City (pop., 2000: 219,773) and port, northwestern New York, U.S. Founded in 1811 and incorporated as a city in 1834, it became a boomtown with construction of the Erie Canal and rail connections.
It was the home of Margaret and Kate Fox, spiritualists who attracted world attention in the 1840s with their seances known as the "Rochester rappings." Underground Railroad . {{link=Anthony, Susan Brownell">Susan B. Anthony lived there (1866–1906). In the 1890s George Eastman developed photographic equipment there; the city's manufacturing still includes cameras and photographic equipment. It is a cultural and educational centre and the home of the University of Rochester, the Eastman School of Music, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.