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Rochester[roch´estur, –istur] Pronunciation Key. 1 City (1990 pop. 70,745), seat of Olmsted co., SE Minn.; inc. 1858. It is a farm trade center, and its industriess include printing and publishing, food processing, machinery, fabricated metal products, computers and electronic equipment, and construction materials. The city is famous as the home of the Mayo Clinic, a combination of hospitals and hotels, founded (1889) by Dr. W. W. Mayo, with his sons Charles Horace Mayo and William James Mayo. A state mental hospital and a Bible college are also there. Rochester has a symphony orchestra, a municipal band, and museums of medical science, history, and antique vehicles.
2 City (1990 pop. 26,630), Strafford co., SE N.H., on the Cocheco River, near the Maine line; settled 1728, inc. as a city 1891. Manufactures include electronic equipment, apparel, metal products, and consumer goods. An annual agricultural fair has been held there since 1875. In Rochester are an art gallery and an antique aircraft museum. The Lake Winnipesaukee recreation area is nearby.
3 Industrial city (1990 pop. 231,636), seat of Monroe co., W N.Y., a port of entry on the Genesee River and Lake Ontario, in a rich fruit and truck farm region; inc. 1817. It is a leading center in the production of photographic, photocopying, optical, and dental equipment, process control and recording instruments, and thermometers. Several major companies of these products have head offices there. Rochester also ranks high in the manufacture of electronics, machinery, transportation equipment, and fabricated-metal and plastic products. The city's core businesses declined in the 1990s, but growth in computer and technology companies provided new jobs.
The city is the seat of the Univ. of Rochester, Nazareth College of Rochester, the Rochester Institute of Technology (est. 1829), St. John Fisher College, and a theological seminary. The city's cultural features include the Rochester Philharmonic and Eastman School of Music orchestras, the Rochester Museum of Art and Sciences (with a planetarium), the Memorial Art Gallery, the historical society, a zoo, and the Rundell Memorial Building, which houses the public library and an art gallery. Numerous parks and nurseries have earned Rochester the name Flower City.
Permanent settlement by Col. Nathaniel Rochester and others began in 1812. During the Civil War, Rochester was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Erie Canal gave impetus to Rochester's growth; flour milling became the first important industry. Prominent residents have been Susan B. Anthony, who is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery; Frederick Douglass; and George Eastman.
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