ROW at the edge of Lake Ontario in Greece, NY

I was taking one of those romantic walks on the beach the other day when I found myself walking on an old ROW in the middle of nowhere 10 ft from the edge of Lake Ontario in Greece.

I followed this ROW along Edgemere Dr, across Braddock Bay on a causeway/trestle structure mostly destroyed/underwater and on to Lake Shore Dr in Hilton. I further traced this line on the NYS GIS website and got no where.

Does anyone know what this line was used for, why it was built so close to the lake in an area when (to my knowledge) has never had major industry. Also, who owned/built it, and when, when it was torn up etc... I'm basically looking for any info at all, or someplace where it can be found.

Thanks!

keeper,

That line was once a trolly line going from braddocks bay to charlotte ,
it had trouble from the begining, especially the crossing of braddocks bay, the trestle was wiped out by a flood not to long after it was first built..

the information can be found at the local library or the monroe county library, look under history of greece, ny... there are also several books
written metioning the trolley, and some interesting pictures..


try shirley husted-cox, or the other way around, she was the historian of hilton and has written several exellent books from around the area..

the trolley served as a tourist type thing, once , long ago on the west side of braddocks bay, there were some grand hotels, all are now gone...

I remember fishing at the elmhart hotel , when it was still standing...

I hope this helps,
i'll try to find some info on the web and post it

The trolley line opened about 1891 and was abandoned about 1925.
An excellent book with lots of pictures and info on the line is: "Eight Miles Along the Shore: A History of Greece, NY".

pictures!
Courtesy of the Monroe County Library..
to search for more Rochester pictures, go to:

http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us/rochimag/

there are plenty more local railroad photos there.
just doing a search for "trolley" brough up over 200 photos!
(mostly trolleys downtown..but also the beach trolleys..)
there was also a trolley line to a hotel on Irondequoit bay,
from the approximate location of East end of the current Goodman st. yard, then running North East to the bay..some of that ROW is still visable through city neighborhoods..








Braddock's Bay trestle on the Manitou streetcar - 1909


Old landmarks to be removed for betterment of Ontario Beach Park. The Manitou Railway station and waiting room, located in the park proper, to be moved across the street and 400 feet west on Beach Avenue. The property on which it stands is to be added to the park lawn. 1921


The Manitou Railroad ticket office must make way for the new bathhouse at Ontario Beach Park, as must Larry Sexton's confectionery store. 1919.
(I dont quite understand this photo..if its the location of the current bath-house, then those big houses in the background must be ON the current beach! houses must have extended further east along the beach than they do today..but I always thought all that land was taken up by Ontario park. (the big amusement park))


Approaching Manitou Beach by trolley car, circa 1900



and here is where the trolleys went..
the Manitou beach hotel:




Manitou Hotel at Manitou Beach in 1900




not trolleys, but a fabulous shot of the subway tracks crossing the river downtown. the tracks in the foreqround are directly where the Rundell library stands today.



I think this is the Hojack along Durand beach, not the Manitou trolley line..
all the caption says is "railroad tracks along Lake Ontario shore"


ok..this is not making sense to me..

Summary A view of Beach Avenue west of Lake Avenue. Buildings to be torn down for an automobile parking space are pictured as well as Manitou Trolley tracks in the foreground and the Charlotte blast furnace and chimney in the background. Published caption reads: "Old landmarks removed for the betterment of Ontario Beach Park".

well, if thats the corner of Lake ave & Beach ave, right where Abbots is today, then that big blast furnace appears to be out on the lake!
there isnt enough land between Beach ave and the lake to support them!
im assuming that photo is looking North West from Abbots..
the other photo says the Manitou trolley station was removed for the bath-house..which is the large building at the beach that still stands.
what am I missing?

Scot

I have an 1890 brochure that has a panoramic view of the Charlotte & Manitou Beach... I will scan it and post it later tonight.

-otto-

hmmm..
very interesting!
check out the 1895 map.

http://historical.maptech.com/getImage. ... g&state=NY

when you come down Lake ave toward the beach today, lake ave ends at Beach ave. (right at Abbots) you can only turn left onto Beach ave.
you cant go any further on Lake ave toward the lake.
the road kinda keeps going straight toward the boardwalk, but you cant drive on it..
well, according to this map, back then Lake ave DID keep going straight, past Beach ave, toward the lake, and there were buildings all along it!
(probably houses)..then the houses take a jog to the west right at the shore..those must be the big houses in the Manitou station photo..

on these old topo maps, black dots along roads represent buildings..and if there were a lot of them jammed together, they are represented by solid black bands.

the original "Ontario Beach Park" only took up the lake shore to the EAST of Lake ave..between Lake ave and the River..where that trolley loop is located..
the original park did not extend West of lake ave..instead that expanse of current beach had big houses!
never knew that!
(must have been a very fun place to live!)

still dont understand the blast furnace though..
Scot

Scot, I understood the caption differently than you did.

