith Morgan Hopkins, Jr.’s City of Rochester New York Plat Map (1935) by Michael R. Ross (City of Rochester) and Corinne Clar ( Rochester Public Library). Research by Emily Morry, Design by Sahiyra Dillard.
Directory reproduction courtesy of Rochester Public Library Local and Genealogical Division.
Directory published by the Negro Business League of Rochester, N.Y., 1926. Rochester Public Library.
“Black Radio Rochester” is a podcast series about Rochester’s first African American radio personalities, Howard Coles and Alma Kelso. Based on original archival research, the podcast is hosted by local high school students who interweave Coles and Kelso’s stories with their own perspectives on Black history, social change, music, and media representation. Launched in February 2022 in celebration of Black History Month!
Podcast and description by by RCTV Youth Media Team
Teen Empowerment’s YHAs make clear why preserving the history of a once thriving predominantly African American business and cultural district matters. They highlight the former Dan’s Tavern/Sheps Paradise/Clarissas, the Elks Club and Pythodd jazz club during stops along their walking poetry tour, Black & Proud: An Ode to Rochester’s Third Ward. Rochester, NY, August 2020
Archvial images belong to Gannett newspapers, Howard W. Coles Collection at Rochester Museum and Science Center, Rochester Public Library, Ruther Sheppard, and the Clarissa St. Reunion Committee
