Rochester, New York - 1960's
From postcard: "'Clock of the Nations' enlivens the center of the magnificent mall at Midtown Plaza, Rochester, New York. It marks the time with a colorful pageant, as twelve nations are depicted with dancing puppets as folk tunes of the country fill the air. The romance and enjoyment of the traditional European village squares have been recaptured at Midtown Plaza."
And here's a photo I posted before, but thought I'd include in this entry so you can see a wider view of the clock and where it sat in Midtown's "America's Town Square" section...
1960's
Sad to see what Midtown Plaza used to be. For its time, it was innovative; today, it's desolate. May Company closed both anchor stores -- Sibley's and McCurdy's -- in the early 1990s, and the other main draw, a downtown Wegmans grocery store is also long gone. The Clock of the Nations is still there, but the "romance and enjoyment" is long gone.
ReplyDeleteI made a mockumentary of Rochester a while back, with Midtown Plaza at the center.
ReplyDeletePart 1 can be viewed here: http://media.putfile.com/Rochester2005-LQ-part1
And Part 2 here: http://media.putfile.com/Rochester2005-LQ-part2
It's not that Midtown Plaza is run-down or outdated. It's just deserted, like most of downtown Rochester. Kinda eerie, really.
glad you posted this. i used to love midtown as a kid -- they had this great christmas set-up -- not sure if they still do it -- there was a monorail that went around the inside of the plaza. i also remember this great jingle that used to air on the radio at the holidays "ride the bus downtown this christmas... every sunday the ride is free"
ReplyDeletethanks!
Someone mentioned the anchor stores of Sibley's and McCurdy's. Actually the anchor stores were McCurdy's and Formans. Sibley's was across the street.
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ReplyDeleteIt is a sad day indeed for Midtown Plaza. I just moved back into town to hear of the final dagger being placed into this long dead center. It seems that the mall, and all the surrounding buildings, will soon be demolished and the land turned into headquarters for a locally based telcom company’s headquarters.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071021/OPINION02/710210338/1039/OPINION
While at least the clock of nations and the monorail will run this year (I was in Midtown Plaza yesterday and saw them being set up) this will be the final season, and this landmark will soon be gone. Hopefully a local museum, such as the Strong Museum of Play, will take these landmarks and integrate them into their facilities.
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1900 vintage old is mall in America
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