It said:

Summary A view of Beach Avenue west of Lake Avenue. Buildings to be torn down for an automobile parking space are pictured as well as Manitou Trolley tracks in the foreground and the Charlotte blast furnace and chimney in the background. Published caption reads: "Old landmarks removed for the betterment of Ontario Beach Park".

It does not say that this is the corner of Beach and Lake, nor does it say you are facing west. The way I understand it, the location of the photo is west of Lake Avenue (I'm guessing a quarter of a mile or more west of Lake) and you are looking towards the southwest corner of Lake Avenue where Abbotts is now. So I think the photo is looking east-south-east (almost opposite of your claim that it is looking northwest).

But the words of the caption do not make any of this clear, the photo could be both west of Lake avenue and facing west.

This and other Rochester area lakeshore trolley and rail lines are covered in "Rochester's Lakeside Resorts and Amusement Parks" by Donovan Shilling. Published by Arcadia, part of their "Images of America" series. ISBN 0-7385-0163-8

The book has some rail and trolley maps from the early 1900's along with lots of pictures. Don Shilling is a Rochester NRHS member so the rail transportation gets good coverage along with the resorts and amusement parks. He has several other books in this series on the Rochester area. "Rochester's Transportation Heritage" ISBN 0-7385-1330-X is also of particular interest to the railfan.

And in case you do go trying to contact her, Shirley Cox-Husted died last year.

Charles

Paige,
I think you are right!
for some reason I had it in my head that the Manitou trolley station was also in that photo, and the direction was similar to the other photos of the station..but I see now the station isnt in that photo at all!
I thought that building with the pointed roof was the station, but its not.
my mistake, I had photos mixed up..

Summary A view of Beach Avenue west of Lake Avenue. Buildings to be torn down for an automobile parking space are pictured as well as Manitou Trolley tracks in the foreground and the Charlotte blast furnace and chimney in the background. Published caption reads: "Old landmarks removed for the betterment of Ontario Beach Park".

so, this could be from the North side of Beach ave, looking south east..
(like Paige said)
the corner in the far distance is Abbots, we are about 2 blocks away from abbots, further west, and the blast furnace is over on the river, near the Hojack swing bridge..

scottychaos wrote:when you come down Lake ave toward the beach today, lake ave ends at Beach ave. (right at Abbots) you can only turn left onto Beach ave.
you cant go any further on Lake ave toward the lake.
the road kinda keeps going straight toward the boardwalk, but you cant drive on it..
well, according to this map, back then Lake ave DID keep going straight, past Beach ave, toward the lake, and there were buildings all along it!
(probably houses)..then the houses take a jog to the west right at the shore..those must be the big houses in the Manitou station photo..

When you drive west on Beach Ave away from Lake Ave, you're driving past the rear of the houses along the lake. There's a city-owned right of way between the houses and the lake where Beach Ave used to run. Later on the city realigned Beach Ave to it's current configuration.

Les,
that must be why that public sidewalk is there!
cool..

there is a little-known public sidewalk that runs along the front of a whole string of houses just West of the beach..
if you park at Abbots, cross the street and start walking west down the sidewalk, you will come across a sidewalk that turns toward the lake..
this sidewalk is public property! anyone can walk on it..
it goes out toward the lake then turns left, and runs between the houses and the lake..goes past maybe `10-15 houses, then turns back to the road again and ends..its a nice walk!

Scot

interactive map!
(you can zoom in and out and move around the map)

http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us:2080/cgi ... +8631+85+3

1926.
there are houses on the beach, in FRONT of what is now the bathhouse!
(between the bathhouse and the lake..or in the same general vicinity of the bathhouse..but I think the houses were closer to the lake..
these are the houses visable behind the Manitou trolley station in the photos.

and ALL the space bordered by:
beach ave on the north.
The river on the East.
Lake ave on the West.
Hojack tracks on the south.
is all filled in with steel works and various heavy industry..
(the blast furnace)
all that space that is currently the beach and fast-ferry parking lot..

Scot

Try this out:

http://www.tsny.com/otto/rrmaps/Rochest ... anitou.jpg

A brochure from the Rochester, Charlotte & Manitou Railroad. No date I cold find, but it looks like 1880s or 1890s to me. It is all printed in green ink in white paper. Neat period ads too, pictures of open trolleys, the trestle across Braddock's Bay, etc.

-otto-

very cool!
thanks otto!

I never knew there used to be a big pier at Manitou beach!

I read something in the paper a few years ago about the county buying a strip of land up on the lake shore..
somewhere between charlotte and Manitou beach..although it might have been west of Manitou..not sure.
I never did find out exactly where it is, but I would still like to find out!
since its public property and a new place where one could walk along the lake shore without trespassing on private property..

the article said the county eventually plans to make a park out of the land, but for now it is "undeveloped"..
anyone know what stretch of shoreline that is?

Scot