Lehigh Valley Railroad Station

Category: Union Workplace

This building, one of the few remaining railroad stations in Rochester, was constructed in 1905. At that time, Rochester was served by several railroads carrying passengers, coal or freight: the Lehigh Valley, the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, the New York Central & Hudson River, the Erie and the Pennsylvania. In the early 1890s there were strikes of railroad brotherhoods at the Central’s yards as well as at the Lehigh Valley. In 1911, 700 freight cars were loaded daily in Rochester, with the NY Central (at Central Avenue and St. Paul Street) primary among the five serving this city. 58 trains ran west out of Rochester every day. In 1947 more than 1500 skilled workers were employed on the Rochester railroads in AFL unions such as the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, and Express and Station Employees; non-AFL unions representing local railroad workers included the elite Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.The electric railway system provided transportation both within and outside of the city limits, connecting Rochester to Sodus Point, Charlotte, Canandaigua, and Geneva. During a two-month strike of street car drivers in 1889, a curb-to-curb police line was required to escort strike-breaking drivers down Main Street. By 1912, Rochester street car drivers were traveling approximately 27,000 miles per day and were represented by the Amalgamated Association of Street and Railway Employees Local 282.