About Rochester
Rochester is located in upstate New York on the shores of Lake Ontario and is considered part of the state's Finger Lakes region, famous for its scenery and its wineries.
Visitors to Rochester can enjoy several renowned tourist attractions including the Strong National Museum of Play (home to the National Toy Hall of Fame), the former home of historic women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony and the George Eastman House, a photography museum and the restored home of the founder of Eastman Kodak Co. whose philanthropy was instrumental in the region's development.
Among our cultural attractions are Geva Theatre and the Memorial Art Gallery.
If sports are what interest you, Rochester is home to numerous minor league teams, including soccer's Rochester Raging Rhinos, baseball's Rochester Red Wings (Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) and hockey's Rochester Americans (minor league affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers).
St. John Fisher College in suburban Pittsford is the summer training camp home of the Buffalo Bills. Rochester also has played host to several Professional Golf Association events and the Wegmans LPGA at Locust Hill Country Club is an annual LPGA Tour stop.
Entrepreneurial Successes
Rochester's landscape is dotted with contributions from some of the most well-known entrepreneurs from American business.
George Eastman started Eastman Kodak Co. here and John J. Bausch and Henry Lomb later founded Bausch & Lomb, Inc. in Rochester.
Other notable entrepreneurs include Joseph C. Wilson, founder of Xerox Corp., and more recently B. Thomas Golisano, founder of Paychex, Inc. and owner of the Buffalo Sabres.
Their companies and thousands of small businesses have helped shape Rochester's economic history, which has transitioned from reliance on the 'Big 3' (Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb) and manufacturing to one increasingly reliant on small- and medium-sized businesses and focused on education and health care as well as manufacturing.
The region is also home to more than 20 colleges and universities, including the University of Rochester, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the state Universities of New York at Brockport and Geneseo.
To learn more about our community:
Greater Rochester Enterprise, a public-private partnership established to professionally market the Rochester metropolitan region as a competitive, high-profile place to locate and grow a business. Rochester Business Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Sandy Parker serves as GRE board secretary.
Greater Rochester Visitors Association, the leading
resource to market the community as a place to live - and a place to visit.
Rochester Downtown Development Corporation, a nonprofit economic development group responsible for delivering a vibrant and economically strong downtown.
Rochester's Largest Employers
- University of Rochester
- Eastman Kodak Co.
- Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
- Xerox Corp.
- ViaHealth